- Re: P910 and card reader

- Re: Connection Conundrum

- Re: 'Non-existant' battery problem of the Revo

- Opening Large pictures (was Psiwin on XP)

- Safeplace.dat; Revo battery

- Re: The Digest V1 # 693 (5)

- Re: UIQ Responses,Epoc to Symbian converter,Revo Battery Problem Poll.

- Emulators and RFM, EDU

- Revo Battery

- Re: Pocket Bible by Plexisoft

- UIQ Responses, P910 reboot, Connection Conundrum, Smartmovie (Symbian),

- battery problem of the Revo,

- Revo battery

- WTB: Psion Series 3a

- New (to me) backup machine

- Re: The Digest V1 # 693 (5)

- SE p910 Keyboard

- P910 Corporate email, etc

Date: 17 Feb 2005 15:06:00 +0100
From: Ian Chapple <address truncated>
Subject: Re: P910 and card reader

Answer to: Itamar,

>>Re.: P910 connection to PC - My advice is to take out your smartcard, put it in a fast card reader and download your MP3 files to the correct folder, than put the card back in the phone. I also back up the smartcard that way, otherwise it indeed takes ages.<<

I've tried this, and unfortunately it doesn't work for me. If I insert my Sandisk 512MB MS Pro Duo (what a name!) into a Sandisk MS adapter and then insert this into my Sandisk card-reader, Windows XP (SP2) grinds to a halt, and eventually needs rebooting. No idea why this doesn't work, but any advice would be gratefully appreciated...

Cheers, Ian.

Date: 17 Feb 2005 15:07:13 +0100
From: Jakfish <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Connection Conundrum

Marcus writes:

<< A question to all those Windows programmers out there: Is anybody willing to write Windows CE / EPOC link software that runs on the Jornada or on a PocketPC? Either for the link or by implementing the EPOC IrDA file transfer protocol built into the System screen. >>

That's the solution.  I've thought about buying PocketDOS and installing that and RCOM on my Jornada 720.  But PocketDOS is forty dollars, and I've wracked my brain for some other DOS programs that I'd like to run on it, but my mind, as usual, is empty.  In the meantime, I bought a second ebay Mako and will
use that as the backup device on the road.

Re a CE program, the programer who could do it, I bet, is Henri Spagnolo, creator of Menus5 and other programs for the Psion, and equally adept with CE programing.  But Henri is busy running the best Jornada site on the 'net, and I can't imagine why a EPOC-CE connection would pique his interest.

Jake

Date: 17 Feb 2005 15:07:15 +0100
From: Jakfish <address truncated>
Subject: Re: 'Non-existant' battery problem of the Revo

Hi, Chris,

As a fellow Revo battery-problem sufferer, I obviously read your informative post with great interest.  This comment especially intrigues me:

<< Whatever the reason, whenever a user frequently stops the Revo from fully charging, or charges it when it is still quite full, then the charging system accumulates faulty information about how much the NiMH battery can be charged.
>>

I did know about the ensuing problems after the lack of a full charge, but I wasn't aware that "topping off" a battery might lead to the same dilemma.  To put some numbers on this, would you say that charging a Revo when its battery reads 92%, and giving it a full charge (the battery icon showing "full," not "filling") would bring on a false reading?

Jake

Date: 17 Feb 2005 15:24:05 +0100
From: "Tony Cabot" <address truncated>
Subject: Opening Large pictures (was Psiwin on XP)

I concur with all the below except #10.  I have been able to open .tif and .jpg files using  MBM View and create MBMs of more than 7 MB that are used in Kevin Millican's RealMaps. It takes a while for them to load (7.8 MB in MBM View in 30 seconds) and the resullt is much too large for the screen so you have to scroll around (or let the RealMaps scroll for you if it's attached to a GPS).
Tony


******Original Message******
Date: 10 Feb 2005 19:45:25 +0100
From: Prar <address truncated>
Subject: Psiwin on XP

Guys

I'm about 20 digests behind so apologies for the tardiness of this. I have summarised my current understanding of the Psiwin/XP solutions.

