o Editor's Message ...... •...... o o u.s. $7.95 C\J Letters .•...... •...... : .... Q) ..c E New Products: What's New :::::I on the 2000 CD InfoBase? ...... 1 Z Palmtop 0)- Q) The New, Improved E :::::I Palmtop Paper Web Site •.... •...... 1( o > Ed gives a sneak preview of coming attractions on the ~per Palmtop Paper Web site.

User to User: Uncovering Palmtop Possibilities at COMDEX ...... 1: Hal roams the halls of COMDEX with Mack Baggette tumin~ up Palmtop possibilities.

The Next Three Years Should Be Exciting ..••...•• ...... 11 A leading developer looks forward to several years of enhancements for the Palmtop.

'}} j

Through the Looking Glass: The Lotus Tapes ...... 7 If you've been looking for more and better information about Lotus1 ·2·3, the files on the 2000 CD InfoBase will end your search. It's all here!

Palmtop Tips, Traps & Techniques The Psion Revo ...... 15 A reviewer for Byte.com puts this Palmtop contender through its paces. The HPLX-L Connection o U j ~ r 4J MORE Great Ideas from r 4J L.J the Online Palmtop Community! L.J World Wide Phone Guide ....•...... •. 1! What you need to hook up your modem just about anywhere in the world!

Door to Door With the HP Palmtop . •.. .. •• •...... 2: Idwide Phone Guide The Palmtop gets a new heft and feel and keeps a Malaysian sales force fully automated. \ CLJ'NNJ:CT up your MODEM anywhere on the PLANET! -...... --. The HPLX·L Connection ...... 25

Palmtop Tips,Traps & Techniques •. •.. . 28 02 COMDEX Files on Jan/Feb 2000 ON DISK ...... 32 Our spies (Hal Goldstein & Mack 8aggette) o 7447083112 9 find intriguing Palmtop possibilities in Las Vegas Over 1500 Games, Programs and Utilities lor your palmtop I

TheHP Palmtop Paper's ALL NEW

A Taste 01 2-CD Deluxe Edition Thousands of products in one! What'sNEW NThe co In/oBase is one 0/ those happy situations where the value lor 20001 4 750 0/ a product vastly exceeds cost." Complete Manuals: Megabytes of fast-answer • MicroREF DOS and Lotus 1-2-3 • Commercial DOS hyper-text info, palmtop soft­ • 200LX User's Guide ware and e-text classics. Here's what HP Palmtop Software, FREE ·100/2001700LX Developer'S Guide • ThinkTank Outliner users have to say about 'MS Word 5.5 The HP Palmtop Paper's • Computer Language Compilers • More ... 10 1800 Ten minutes to load and master Project Gutenberg e-text files for CD InfoBase: • 300+ New and Updated Ten seconds to find any answer you to download and read on Palmtop Programs "The CO InfoBase is the ideal your palmtop. Classics, histori­ • Bible software cal documents and more. A life­ reference source .... " • New games 51 time's reading as a free bonus! - David Shier, Shier Systems • 20+ Artificial Intelligence Software • 50+ Math programs All the freeware and shareware So much material, it gets its own "All palmtop users would • Programming languages from 511991-99 issues of The CD!Plus more! benefit from having this CO. " • Project Management HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK and - Dara Khoyi, Aorida • MUCH Much More ... Bonus Issues. "It's a great product and well worth • Complete Guide to Lotus 1-2-3 the money!" 1500 - Thomas Rundel, Germany • 100s of tips Shareware and Freeware Games, • Business, scientific, engineering, statistical 55 "The CO is a downright bargain. " templates 1991-99 Issues of The HP Programs and Utilities. All the -Stan Dobrowski, TeamHP • Beginning and advanced macro program­ Palmtop Paperand Bonus software that has ever been pro­ ming tutorials vided on The HP Palmtop Paper Issues in an easy-reading fast­ "I thought the CO was terrific - very • More ... ON DISK. search hyper-text format. useful. " • The Palmtop Paper in HTML! - Dorothy Colton, Hewlett-Packard 1999 issues were added to the searchable data­ base. In addition a second copy of 1991-1999 issues of The HP Palmtop Paper is included, SPECIAL SALE PRICE searchable using you favorite desktop browser It's not 1st-Time Buyer or HV on the Palmtop! • More Gutenberg E-texts CD InfoBase ...... $99.95 #CDOO Reg. $129 ...... Save '30! 25 Shakespeare plays from Hamlet to Taming of the Shrew, Darwin Autobiography and one product, Origin of Species, Martin Luther King I Have UPGRADE from '96/'971'98/'99 a Dream Speech, plus Martin Luther, Jack #CUOO London, Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato, Aldous CD InfoBase ...... $59.95 Huxley, Carl von Clausewitz, Rudyard Reg. $79.95 ...... Save '20! Kipling, William Blake, Mark Twain, H.G. it's thousands I Wells, Anton Chekhov, Homer's Odyssey, G. , K. Chesterton, 1997 CIA World Factbook, Arthur Conan Doyle, Andersen Fairy Tales, Why wait? The sooner you order the sooner you can start Henry Smith's A History of Science, MUCH MUCHMore enjoying the benefits of a fully empowered palmtop! Act now!

