- Re:9500 vs 5mx

- Solun Santa seen

- RE: Psions vs Mobile Phones

- RE: (25 reasons) 9500 keyboard

- Browsers with Banks

- Quote by Benjamin Franklin

- Which mobile phone do you prefer to augment your 5mx

- RMRBank data transfer

- 9500 keyboard

- Re Which mobile phone do you prefer to augment your 5mx

- modem for my 5mx?, keyboard, SE P990,

- Re: Infrared and Comms

- Why I still use my Psion

- Installing DOS Emulator

Date: 22 Dec 2005 20:24:10 +0100
From: ktabic <address truncated>
Subject: Re:9500 vs 5mx

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 09:23:03 +0100, the sky darkened, lightning flashed and the voice of Martin Maxwell spake thus:

> Subject: 25 reasons why I will continue to use the Psion Series 5mx for at least another two decades.

>And I don't think I'm entirely alone. Judging from earlier communciation with POS Ltd and Clove, remanufactured 5mx devices are still selling. And I recently purchased another 5mx and two MC218s as spares.

Good, I'm thinking of buying another 5mx, since I miss my old one, since I sold it ab out a year ago.

> 1. Keyboard. It has been stated by some that an external keyboard will allow faster typing on a Nokia 9500, Nokia 9300 or a SE P900/910. While this is true in many situations, my need is for a tool which is instantly typeable and which can be typed on also when there is no flat desk surface. This rules out using a foldable external keyboard. Grabbing the 5mx from the breifcase and opening it for typing is just as fast as pulling the stylo out from the P900 and much faster than setting up and pair the external keyboard. If you want to capture the moment before your short term memory decides to abort the handover of a nugget of information to your long term memory is a question of seconds. The 5mx does it. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

I've been playing with external keyboards on the 9500 recently, and have been having a few problems with them. And given the amount I've typed over the last couple of months, I find myself missing that 5mx keyboard.

> 12. Thesaurus. Still the fastest I've seen. Not as versatile as some online ones, like Dictionary.com, but pretty good. I use it a lot. Nothing similar available for Series 80 and UIQ unless you purchase fully fledged dictionaries. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

The thesaurus is something else I miss for the 9500.

> 15. Look & feel. Well now you'd think I'm just adding in things to reach 50, eh? Nope, for me the looks are important. The 5mx has a timeless feel about it. Moreover, it doesn't exude FMCG gadgetry. The colour and casing is like a Jaguar Sovereign. Eternal. Fine lines, discrete colours, stylish boilerplate. It melts just into my favourite creative setting of rainforest furniture, leather chairs and balinese gardens. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

Oh yes, there's something about the way the 5mx looks that makes it unforgettable.

> 16. Sunlight. Absence of colour is not of any importance whatsoever for what I'm using the 5mx for. The 5mx screen performs very well in any light condition, from the most intense sunlit beach to the darkness of an airplane cabin at night. The 5mx still reigns supreme.

I have to disagree with you here, but only cause my 9500's screen is as good as (well better, due to the colour bit) as the 5mx (at least how I remember the 5mx, but then I tend to fail most over devices on the subject of displays whencomparing them to the 5mx. Steve, maybe another row for you grid, display quality)

> The 'Windows-style' shortcut desktop which was introduced in Series 80 v2 (9500, 9300) is not for me.

Must admit, I'm not overly impressed with the 9500 desk, I want folders within folders, as a minium. I'm sure I could think of a few more features that would be nice to.

As an aside, can the 5mx send/receive via infrared to a 9500?

--
Call me ktabic

Date: 22 Dec 2005 22:56:50 +0100
From: Jack
Subject: Solun Santa seen

To all and Joe Fell <Subject: Happy Holidays>

<<<Users of the Solun astronomy program will be looking forward to seeing Santa and some reindeer on the sky display over the next few days.>>>

Re :
Already here (172.0.0.1;-)
*HaPpY 2005 endings to all*
Jack

Date: 22 Dec 2005 23:24:21 +0100
From: Alan Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: Psions vs Mobile Phones

Phil Aypee <address truncated> wrote:-

||>  Armin’s point about battery life is very well taken, at
||> least by me.
||>
||> Recently I was in hospital .... I took my 3mx .... but
||>  AAs are common, even in hospital.

||> alkaline AAs for other purposes (CD player, etc.), I always
||> have spares with me.

I always carry spare AA alkalines.

||> And I don’t have a car.