I have the following setup
o  Windows XP Home edition
o  Service Pack 2 installed
<<Large Snip>>
10 If you have a high mega pixel digital camera, the psion will quite happilly read your CF cards but will baulk at displaying a 3Mb jpeg (regardless of whether you use Web, Opera or Imaging).

Posts the the Digest (passim ad nauseum) suggest:

1 SP2 is not necessarily suitable for all users.
2 The Belkin USB/Serial adaptor doesn't work properly.
3 Large fast CF cards can be used with Psions, and if you can partition them correctly you can have multiple disks on one card.
4 Digital cameras are often able to resurect cards that Psions fail to recognise.

HTH

PRAR
**********

Date: 17 Feb 2005 16:26:53 +0100
From: Kevin Collins <address truncated>
Subject: Safeplace.dat; Revo battery

Hi folks,

Thanks to those who replied to my Safeplace question; I am pretty sure now that an export is not possible.

To Alan Rabbitte:  Thanks for your comments, fellow Corkman! The P910 certainly seems to be the bees knees.  The Axim has WiFi, which I love, and I'll hang on to it for that - there's a free hotspot in my local :-)

To Chris Handley: Well, if you wish to poll me, the finding is as follows: I was owner of a new Diamond Mako, followed by a Revo Plus, and was fairly painstaking in following the advised charging procedures (let it drain to circa 10%, charge overnight, machine turned off etc.) as advised here and elsewhere. Both "died" of the same fault, which is that one day the battery began to think it was 81% charged (the level where the red light goes off in the charging process) when in fact the charge was more or less zero. Whether this should be called a calibration problem, a battery problem, or whatever, is IMHO purely semantics: as you rightly point out, it is a real problem which has been experienced and documented by many Revo owners, and I will certainly attest to it. One can imagine how careful I was with the second machine, after what had happened to the first: unfortunately, to no avail; and for that reason, i.e. the "battery problem", I would not invest in another Revo. Twice bitten, thrice shy! :-)

Regards,
Kevin  [Cork, Ireland]

Date: 17 Feb 2005 16:50:05 +0100
From: Mike Isaacs <address truncated>
Subject: Re: The Digest V1 # 693 (5)

SNIP
>
>Date: 15 Feb 2005 15:09:33 +0100
>From: Chris S Handley
>Subject: 'Non-existant' battery problem of the Revo
>
>Hello Rolf B,
>
>> There's the real risk that this gets a life of its own,
>> similar to the so-called "battery problem" of the Revo.
>
Snip

>In fact, to settle this once-and-for-all, perhaps we should poll all >such Digestees to see how many of them have actually suffered the Revo >battery problem?  That should indicate the scale of the problem.
>
>---
>Chris Handley
>
For my penny-worth, I've had a Mako for over 2 and half years, and the batteries still seem OK.  The ChaDis Monitor has been saying "6 1/2
hours to 10%" when fully charged, for about a year.

I don't use the Mako every day, but it my most pocketable handheld,
after the 3a.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed re the Mako's batteries..


--
Mike Isaacs

Date: 17 Feb 2005 17:35:29 +0100
From: Mike Dyer <address truncated>
Subject: Re: UIQ Responses,Epoc to Symbian converter,Revo Battery Problem Poll.

Hi all,

Re: UIQ Responses, I think they copied the Palm OS too literally.

Re: Epoc to Symbian converter, It would be brilliant if someone could write such an application.

Re: Revo Battery Problem Poll, My beloved Revo died after 2.5 years of careful charging and discharging. In the end just having an alarm go off was enough to shut it down  :'o(

Regards,
Mike Dyer
Awaiting a 9300 with vibrate alert & camera (sigh)

Date: 17 Feb 2005 18:21:52 +0100
From: Phil Aypee <address truncated>
Subject: Emulators and RFM, EDU

Hi Folks,

Trygve, I've never used any SIBO emulator except under DOS. But other people have and I believe some flavours of Windoze won't permit you to run DOS. I assume those have the OS in, or bootstrapped from, ROM. Also few have the DOS background you and I have. As DOS is command-line oriented and most people prefer a graphical-user-interface they will prefer to try the emulator under Windoze. But, like you, I wouldn't.

I have used the 3, 3a, WA and Siena emulators but mostly the 3a one. I am getting a laptop to run the emulator so backing up my Psions should be easy *and* I'll have a PC running SIBO!