Order Online: www.PalmtopPaper.com or Call: 800-373-8114/515-472-8330 Fax: 515-472-1879 Editor.s Message

Happy New Year, albeit somewhat belatedly, and welcome to the first issue of The HP Palmtop Paper in the 21st century. Yes, we're somewhat late with this issue due to updating and upgrading the electronic home of The HP Palmtop Paper (www.PalmtopPaper.com) and helping produce the 2000 CD InfoBase. You can get a sneak preview of these endeavors in the "New Products," "The Lotus Tapes," and the "New, Improved Palmtop Paper Web Site." The HP Palmtop Paper If this issue of The HP Palmtop Paper could be summed up in one word, the word would have to be "possibilities." Many of the articles mention possible enhancements to the HP 100/200LX. The articles remind me of a wish list but there's a difference. The people who are doing the wishing are also the ones who can make the wishes come true. See Hal Goldstein's and Mack Baggette's articles about their "most excellent adventures" Volume 9/Issue 1 at the Fall 1999 COMDEX and afterwards. Even though COMDEX did not offer anything JanuaryIFebruary 2000 directly related to the Palmtop, the intrepid adventurers found several possible goodies that could be great Palmtop add-ons. The one possibility that I, personally, hope comes to mar­ Executive EditorlPublisher ket is a new, external keyboard - one that has an HP label. I still haven't got the hang of Hal Goldstein ([email protected]) typing on the Palmtop's itty-bitty keyboard and have not been able to coax or cajole my Wm98 Publications Director machine into letting me use it as an external keyboard for my Palmtop. OK, I'll admit, my Richard Hall finger dexterity is not that great and the older I get the less likely it is that it will improve. Managing Editor Mack Baggette mentions the possibility of putting a '486 motherboard in the Palmtop. Ed Keefe ([email protected]) He's been working on this for almost a year. In the meantime, the Japanese Palmtop com­ Art Director munity has begun their own version, the Morphy One. They have set Feb. 2000 as the roll­ AI Constantineau out date for their own Palmtop. It will be a true handheld computer with all sorts of pos­ Technical Editor sibilities. You'll be able to run any operating system (DOS, Linux, Win95) that will work Tom Gibson with a CGA display. Though it might be cool to carry a Linux machine in my pocket, I'd Department Editor miss the System Manager software that I've used for the past seven years. Sure, I could Wayne Kneeskern probably find a suitable replacement for my Appointment Book and all my databases, Contributing Writers Mack Baggette, Steve Kropla, but I have yet to find a replacement for HP Calc's Solver. Both Hal and Mack mention the Ernest Lilley, Jimmy Tan possibility of a 56K bps, low-power modem for the Palmtop. For a lot of users, this Circulation could be the best of all possible enhancements. I'll bet this one gets more rave reviews that Marge Enright either an external keyboard or a '486 handheld. Judging from the exchanges on Sandy Spees CompuServe and the HPLX-L mailing list, more people use the Palmtop for e-mail than Executive Advisor use it for calculating or keeping themselves on time. Anything that can speed up the online Rita Goldstein process will be money well spent. For orders or customer service And speaking of "going online," we're aware that a lot of Palmtop users are also world [email protected] travelers who take their Palmtop along with the idea of using it to keep in touch with the The HP Palmtop Paper (ISSN 10656189) is pub­ folks at home. That idea often gets set aside when they encounter a phone system that is lished by Thaddeus Computing Inc., at 110 North twenty to thirty years behind the times. Steve Kropla, a seasoned world traveler has Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556. Periodical postage encountered just about every type of phone problem there is. He maintains a Web site to paid at Fairfield, Iowa. Subscription rates payable in U.S. dollars, checks drawn on a U.S. bank, or by share his solutions. Even though Steve is not a Palmtop user, he graciously gave us permission credit card - one year: $39; two years: $69. Postage: to print some of the information from his site. U.S. and U.S. possessions free; Canada, Mexico add Ernest Lilley, a reviewer for Byte.com, was also at COMDEX and found what he con­ $6 per year; other countries add $18 per year. Published bi-monthly. Please allow four to six weeks siders a possible interim replacement for the HP Palmtop: the Psion Revo handheld. Take for receipt of first issue. Executive, Editorial, a look at his article. Is he alone in his favorable assessment or is this pocketable, typeable, Circulation, Marketing and Advertising Offices: 110 palmtop worth waiting for? North Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556. Telephone: Finally, you'll note in this issue that we've added a new column and combined two (515) 472-6330, FAX: (515) 472-1879. other columns. Hal Goldstein introduces the "HPLX-L Connection" - the best of the Copyright 2000, Thaddeus Computing, inc., all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro­ HPLX-L mailing list and the "Palmtop Tips, Traps and Techniques" column takes the place duced without written permission. Reasonable efforts of the former Basic and Quick Tips columns. Frankly, we've exhausted all the Basic Tips. are made to provide accurate and useful information, If you missed any of them, stay tuned, you'll be able to browse through the "oldies but but the reader must make his or her own investiga­ tions and decisions; the Publisher and Editorial Staff goodies" online in a month or so. Come visit us at www.PalmtopPaper.com and see what cannot assume any responsibility or liability for the we have in store for you. use of information contained herein. POSTMASTER: Please send any address changes to TIle HP Palmtop Paper, Attn: Thaddeus Computing, inc., 110 North Court Street, Fairfield, IA 52556.