But I do and still use the same devices as Phil.

||> It may be that there are machines at least as suitable for
||> my purposes as the Psions but I’d find it pointless to
||> change. The Psions are about the ideal size, have
||> more-than-adequate software available, can do all I want
||> and are fairly stable.

I would say very, not fairly, stable.  But I do find the nB less stable
than the 7 and the 5mxPRO less stable than the 5mx.  Both probably due
to less testing prior to OS release.

I also have a hand bag, bought in Germany - where else!

In it is a 3mx (for Agenda), 5mxPRO, Revo+ (it's quicker to get out and
no screen ribbon problems) and a PPC (FS-720 for digital pictures).

The PPC has a high speed processor, but is very slow and I don’t use any
features that are much better on Psions.  It also needs mains to charge
it's none standard batteries (the spare was expensive) and loses
everything when the battery goes flat with lack of use - no 'FastBackup'
Chris H.

Alan Morris

Date: 22 Dec 2005 23:24:22 +0100
From: Alan Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: (25 reasons) 9500 keyboard

Simon Jeffree <address truncated>  wrote:-

||> >I'll bet I can get 10 words into my 9500 from a standing ||> start faster than you and your Psion. The keyboard's not ||> *that* much worse 8-)
||>
||> Steve, you may well be quicker with those initial 10 words ||> (although I doubt it) but you would probably not be so accurate.

That's what I thought when I first read that comment.  I have used one of these keyboards and found it most unsuitable.  Why do manufacterers fob us off with such rubbish.  The quality of the 5mx and even the older 3a is superior.

||> There are no key combinations to move the cursor to the top
||> or bottom of a document, or the start or end of a line.

More defects!

||> When scrolling around a document using the cursor keys
||> (because of the problem with the joypad) I often find my
||> finger wanders across to another key.  I can't feel when
||> this happens, because the keyboard is too flat & I'm busy
||> reading the document, so I can't see it happening either. 
||> So I end up accidentally pressing 'm' or '/', or moving in
||> the wrong direction.

More poor design!

||> Unlike the mirky 5mx screen, the 9500 has a wonderful
||> screen that that is really easy to read in all lighting
||> conditions.  But this is totally spoilt by the fact that
||> the keyboard is not backlit & so you can't type on it in
||> low or zero light conditions.

This is so often the case with so called 'upgraded' products.  The new 'thingy' is great, but that more than compensates for the older technology, we are told.

||> it frustrates me that
||> too often the real usability of the Psions & the poor
||> usability of the newer devices is overlooked in favour of
||> the features of the newer devices, regardless of whether
||> those features are actually necessary.

Simon, I call this modern design concept - 'wizz kid designed'.
Designed but a young person with a new degree, that thinks that (s)he is the answer to all problems.

They may have a degree, but are lacking in experience and how to use the previous model.  I've nothing against those with a degree, after all I married one, but generally they have too high an opinion of their self and no understanding of their missing knowledge.

When I was being trained as a valve engineer, I spent 3, 6 or 9 months in various departments.  When it was my turn to be in the engineering department, I at first wondered why I had been put with the only HNC engineer, as all the others had a degree.  It did not take long to realise that I had been put with the best engineer in the department.

Alan Morris.

Date: 22 Dec 2005 23:26:30 +0100
From: Keith Giles <address truncated>
Subject: Browsers with Banks

Simon Jefree wrote:

> I've always found it so painful using a banking website on anything > other than I.E. on a PC that I've just given up.

FWIW, I use Opera on my PC, access 4 different bank websites, and have no problems with them. Maybe UK banks are different? :-)


Happy Cycling,
Keith
Sunnyvale, CA

http://ohsix827.home.comcast.net

Thought For The Day: Some people don't hesitate to speak their mind because they have nothing to lose.

Date: 23 Dec 2005 01:38:17 +0100
From: brudolph <address truncated>
Subject: Quote by Benjamin Franklin

Quote by Benjamin Franklin.   For those Neo-cons that don't who he is, as they don't act like they do, he was one of our Founding Fathers.



Benjamin Franklin:

"When will men be convinced that even successful wars do at length become misfortunes to those who unjustly commerc'd them, and who triumph'd blindly in their success, not seeing all its consequences. There is so little good gain'd, and so much mischief done generally by wars that I wish the imprudence of undertaking them was more evident to princes. For in my opinion there never was a good war, or a bad peace. What vast additions to the conveniences and comforts of living might mankind have acquired if the money spent in wars had been employed in works of public utility!"



