Quoting Chris Malcolm's message of Yesterday:

> In the meantime this is just a wave to any others who're still trying
> to survive on this shrinking island by renovating bits of old Psion
> and Symbian kit that get washed up on the shores :-)

Indeed. My collection is part hobby and part backup! The 5mx is still
the ideal machine for me, particularly with the Data application to
handle casework details, along with the decent Word processor which is
more than good enough for letter writing. I tried to use an XDA
smartphone while the Psion was in for repair, but the instability of the
OS, the lack of a simple flat file database, and the little thumb
keyboard made it less easy to use.

I have a Series 7 "to play with", but prefer the (jacket-) portability
of the 5mx. The Revo would serve me well if I could find one with a
working battery, but I think I'd still prefer the 5mx. One other thing
about the Psion range that has gone out of fasion is programmability,
Psion's commitment to which also started to disappear during its own
zenith. I'd need some form of on-board programmability in any new
device if it was to gain my interest. I don't think that's going to
happen.

--
Damian - http://psion.snigfarp.karoo.net/
For email replies, substitute "psion" for "damian" in my email address.

Interesting piece! I was, until fairly recently, a happy Psion 5mx
user, but finally gave up as it was getting so long in the tooth, and
my latest mobile phone refused to speak with the IRDA port properly.

What I have now is an HTC TyTN II, aka Kaiser, also aka T-Mobile MDA
Vario III. It's a completely different kettle of fish really, being
somewhat smaller, but I do like it a lot, almost as much as my old
Psion. It has a slide out keyboard, but it's very small, so not as
good as the 5mx keyboard - but usable. Battery life is godawful, and
the Windows Mobile OS isn't great either. However, it comes with a
fairly usable office suite, web browser and calendar, and with built-
in 3G, Wifi and HSDPA, connecting up to things is a breeze. It even
has GPS for Geocaching.

It performs pretty nicely, but it's not really the same.

I have, however, also got an Asus Eee, which I can't help but feel is
the sort of thing Psion would be making if they were still in
business, and this compact, Linux-powered beauty almost feels like
there should be a Psion badge on it somewhere. I can't recommend these
highly enough - Asus has spotted a gap in the market that they've
admirably filled.

Lee

In article <69flglF31lj0kU1@mid.individual.net>, Chris Malcolm wrote:
> tart's handbag phones,
I know what you mean1

> and I really like using it open in its
> excellent speakerphone mode while being able to read and write
>
I didn't know that the Nokia could do that (because I haven't RTFM'd,
because I'm not in the market for a new phone). Very good idea.

> Lots of people I would never
> have suspected of being fashion victims were rather apalled that I was
> carrying around a mobile phone that was so obviously seriously old.
>
This is a use of the word "people" which is rather suspect.
Probably they are anthropoid apes (as are real people), but they would
appear to fail the intelligence test for being real people.

> In the meantime this is just a wave to any others who're still trying
> to survive on this shrinking island by renovating bits of old Psion
> and Symbian kit that get washed up on the shores :-)
>
Do I have any photos of me using my Psion on that desert island
off the coast of Tanzania? Alas not.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland
Written at Tue, 20 May 2008 15:31 +0100, but posted later.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

One of the things I really like is the fact that I can "hack together"
my own little apps for my MC218 (aka 5MX):
- keep score for Mah Jong
- "treasure tables" for my AD&D sessions etc.

I would *love* a WPU with a brighter screen, WiFi and USB...
Instead PsionTeklogix takes a perfectly good Netbook and equipts it
with WinCE
- makes me wince indeed -

--Roderik
(rxbakker goes straight into the bin, try replacing the x with a dot)

RxBakker@gmail.com wrote:
> One of the things I really like is the fact that I can "hack together"
> my own little apps for my MC218 (aka 5MX):
> - keep score for Mah Jong
> - "treasure tables" for my AD&D sessions etc.

