The X-Philes (2nd Revision)

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Text File | 1993-11-03 | 14KB | 301 lines

(2-12,Jim Lohman) Hi folks.. Rowan, is there a way on the 3a to "save" the setup... (apps installs. etc.), or has anyone figured out away to do this mn the 3? GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Sorry to say this but 'they' did not put this feature in. It was asked for and it was on the list of things todo.... but was removed sometime in the development of the S3a. (2-15,Azher Mir) Why didn't Psion use a relational database structure for data... and when do you think it will make an appearance. GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Good question.... The only thing I can thing of is space requirements.... It would require a lot of memory to produce a relational type database on the S3a Greg, do you have any comments ? (2-2,Gregory Paul) Yes... (2-2,Gregory Paul) I think the overheads would very quickly get out of hand... if we did not severely restrict the functionality.. to such a degree that, perhaps, it would make the whole idea .. unworkable? GA (2-11,Glenn Dollar) We've heard you've major improvements with Agenda... on the 3a, other than the alarms, can you elaborate? GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) The 'Agenda' is a complete re-write of the original... There is no limit to the number of repeats items per agenda file... We are different views for DAY, WEEK, MONTH and even a YEAR view!... The 'To-do' is very usable (even I use it <g>). GA (2-13,Les Hall (Dallas, T) My Question is - "How much does Psion listen to users regarding future development of the machine? Also - who are 'they'? The Suits?" GA (2-2,Gregory Paul) We always listen, but... like God listening to prayers, sometimes the answer is NO <g>... As to the suits, yes they are in London... And very nice suits they are! GA (2-9,Sysop Jeff) Rowan, could you explain the difference between using a RAM card and a Flash card with a 3a, and are Psion Flash cards different than other company's Flash cards? And why are RAM cards so expensive, compared to Flash? GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Flash is like a piece of paper and writing on that paper with pen.... you can cross things out but they are still there taking up room. Ram, on the other hand is like chalk on a board... if you rub something out (erase it) then you gain that space again.... Flash is cheaper because it is <g>..... There are many more components in a RAM SSD and the basic build cost is higher.... Anyway, with that said, you will see a drop in price for both the flash and ram SSDs.... Greg - comment ? (2-2,Gregory Paul) Yes... I too think that the prices will come down like any other solid-state media. GA (2-12,Jim Lohman) How much memory is required for one "screen" on the S3A (vs. 2400 bytes on the S3)? Also, is it correct that there is only one grey level as in, black, grey, white? (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) A screen shot of the S3a requires 19242 bytes! Correct, the S3a can only show BLACK-WHITE-GREY pixels. (2-1,Tom Dolbilin) 1. Concerning repeat items in Agenda, can we now have exceptions? ga (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Explain what you mean by 'exceptions' ? (2-1,Tom Dolbilin) irregular repeats (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Like every first Monday in the month ? (2-1,Tom Dolbilin) no, like if you repeat each workday, but one of them you're ill Rowan, I know the old S3 feature set very well... but it is not there... We all asked for it! ga (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Ok. The S3a does not have this yet... I don't think it could be programmed, can it ? GA You can remvoe just one item from the repeated item... (2-15,Azher Mir) Sorry. How do you envisage the Series 3 progressing in competion with the PDA's (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) That's an involved question to answer.... We are constantly developing new ideas at Psion... some come to market, others stay on the drawing board.... Take voice to start with..... Psion sees this as the way of the future. With-in the next 3 years we will have true voice input.... (you did not hear that here!).... We are also looking at the PEN based market... watching where it is going. (2-11,Glenn Dollar) Back to Agenda - any whay to link Agenda items to either data or user programs, i.e. Notepad? (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) No. But we have built-in a notepad type application.... a 4K note can be attached to any entry in the Agenda. GA (2-13,Les"I luv Psion" Ha) Sorry about barging in earlier. Anyway what about the modem? And when will somebody release a 'suite' of programs that allow users to use S3 data on their desktop machines? What does it take to make those developers make the darned thing? GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Greg -- comment please. GA (2-2,Gregory Paul) Thanks...I feel like Garth to Rowan's Wayne... But anyway, les... We will be releasing a program which will allow use of the S3a data on the PC. ... Rowan, feel free to jump in here... (2-13,Les"I luv Psion" Ha) and the Macintosh? (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Sorry, not for the mac.... (2-2,Gregory Paul) As to the modem,, think Santa Claus...GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) As for the modem.... Some of you might know this, but we DO OWN a modem company in the UK.... Psion Dacom to you... This company makes modems for a number of 'high-end' laptop makers and they are PCMCIA.... So, we have the technology to make modems that fit SSDs... Look for a modem by christmas..... (2-2,Gregory Paul) That's what I said ...GA (2-13,Les"I luv Psion" Ha) Hurrah! (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) It will also have SEND FAX. GA (2-15,Azher Mir) Going back to PC Links, Why do you not support other Machines like Amiga... (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) We don't know how to program Macs <g>..... (2-15,Azher Mir) I find it so frustrating to have to use my PC board to communicate with S3 (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) one look at MC-Link for the Mac will tell you that!... But, we do have a Mac software house in france... that may (or may not) write a good file transfer program... As for the Amiga, same story. Unless Greg knows something I don't. Comment Greg ? (2-2,Gregory Paul) The straight answer is because the projected sales don't justify the development costs for anything but a PC or MAC links at this time. Which is not to say that it won't cahnge...GA (2-11,Glenn Dollar) re: the program to use the data on a PC, when? and ANOTHER VOTE for a Mac version ... I don't want to get a PC just to move the data, in usable format, to the Mac GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) We are in 'Alpha' test of the program now It should be available in late Nov '93.. Don't expect much on V1.0. GA (2-5,Steve Kostecke) Any possibility of a wireless modem? GA (2-2,Gregory Paul) Why not...certainly it is possible... But packaging considerations, costs, etc will rule the day when deciding what gets developed (2-12,Jim Lohman) If an alarm sound is set to repeat, will it loop smoothly, or... does it "stutter"? (hope this makes sense) GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) I think it does.... When you record a sound you can use an option that 'pads' the sound out... to 15 seconds... This makes it the correct length of the Alarm Clock... Also, it will automatically repeat the alarm as many times it can within that 15 seconds.... (2-2,Gregory Paul) I think it is <<fairly>> smooth looping.alarm sounds.IMHO....GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) This does not add to the size of the sound file becuase we change just one byte... in the header information on that alarm. GA (2-15,Azher Mir) So, tell us about the E-Mail for the S3a. GA (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) There is not much that I can say at this point.... We are developing 'some' stuff.... (2-15,Azher Mir) Nudge, nudge, wink, wink say no more. (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) but it's still to early in it's development to say what it is. GA (2-7,Mark D Esposito) Any chance in the future of having a non interpreted Opl? (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Explain -- 'non interprested OPL' ? (2-7,Mark D Esposito) Compiled, like C. No Qcode. (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) Again, this is something that has been talked about within Psion... but nothing has been done about it (yet) It is possible that future machine will have this, but it will mean giving up a lot of conveniences.... For one, you won't be able to program on the machine... unless we move to a 486 class processor... and that ain't going to happen. GA (2-2,Gregory Paul) Yes...more of a comment actually. I wanted to say <straitens non-exeistent tie>... Psion will have , Ithink, more and more connectivity in all its forms... in future products...I felt I owed that to Azher. (2-13,LeS3 Hall) OK, I've got it together this time. Small point, but are you ever going to do anything about the keypad leaving little smeggy marks on the screen? Or is it just mu greasy hands? And thanks and greetings to everyone taking part. (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) You could always leave the machine open <g> .... (2-13,LeS3 Hall) funny... (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) On the new machine, the problem is not that bad.... (2-13,LeS3 Hall) Still a problem then? (2-6,Rowan Prior - Psion) there are still marks, but not that many. (2-2,Gregory Paul) I'd just like to say "Thanks, y'all...." to everyone who showed up tonight.... Next CO will be scheduled for "London time"