Thanks,
Bob



People will forget what you said .
People will forget what you did .
But people will never forget how you made them feel.

Date: 23 Dec 2005 02:05:49 +0100
From: Austin
Subject: Which mobile phone do you prefer to augment your 5mx

>In the meantime, is there a recent generation cell phone out there that would make up for my lack of WiFi access or that would act as a modem for my 5mx?

I have long been a fan of Nokia for many of the reasons that I'm a fan of Psion - simplicity, intuitiveness and, well, the ability to get the job done. But I have never really understood why anyone would need both a Psion and a communicator type phone.  On the other hand, if what you want is a means to email and access the web at a reasonable speed as part of a two-box approach, you won't go far wrong with a Nokia 6230i.  It has infrared, for compatibility with older devices but also has bluetooth for talking to your laptop/ desktop/ other phones/ devices.  It can send and receive files directly from the 5mx (piBeam needed on the Psion) and its fairly straightforward to set up GPRS and GSM communications - assuming you've got Opera on your Psion and smtpauth for email if you need it, you're all set.
I haven't tried Phoneman Pro yet with the 6230i (I only just got it) but it was a breeze to use it with my 6230 to send SMS and sync contacts.  BTW, to those that need their communicators for their contacts, all my contacts, calendar and tasks are synced with my Nokia 6230i and Psion - I simply choose which device to take with me, usually the phone at all times, the Psion less so - e.g. not to the pub!

I love my 6230i as it's such a good companion and has a combination of features that you'll find hard to replicate in any other phone.  I originally chose it (the 6230) because it was the only Nokia (and still is, as far as I can see) with irDA, Bluetooth, FM radio and MP3 player (512MB card - 100+ tunes).  I don't know about other makes but I've never seen such a combination elsewhere, though I'm sure it must exist.  But many new phones don't have irDA if they have the other features as it's probably regarded as obsolescent technology now.  Other essential features for me are 1.3 megapixel camera, Contacts, Calendar etc, Web and Email.  One can even IM (instant message) should one wish to!

I suspect that I'll remain a two box person simply because there will always be places where a communicator (i.e. phone) cannot be used and because there will always be other times when I need the smallest device practicable - yet I still have my contacts and calendar with me.  I see nothing that comes anywhere close to my present combination within those parameters.

My main worry with the Psion looking into the future is whether it will continue to be possible to PsiWin with Windows when Longhorn arrives - if not it will severely curtail what I do with it and that will be a sad day indeed - in fact it will probably mean I won't upgrade to Longhorn until it becomes absolutely unavoidable.

Best wishes
Austin


Please do not type my e-mail address into any web pages (e-card or send to a friend or similar)

Date: 23 Dec 2005 05:21:22 +0100
From: Mark Kenepp <address truncated>
Subject: RMRBank data transfer

To: All

Re: RMRBank Data Transfer

I have been following the discussions on the Nokia 9300/9500 with great interest and may be looking into getting one of these devices. I appreciate all of you that have given their input.

Have any of you with a Nokia 9300 or 9500 transferred RMRBank data from your EPOC r5 device to the 9300/9500 version of the program?

I am wondering how easy the transfer is.

TIA

Mark Kenepp
San Francisco, CA

Date: 23 Dec 2005 06:39:23 +0100
From: Steve Litchfield <address truncated>
Subject: 9500 keyboard

>>Steve, you may well be quicker with those initial 10 words (although I doubt it) but you would probably not be so accurate.

By standing start, I included the time needed to extra the Psion from your pocket and open up the folding mechanism. 8-)

>>I have to keep looking away from the screen & down to the keyboard to aim my fingers visually at the right key, because I can't rely on feeling the keys.

Ah. Yes, touch typists will be far more comfortable on the Psion. Although I can type fast, I still look at my PC keyboard while I'm doing it...

>>There are no key combinations to move the cursor to the top or bottom of a document, or the start or end of a line. (Also, see next para.)

Not true. Similar key combos to Word on a Psion. From memory (my 9500's upstairs) Chr+(navright) is end of line, etc. etc.

>>Nokia have done a brilliant job in those respects.  It has excellent tactile feedback & because it sticks out above the rest of the keyboard, it is easy to locate by feel, without

Unlike on the 9300, which is awful in this regard. Note.

>>Also, despite its good action, I still find it fiddly trying to press the joypad in without accidentally selecting one of the directions.  This would be OK because you can use the

As with most devices, this just takes getting used to. Honest.