> I would *love* a WPU with a brighter screen, WiFi and USB...
> Instead PsionTeklogix takes a perfectly good Netbook and equipts it
> with WinCE
> - makes me wince indeed -

According to this rather good history of Psion in the Register

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/26/psion_special/

the original intention was that the Netbook Pro (a faster Netbook with
more memory, USB, etc.) would be a triple boot machine: EPOC, Linux,
and WinCE.

So near and yet so far...



--
Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Aidan Karley wrote:
> In article <69flglF31lj0kU1@mid.individual.net>, Chris Malcolm wrote:

>> and I really like using it [9500] open in its
>> excellent speakerphone mode while being able to read and write
>>
> I didn't know that the Nokia could do that (because I haven't RTFM'd,
> because I'm not in the market for a new phone). Very good idea.

>> Lots of people I would never
>> have suspected of being fashion victims were rather apalled that I was
>> carrying around a mobile phone that was so obviously seriously old.
>>
> This is a use of the word "people" which is rather suspect.
> Probably they are anthropoid apes (as are real people), but they would
> appear to fail the intelligence test for being real people.

Some of my friends take pity on my ancient brick of a phone (Nokia
9500) and proudly show me their latest extremely
does-everything-imaginable-and-more phone. Wnen I express an interest
in all those wonderful advanced features it turns out they don't
actually know how to use them, and further questioning often reveals
that they probably won't ever use them. I suppose once you can start
selling your high-tech gadgetry as jewellery and status symbolism it
doesn't actually have to work particularly well. Worked for the Swiss
clockwork watch industry, which is still selling exquisitely expensive
laboratory certified chronometers which can't keep time as well as a
Casio which costs less than a round of drinks and needs servicing more
often than the Casio needs its battery replacing.

>> In the meantime this is just a wave to any others who're still trying
>> to survive on this shrinking island by renovating bits of old Psion
>> and Symbian kit that get washed up on the shores :-)

> Do I have any photos of me using my Psion on that desert island
> off the coast of Tanzania? Alas not.

Me neither. But I do recall many long train journeys and a few long
flights which started out with lots of laptops open, but as the hours
passed more and more of them had to give up with tired batteries. I
also recall conferences when at inter session breaks there was a mad
dash for the power points, and the more enterprising geeks had not
only brought along their power supplies but a multi-plug as well, so
they could talk someone into sharing a power point.

--
Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Damian Walker wrote:
> I'd need some form of on-board
> programmability in any new device if it was to gain my interest. I
> don't think that's going to happen.

I haven't entirely given up on my 3mx, but bought a Pocket Loox with WM5.0
(GPS & WiFi, but the latter is mere bling so far). And have just discovered
that there is a Basic environment (http://www.basic4ppc.com/Downloads.html)
that runs on the PDA as well as desktop for $54 (not bad at current GBP
exchange rate, I suppose!). Haven't really got anywhere with trial version
yet, to justify actual expenditure...

(There are a number of freeware programs built with it to give confidence,
though.)

Mike.
--
If reply address is invalid, remove spurious "@" and substitute "plus"
where needed.

> the original intention was that the Netbook Pro (a faster Netbook
> with more memory, USB, etc.) would be a triple boot machine: EPOC,
> Linux, and WinCE. So near and yet so far...

The Netbook PRO is already working fine with Windows CE.net and Linux.
Some few great EPOC application as Agenda has some very nice CE ports:
http://www.hpcfactor.com/reviews/sof...genda-1-0-6-5/

other EPOC applications like Opera browser are obsolete.

My price for the PRO is 199 eur for nice english refurbsihed machines.

So what more do you need ?


Christoph
(PSION shop pulster.eu)

Quoting Mike Coon's message of Friday:

> I haven't entirely given up on my 3mx, but bought a Pocket Loox with WM5.0
> (GPS & WiFi, but the latter is mere bling so far). And have just discovered
> that there is a Basic environment (http://www.basic4ppc.com/Downloads.html)
> that runs on the PDA as well as desktop for $54 (not bad at current GBP
> exchange rate, I suppose!). Haven't really got anywhere with trial version
> yet, to justify actual expenditure...

A lot of the newer machines have programmability available, but it's
either at a price, or it's community-supported and sometimes in an
unfinished state (like OPL on the S60, when I had one) with lots of
limitations and problems reported. That doesn't come near having a
powerful language like OPL built in.

