Epocdigest V1 # 583

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Epoc Digest Fri, 27 Aug 2004 Volume 01 : Number 583

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Sent to: 756 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 10 messages:

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- FoxPop is back!

- Subject: Nokia 9500, Durabillity of Symbian

- Various

- Re: Bluetooth Keyboards

- New Digest scope

- RE: Ham radio software

- p800 Email App and other device thoughts

- Re: please help!

- Corrupt c: ?

- Crontab & Freenote

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

Date: 1 Jan 2002 10:42:59 +0000

From: Martin Guthrie

Subject: FoxPop is back!

Hi All,

FoxPop is back in a new guisOfficial announcement reads as follows:

LAUNCHING WEBSITE

www.foxpop.co.uk and www.foxpop.com

It is 3 months to the day since FoxPop closed, and we are back!

The FoxPop workload was just too great for one or two editors to sustain, but that doesn't mean that we've lost interest, or that we want to stop writing and publishing about PDAs and mobile computing. So several of the FoxPop team have come together to create something new and also sustainable. This is a new look, a new name and a new concept for a new website, and we hope that you will check it out, and enjoy watching it develop and grow.

So what’s the new ab

We have a new webmaster, David Lenton, who has built the code for the main site, and maintains the csite. Elisabeth Liddell still acts as editor for the site, but as you will see, this job is not quite as arduous as before! ;o)

1) We all maintain our own websites, and post our articles/reviews there. This gives all our contributors control over their own content. This is much more relaxed and much more democratic than the old system.

2) There is no regular monthly 'edition', we post as and when we are ready.

3) We use website to bring all our efforts together, and make them all easily available to readers. We post news of our latest articles and summaries of the articles

4) We now have the added facility for adding readers' comments to the articles/reviews.

5) We also have an XML feed – so you can keep apprised of new articles as and when they appear. This feature replaces the old newsletter.

6) The entire FoxPop archive since September 2002 is now available again.

7) There is an excellent search engine which covers the main website, the entire Archive web, and some of the contributor's sites too.

8) We all contribute to the running costs of the site, so there are few, if any, adverts and no PayPal buttons.

9) The Bulletin Board and CafePress Shop are also back in action. (Elisa is still designing the new Cafépress logos!)

10) If you would like to join us, and share the facilities tcan offer, there is more about how we work then check out: http://www.foxpop.co.uk/about/join.htm

Elisabeth Liddell (Editor)

David Lenton (Webwww.foxpop.co.uk

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

Date: 25 Aug 2004 12:12:54 +0000

From: Martin Maxwell

Subject: Subject: Nokia 9500, Durabillity of Symbian

Answer to: Itamar Engelsman

Re: Subject: Nokia 9500, Durability of Symbian,

Dear Itamar,

>Re.: Nokia 9500 - One question only. With Nokia saying the launch is still 6 months away, where the ..... did you get a Nokia 9500 ???????

No, the launch was in February this year, i.e. almost six month 'ago' not 'away'. It will hit the streets in 1-2 months time. Prototypes are already loaned to application developers and major corporate clients. I did not get one, I just borrowed one for a few minutes when I was back in Sweden last week.

However, there is another way you can get familiar with software side of the Nokia 9500 without getting hold of a physical one. You can download the WINS for it. It still installs and runs almost exactly like WINS for Psion. This is what I'm doing at the moment.

BTW, there have just been words out that a Nokia 9300 will be launched within a few weeks time. This is a scaled down version of the Nokia 9500 and with slightly smaller format. The WiFi had to go though.

> Durabillity of Symbian - Can anyone comment on the likelyhood of Symbian in it's current form to continue to be around for many years to come ? I am sure no EPOC user would like to jump to Symbian to find in a few years that their software will cease to be developed further as well .....<

I personally believe that we are on much safer and future-proof ground now with Symbian than previously. There are two reasons:

1. The device manufacturer's (and Symbian's!) interest in customer loyalty, which leads to a strong interest to ensure that applications are forward compatible, e.g. P800 applications can run on P900, P910 etc, 9210 applications can run on 9300 and 9500 etc, 7650 and 3650 applications can run on 6600, SX1, Sendo X etc. There are also an increasing amount of tools and assistance available for cross-UI development, somewhat overcoming the fact that the hardware and the UI libraries for Series 60, 80, 90, UIQ and good old Eikon/Techview are quite different.

and

2. The sheer volume of Symbian device sales. We are already talking about an order of magnitude more sales for Symbian devices than the aggregated sales of Psion devices. It is also spread over several vendors. If one pulls out Symbian will be shaken but the show will go on. It is not subject to David Potter's whims and fancies anymore. Albeit quite political, Symbian has already survived heavy earthquakes (e.g. Motorola's pullout, Psion's pullout, Nokia's early threat of becoming controlling shareholder) with flying colours, and it could even be so that all the boardroom and supervisory committee politics are in fact underpinning rather than jeopardising its long term stability.