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY I FEBRUARY 2000 1 Letters

lem for the European prospec­ important way to prolong its educator) NOTE: You may tive buyer of HP handhelds life is to demonstrate (and know about EAREXE. It's an is still to find a retail outlet! improve!) its ability as a ear training program I wrote Once in a while I have asked "GSM companion," as good that runs on any PC including for HPs in a store which car­ as the Palm Pilot and others, a 200LX. See www.ilove Keep the Printed ries Psion and other makes. but with more capabilities. music.com/ ear.htm. Palmtop Paper Typically they would answer: Of course the PC cannot be Phil Seyer " ... we have stopped carrying forgotten, as a secondary part [email protected] I enjoy getting The HP HPs because we receive no of the "companion" concept. I Palmtop Paper in the mail and training or other forms of was therefore somewh~t sur­ Future of The HP I vote to keep a paper copy point-of-sales support." This prised to read your article on Palmtop Paper coming. The Web is a great peculiar and almost tragic sync between PIMS and MS Congratulations for your resource for everything from imbalance between technolo­ Outlook. To me it conveyed magazine! With your Web buying things to looking up gy and marketing is becoming the impression that this type of site, the S.U.P.E.R site, the information on a myriad of more and more obvious if you sync is still a problem waiting Palmtop Web ring and this subjects but once in awhile I compare with the advent of for a solution. However you magazine, you really perform like to sit back, kick off my other competing organizers/ made no mention of Intel­ a tremendous job in sharing shoes and actually read some­ calculators. Take the Palm liSync from PUMA. I have the enthusiasm about this thing I enjoy. Pilot! This product is now been using this program now computer and the old goodies Bob Graham enjoying rising sales and is for a year and am 95% satisfied [email protected] of DOS. Since I bought a 4MB widely distributed here by with the syncs I get between 200LX, I subscribed to your GSM telephone chains and Appointrnent/ToDo and MS high quality magazine, plus Three comments from similar outlets. It is certainly Schedule+. I just wish more extra disks and stuff (books). a faithful subscriber not perceived as a toy for people would use it to provide Following your article (The HP or no HP manufacture, hackers only, but as a very sufficient incentive for PUMA HP Palmtop Paper Sept/Oct. we rely on you people at practical supplement to the to upgrade their program for 1999) on the future of the Thaddeus. Keep up the fan­ GSM and to the Pc. new MS upgrades! magazine, I fully agree with tastic job you are doing for all A product philosophy note: I just noticed in The HP the preference for a physical of us sensible 200LX users! Today the PC is on most peo­ Palmtop Paper a reference to magazine (of such a quality), I guess the HP Palmtop dis­ pIe's office desk, whether they your support of the old HP taking into account "the best continuance came as no great like it or not. The GSM is just Portable Plus. Well, I might be of" the Web. Maybe with surprise to anyone. However as common. Men and women, one of your oldest and longest incentives, you can get some much we regret it, we could even school kids carry their fans. I not only had the stuff to publish. Why not a see it coming. The HP Hand­ own GSM. So how can we Portable Plus, I also had its HP turn around the world of held Division is really a improve the versatility of the predecessor. And I started Palmtop users, why not an strange breed: technically sec­ GSM, while maintaining its reading the Portable Paper history of "palm" computers, ond to none, in the market mobility? Both the PC and the with your very first edition and why not a "non-usual" list of almost invisible. Certainly GSM are parts of the envi­ have never missed one since. the use of the Palmtop, a data­ from the European end you ronment. Both must be taken Thanks folks for a wonder­ base of the users' dreams, ... ? into account. However, I per­ ful job well done as you have get the impression that HP Bruno MEIJER has been completely relying sonally believe that "GSM not only helped me hundreds [email protected] on the products to sell them­ companion" is a more fruitful of times but I can remember selves. And with sales below vantage point for future hand­ being bailed out of several HP200LX and keyboard expectations, somebody must helds than "PC companion". jams with your great articles. have kept saying: surely there Not least considering the dis­ [email protected] In 1996, when I visited the is something wrong with the tribution patterns for PCs and Mount Sinai hospital in New technology, so let us launch a GSM telephones. Moreover, I E-mail Newsletter York as a visiting surgeon, I better model! feel that the "PC Companion" Inspires a Programmer noted that there was a surgeon I quote from Hal Goldstein's approach could easily lead using a small computer. It was you to complete dependence Thanks for your newsletter. latest article: "Since 1995 we I really like the tunes and your an HP 200LX. I was fascinated have seen two OmniGo orga­ on the latest Windows frills. and bought it immediately at And over time, you will be macro. nizers and seven Windows Your work has inspired an 47th Photo. I also got The HP CE PC companions .. .". But able to offer less and less Palmtop Paper. Later I was, how­ value over the ever lighter idea for a cool music educa­ how can you expect sales suc­ tion program. I'll send you a ever, swept away by the cess if you have neither dis­ laptop PCs. Windows 95 wave and got a Also, looking at the 200LX, copy when I have it finished. tribution, nor promotion? In (I'm a programmer and music HP360LX and was rather dis­ fact, the biggest single prob- I believe that the single most appointed. There I was with 2