For most of *my* needs I'll be set for life then. Well, nearly anyway.

Incidentally (and for DOS folk only) I think RFM (Remote File Manager) is an unloadable TSR.

On my 5mx the RAM defragging usually reclaims well over 500 KB if I've used Opera. Otherwise it's usually about 80 KB. If you don't use Opera, or any other badly behaved programs, then memory defragging is probably rather less important.

But I imagine memory defragging will also clean up the C: drive as the C: drive is part of the RAM. Am I right?

Happy days,
Phil.

"In a democracy, the voices of the vicious and stupid count.
But under any other system, they might be running the show."

http://www.philaypee.co.uk/

Date: 17 Feb 2005 23:04:14 +0100
From: Timothy H.D. Williams <address truncated>
Subject: Revo Battery

On 17 Feb 2005, at 10:25, The Digest wrote:

> In fact, to settle this once-and-for-all, perhaps we should poll all > such Digestees to see how many of them have actually suffered the Revo > battery problem?

I have been having major problems with my Revo since it was repaired.

I have let the battery run down, given the machine a hard restart and then put it in the cradle - to find the battery reads 92 percent charged. Of course, if I try to play a sound once the machine is
removed from the cradle, the machine goes dead.

If I continue to hard restart, I can sometimes get the gauge down to zero. I then put the Revo in the cradle and it immediately jumps to 60 %.

I dearly love my Revo(s) and I am not tempted by any other platform so I would dearly love to resolve the battery problem once and for all.

T

Date: 17 Feb 2005 23:46:39 +0100
From: Jack <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Pocket Bible by Plexisoft

Hi, Ed Kaneen <<< trying to find a copy of "Pocket Bible" for the Psion 5mx, published by Plexisoft.>>>

Re
Only found is "BibleInPocket" at:
http://www.palmix.itil.com/newpalmix/products/biblepsion.htm (from a "In God we trust people" version)
The app crashes but the extracted Books.hlp (Er5 data) are easily readable without it!
HTH
J.

Please *never* give my @ddress on the Net ex. "tell a friend"

Date: 18 Feb 2005 13:06:21 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: UIQ Responses, P910 reboot, Connection Conundrum, Smartmovie (Symbian),

Answer to: Arabbitte

Re.: UIQ Responses - Personally I believe Rolf's answers are always to the point and informative, even if you don't like his style. I don't think Nokia users are more intelligent, it probably has to do more with the target market of the different type of machines. The average user of a smartphone will most probably be a "phone user" with some interest in the added functions. This interest will be more in MP3 and video files than in word processing and spreadsheets. The typical Nokia user will be a businessman (or woman) in need of word processing etc. and therefore interested in the larger rectangular scsreen, the keyboard, and prepared to "shlep" a larger phone with him. The folding keyboards somewhat bridge this difference, but that was probably not planned for by the designers / programmers. As a "proof", I still have not touched my word processor and hardly used the spreadsheet on my P910. You can't compare my mBook with the P910 for these tasks.
I have never been a fan of synchronising and don't synchronise my P910 with Outlook. My P910 is in it's cradle on my desk and if I need any info I just open it and look it up. Accordingly I can use the Categories on the P910 freely which makes it quite a lot easier to find your note back.
"Let the pontifications begin !!!" - You forgot to mention that surely the answers would be censored from the digest .... <BG>

Re. P910 reboot - I have actually never rebooted my P910 since I started using it. I noted the program Bootman but deleted it from my phone again as it was rather basic and I did not want to get stuck with a program like that having run out on the free period. Does rebooting work the same as on the Psions in that it does a soft reboot without deleting data ?

Answer to: Jake

Re.: Connection Conundrum - I seem to remember you don't have to install RCOM and that it will run even from a floppy disk ?

Answer to: Mike Dyer

Re.: Smartmovie (Symbian) - I did not get the message. However, upon checking the version data I don't think it has any use to upgrade. Still I agree, a good service.