Kind regards

Martin Maxwell

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

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

Date: 25 Aug 2004 17:29:25 +0000

From: Mike Dyer

Subject: Various

Hi all,

first thanks to Chris for explaining how Norton Anti Virus checks absolutely everything, hence the slowdown in performance sometimes.

Itamar, Infra Red keyboards (c) £45 Vs Bluetooth Keyboards (£95), I'd go for the Infra Red one because the screen is so small on the p800 you will need to be quite close to it anyway, so you might as well save the £50.

To be honest though if your data entry requirements are heavy I personally think you would be better off with a Nokia Communicator because of the extra screen size, built in office apps. and a built in keyboard.

But if you are trying to replace a Palm and Mobile phone then the p800 / p900 would do just fine.

I only need 3-4 spreadsheets with me regularly, they are simple and I have rewritten them so they are only 3 columns wide but *very* long. This means I can navigate them in 'Quickoffice' using just the jog dial to scroll vertically with no need to use the stylus to scroll horizontally. Also 'Quickoffice' currently doesn't support the 'Freeze Panes' function which discourages horizontal scrolling as well.

Rather than repeat myself on my initial Revo+ replacement apps. I will tell you what shareware I have added recently:

'Message Storer' by Symbian Ware allows me to copy any SMS/MMS/EMAIL headers and all with one click so I can paste it into a blank 'Quickword' document for storage. It is a tidy solution for the lack of user definable folders in the p800 message app.

Symbian Ware are really on my wavelength as they also make 'Power Protect' which I mentioned before and I am using to password protect and encrypt any kind of file I want.

Another future purchase will be 'Photo Editor' by Bitween. I have the built in camera set by default to the highest picture settings, unfortunately this makes them rather expensive to MMS and also incompatible with lesser phones.

'Photo Editor' is like a little 'Paint Shop Pro' and even has preset image reduction settings for different makes of mobile phone which is very cool.

I've also been playing with 'MGS Karting' which is a 3d carting game rather like the Nintendo one.

'Philips Camcorder Pro' which turns the p800 into a video camera complete with sound.

Lastly 'Smartmovie' which lets you import any mpeg-1 or .avi film, run it through their converter on your pc and then play it on your p800 / p900. This program is very cool indeed, and makes it easy to keep a whole film with space to spare on a 128MB memory stick.

How much I will use these last three I don't know, so I may not wind up buying them, the trial has been great fun though.

There is a simple pleasure in switching on my p800 in the morning, it is set to automatically fetch my email and does so at 1/2 hour intervals via GPRS throughout my waking hours.

The p800 is a wonderful machine and I can't believe I struggled with two boxes, monochrome, and Infra Red aligning for so long!.

Regards,

Mike Dyer.

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

Date: 25 Aug 2004 22:22:01 +0000

From: Wong Koi Hin

Subject: Re: Bluetooth Keyboards

Reply to Itamar:

Dear Itamar,

IE>Re.: bluetooth keyboards - Can you (or someone else) explain to me that if an infra red keyboard costs 40 pounds less than a bluetooth one, why one should bother to buy the bluetooth one ? Come on Mike, tell us something about the programs you use now, the ones you found very useful or fun, the ones you are missing from your REVO times, etc. etc.

A BT keyboard means I do not need line of sight for the keyboard to work. I currently use a RF wireless keyboard from LG with my Windows workstation and I enjoy the uncluttered feel of my desktop, no unsightly wires sticking out anywhere. My ability to move the keyboard from desktop to keyboard tray with no hassle is a convenience I have grown use to. Also IRDA support is waning on the desktops particularly Windows/Apple machines. Example, my Win2K machine is not able to use IRDA synching with my Psion without installing a third-party driver, even then I only ever got it to work once, found it too much of a hassle and stopped using it. A BT keyboard also represents better longer-term investment as newer devices are more likely to support BT rather than IRDA. However if your needs are very specific, a IRDA keyboard may be a good option. BTW, the prices of BT keyboards are very likely to drop by quite a bit come next year as more models hit the market. Buying one now makes you an early adopter and you should expect to pay a premium.