2 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 unused handheld computers Windows 95/NT interface. schedules for the surgeons at support in the business. I've and a Dell Desktop at home I am a representative of the clinic (35 doctors) and always received prompt, cour­ which I used on a daily basis another category. Since I am have their schedules in a data­ teous, friendly, and profession­ and a Tulip computer at work. an active surgeon with some base so when they, for exam­ al support from Thaddeus, but This summer I worked abroad research and also a lot of ple, approach me to ask if it is after today I'm really impressed. to make an extra buck and administration and have a possible to have a week off First, last night I sent an e­ needed a small computer with family which I also would like for a congress or journey I can mail to Hal asking about the a good screen which I could to be together with during my immediately tell them. current version of Software use outdoors. I needed the active life, to me the HP 200LX 4. The silence!! The desktop Carousel. In less than one busi­ computer for two reasons: is the only computer to use. is rather silent but it still ness hour this morning I research and administration. I Since July I have used my makes some noise which I find received a program update. dug out the 200LX and I sud­ desktop mainly as a backup irritating. The programs I use Second, last night I discovered denly realized the full poten­ station. The advantages of the mostly after reading your arti­ my batteries were dead on my tial of the computer and have HP 200LX are: cle are: Memo, Lotus, Buddy HP200LX 32MB DS Palmtop. since increased my productiv­ 1. The screen and battery (fantastic!), DocRtf, View, Lost my c: drive drivers and ity approximately 200% as well life!! Nobody talks about the Database. I use a SanDisk could not access the f: drive. as my salary, unfortunately not screen. It is fantastic to have a ImageMate CompactFlash Ex­ Could not find my drivers disk with the same percentage. This portable laptop computer ternal Drive and a 48MB or instructions (guess I've got past summer 1999 I read your with a color screen - but SanDisk CompactFlash Card to get better organized). This article in the 1997 bonus issue what's the use if you can't see which is perfect. I, of course, morning I e-mailed Thaddeus and think it was directly aimed the screen outdoors and the would have preferred a 96 MB for help. About one hour later at the category to which I battery lasts for 2 hours. card, but since I am a Swedish Jonathan sent me the drivers belong. What I mean to say is 2. The speed !! To start writ­ surgeon and not an American and instructions. That is really that the handheld computers ing in a document on the one, I have to stick with the excellent support! Thanks with the Windows CE system 200LX takes me about 3 sec­ cheaper version. Thaddeus (and Hal, Jonathan, are aimed mainly at employ­ onds whereas it takes me sev­ Lars Enochsson and all the Thaddeus staff). ees in big companies who are eral minutes on the desktop. Lars.Enochsson@ You're great! mobile and want to keep in 3. The portability!! I have Kirurg.SOS.sll.se Don E. Weatherly touch with their head office as the 200LX in my pocket all weather@EXlSNET well as with their customers, day at work and can use the Loves Customer national and international. To small amount of time between Support them the important thing is that operations etc. to write mail, Thaddeus has got to have the computer is fairly small and do calculations, etc. I am absolutely the best customer that it is compatible with the responsible for the time

