Epocdigest V1 # 581

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Epoc Digest Mon, 23 Aug 2004 Volume 01 : Number 581

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Sent to: 747 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 07 messages:

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- Symbian platform

- Psi Win removal, the importance of backing up, bluetooth keyboards.

- Re: slow backups with Norton AV

- Re: URL downloader

- Can't find these ?!x!?? OPX's !!!

- RE: Widened Epocdigest

- Re: various

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

Date: 22 Aug 2004 09:27:58 +0100

From: Itamar Engelsman

Subject: Symbian platform

I, like others, would be interested to hear from current Symbian users how they managed the transfer from EPOC to Symbian, what programs they miss and what programs they found new that Epoc did not have, and what third party software they found necessary to download (free-, shareware and commercial). Quickoffice will probably be an absolute need, but are there others around ? How did you or did you not manage without a keyboard, or did you buy a third party one ?

Best regards,

Itamar Engelsman

London, UK

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

Date: 22 Aug 2004 10:40:16 +0100

From: Mike Dyer

Subject: Psi Win removal, the importance of backing up, bluetooth keyboards.

Hi all,

well after 3 weeks using just the p800 as a replacement for my p7389 Motorola / Psion Revo+ combination I decided to uninstall Psi Win from my computer as I feel I won't need it anymore as the p800 is covering all my needs wonderfully.

After reading about PsiWin removal tools in the past I was quite concerned that it might be a messy process but PsiWin 2.3.3 is sorted at any rate and was uninstalled completely at the first attempt, including the desktop icon removal, just requiring a windows typical reboot to complete the deinstallation.

Twelve o'clock yesterday I backed up the phone to my pc, a weekly habit thankfully, from my Psion days because fiddling with file manager at 6pm removing old shareware folders I accidentally deleted the system folder on the p800 and corrupted most of my applications.

Feeling a right idiot I tried the Sony Ericsson restore program for the first time and about 8 minutes later everything was back to normal (phew), I shan't touch it again, the thought of loosing the past three weeks 'moving in' and customisation was a little heartbreaking.

Oh by the way Itamar regarding the p800/p900/p910 Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard on the inside back page of the new 'Palmtop' there is an advert from 'Widget' and they have it on sale now.

Incidentally I'm finding that my back issues of 'Palmtop' have a new relevance since moving to Symbian/UIQ when wishing to learn about new applications etc.

Regards,

Mike Dyer.

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

Date: 22 Aug 2004 11:41:44 +0100

From: Chris S Handley

Subject: Re: slow backups with Norton AV

Mike Dyer wrote:

> My p800 backup suite only does full backups

> I have discovered that if I switch off Norton Anti Virus the

> pc suite works about 50 times faster, I think Norton fights

> against it somehow.

Norton AV is pretty aweful; to provide it's thorough anti-virus protection, it will scan EVERY file that is opened for writing - even if no (or little) data is actually written/added!

This means that if a program (such as a backup utility) is opening lots of files ready for writing, that Norton will suck the CPU time by scanning every such file for viruses from it's large catalogue.

It also means that letting WinUAE (an Amiga emulator) directly access Windows files will greatly slow-down WinUAE, because the AmigaOS has no true read-only mode, and so every file is opened for writing... :-(

Regards,

Chris Handley

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

Date: 22 Aug 2004 23:30:07 +0100

From: Alan Morris

Subject: Re: URL downloader

Jack wrote:-

I've used Web (7) and Opera (nB) and while they are OK for the occasional use, others here have commented on their limitations. So I use w98 for IE, I've got XP on a new laptop, but that will never be connected to the net.

> From a Window MSOE email message, Ctl+F2 is the quickest way

> I ever know for copying any selected text (like a Url or

> e-Ad) directly to (last opened) Notepad file.

This sounds interesting, but I've tried it in w98 and it did not work.

> Freeware such as Ian Chapple' MyNote and Shareware like

> nConvert does convert most Epoc native formats to Html.

I've just downloaded Ian's MyNote after he mentioned it's ability in the area, but not had a chance to try it.

> But it looks quicker to not converting at all :

> On your psion, you could keep your urls page in .txt format

> and open it (bookmarked or not) with Web or Opera or Word (or

> any other native epoc app) or Editor and use the "hyperlink"

> function that most macro launcher such as Assistant have

> built in; or alternately use : Translauncher.opo or

> Hyperlink.opo from Nicolas ("thanks for ever") site.

I've just exported my URL EPOC Word file to .txt and opened it in Opera - no joy. So I guess that I need to highlight a URL (Shift + cursor) and invoke either of the .opo you mention.