>>I often find my finger wanders across to another key.  I can't feel when this happens,

LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD! [big grin]

>>Unlike the mirky 5mx screen, the 9500 has a wonderful screen that that is really easy to read in all lighting conditions.  But this is totally spoilt by the fact that the keyboard is not backlit & so you can't type on it in low or zero light conditions.  However, there is a

Agreed. Can't see why they didn't backlight this.

Happy Christmas, all!

..........................
Steve Litchfield, 3-Lib, http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/, software and features for Psion/Symbian handhelds and smartphones. Journalism: sub-editor and/or senior contributor to: Palmtop User - http://www.palmtop.co.uk/ and PDA Essentials magazine in the UK. Also reviews editor for AllAboutSymbian - http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/

Date: 23 Dec 2005 11:29:13 +0100
From: Martin Maxwell <address truncated>
Subject: Re Which mobile phone do you prefer to augment your 5mx

Subject: Re Which mobile phone do you prefer to augment your 5mx Answer to: Chris Holly

Dear Chris,

>I may someday go to a Nokia 9500. I need to see one in real life to see if i will like typing class notes and letters on it as well as I like my 5mx. In the meantime, is there a recent generation cell phone out there that would make up for my lack of WiFi access or that would act as a modem for my 5mx?

The ones I'm considering at the moment are the Nokia 9300i and the Sony Ericsson P990. I often use my current P900 as a modem for the 5mx which brings GPRS and, depending on operator, EDGE. Any of the other two would add WiFi.

I'm also considering a Series 60 phone for my second operator. Could be an E61, E70 or N70.

Kind regards
Martin Maxwell
Stockholm ~ Sweden



Subject: Re (25 reasons) 9500 keyboard
Answer to: Simon Jeffree

Dear Simon,

>But anyway, this misses the important thing for me, which is that the keyboard on the 9500 requires so much more concentration than that >of the 5mx.  It diverts too much of my brain power away from what I'm thinking about that I forget what I was going to type anyway.  I find this >makes it very difficult to use in meetings, as I can't listen & type at the same time on the 9500, but I can on the 5mx.

This is also my finding. I should have included i this into the 25 reasons list.

In fact, at one point writing the list I had close to 50 reasons, but I cut it down to 25 due to too many overlaps and it just became to long...

Kind regards
Martin Maxwell
Stockholm ~ Sweden

Date: 23 Dec 2005 13:51:27 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: modem for my 5mx?, keyboard, SE P990,

Answer to: Christopher Holly

Re.: modem for my 5mx? - My P910 works very well with my mBook which is basically the same as a 5MX.

Answer to: Simon Jeffree

Re.: keyboard - As I mentioned earlier, we have a client who at meetings takes out his PDA, unfolds his foldable keyboard and types away during the meeting without problems, hesitation or "shame". You could add such a keyboard to your 9500 (or others to their PDA) to use during meetings, lessons, etc. where in general you have space on the table in front of you.

Answer to: Franco Cozzani

Re.: SE P990 - Well, I think the keyboard of the P910 & P990 is not functional for any typing at all but for entries of a name or address, a few words to describe a meeting in your diary, etc. Whenever you need to type anything longer than that, forget it. On my 910 I use mostly handwriting on the screen which I think works quite well and is faster than using the keys but for the few difficult caracters like : or @. I think my P910 is a very visuable machine, the screen size is a very important feature of the phone. I play some games on it (bridge, hearts), do some emailing and watch movies (Smartmovie) which will all suffer with a smaller screen. My diary will look smaller which is also a negative factor. I would take a very close look at the P990 before I would decide to get one (probably not, but who knows ...). In the meantime my P910 works wonders and I really don't need a change.

To All:  I wish you all seasonl greetings and a happy New Year, a happy christmas as well as a happy Chanuka, a week of lights for all.

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 23 Dec 2005 15:08:24 +0100
From: Marcus von Cube <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Infrared and Comms

Jake

>What am I doing wrong, and if I can't adjust the Infrared settings in  Comms, then does anyone know their defaults?

There are basically two types of IR connectivity. The straight and simple approach is "Direct IR" which means that just the transmit and receive cabling is replaced by the IR transmitters and receivers. You can (and need to) adjust all other parameters in the same way as if there were a three wire
connection, such as baud rate, parity, handshake (only software handshake possible).