Savvy Executive Traveler Uses HP Palmtop to Navigate Airlines

ne of our readers, who asked to remain anonymous, sent us worldwide and locates the next outbound flight. "I call my travel Oan article from a recent issue of Forbes ASAP. We can't Quote agent on my Nokia 6160 cell phone, book the flight, and I'm in the entire article in this sidebar, so if you subscribe to ASAP, you Phoenix in time for the meeting." might want to look for the original article. Conti's Rule of Engagement No.1: Always carry the OAG. (Bob The article is a profile of how Bob Conti, COO and senior vice should talk with the airline pilots who have put the OAG on their president of The Alexander Group, a ~ales and marketing con­ Palmtops. He'd have one less thing to carry.) sultancy based in San Francisco, uses his Palmtop in his travels. To get the best seat on any given plane, he's recorded the com­ Bob claims to spend four days a week flying to client meet­ plete seating chart of 25 airplanes in his HP 200LX PDA. ''I've got ings across the United States and clocked 250,000 miles in the the entire United fleet in here," he says, tapping the little black box. air last year. He thinks of traveling as a strategy game and his play­ "I've got Delta, America West, hmm, who else? ... " ing pieces include a cell phone, a PDA, a laptop, and an old-fash­ Conti's Rule of Engagement No.2 Never, ever use a client's ioned paper directory, the OAG Pocket Flight Guide. name in a document aboard a plane. Airplanes are public places. From experience, Bob knows when the airlines are trying to "Type in xxx in place of the name and do a global search and pull a fast one. "Just last week," says Conti, "I'm on an 8:30 a.m. replace later in the hotel room," he says. flight out of San Francisco to Phoenix. We're waiting to board and Conti's Rule of Engagement No.3 Block out onboard dis­ they announce that the pilot is stuck in traffic on the Bay Bridge! tractions. "For years I would carry Walkman headphones with me. This is what's known as the Big Lie!" When I wanted to work I'd pop on the headphones, and no one Conti pulls out his OAG guide that lists every flight (including would bother me. I didn't have a Walkman, just the headphones." the ones your travel agent won't tell you about) for 800 airlines

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 3 NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S New Products: New and Updated Software for the Palmtop

The Palmtop continues to inspire programmers with ideas for new and improved software. It even inspires a Super Palmtop from Japan.

