Epocdigest V1 # 441

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Epoc Digest Fri, 06 Feb 2004 Volume 01 : Number 441

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Sent to: 797 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 19 messages:

==============================

- Re: Plugs and Sockets

- Oops, sorry

- Viruses

- Fw: Edigest # 439 : USB connector

- View HTML Mail

- Re: Std Voltage and AC Frequency

- PsiMac - Does it exist?

- Re: MS lawsuits

- Re: MS making their own bed

- Re: Euro symbol on a Series 5 ?

- Re: View HTML mail (again!)

- Re: EC standard plugs

- attention Rolf 432 re: GPRS aircard

- Communication Problem | EC standard plugs

- Re. EC standard plugs

- Re: Anyone know how to get the Euro symbol on a Psion series 5 (not mx)?

- Re: antivirus, CF Fail w/Machine Fail?,

- Re: CF Fail w/Machine Fail? and CronTab's & Backups,

- Scandinavian characters, Euro symbol, Sharing a serial port,

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 14:22:10 +0000

From: Bill Hardman

Subject: Re: Plugs and Sockets

Philip,

It's better than it used to be when we had the old round pin plugs. The 15 amp ones were real monsters and we had smaller ones for 5 amp circuits. Some were 2 pin as I remember.

Back around 1966 I remember plugging an electric drill into an old socket in an outside 'utility room'. When I switched the socket there was a loud bang and a blue flash. The plug was blown out completely and we lost all power to the house. As well as blowing the circuit fuse it had blown the Electricity Board's supply fuse which they had to come out and fix. I think incidents like that are thankfully very rare nowadays.

Mind you, I didn't agree with changing the colours of the wires!

Bill

Date: 5 Feb 2004 00:54:34 +0000

From: Philip Crookes

Subject: Plugs and Sockets

Itamar said:

>Re. EC standard plugs - Is there a difference in the voltage ? Why can't we >change the plugs and sockets without changing the circuits ?

Because UK wiring regs call for ring circuite where both ends are terminated at the fusebox, all sockets are switched in the live side and all plugs contain a fuse related to the current drain of the appliance.

That's quite different from much continental practice, where sockets are rarely switched, plugs can be inserted in sockets in such a way that appliance switched live side can be connected to supply neutral - meaning that when the device 'off' switch is turned off, the whole kit and caboodle can still be live to ground and potentially dangerous.

I do not imagine we would ever persusde the Brits to abandon their monumentally huge 13-amp plugs, with their industrial-strength brass prongs protruding skywards just waiting for an unwary foot to wreak havoc among the metacarpals.

Sometimes a British plug is bigger than the thing it is connecting to the mains.

EU voltage is already pretty well standardised. I think it is 230 volts at 50 Hz.

Philip

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 14:43:12 +0000

From: Axel Moberg

Subject: Oops, sorry

I didn't mention the context. About netBook with Scandinavian characters. I believe it was #433

Axel

_______Ursprungligt meddelande _______

Ämne: [Fwd: Re: Scandinavian characters]

Från: Axel Moberg

Datum: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 15:27:05 +0100

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Re: Scandinavian characters

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 08:04:13 +0100

From: Axel Moberg

To: Epoc

This is mainly for the record. (I've contacted some of the discussants

directly, because some of my questions were too embarassingly elementary

to bring up in public.)

Thanks a lot for valuable comments from different quarters.

My immediate concern is of course the Swedish åäö (oh, yes, I agree

there should have been a European standard for them.) And then the

Danish-Norwegian, Icelandic, French and Spanish ones that Andrew

illustrates. And the Slavonic and Baltic diacritics become increasingly

important with the enlargement of the EU.

Fn+key as suggested by Andrew is one possibility, which I use on my

MC218. But it is a bit cumbersome if you have to use it in every second

word, so I would like to avoid as far as possible.

Possibly similar problem with Twin Key, if you have to switch it on and

off all the time.

So maybe the solution is Alexander Zavorine's Key Mapper, if it does the

job with one touch. I'll have to look at it.