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 18 Feb 2005 13:06:22 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: battery problem of the Revo,

Answer to: Chris S Handley

Re.: battery problem of the Revo - Rolf never said the problem does not exist, he said it is not a problem with the _batteries_. You confirm this point by writing about the problems of the charging system and the solutions of tricking the system (cold) to read the situation correctly.  Sorry Chris, I don't think we can handle a polling of the users.

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 18 Feb 2005 16:01:16 +0100
From: Timothy H.D. Williams <address truncated>
Subject: Revo battery

My battery systematically registers between 90 and 100 percent when I do a hard restart and when the real charge is about just above (true) zero.

Can anybody suggest a way of prompting the gauge to tell the truth?  I think someone suggested linking the Revo to the computer might do the trick - but I haven't found this to work.


T

Date: 18 Feb 2005 18:09:22 +0100
From: Chris C. <address truncated>
Subject: WTB: Psion Series 3a

I'm looking for a Psion 3a. In good condition, doesnt need mains adaptor.



-C.

Date: 18 Feb 2005 18:57:17 +0100
From: Phil Aypee <address truncated>
Subject: New (to me) backup machine

Hi Folks,

I've just got a new (actually old) portable PC to use as backup for my Psions, two 5mxs and a 3mx (I also have two 3cs and my original 3a). It has Windoze 95 on it but I'd prefer to use DOS 6 and Windows 3.1.

My question is whether the 5/5mx emulator will run under those as everything else I want will.

I intend to use the older stuff as I'm still familiar with it. The machine is a Twinhead SL9T-166CZ, a Pentium, 32 MB RAM and 1.2 GB hard disk. As I've quite a lot of DOS software, some pretty good Windoze stuff and I really don't need anything with greater capacity I don't see the need to get anything more modern (more expensive too).

I don't intend to connect it to the internet as my Mac does that for me if my 5mx can't cope.

Incidentally, running on mains is OK but should the machine charge the NiMH battery pack or do I need a separate charger (and a spare pack)? I've never used this kind of portable before.

Happy days,
Phil.

"If a thing is worth doing,
someone will screw it up."

http://www.philaypee.co.uk/

Date: 18 Feb 2005 19:33:39 +0100
From: Martin Maxwell <address truncated>
Subject: Re: The Digest V1 # 693 (5)

RE: UIQ Responses
To: Alan Arabbitte

Dear Alan,

Sorry for jumping into your discussion with Rolf Brunstig but I felt I might have something to add. Generally I agree with you, UIQ is somewhat dumbing down core Symbian capabilities. This, of course, does not mean that Symbian OS is not multitasking. In fact, Symbian OS is often said by engineers to be the best multitasking OS ever developed.

But I think we're talking about two completely different levels of multitasking here, and the two should not be confused. We are talking about

1. Multitasking on thread level. This is so fundamental to Symbian so Symbian would simply not be Symbian without it. I think this is the type of multitasking Rolf is principally referring to.

2. Multitasking on application level, which rather refers to the user's ability to switch between applications seamlessly and that the application should stay in the same state when in the background. I think this is what you are referring to.

>>>The multitasking behaviour of the OS on my P910 has very little to do with Sony Ericsson. This behaviour is dictated - in quite specific terms - by the user Interface which is called UIQ. Take a look at http://www.uiq.com/UIQStyleGuide/index.html for full details on this. The area in question is covered in the section called "Persistence" where I can see at least 2 stated excuses for the lack of proper multitasking:<<

This is true and substantiated by exactly the same UIQ behaviour on other UIQ phones, e.g. Motorola A920/A925/A1000 and I guess also A1010 as well as BenQ P30.

>>>Although UIQ is Symbian's standard user interface, the architecture of the operating system allows manufacturers the freedom to replace it with their own. In the case of the Nokia Communicators (including the recent 9300/9500), Nokia decided not to use the UIQ interface but developed their own to sit on top of the Symbian OS. This allows them great freedom to dictate how their system looks and feels to the user. Of course, people are free to state their own preference as to how application persistence should be handled in a multitasking environment, and I happen to think that Nokia's way is best. It certainly closely follows what most of us have seen in our Psion 5, notebooks, Revos, etc.<<<