Warm regards,

Koi Hin

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

Date: 25 Aug 2004 23:18:11 +0000

From: Bruce A.Knox

Subject: New Digest scope

A good idea - but it is also a good idea to keep up the EPOC content. I'm sure the Nokia 9500 is a lovely machine, but I am one who is quite satisfied with a combination of 5mx, mNetbook and an eMac. In fact I can't imagine that a new PDA, even the 9500, could make my work in archives, etc, anywhere near as useful.

R.I.P. Psion perhaps, but viva their remaining products.

Bruce Knox

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

Date: 26 Aug 2004 01:13:08 +0000

From: Howard Weissman

Subject: RE: Ham radio software

LA7QZ-MM de WB2HLW

The only ham radio software I'm aware is PalmPoc by Roger Muggleton. I have a zipped copy from 1996. I'm still waiting on the opportunity to try the program with a 5mx & Kenwood TH-D7A.

I could forward the contact information from the zip file later if you would like to contact him.

73's

Howard

WB2HLW

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

Date: 26 Aug 2004 09:42:50 +0000

From: Mike Dyer

Subject: p800 Email App and other device thoughts

Hi all,

I witnessed my p800 email program doing an automatic download earlier and had a question answered!.

If I delete an email from the p800's Inbox it is not removed from the server until the next scheduled contact with the server hence my mistaken thought that if I deleted the Digest I could still pick it up later.

One of the key strengths of the p800 is its size, it is small enough to carry around as your everyday mobile phone, but powerful enough to also replace a palm or pocket pc.

For serious document work I would still recommend getting a small laptop like a Netbook or a Libretto, or a modern equivalent if you are rich!.

The Nokia Communicator is a palmtop computer, rather than a smartphone in my opinion. It is too big to be an everyday mobile phone, more of a tiny laptop.

Regards,

Mike Dyer.

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

Date: 26 Aug 2004 10:08:53 +0000

From: Rolf Vonau

Subject: Re: please help!

Reference is made to the mail in the Epoc Digest V1 # 582 :

"M Kelleher" wrote at 24.08 2004 (> ):

Hi Maria,

> I am trying to connect to the Internet with my

> Diamond Mako (like a Psion Revo). I would like to

> use my T-Mobile account and an infrared connection

> on my Samsung E105 to browse the web

If you want to connect via T-Mobile Germany, this is a very expensive solution. (Sometimes I use my mobile phone Siemens S 25 for downloading my emails. This costs 20 EuroCents per minute!)

Be that as it may, at www.psionwelt.de is a good database with settings for almost all modem typs (in German). May be you will find the E105.

Some remarks conc. your settings (in brackets)

> MODEM SETTINGS:

> Speed - 9600 baud (I set 115 200)

> Options (not to matter)

> Initialisation

> Init string - ATZ (here you should find the special sting for E105, s. psionwelt). I wrote for the S25 ATZ&F0X3\Q0)

> Advanced (you should try all possible settings)

> Flow control - Hardware (the s25 need Software XON/XOFF)

> Terminal detect - unchecked (checked)

> Carrier detect - unchecked (checked)

> Modem type - mobile (it's strange: my S25 works only with settings "wired network")

> INTERNET:

> Account

> manual log-in - checked (I think you have to enter your login string and password)

no comments to the other settings

Best Regards

Rolf

Munich

http://home.arcor.de/rhvonau/index.htm

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

Date: 26 Aug 2004 19:05:17 +0000

From: Thomas F. van der Zijden

Subject: Corrupt c: ?

Dear all,

It is known that EDU cannot deal with the extended memory chip of a netBook, so it is no surprise that EDU gives an error on my machine.

However, eshell (the command line interpreter from EPOC) has the command chkdsk and this gives on c:

Error - Unallocated cluster contains a value != 0

Error 3

and this worries me.

Is this the same problem with chkdsk as with EDU or do i now have a real problem ?

Yours truly,

Thomas van der Zijden

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

Date: 27 Aug 2004 10:33:58 +0000

From: Itamar Engelsman

Subject: Crontab & Freenote

I don't know whether the current owners of these programs read the digest, but I found an interesting bug in Freenote. I started to try Freenote out again and I quite like it. My system is to have Crontabbring up Freenote to the foreground twice a day at 10.00 am and 3.00 pm to remind me to look at my to-do notes. However, when I don't close Freenote in between and leave it open, both Freenote and Crontab will stall and freeze whenever Crontab tries to open Freenote that is already open.

In Crontab I just set it to open the application. Can someone write me a macro that first checks whether or not it is open, and if it is open already just to go to the file instead of trying to open it again ? Maybe that will help ?