I he 2000 CD InfoBase from We've also tried to squeeze in some desktops. It uses about 900 bytes of T Thaddeus Computing, Inc., is emulators for Apple computers as memory. It's available directly from a two-CD set. The unique fea­ well as the complete set of files that http://peichl.hplx.net. ture for this year's edition of this pop­ will let experimenters get the Digital ular product is a complete archive of Research GEM desktop running on New version ofVDE all 55 issues of The HP Palmtop Paper their Palmtop. For anyone interested in the VDE in HTML format. This is something In the EdChoice directory, there are editor, version 1.9 is now available. that has been requested by many 23MB of files for Bible scholars, bar­ According to the documentation it can users. Here it is, courtesy of Ed Keefe tenders, chemists, programmers, pro­ now handle large (-600K) files. It's at: and a team of ten volunteer users ject managers, and Word Perfect users. www.punky.com/vde who pulled it all together. The infor­ We've also included some more Peniel Romanelli, [email protected] mation is the same as that contained software that was formerly commer­ in the HyperReader version of the cial but is now copyrighted freeware, LXTCP2000 articles but now you can load the e.g., MS Word 5.5 for DOS, Think Version 2.0 of LXTCP (LXTCP 2000) information on your Palmtop and Tank and Visicalc. has been uploaded to http://rwhit read it with the HyperViewer (HV) All in all, there's enough here to by.hplx.net. Both the binary and source reader. If you like a touch of color, keep you up late every night. The distributions are freely available. you can use your desktop Web brows­ only sleep you'll get is when you send There are some major changes er to read the information and look at us your Palmtop for a 64MB upgrade from versions LX, so please read the the black and white (and some col­ just so you can keep these files handy lxtcp.doc file carefully when upgrad­ ored) graphics. at all times. ing. A summary of changes follows: The "Bonanza" section of the CD 1. LXTCP is now linked against has an additional 115MB all told - AUTOCAPS Program. the latest version of WatTCP. almost 7000 files in 500 directories. Users of the Buddy program like 2. The default configuration file The new files include 12MB of files one feature above all else: Buddy's name has been changed to "tcp.cfg". that deal with Lotus 1-2-3. Therein SmartCaps. It lets you press a key twice 3. DHCP support is now compiled you'll find documentation and tutori­ to convert the onscreen character to (thanks to Steve Lawson) but it is not als for beginners as well as an 800 page uppercase. However, this one feature documented yet, so try it out at your book, in HTML format, all about using comes at the price of loading the whole own risk. macros in 1-2-3. For more details about Buddy program into memory. 4. The functionality of LXPOP and this section of the CD, see the AUTOCAPS occupies significantly LXNNTP have been combined into "Through the Looking Glass" column less space, gives you the same Smart­ a single executable called LXMTA in this issue of The HP Palmtop Paper. Caps feature as Buddy and allows me (MTA = Mail Transport Agent). There are almost 30 programs deal­ to type non-English characters. 5. Support for IMAP has been ing with Artificial Intelligence, 50 pro­ AUTOCAPS is a TSR to speed up included in LXMTA. grams that deal with math, from sim­ typing of capital letters on a keyboard. 6. Many configuration options ple calculators to statistical programs It automatically capitalizes the first have changed and new options have and electronic CAD, along with all letter of a sentence. In addition, dou­ been added - read the documenta­ the files from the Ubasic collection. ble clicking a character at the begin­ tion carefully so you can update your Games? You bet! As many of the ning of any word also capitalizes the configuration file. old Spectrum games that we could beginning of this word. It works with 7. LXDNS has been added to find along with several DOS games. national characters and also runs on enable forward and reverse name-

