Articles Page


This page is dedicated to those articles and stories that have been submitted for the benefit of the Psion User.
I have had two articles published at Googol, below, and anyone wishing to submit any articles about their exploits of doing things with their Psions, then let me have your articles here

Alternative Computing for old man sibo.
Sync or not to sync, that is the question...

Alternative Computing for old man sibo
You would be surprised as to how many people still have Psions of the 3a and c models. With some upgrading to Epoc machines thinking of getting a mini PC instead of an "organiser", they give their trust old palmtop to the kids or work collegues, not knowing that what they are giving up for the latest technology. The old Psions could still see them quite happily through appointments, address books, email, web, FTP, comms, printing and almost everything the Epocs or laptops can do. So many people have not seen the potential of the Sibo machine.
Jumping straight on the Epoc bandwagon can set the old Psion user, who over the years have collected SSDs (Solid State disks), cables, applications which are now useless with Epoc, upwards of œ400 to get them to the same state as where they left off.
The Series 3a,c, and indeed the mx machines, with a little help of another meg of Flash memory, can be a very useful letter writer,fax,emailer and web browser. How? with a little more effort and using your Sibo machine to it's full potential.
Office from the office:
Using all the standard apps installed on your machine can get you started, with a link cable you can connect to a PC/Mac and download those ever-so important files using a Hyperterminal/Claris Comms from the desktop machine and Psion's Comms package (no need for expensive Psi-Win software). See you're seeing alternatives already. With file formats - both Windows and Macs can convert office documents to a format the Psion can read (Rich Text, CSV, Lotus 123, plain text) before downloading. This article was written in Psion Word, saved as plain text and sent to Googol for approval via email - from my Psion 3c. Faxing can be acheived with Fax software of course, Psifax or Faxit are the best two on the market, with Faxit being Shareware.
Web:
The all important web, now fast becomming the most important office tool ever. Now old Psion users will be surprised that you can use the web using Psimail Internet, a package which is not a few years old. Once set up with your nternet account information, and plugging in a modem, you have both email and web access. The browser is not up to date, it cannot view java/flash or other modern bits, but simple websites (for instance 3lib or 3-for-all), can be viewed wth ease.
Other applications people use -Zipping for instance can be got from freeware and shareware sites galore. There are over 2,000 applications, games and utils available to the S3a,c,mx all there, just for the taking, and bringing your machine back to life and used to it's full potential.
Expensive: no. With sales of Epoc, Sibo prices have dropped considerably, software and peripherals have dropped in price too, and with so many people moving to Epoc, second hand bits are going cheap too. Visit 3lib's classified section just see just how you can get them, or the comp.sys.psion.marketplace newsgroup.
Cables can be got from Psionleads, and shareware from Tucows.
Sibo machines are not dead, support for them is still thei, if not in offiial channels, there is a good lot of us in the Psion community to help out the born-again Series 3 user.
Ro Cutler, 1.3.00

Sync or not to sync, that is the question...
Whether it is noble to weather the slings of group scheduling or go it alone, that is a choice. Syncing can be either a blessing or nightmare for some, but do you need to?
Pros:
When was the last time you left your Psion at home or in the car, when in the office? in the 3 years I have had a Series 3c, I have left it at home once, by accident. But still had my Calendar on Outlook, so I knew what I was doing, albeit with a couple of things missing. Syncing your Psion with Outlook and using the Outlook function Net Folders to share your Calendar to others. Handy for group scheduling.
Cons:
You have to be in the office to do it. There is no provision at the moment to dial into your computer at your desk 100 miles away and sync on-line. Having your agenda in two places can be a hindrance rather then a benefit, adding tasks or appointments into your desktop calendar, and not sync at the end of the day, can be a pain. You have your Psion with you most of the time, why not keep it all in the same place?
Syncing software for the Series 3 Sibo machines:
Psiwin 2.2/2.3: Syncing Contacts, Calendar and Tasks are available, along with file upload/download/backup/conversion. Some believe that it is not all that stable. At a cost of around 50ukp, from Psion, a 2.1 version is download able from Psion.
Psisync: Shareware product for 3a,c,mx,Siena, from Brian Cadge that Sync calendar, contacts, emails, notes with Outlook, and back ups the machine too, a strong contender to Psiwin. This is available from his website (below) and registration is 14ukp.
Ro.

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©Ro Cutler -- HTML Written in Psion Word

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