Or maybe macros is a way forward? If they are not too slow. (BTW are

macros possible on MC 218? I haven't found anything about it in the

manual yet.)

And, come to think of it, the German version of netBook should be better

than the UK version. It already has öä - and in the right position on

the keyboard.

The only remaining problem then is å, which preferably should be were

the Germans have put ü.

And y and z should change places.

All the best

Axel Moberg

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 17:56:37 +0000

From: Rick Gillyon

Subject: Viruses

Hi Itamar,

> From: Itamar Engelsman

> Re.: antivirus - Would it at all be possible on a Psion that

> email is sent without the knowledge of the user ? I mean,

> would email be sent that does not show up in the outbox when

> you start your connection ? Somehow I don't think so.

This is not a safe assumption. The reason that PC users don't notice that emails are in the Outbox is because they aren't! The viruses include their own SMTP engines so don't need to use the one installed on the PC. I have no doubt that someone knowledgeable enough *could* do this same task for EPOC, but I doubt that anyone would make the effort for such a small and ever-diminishing audience.

Rgds,

Rick

http://www.gillyon.com/

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 20:53:01 +0000

From: Gilles G. CASANOVA

Subject: Fw: Edigest # 439 : USB connector

----- Original Message -----

From: "Gilles G. CASANOVA" To: <>;

Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:33 AM

Subject: Re: Edigest # 439 : USB connector

> Suzan,

> You don't need a specific psion connector to do that: just use a "USB to > Serial" adapter, and plug your serial to psion cable into it.

> I connect my 5mx this way to my laptop which doesn't have any serial port > and it works just fine.

> Just mahe sure which port number ( com1: , ..... com5: ) is assigned to the

> adapter and set it accordingly in the PSIWIN config.

> Regards,

> Gilles

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 21:11:16 +0000

From: Philip S. Adkins Potter

Subject: View HTML Mail

Hi Daniele,

I think your error message may just be a timing problem. Though it's some time since I altered the macro I seem to remember that it has to delete the temporary file while the browser is still open. Therefore it must 'pause' long enough for the browser to load. Opera takes a lot longer to load than Web so perhaps the macro is deleting the temporary file too soon.

I know I had to alter the timing for Opera, though I use Web for (the thankfully rare) HTML eMail now.

Happy days,

Phil.

"The world is full of willing people,

some willing to work,

the rest willing to let them."

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 21:42:05 +0000

From: Euan Mee

Subject: Re: Std Voltage and AC Frequency

In 1 Feb 2004 0:51's Epoc Digest, Anthony Booth wrote:

> Another thing to consider is

> the power generation facilities of each country. These would need updating > to comply to a standard Voltage and AC frequency.

Europe (including the UK) has already standardised on 230V 50Hz.

(The UK used to be 240V, and Continental Europe used to be

220V). The changes happened about 10 years ago or so, IIRC.

Cheers,

Euan

xlucid

this).sf.(antispam.)net

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 21:51:28 +0000

From: Bruce A.Knox

Subject: PsiMac - Does it exist?

Is there a copy of PsiMac in existence? And if so, could anyone please let me have a copy (preferably by email)? What happened to my disk I know not, but I'd like to try reviving my old 3a.

Any help much appreciated.

Bruce Knox

Melbourne

PS. John Montgomery's Java communicator for the Mac continues to work marvellously with MC218, 5mx & S7. Highly recommended.

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 21:54:06 +0000

From: Euan Mee

Subject: Re: MS lawsuits

In 2 Feb 2004 12:58's Epoc Digest, Phillip Crookes wrote:

> I don't believe it. This is

> as sensible as inserting the $ sign in their name to attack them. Are > you suggesting that they should not be a husiness and make a profit? > Why not attack them for their cruddy crufty programming, their efforts > to stifle competition with endless lawsuits and threats, and their

> attempt to get patents on such standards as XML?

I've just read in today's PC Plus magazine that MS are about to

start attempting to assert their intelectual property rights over pre

FAT32 versions of the FAT file system.