4 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 server queries. of an INETD implementation for the SUPER site. The program works quite For the minor changes, please see HP 200LX, including support for the well on the HP 200LX. It is shareware. the documentation. "echo", "discard", "daytime", "char­ Registration of the program is noted For those who don't know what gen", "time" services, and a simple as CALL. Contact author for details: LXTCP is, here's an excerpt from the virtual web server. Russell Holloway documentation: Rod Whitby, [email protected], CIS 72144,1376 LXTCP is a collection of freeware URL: http://rwhitby.hplx.net AOL 0) RUSSELL660 software programs for the HP 200LX PHONE + 1 800 815 6578 Palmtop that provides clients (and New lIP 200LX Cribbage Game VPROM works on CGA, EGA, sometimes servers) for various If you're a cribbage player, you'll and VGA with 22 chars per line dis­ TCP lIP protocols (such as SMTP, be interested in the download at played in this shareware version with POP, IMAP, NNTP, FTP, TELNET, http://sdl.continent.com/ -supportI 22 or 32 in the registered version. It etc). Connectivity to the correspond­ crib.zip. It's the famous BSD cribbage can be run from FILER with 347k of ing TCP lIP protocol servers or from game ported to the HP Palmtop using available RAM and the documenta­ the corresponding TCP lIP protocol Curtis Cameron's graphics functions tion states that it can run on 256k. clients is via one of the following for card games. It's also available on The shareware version is limited to 70 mechanisms: this issue of The HP Palmtop Paper ON lines of parsed text. The registered a) a PPP connection via a serial DISK. version supports up to 5000 lines of cable. b) a PPP connection via a PCM­ parsed text. For American users there CIA or external modem. c) a direct Synchronize 200LX Appointment is a toll-free phone order number. The Ethernet connection via a PCMCIA Book With Lotus Notes Calendar program also includes its own built­ ethernet card. There is a LotusScript program in editor for on-the-fly alterations. At the present time, seven LXTCP that synchronizes the HP 200LX programs are available. Appointment Book with the Notes WDBLOAD and WDBDUMP The LXTCPCFG program checks calendar. The synchronization is one­ These two utility programs will your configuration file, and (if you way (the HP is the master, the Notes let you export comma-separated val­ are using BOOTP) the response of calendar the slave). You need to have ues (CSV) text data out of a World­ your BOOTP server. the HP Connectivity Pack and it is at Time file and import CSV data into The LXPING program checks your least a two-step process. Also, you one. It seems to work, but if you have connectivity to other computers. need a designer license for Lotus modified your WDB file be sure to The LXDNS program checks the Notes (a desktop license will not do) back it up before trying WDBLOAD. response of your nameserver, and to install the agent. Note fields are included in the allows you to resolve a fully qualified The procedure doesn't synchro­ import I export. The package comes domain name into an IP address. nize the Palmtop's PhoneBook with with a sample CSV file that contains The LXMTA program allows you Lotus Notes. However, if you're still World Time data for all the cities in the to transfer mail from your HP 200LX interested, you can get what the U.S. with population over 15,000. The to your SMTP server, transfer mail author, Russell Lewis, has accom­ programs are available directly at: from your POP or IMAP server to plished so far and, perhaps, build on http://cameron.hplx.net (alias) your HP 200LX (ready for an offline his solution. Send an e-mail to the http://members.aol.com/ freewh reader such as the Palmtop News address below and ask for a copy of L44/lxgames.html Reader), and transfer news between' the procedure. ftp :/ I members.aol.com I freewhL your NNTP server and your HP [email protected] 44/wdbio.zip 200LX (ready for an offline reader Curtis Cameron such as the Palmtop News Reader). New Version of LXTeX 2e available! The LXFTP program is an FTP The latest version of LXTeX 2e Yet Another New Game client for the HP 200LX with quite (LaTeX 2e for the Palmtop) version http://games.hplx.net has been versatile scripting capabilities. 1.2. is now available at http:/ I updated with a new game to down­ The LXTELNET program is a TEL­ daniel.hplx.net I palmtop.html load. It's a Centipede clone (for those NET client for the HP 200LX with Read the HISTORY.TXT file for who can remember that far back!) multiple session capability, and also the improvements in this version. called Megapede. serves as an FIP server. Daniel Hertrich , [email protected] The site also includes a discussion The LXRSH program allows you forum dedicated to Palmtop-related to run commands on a remote host. VPROM2.ZIP Notes. games - surely a world first. There Note that the source distribution The TELEPROMPTER program is also a discussion group for all other also includes a preliminary version VPROM2.ZIP is now available on the (less mobile!) games, if you feel so

