- My Psions and me...

- RE: GPS on a Psion

- RE: Usage of Psions - with weather stations.

- Psion & digest, Serial to USB, N97,

Date: 5 Dec 2008 09:15:36 +0000
From: Trygve Henriksen <address truncated>
Subject: My Psions and me...

Since everyone else is mentioning how they use their Psions it's probably my time to rattle on...

I started using a S3a back in 95 or so, when a worker at a local computer store lent me the machine, and more importantly, the programming manual... (Everyone else he had lent one to had come back a few days later to buy one, and I was no different)

I though 'finally a way to keep track of all my work assignments, comic book collection, phone numbers and everything'...

Well...

I still can't remember my assignments(You need to remember to type them in... ), my comic book collection has moved to a Psion Organiser II
XP(well, really a POS350 with 96KB RAM instead of the 32 on the XP) because it's sturdier, which is really handy when messing about in second-hand shops. Phone numbers are languishing, mostly on my Sony Ericsson c702 phone and my computer collection is (partially) indexed on my website...

The S3a was replaced by a S5(8MB) and later with a netBook.
The netBook is mostly used for reading, these days, or an occasional round of solitaire.
The S5 is packed away very carefully so that the gold-coloured shell won't be damaged.(It was a royal pain to replace the old, broken one. Screen cable likeso)
The S3a has joined it in storage, and instead a S3c with a whopping 2MB RAM has taken its place for notetaking and outlining for my stories. (I sometimes write sci-fi... Quite fitting task for this machine :-)
My MC400, which I used to 'flesh out' my writings is also in storage 'awaiting a new battery pack', but when or if I ever get the time to fix that is anyones guess... (All right, I managed to short the darn pack and ruined a cell. And those cells is difficult to get hold of now, so I need to rebuild it for Ni-mh, which means a new recharge circuit in the pack, too)

These days, when I go on a conference or course, it's no longer the netBook I put in my backpack, but an Asus Eee 900, and of course the S3c. The reason the Eee is picked over the netBook is better support for WiFi, nothing else.(Well, that, and the fear that I might break the screen. Those things are expensive, and once is enough... )

:-)
Trygve

Date: 5 Dec 2008 17:28:02 +0000
From: Alan R Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: GPS on a Psion

From: Vlad A <address truncated>

# > I could go on with more details, but here is possibly the # wrong place > ???
# ... I would say this is the perfect place.... besides, afaIK, # I would like top follow a topic on this in more detail. I
# never really succeeded in using PSIGar - I could now, fi
# running Wind in Parallels on Mac over a USB-to-rs 232 connector? Etc.

Vlad now that my prime GPS is USB, I can't use it with a Psion.  I still carry with me (I'm a Brit, but use a German gentleman's shoulder bag) my eMap, so keep PsiGar on my Psion 5mxPRO.  But not used for ages.

Unfortunately Jonathan has stopped supporting it.  If I remember correctly, his Psion broke!  He was prepared to give me his code, so that I could update it for later GPSrs, but he could not find the code.

I'll try and answer any questions you have.  When I find a suitable replacement for keeping waypoints and tracks that runs on Windows, I'll transfer all my data from PsiGar.  Unfortunately, I've yet to find a better system than a Psion with PsiGar and Palmtop mapping.

Alan

Date: 5 Dec 2008 17:44:20 +0000
From: Alan R Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: Usage of Psions - with weather stations.

From: Nick Clark <address truncated>

# I see I'm not the only one still using Psions. I still use a # 3a with a broken hinge as a weather data collection machine. # It's connected via a serial cable to an Oregon Scientific
# wireless weather station and receives data from a number of # sensors and writes it to a file every 15 minutes, creating a # new file each day, using a progrram I wrote on a series 7 in # OPL. It's been working fine for about 5 years now.

I've had this interest for many years.  My first weather station was a computer internal card, back in the days of DOS and a 386.

A few moths ago I bought a 'MyDel Weather Station' from a ham radio dealer.  One sensor was DOA and it's replacement failed within a week or two.  The screen also had poor contrast (no worse than a Psion 5), which I complained about, but was told that as it was a low cost product, that was it.  Until I attended a radio show and saw a few with good contrast. It went back within days.

Yesterday, I bought my third Oregon product, an advanced weather station WRM100.  Not had time to unpack it yet!

# My main machines are a Panasonic Toughbook CF19 (touch
# screen)

Now that's a grand machine in more ways than one!

I aspire to owning one, but only have a second-hand CF-71.  I'm on their mailing list and get their printed newsletters from Germany, so might get a later product.  I use a Toshiba Tablet PC, but the touch is not a true 'touch' screen like Psions - it needs a special 'pen' as fingers etc. wont work!

Are you aware of ham radio APRS that transmits weather reports?

Alan

Date: 7 Dec 2008 01:36:13 +0000
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: Psion & digest, Serial to USB, N97,

Att.: Betsy Baker & Vlad

Re.: Psion & digest - From time to time it is worthwhile mentioning that it is not just me that keeps the digest running. We are currently a team of 4 operators (Michael Degn, Dick Chatjaval, Rolf Vonau and myself) while the program to handle the digest on the Psion's was written and developed by Rolf. With the upcoming holday period in mind, a cheer to the team !

Answer to: Steve Pepper

Re.: Serial to USB - A long time ago I used a Belkin one with good success. I seem to remember it is a matter of trial and error as others had problems with the Belkin one. It depends partially on the computer you use.

Answer to: Alan R Morris

Re.: N97 - I don't think this is what I have been waiting for. The phone looks very similar to the Qtek 9100 I had before, only it is Symbian and not MS mobile. The screen is somewhat larger but still small and the keyboard is more a thumbboard than a real keyboard. Dell came out with a laptop that will work for over 9 hours and there are a lot of notebooks around as well. I ahve stopped looking for a mobile phone that iwll incorporate my notebook as well and went for a dual machine solution. My netBook is still in use but I don't own my series 5 machines anymore.

Best regards,

Itamar