On Mon, 2 Dec 2002, Andreas Freiherr wrote:
> I prefer the Series 3 over the Series 5 because there is no pen. I
> always fear leaving scratches on the display...
The Series 3 was awesome as well. I remember agonizing over the decision
between the Series 3 and two other organizers (one was the Sharp Zaurus,
the other may have been the HP OmniGo). I spent at least a couple hours
in Office Depot (major US office supply chain) playing with each one. In
the end, the Psion won because of it's GUI, 16-bit sound, and the fact
that it had it's own scripting language (OPL) making it easily and
immediately hackable.
I don't use the stylus a whole lot with my Series 5 anyway (my finger
works just as well) but it doesn't scratch the surface when I do.
> For the "dumb terminal" topic, there used to be a good VT100 emulator
> from a company called Yellow Software for the 3a (also runs on 3c /
> 3mx). I bought it together with my first 3a and was a happy user of both.
I can't remember what serial applications I used my 3a for, but I have the
3link serial dongle so I must have used it for something. The Series 5 is
great because all you need is the cable (no dongle necessary). I had it
hooked up to my wireless modem (when it was still around, RIP) and coupled
with the Psion web browser it made for an awesome mobile internet
terminal.
> Since then, the need for Telnetting into a host came up, and the trouble
> is that Yellow's emulator is not capable of using the IP stack, but only
> supports the serial interface.
I have a very good Telnet program on my Series 5 called Hermes. It's
fantastic. I used to be able to Telnet into my server at 85MPH ;)
> So, I rolled my own VT320 emulator (I call it "V-Tel"), which has been
> tested with VMS, True64, and Linux, and which supports the serial
> interface directly as well as through PsiMail's TCP/IP stack. Editors
> like vi or TPU do work, MONITOR SYSTEM on VMS is lacking the graphics
> character set yet, but all control sequences are interpreted properly.
> Perhaps I find the time to add double-width/double-height characters and
> the semi-graphics font during Christmas holidays.
This is for the Series 3? Gnarly!
> It may be a bit late to put V-Tel up as shareware, and it may be a bit
> too early for the Series 3 to be discussed here, but if somebody is
> still looking for a portable terminal, this solution works very well for me.
The Series 3 is definitely a classic in my book. It's already been
relegated to the collection (though it still sits in my office).
I wrote a program that would produce the "Red Box" tones to fool US
payphones into giving you free calls. It worked wonderfully. Sometimes
people would look at me strangely as I held my palmtop up to the receiver
of the phone. I'm sure they thought something nefarious was afoot. Ah,
the good old days.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Tue Dec 03 2002 - 11:40:01 GMT