I can't help but wonder if this is targetted at getting money out of Symbian...

Cheers,

Euan

xlucid

this).sf.(antispam.)net

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 22:02:06 +0000

From: Euan Mee

Subject: Re: MS making their own bed

In 2 Feb 2004 12:58's Epoc Digest, Phillip Crookes wrote:

> if Linux, or Mac OS, or EPOC, or BeOS, had any significant market > share then some muckbrain would propagate a virus program against > them. We are dealing with the same mentality that scratches the

> windows of subway cars. I've no idea how to stop it, beyond

> fantasizing about boiling mud pools and amputation of body parts.

> But let's be clear on one thing: Microsoft , however awful you or I > think their behavior and their programming is, do not make viruses and > malware. Muckbrains do, so let's concentrate on attacking and huring

> the muckbrains.

There are architectural reasons why, even if Epoc, SymbianOS,

Linux or MacOS X were targetted by malware authors, they would

have a much thinner time of it.

Also MS' coders tend to mix application and OS code, provide

much less process tracking and dll id facilities, as well as being

prey to incorporating untraped buffer overflow errors in much greater quantities than other OS authors.

They incorporate application patches in their OS patch process, so

that it is possible to end up including new vulnerabilities into your

OS by following their own guidelines to making your OS less

vulnerable.

And, of course, they tend to issue patches that themselves contain

fresh vulnerabilities...

All in all, malware authors target MS OSs because they are

ridiculously easy to exploit, due to the very poor software

engineering and coding practices MS use in their products.

Cheers,

Euan

xlucid

this).sf.(antispam.)net

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 23:19:46 +0000

From: Astrid Stappenbeck

Subject: Re: Euro symbol on a Series 5 ?

Hi Kevin,

> I'm addicted to my Psion 5 and I don't wish to upgrade, but I would dearly like to know how to get the Euro symbol into the Sheet and Word applications. <

I haven't a 5 but I suspect the free Charmap will do the job there as well.

www.pelicansoft.com

I'm not sure the address is still valid but tucows or google should list it. Otherwise I can send it to you.

The ASCI code for the character is Ctl + 128

If you need it more often you might integrate it to a macro or use a mapper. Remapper e.g.

Hope this helps

Astrid

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 23:19:52 +0000

From: Astrid Stappenbeck

Subject: Re: View HTML mail (again!)

Hi Daniele,

> Thanks to the help of many on the list, I managed to get the View HTML mail macro running. However, on my first try I got another error: the macro runs, Opera opens correctly, but then I have an error message:

"file://c/System/Temp/HTMLMailTemp.html Could not open file".

I'm fairly sure the error is in the temp file settings in the macro. These, however, seem to be correct:

const

KFileName$="C:\System\Temp\HtmlMailtemp.html"

const

KWebName$="file://C:\System\Temp\HtmlMailtemp.html"

Why then does the drive letter in the error message miss the colon? Can anyone help out? <

It seems that Opera can't access files in the System folder.

Change to

C:\documents\HtmlMailtemp.html

or wherever you would like to have it.

[I still think that web is the better browser - Opera is needed for a couple of sites, granted, but has a lot of unconvenient features as well.]

Bye,

Astrid

*++++++++++&

Date: 5 Feb 2004 23:56:10 +0000

From: Alan Morris

Subject: Re: EC standard plugs

Antony wrote:-

> I don't see how one street can be on a European standard

> circuit, with a European standard voltage and a European

> standard frequency, whilst another street hasn't changed

> over yet? .... How can you have a national electricity

> grid supply the old power rating and the new one at the

> same time?

There are two standards here, the plug/socket and the voltage.

It's possible to have any number of types of plug/socket in any one building.

As for the voltage supply. I understand that the change over from the British specification to the European specification has already taken place in the UK. I can't recall the actual voltages (I've got it somewhere??) but I'll use an example that is not the actual voltage specification.

In the UK our voltage was 240V +/- a tolerance.