Historically, of course, the chain of events is slightly different. The first version of UIQ - which was called something else at the time which I can't remember - was developed for the later defunct Psion-Motorola Odin project. A slightly later version appeared in Ericsson's "Sharkfin" PDA and in one Sanyo prototype. It was then called Quartz. I have personally never seen the Sanyo, but I have been using a Sharkfin for a while running Symbian OS v6 with UIQ v1. This machine had enormous resource problems while being clumsy as an iPaq. It was crashing frequenly because of that, and had serious problems with data loss. I have understood from some friends involved in the Odin project that this was the case here as well. I think this is where the decision was made to abandon the multitasking on application level, simply because the machines were simply crashing too often. And the much more resource rich SE P910 and Motorola A1000/A1010 running UIQ v2 are suffering because of this legacy.


In parallel to Quartz, Psion was developing (or at least pretended to be developing) the next generation of PDAs based on Symbian OS v6 with an updated version of the classic Eikon UI (the so called Conan and Thor of which only Conan ever reached prototype) and Nokia was developing a successor to their GEOS communicators. These developments were referred to as the Crystal reference design as they shared the same features and came from the same root. Hence, in terms of *lineage*, Crystal as can be seen today in the 9500, 9300 and 7710 models has *always* been the direct descendant - even codewise - of the Psion 5mx/Revo/netPad type user interface (Eikon).

Then two things happened. Psion decided to exit and Nokia decided that none of the existing reference designs fit their needs for a mass market phone. For a short while Symbian was trying to accommodate Nokia with a "Pearl" reference design. In Symbian's mind, Pearl was to be a slight variant of Quartz made for a smaller screen and one hand operation. Pearl was not to have multitasking on application level either. But Pearl really never existed. Instead Nokia decided this was still not sufficient for their needs though they went along with the general ideas of Pearl and developed Series 60. In conjunction with these events Symbian decided not to provide UIs at all. Since there was no other takers of the Crystal UI now that Psion had pulled out, Nokia also continued the Crystal development on their own which evolved into current day Series 80 and Series 90.

We can still see these events inscribed into the various UI object classes, with Eikon still as the base class with some minor extensions since Psion time (called Uikon), and Qkon (UIQ), Avkon (S60) and Ckon (S80/S90) extending (or dumbing down) the base classes.

For a while it looked as if Symbian wanted to dispose of the Quartz user interface as well, and I think if Ericsson had been financially stronger at the time and their mobile phone business had not gone through a major crisis following catastrophic drop in market share (which ultimately led to the Sony-Ericsson JV) Ericsson would have picked up Quartz for themselves, but as it now happened Symbian changed their minds - or perhaps was left with no other option - than to keep Quartz, now called UIQ.

> I have emailed Symbian on a number of occasions asking them why and I have also asked them if the new UIQ (the recently announced V3) was any different, but I have yet to get a response. Perhaps they forgot the reason(s) themselves? Maybe the real reason is "just because"?<

The historical description above would indicate that this is the right answer. I think it was simply the enormous problems they initially had with the Odin and Ericsson Sharkfin project which led them to remove the application level multitasking. The need to remove it was later supported by the "Pearl" requirements from Nokia. And it stayed on from then.

So it seems to me in conclusion that the removal of application level multitasking on UIQ is not something which is fundamental to UIQ as it stands today. UIQ does not suffer from resource shortage anymore. With a bit of pressure from users, I cannot see any reasons why UIQ should not reestablish application level multitasking in future versions.

Kind regards
Martin Maxwell Harnevie
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia
http://www.f2m.com.my

Date: 19 Feb 2005 11:36:29 +0100
From: Mike Dyer <address truncated>
Subject: SE p910 Keyboard

Hi all,

is the keyboard on the SE p910 actually any good ?

Thanks,
Mike Dyer.

Date: 19 Feb 2005 12:54:49 +0100
From: Arabbitte <address truncated>
Subject: P910 Corporate email, etc

Itamar,

Thanks for your responses on smartmovie. 130mb for a film that was probably 4GB on a DVD is very impressive compression -30:1 - is the resulting audio/visual quality ok?

Corporate email: This is simply POP3 access to our private work email - exchange based - over  public gprs & internet. Using the P910's own email client.

All the best from Cork, Ireland (On a weekend away)
Alan Rabbitte