--
Damian - http://psion.snigfarp.karoo.net/
For email replies, substitute "psion" for "damian" in my email address.

Chris Malcolm wrote:
> Aidan Karley wrote:
> > In article <69flglF31lj0kU1@mid.individual.net>, Chris Malcolm wrote:
>
> >> and I really like using it [9500] open in its
> >> excellent speakerphone mode while being able to read and write
> >>
> > I didn't know that the Nokia could do that (because I haven't RTFM'd,
> > because I'm not in the market for a new phone). Very good idea.
>
> >> Lots of people I would never
> >> have suspected of being fashion victims were rather apalled that I was
> >> carrying around a mobile phone that was so obviously seriously old.
> >>
> > This is a use of the word "people" which is rather suspect.
> > Probably they are anthropoid apes (as are real people), but they would
> > appear to fail the intelligence test for being real people.
>
> Some of my friends take pity on my ancient brick of a phone (Nokia
> 9500) and proudly show me their latest extremely
> does-everything-imaginable-and-more phone. Wnen I express an interest
> in all those wonderful advanced features it turns out they don't
> actually know how to use them, and further questioning often reveals
> that they probably won't ever use them. I suppose once you can start

Reminds me of a friend who used an MDA (organizer with inbuilt phone,
windows pocket pc os) which is now mine, because she bathed it in a
kettle of tea and half of the backlight vanished. So I got the MDA with
manual and PSU from her and realized that one can only install most
apps with the thingy connected to your Windows PC. When I asked for the
missing cable it became obvious that she had never installed any new
program, never imported any new document, never used the internal
programs apart from the calender, never synced with her PC. And she
owned it for several years and bought the successor for replacement...
Just for completeness: The os is horrible (slow and buggy), the inbuild
apps a joke and it misses lots of functions Psion had for years. And
the Irda-port connects sloooooow to my 5mx Pro.

--
Oliver

In article <69ni35F32q82sU1@mid.individual.net>, Chris Malcolm wrote:
> and the more enterprising geeks had not
> only brought along their power supplies but a multi-plug as well,
>
The 4-way power strip lives in my travel bag with a couple of
wire-on plugs (UK, US and European), with battery-charger (carrying
2xAA + 2xAAA) phone charger and laptop charger plugged into it.
Screwdriver in the bag. Assorted gender-bender bits and bobs in the
corner of the bag too.
I've had that particular tee-shirt longer than I've had a Psion.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland
Written at Fri, 23 May 2008 16:23 +0100, but posted later.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

I'm on that island as well, using a Psion S5 then a 5mx going on
eleven years now and not able to part with it. I miss connectability,
I miss syncing to Google Calendar and Gmail, but I cannot let go of
the excellent keyboard and hi-res screen -- and the unbeatable battery
life! (Weeks!!)

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the much-hyped iPhone yet. Here in
Austria it has not yet arrived officially but many have imported them
privately. It seems to offer much but still with serious limits
(nonreplaceable battery, no SD-card slot) and the "keyboard" remains
an open question -- except for serious writers who need a real
keyboard. However, the very smooth non-MS user interface is enchanting
and the device contains a great many of those things that Windows
never did, like a decent Alarm app to name one.

The Asus Eee is a very good bet as a WPU, but I miss phone
capabilities and it's too big to carry always. That's the absolute
strength of the iPhone and may just be the factor that wins me over
someday. I have found that a WPU for me is roughly a lightweight PDA
with a decent keyboard and an integrated cell phone = one that I can
always carry on my person and that has it all. Any Windows device
would nearly do this, were it not for the poor OS.