I've used Macro5 for years and don't want to use another. Do Translauncher.opo or Hyperlink.opo work with Macro5 and do as indicated above?

Many thanks for your advice.

Alan R Morris, G4ENS.

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.

Using a Psion netBook & Nokia 6210e.

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

Date: 23 Aug 2004 10:28:24 +0100

From: Gilles G. CASANOVA

Subject: Can't find these ?!x!?? OPX's !!!

Hi,

As many psioneers, I'm experiencing problems with sharewares written using OPX's, which were nor included in the distribution package or in the sis file. Does anyone know of a valid source for the most common OPXs ?

I'm missing buffer1.opx, but I guess this might happen again for other OPXs in the future !!!!

I found an opx package, but it seems intended for the windows emulator, not the harware psion 5 ...

Thanks for your help !

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

Date: 23 Aug 2004 11:00:27 +0100

From: Martin Maxwell

Subject: RE: Widened Epocdigest

Answer tp: Itamar Engelsman Subject: RE: Widened Epocdigest

Dear Itamar,

As you probably might have guessed already from most of my postings in Epocdigest, I think this is an excellent idea. As you rightly point out it has sufficient common ground.

A small anecdote. I just played around with a Nokia 9500 for the first time. I loaded in a JPEG picture into the Image application. First question; what type of conversions does it support? I went to 'Save As' to check the options. One said 'Save as EPOC bitmap format'! Come on, this is Symbian OS v7s with Series 80 v2! And the OS still makes references to EPOC! Just to verify I saved the picture as 'EPOC bitmap format' and beamed it over to a netBook. Yes that's it, good old MBM...

cheers

Martin Maxwell

Stockholm - Sweden

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

Date: 23 Aug 2004 13:23:17 +0100

From: Martin Maxwell

Subject: Re: various

Answer to Itamar Engelsman

RE: What next?

I must defend Steve a bit. He is attempting to give a very easy and understandable description of the various Symbian user interfaces. I think he succeeds in doing so, despite this matter being rather complex. However, he does *not* attempt to provide a complete roadmap for migration. I do not think anyone can at the moment, but see my comments below.

>- What are the differences between all the various Symbian OS's (60,80,90, UIQ)<

First, it is important to understand the difference between Operating System (OS) and User Interface (UI). Symbian is currently the only platform that comprehensively supports multiple UIs. It is the combination of the OS version and the UI which defines the possible features of a device, the 'featurebandwidth' if you will.

Secondly, at the end of the day it is the device manufacturer who decides which features he wishes to include or not. Hence, regardless of OS and UI you need to check model for model. For instance there are certain things supported by the SE P900 (UIQ / Symbian OS v7) which are not supported by SE P800 or Moto A925 (both UIQ / Symbian OS v7) etc. The Sendo X (Series 60 / Symbian OS v6.1) has certain features not supported in the Nokia 6600 (Series 60 / Symbian OS v7).

Third, which 3rd party applications which are available is entirely up to each application developer and neither Symbian nor the device manufacturer can do much about it.

Instead, I think Steve's grid is very helpful:

http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/grid.htm

This grid compares the various feature classes on a device-to-device basis. Clearly, assumed you wish to stay with Symbian, the Nokia 9210 and SE P900 are the best alternatives; soon to be supplanted by Nokia 9500 and SE P910.

In any case, here is a rough and brief walkthrough of Symbian OS versions and what of importance was added in each version.

ER5/v5

---------

Contacts engine with multiple clients and vCard

Messaging engine with MTM and MIME support

WiFi support in later builds, e.g. netBook, netPad

ER5.1/ER5u/v5.1

----------------------

Telephony

Unicode

SMS stack

v6/"ER6"

-----------

Media Server

WAP stack

MS Office converters

OBEX

v6.1/"ER6.1"

----------------

Bluetooth

GPRS

v7/"ER7"

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MMS

Application level internet protocols

SyncML

v7s/"ER7s"

--------------

Media server replaced by multithreaded multimedia framework

Support for 3G, e.g. W-CDMA, EDGE

And here's a similar walkthrough of the key UI characteristics.