In many parts of Europe their voltage was 220V +/- a tolerance.

Lets say UK was 240 with a minimum of -30 and a maximum of + 10.

Lets say EU was 220 with a minimum of -25 and a maximum of + 15.

This would give for UK 210v to 250v and for EU 195v to 235v.

With a new spec of 230 with changed tolerances, both old systems continue without any real change. ie UK -20 to +20 and EU -35 to +5.

In practice I recall that all power companies changed their outputs slightly to conform with the new specification. The best part is that very few folk were even aware of the changes.

As for frequency the UK and Europe both use 50 Hz. It's the US that use 60 Hz, so no changes required in Europe.

Alan R Morris, G4ENS.

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.

Using a Psion netBook & Nokia 6210e.

*++++++++++&

Date: 6 Feb 2004 02:52:38 +0000

From: Donald

Subject: attention Rolf 432 re: GPRS aircard

Thanks Rolf

I appreciate the helpful input.

Would you be able to explain this further - " When you've got one of the older netBooks you'll need to check that the Aircard's maximum current draw is less than 750 mA. " but I did come across a site

http://www.portal-pda.com/main.php3 that states the series 7 is capable of running these cards - Do you know, or can this be explain how the series 7 is capable of using this aircard that Psion Tecklogix say it can't be done?

Do you think damage can occur to the netbooks board if I'm using this aircard or wifi card, if the PCB is not suited to handle this speed?

I'm just wondering if I should give this a try with T-Mobile's card

http://www.t-mobile.com/products/features.asp?phoneid=166841&class=data Can you tell me what you think of what you see at this site?)

I did just happen to meet with a gentleman that lives in New York and is currently using a wifi card with his netbook that happens to be older than mine, It was amazing but, I still want complete true wireless anywhere for my travels and sales with greater speeds.

Many Thanks

Donald

*++++++++++&

Date: 6 Feb 2004 09:09:17 +0000

From: Antony

Subject: Communication Problem | EC standard plugs

To: Neil Ogden

>What I want to know is, when you had communication problems, did your Psion turn itself on when the computer booted up - a sign that they were in contact with each other? That is what my Psion does.<

No it didn't, sorry.

To: Owen H. Morgan

>Thought for the day:

Express an opinion, but send advice by freight.<

Or send it twice like you did! ;-)

To: Itamar Engelsman

>Re. EC standard plugs - Is there a difference in the voltage ? Why can't we change the plugs and sockets without changing the circuits ?<

Well, for one obvious reason. Some countries have 3 pin plugs and others 2. What would the 3rd pin connect to? If nothing, then why force countries to change their sockets for a 3rd pin that isn't used. As for voltage, I'm sure they are different. Somewhere between 210 & 240 if I remember right. I suppose there might also be an argument about the power rating of some plugs being higher than others, as well as the wiring techniques behind them making some plugs unsafe unless designed a specific way?

Antony Booth

*++++++++++&

Date: 6 Feb 2004 09:10:25 +0000

From: Owen H. Morgan

Subject: Re. EC standard plugs

Howdy!

Ian Chapple wrote (> ):

> British mains is nominally 240V, in the rest of

> (western) Europe, it is 220V.

I'm not sure this is true. However, I do know that equipment sold in the UK works fine in mainland Europe and vice versa as long as you change the plug or use an adapter.

Owen

Thought for the day:

Those who can, do.

Those who can't, teach.

Those who can't teach, administrate.

Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-928°14.86'N 16°50.54'W

Los Gigantes, Tenerife, Canary Islands

http://home.no.net/naomij

Phone and SMS:

In Spain: +34 620520079

In Norway: +47 92053097

*++++++++++&

Date: 6 Feb 2004 09:10:48 +0000

From: Owen H. Morgan

Subject: Re: Anyone know how to get the Euro symbol on a Psion series 5 (not mx)?

Howdy!

kevin.neale wrote (> ):

> I'm addicted to my Psion 5 and I don't wish to

> upgrade, but I would dearly like to know how to

> get the Euro symbol into the Sheet and Word

> applications.