The more complicated but more common approach is IRDA which is a complete communications
protocol. All parameters are either fixed or being negotiated. IRDA knows about device types and
names and can simulate a simple serial communication *on top* of the IRDA protocol.

EPOC Comms on the netBook supports both operation modes; on the Mako it should be the same.

Marcus

http://www.mvcsys.de

Date: 23 Dec 2005 15:10:35 +0100
From: Wong Koi Hin <address truncated>
Subject: Why I still use my Psion

Hello there,

in the spirit of Martin Maxwell's recent post on the reasons why he is still using his Psion 5mx and will probably continue to do so for the forseeable future, here are some of my thoughts.

<Why I still use my Psion Netbook>

I got the Psion Mbook some 3+ years ago from Sita in Malaysia and must say it ranks as one of best value for money purchases.

1. Its my laptop replacement...most of time. I need to make frequent short trips around the Asia region. The flight times of these journeys rarely last more than 5 hours. The Mbook is compact enough for airline seat trays yet feature a near full-size keyboard which I just love. If you need to do quite a bit of word processing, then something like the Netbook/Mbook is ideal. Since formatting a document nicely to be printed is usually *not* my concern, I am actually mostly using a plain text editor rather than the in-built Word. The portability of ASCII can't be beat. The weight/usable keyboard is hard to beat either. The 7-8 hr battery life is better than most laptops out there *even* when they use an extra long life battery pack. Despite not being made out of space-age materials, my Mbook feels more rugged than the latest super-alloyed laptops while being about the same weight.

2. I am still using archaic protocols for my email and the Mbook handles them fine. The Mbook is not my main email machine but my 'away' machine where I need to check my mails and write replies on the road. I don't bother syncing it with my laptop or workstation. I always send a copy to self of any mail I send out on the Mbook. No mails downloaded are ever deleted from the server. I archive off emails more than 9 months old to prevent a bloated Email program.

3. Reliability. In the 3+ years I had it the Mbook hanged maybe twice and both times because of a problem with an application I was trying. Can't say the same for my laptop. Just had its harddisk replaced after 2 years, not to mention the crashes every now and then.

Basically the Mbook does fulfill my needs...up to a point.

<Why I would like to get a replacement for my Netbook>

1. Its not a complete Laptop replacement. The bane of every travelling executive...try as you might, at some point you will need to do a presentation. For many it seems presentations are only what they do! 2 missing ingredients: the lack of a presentation tool and a VGA-Out. I
can hear folks at the back screaming at my ignorance now...yes, I am aware you can get some rudimentary presentation software for Psion. However, frequently I will need to uh... 'borrow' presentation material from others and they usually are in MS Powerpoint format. I need to be
at least able to open and display PPT or PPS files. I can't do this on the Mbook. There is of course the Voyager PCMCIA VGA-out card but I do not have one and its not easy for me to get.

2. On those occasions where I need to take my laptop along, bringing the Mbook along seems silly and a touch redundant not to mention your protesting shoulders on the extra weight when you realise what your
Mbook can do your Laptop can do, just not as well.

3. The WWW and other irritants. Even with Opera 5, web-surfing on the Mbook is not all smooth selling. I don't need the latest uber browser. Just a basic HTML 4.0 compliant browser that doesn't take ages to load. Increasingly I am getting more and more documents in PDF format. PDF+ on the Psion is barely adequately and terribly slow.

Every now and then something will catch my eye as a potential replacement but none ever quite make the cut. So I think I will hang on to my Mbook just a little longer. I am also keeping an eye on Linux on Psion with interest. It might just breath new life into my Psion once it gets to a user usable stage.

Cheers,

Koi Hin

Date: 23 Dec 2005 08:02:00 +0100
From: Chris Pulster <address truncated>
Subject: Installing DOS Emulator

> But I got hung up trying to install the dos emulator

I worked out a very simple 2-step-installation:

1. copy the file XTM.SIS to your Psion C:\
2. copy the file drivea.dsk to your Psion C:\XTM


XTM ist the DOS Emulator application:
http://www.nb-info.co.uk/xtminfo.htm

drivea.dsk is a MSDOS image, if you have a MSDOS licence, get it here: http://mypsion.ru/files/xtmdos.zip


Thats it. Now you can use Word 5.5:
http://www.wordstar.org/computing/y2k/y2k.htm#WORD5
DBASE, Norton Commander, TurboPascal, MonkeyIsland etc pp.


Christoph (Psion Shop www.pulster.de)