On May 28, 10:08*am, TorbenGB wrote:
> I'm on that island as well, using a Psion S5 then a 5mx going on
> eleven years now and not able to part with it. I miss connectability,
> I miss syncing to Google Calendar and Gmail, but I cannot let go of
> the excellent keyboard and hi-res screen -- and the unbeatable battery
> life! (Weeks!!)
>
> I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the much-hyped iPhone yet. Here in
> Austria it has not yet arrived officially but many have imported them
> privately. It seems to offer much but still with serious limits
> (nonreplaceable battery, no SD-card slot) and the "keyboard" remains
> an open question -- except for serious writers who need a real
> keyboard. However, the very smooth non-MS user interface is enchanting
> and the device contains a great many of those things that Windows
> never did, like a decent Alarm app to name one.
>
> The Asus Eee is a very good bet as a WPU, but I miss phone
> capabilities and it's too big to carry always. That's the absolute
> strength of the iPhone and may just be the factor that wins me over
> someday. I have found that a WPU for me is roughly a lightweight PDA
> with a decent keyboard and an integrated cell phone = one that I can
> always carry on my person and that has it all. Any Windows device
> would nearly do this, were it not for the poor OS.

I've found, though I wouldn't call it quite 'worthy', my Psion has
been replaced by a Palm treo 650.

It happened gradually, I didn't know I was hooked until it happened.
My Psion broke, so a borrowed a Palm 'until I found a screen flexi'.
After about a month, I realised I couldn't really go back...

After my initial horror at the fact it couln't multitask, that my
ToDos couldn't appear at specific times of the day, it tried to
pretend there wasn't a file system, and that the keyboard was tiny(!)
I realised it had some big advantages. It would sync with my Mac, I
could suck calendars from all over the internet onto my phone (iCal),
it had an amazing PDF Reader (Picsel Browser) that was more intuitive
than any app on any other platform performing the same task. Best of
all, I could carry it all the time without a bag. I have a keyboard
for it that combined takes me to about the size of the Psion, and the
keyboard is nearly as good... It's fast, simple and I have a single
contact list for everything... I can do email on the move properly
with it...

On reflection I think it comes down to something like this: Palm OS is
very basic, but it has been basic for so long and is (was) so common
that many freeware apps exist to bring it back to a really good level
of functionality.

So, it isn't worthy, I am still waiting, but I do have a replacement,
of sorts...

Hi all

I have succumbed to a basic 4gb Linux eee. I used a 5MX for many
years, still got it and will be selling when I get around to it, (do
get in touch if interested and in UK) and before then a Revo. Lovely
little gizmos but gave up for 2 reasons. Firstly it became too
expensive to use on dial up for emails let alone anything else
(incoming emails with attachments cost a bomb!) and secondly because I
really wanted something portable to take to Record Offices to do
genealogical research. I looked into getting Gramps but too
complicated for non-geeks, so I just convert my data into html and off
to go! When away on research trips and staying in hotels or staying
with friends with wireless, it's a piece of cake and v cheap (or free
in the latter case!) to get online. Ok so the screen is small compared
to a grown up PC, but it does just fine for on the move. The only
thing that doesn't work as well as the Psion (because you can't
synchronise) is the diary - you can download to google but quite
frankly it's easier to print off a couple of pages from Outlook before
leaving the house. Oh, and the battery life is a bit minimal so it
helps if you are near a plug!
It depends what you want it for, but the eee works just fine for me.
Of course it's a crying shame that Psion didn't move with the times,
but there you go!

TTFN

Joss

On Mon, 4 Aug 2008 15:33:12 +0100, Mark Kent
wrote:

>David M espoused:
>> Chris Malcolm wrote in comp.sys.psion.misc
>> about: The Shrinking Island of Psioneers await the WPU
>>


>>
>> The low-end eee is perhaps the most appropriate Psion successor at
>> present, but I know that if I bought one, I'd soon end up cursing the
>> 800px screen width - or, more specifically, all of the web designers who
>> in recent months have decided that 1024px is the new minimum ,
>> making it hard to display two browser windows side-by-side even on
>> normal computer displays..
>>
>
>Eee looks like an excellent machine, although they're being upgraded
>every minute. There's also the Elonex machine, too, and several others
>if you look around.
>
>Personally, if you /really/ want a tinkerer's machine, I'd suggest a
>Freerunner phone and Pandora combination, although personally, I'll be
>waiting for a 3G freerunner myself.
>
>In any case, have fun.