I don't know if applications like Font Machine which add more fonts to the system would work on the 5ive Classic. Maybe then only run on ER5 machines. However, I do know that you can _print_ the Euro symbol from the 5ive if you use Andrew Johnson's printer drivers even if you can't display it on screen. As far as I remember, it was at my suggestion that he added this capability.

Owen

Thought for the day:

Meditation is not what you think.

Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-928°14.86'N 16°50.54'W

Los Gigantes, Tenerife, Canary Islands

http://home.no.net/naomij

Phone and SMS:

In Spain: +34 620520079

In Norway: +47 920530

*++++++++++&

Date: 6 Feb 2004 09:11:00 +0000

From: Owen H. Morgan

Subject: Re: antivirus, CF Fail w/Machine Fail?,

Howdy!

Itamar Engelsman wrote (> ):

> Re.: antivirus - Would it at all be possible on a

> Psion that email is sent without the knowledge of

> the user ? I mean, would email be sent that does

> not show up in the outbox when you start your

> connection ? Somehow I don't think so.

It would be possible, because it's quite possible to write a program that sends e-mails in the background whenever it detects that the Psion has a live Internet connection. It wouldn't need to use the Psion e-mail application at all, and could harvest e-mail addresses from Contacts, Savemail files etc. However, I think it highly unlikely (famous last words...?) for several reasons.

First of all, the target is simply to small. Also, many Psions are used with slow Internet connections via mobile phones etc. and any major increase in traffic would slow things down further and alert the user that something was up. Furthermore, it would hardly be worth the effort for the creep who wrote the virus, because so few of the recipients would be EPOC machines, and last, as the EPOC e-mail application doesn't launch attachments automatically, the only way for the virus to infect a Psion would be for the user to install it him- or herself thinking it was something useful.

I think our Psions would be far more vulnerable to trojans. A seemingly benign application with a built in random- or time activated bomb which is spread far an wide in the EPOC community by people who find it useful. The application itself would be something really simple, like my own ExitAll which simply closes all open applications (no, there's nothing nasty in that). Even with my limited knowledge of OPL programming, it shouldn't take me long to write a working trojan.

A "better" option beyond my capabilities would be to write something that installs itself as part of the OS and lurks in the background, as this would mean the user would only need to run the wrapper once.

The bomb could cause deletion / renaming of files, corruption of disks or something similar. It would be very easy to write, and if the base application the trojan was hidden in was something really useful and simple, it might hit many of us. The fact that there have so far been no attacks of this type makes us all the more vulnerable. In fact, I'm a bit weary of writing about it. I don't want to give anyone ideas. I actually deleted a paragraph from this to avoid going to much into detail.

> Re. CF Fail w/Machine Fail? - A good question but

> somewhat exaggerated. Keep all your files on the C

> disk together with your email folder (but file old

> emails with for example SaveMail).

I have always kept everything except the e-mail folder on D, and the only time I've had any problem (touch wood) is when I did have the mail folder on C. The problem with the mail program is that it seems to keep the Index file open for writing the whole time the machine is online down- or uploading mail. When the machine is online, it is using either the RS-232 or IR port both of which are both power hungry. This can cause the battery voltage to drop too low for writing to CF very quickly, particularly if you are using rechargeable batteries.

With other files, you will normally get an error message if the voltage is too low for writing to disk and you can either connect external power or switch the Psion off, replace the batteries and complete writing the file without problems. If the Psion crashes or is soft reset while there are files open for writing, it doesn't really matter which disk the file is on. At best, you will lose your latest alterations, at worst you will corrupt the file.

Owen

Thought for the day:

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the Universe together.

Owen H. Morgan, Yacht "Naomi J.", LD-928°14.86'N 16°50.54'W

Los Gigantes, Tenerife, Canary Islands

http://home.no.net/naomij

Phone and SMS:

In Spain: +34 620520079

In Norway: +47 92053097

*++++++++++&

Date: 6 Feb 2004 10:12:27 +0000

From: Chris S Handley

Subject: Re: CF Fail w/Machine Fail? and CronTab's & Backups,

Subject: Re: CF Fail w/Machine Fail?