Series 60

-----------

Screen: Portrait, 176x208 pixels (somewhat larger screens to be supported in the near future)

Input: Function buttons, Numeric Keypad, Arrow keys

Key design objective: One hand operation

Series 80

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Screen: Landscape, 640 x 200 pixels (there is software support for up to 640 x 480 but this has never been used to date)

Input: Full keyboard, Function buttons, Arrow keys

Key design objective: Complete mobile office (text, voice, supporting apps)

Series 90

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Screen: Landscape, 640 x 320 pixels (as previously announced for the cancelled Nokia 7700; there is software support for up to 800 x 600)

Input: Full keyboard (optional), Touch screen, Arrow keys

Key design objective: Complete mobile multimedia station

UIQ

-----

Screen: Portrait, 208x320 pixels (somewhat larger screens are also supported, but has bever been used except for in unreleased prototypes; with UIQ 3 also smaller screens are supported)

Input: Full keyboard (optional), Touch screen, Function keys

Key design objective: Small form factor full PDA & Phone replacement

Eikon

------

Screen: Portrait, 640x240 pixels (there is software support for up to 640 x 480, e.g. netBook and Geofox One)

Input: Full keyboard (optional), Touch screen or XY-pad (optional), Function keys (optional)

Key design objective: Mobile computer

I added in ER5 and Eikon, because that's the OS and UI respectively which we're coming from.

>- What difficulties will we encounter when one day we might change from the EPOC platform to Symbian ? What is compatible (directly and/or indirectly) and what not ?<

I think one of the main tasks of the new EpocSymbian digest is to share experiences on this. No one can fully tell today. I and others have contributed various experiences, in my case being a user of P900 and netBook.

With enough interest, there would also be an incentive for OPL developers to make life easier. OPL applications could prepare files and assist in moving files across ER5 and Symbian phones.

>- What is the software we definitely will not be able to replace, like Macro5, Assistant, Crontab, etc.<

I have certain hopes that there *will* be Macro5-type applications for Symbian phones. This has a lot to do with the availability of OPL - as an application like Macro5 draws a lot from the power and ease of use of OPL - and there is a lot of progress in this area. But then again, it is really up to the developers of those applications and the need for those applications in the first place.

>- On the other hand, what software is available that was not available on the Epoc OS, Bluetooth, Wifi, etc. ?

Another task for EpocSymbian Digest.

BTW: WiFi *is* available for ER5 on device basis, i.e. netBook. The Nokia 9500 is not the first as some people might think.

Kind regards

Martin Maxwell

Stockholm - Sweden

Answer to: Manuel Campos Galvan

Subject: RE: Psion turns its nose up at consumer

>The handhled, the Workabout Pro utilises an Intel XScale 255MHz processor and majors very heavily on connectivity. The C (colour) version can support GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.<

See comments below. I am not particularly impressed with the Workabout Pro from a purely practical standpoint.

>Interestingly you could use both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth simultaneously if you chose to, but Psion Teklogix recommends you wait for Bluetooth 1.2 before you try this.<

The Workabout 'classic' works very well already with Free2move's Bluetooth serial port plug. Wi-Fi will drain the battery much faster so it is not a practical option anyway.

>But the list price for a Workabout Pro goes from 866 to 2349 Euros. Not exactly cheap for a handheld.<

My first reaction to the Workabout Pro is that it's not a particularly well designed product. The Workabout 'classic' is easy to carry, can be operated while wearing thick gloves, fits easily into a pocket etc. The Workabout Pro comes out as clumsy in comparison. Of course the screen is larger and can present more information at the same time, but is this really needed? Secondly, the buttons are much smaller and not as intuitive. An experienced user can key in data and do simple operations such as print receipt with the Workabout 'classic' with one hand and without looking. This will be very difficult if possible at all with the Workabout Pro.

>Dawalibi claims that Teklogix's customers are more focused on service, support and durability rather than price.<

His problem is that Psion has been known for its U-turns, L-turns and inconsistent service and leaving many customers in the lurch, regardless of whether it's consumer or enterprise market. I also think Mr Dawalibi has lost the plot. He has given up the single differentiating factor that Teklogix could bring to the market, the choice of a device platform with high commonality with the leading mobile phone platform.

>Nonetheless, he revealed that his company is talking to interested parties about the possibility of a consumer version of its existing Netbook product.<

As long as a Symbian version was still in the cards, this was realistic, the benefit for Teklogix being that they could offer this platform as an option - principally for non-US markets - as well. Offering the netBook as a consumer version on WinCE and/or Linux is a non-starter as there are literally hundreds of Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian and Honkie contract manufacturers who can design an equally good machine for lesser price.

>Quite why Psion Teklogix required a $136 million cash injection from the sale of a stake in Symbian is unlear, however.<

Symbol, it's worst competitor, recently acquired Matrix, one of the leading RFID manufacturers. That might give a hint.