From: Astrid Stappenbeck wrote:

>> Simply keep all commonly used data files (e.g. Agenda,

>> Jotter, some Word files, maybe even Contacts) on the C

>> drive, but then backup your C drive to the D drive.

> Well, so we should keep all these (large) files on C

> and the E-Mail folder since receiving mails when the power is

> low can cause a corruption of the folder when on D and of the

> card and OPX files since apps will run faster that way

> and other apps where speed is an issue

> and apps that can only run on C

> and leave lots of free space on C for memory hungry apps like

> nConvert or Opera

> and all that on machines having 8 to 32 MB available for C -

> I have just one question: How ???

Hi Astrid,

You're taking my suggestion rather farther than I meant it: The key part in what I said was "COMMONLY used DATA files". That means Agenda, Contacts, and the FEW other files that you MODIFY every day or week (such as a one or two Jotter, Data, Word or Money files).

I highly recommend installing 99 percent of all apps to the D drive, since simply reading a CF cannot cause corruption, and this saves oodles of space. But it is best to install OPXs (which are tiny) to the C drive for speed.

Personally my C:\Documents folder is excessively large (2Mb!) for simplicity of organisation, and even that was just about managable on an 8Mb Revo with lots of apps installed.

BTW, Email is REALLY slow if running from the D drive, therefore I think installing it to the C drive is a requirement anyway. To do this you need some kind of email archiving system, so your Emails don't use too much memory. Personally I use my desktop PC for this, but others use some clever Psion-only solutions.

Regards,

Chris Handley

============

Subject: Re: CronTab's & Backups

Itamar Engelsman wrote:

> Thanks for that. However, as both

> MACRO5 and CronTab were freeware to start with is there

> really a problem improving it when the author himself long

> time ago stopped altogether with Psion work ?

Freeware doesn't mean the author has waived ALL rights to the program, just the right to ask money for it. I think many authors would be mortified that anybody think it's OK to do absolutrly anything with their freeware programs. You will note that the programs mentioned are clearly "Copyright Pascal NICOLAS".

Personally, I would be extremely unhappy if someone went around distributing modified versions of MY programs that I hadn't given my permission for. Replace the word "programs" with "books" or "music" if you're not a programmer.

Although I'm not entirely happy about it, probably the only vaguely acceptable compromise is to release a program which "patches" CronTab. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any Psion-based program which will automate the generation of a "patch", so I may have to try writing my own (which I'm really not keen on doing, thus I may take a LONG time).

> Anyhow, if you need a tester, feel free to contact me <BG>

Nice try :-) , but I don't think there's any need for testing, since my (now completed) fix is rather small & easy to test myself. If you want to RevTran & retranslate CronTab yourself, I would be happy to describe the changes I made, but I won't tell you where to get RevTran or how to use it... (Yes, I know my morals must seem quite odd to many, but you'll have to live with them:-)

Regards,

Chris Handley

*++++++++++&

Date: 6 Feb 2004 10:51:41 +0000

From: Itamar Engelsman

Subject: Scandinavian characters, Euro symbol, Sharing a serial port,

Answer to: Axel Moberg

Re.: Scandinavian characters - Of course you don't have to write a macro to use MACRO5 or Assistant for this . Both programs (ExAb as well ? I don't use it and seem to always forget to mention it) have shortcuts that once programmed will be very quick and easy to use.

Answer to: kevin.neale

Re. Euro symbol - AFAI remember the S5 did not have the €-symbol (Euro) and I suppose the only way to get it is by importing it in a graphic file. However, I don't think it will work very well. Maybe others have a better idea.

Answer to: Mike Woodward

Re. Sharing a serial port - It is even easier to leave a shortcut for both devices on your desktop. No need to go to the start-up folder, just double click the shortcut on your desktop. I do this all the time between my S7 and mochaPPP.