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 5 NEWS: New Products inclined. You can get to the forum Palmtop News Reader, version 3.2 ISO-8859-1 character set. Address either from http://games.hplx.net, The latest version of this program book is no longer limited to 17 entries. or by going straight to http:/ I is available directly at (http://rwhit Two different modem profiles may www.delphi.com/lxgames. The one by.hplx.netl download.html). For more be stored (handy for cellular use). slight caveat is that to reply or post a details about the program see http:/ I • Skipped messages may be hidden new message, you need to sign your­ pnr.hplx.net. from directory. Screen output while self up. Fortunately, this is a very The DOS executables (PNR.EXE online may be reduced for faster quick and painless process and PNRTI.EXE) are now compiled in transfer. Mike Wagstaff, [email protected] large mode, which effectively re­ • Swap to disk option for large edi­ Mike fgames.hplx.netl moves the memory limits that were tors or PGP (registered users only). present in version 3.1 and earlier. The • Can explode message digests for capacity of the DOS version of PNR is individual replies (registered users LXCIC 2.0 now limited by the amount of free I only). By the time you read this, the lat­ disk space to store the messages • Edit fields now support insert mode est version of LXCIC should be avail­ (unless you've got lots of really small (toggle off! on with Insert key). able on the S.U.P.E.R. site (www. messages). Note that the System • Faster transition between online palmtop.net). Manager-compatible PNR.EXM still and offline modes. LXCIC is a replacement for the has the limits present in version 3.1 • PGP no longer requires editing of Palmtop's built-in CIClOO program. It (the memory limit is due to the 64k GP.BAT nor prepending of editor 1- extends the usefulness of that pro­ data limit imposed on EXM pro­ reader. gram with some new ethernet fea­ grams), so if you wish to use • Directly supports Nokia phone on tures. The new version supports PNR.EXM, you should limit the num­ 700LX (no more editing GP.BAT). The Accton Network Card (ACCTON ber of articles per folder to about 400 ESC key backs out of screens and EN2216). You can now disable LXCIC (you can still have lots of folders with menus. New 200LX-style icon cour­ by running the program with a ID 400 articles each). tesy of Jimmy Kim (jimmykim@cana­ switch and enable it with a IE switch. PNRTI now properly threads mail da. com). You can also save battery life by run­ and news instead of sorting alpha­ • The BROWSE.COM viewer (from ning LXCIC IDE when you are no betically. This means that the order in SimTel) is now the default reader longer online. The program now gen­ which the articles were received is (only 1k!). erates errorlevel type reports when retained, except that articles with the • Better handling of messages con­ you try to load the TSR program. same subject (excluding a single liRe:" taining PGP (including PGPGP The new disable switch is equal to prefix) are grouped together. The changes). switching the Palmtop off and on nomailsort and nonewssort configu­ • Blank status on read messages for again with LXCIC loaded passive. ration options have been renamed to easier identification of new messages. That is, it no longer configures cards, nomailthread and nonewsthread, and but still stays resident. You may now will turn off the default threading New Replacement for HP Palmtop? load another driver for your card. behavior. Note that the threading is The Japanese Palmtop user com­ After removing the intermediate dri­ only based on the subject line, and munity is building a new PDA, which ver from memory, you may enable does not take the References header has GPLed hardware design with the LXCIC again with the new IE switch. into account. same form factor as the HP Palmtops If you combine the disable and Rod Whitby and the same keyboard layout. It will enable switch (LXCIC/DE), this [email protected] use an AMD elan (486SX) 66MHz should act like switching the Palmtop processor and will come with 32MB off and on again with LXCIC active. Goin' Postal version 3: A Mailer memory. Plans are to support a CF LXCIC now reports card-type For HP Palmtops Type II PC Card and a CGA mono­ errorlevels also after loading resident. Version 3 of this fine program has chrome (640x200) screen. Future plans No more need to call LXCIC/S again finally been released, thanks to all the include backlighting. You'll be able to check for a card-type errorlevel. registered users who participated in to boot to DOS or Linux from a PC The new source already includes the beta test period! The disk space Card or Compact Flash disk. a code fragment for parallel card sup­ required for version 3 has only The Morphy One should have a port. Anyone with parallel card increased about 20k. However it's full battery life of 10-20 hours. The group knowledge is welcome to complete of new features: plans to release it in Feb 2000. the source. • Reads and writes MIME-compliant ITSUMI ken-ichi StefanPeichl messages (Base64, Quoted-printable). [email protected] Maps between DOS codepage and 6 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 Continued Page 9 REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW Through the Looking Glass: The Lotus Tapes

If you've been looking for more and better information about Lotusl-2-3, the files on the 2000 CD InfoBase will end your search. It's all here!

By Ed Keefe

n 1983, when HP teamed up with gram. If not, you could have bought In particular, new owners of HP I Lotus to create the HP Portable a book on 1-2-3. The bookstore shelves Palmtops want more and better exam­ (110), they produced a laptop were full of them. If you wanted sam­ ples of spreadsheet applications and computer that was both rugged and ple spreadsheets you could have better instructions on how to create useful. Without a doubt, the built-in downloaded hundreds of them from their own spreadsheets using the 1-2- Lotus 1-2-3 program was the eye-pop­ CompuServe or from local bulletin 3 macro language. Without the addi­ ping feature of the machine. With the boards. tional resources, the built-in Lotus 1- spreadsheet program on board, users What HP didn't take into account 2-3 is like a jig-saw puzzle for which could take their applications into the was that the DOS version of Lotus 1- most of the pieces are missing. field and update them in their car or 2-3 was on the way out while the To track down some of the missing from the back of their pickup truck. Windows version of Excel was on the pieces for the puzzle, we searched When HP and Lotus teamed up to way in. Books for MS-DOS versions of our own archives, looked far and develop the HP 95LX Palmtop, they 1-2-3 vanished almost overnight and wide on the Internet and electronic made sure Lotus 1-2-3 was built in. electronic bulletin board owners bulletin boards for any and all refer­ This time they created a computer moved their DOS programs to offline ences to MS DOS versions of 1-2-3. that would let users keep spread­ archives. New owners of the HP From the dozens of files we found, we sheets in their pocket and update Palmtop were left with legacy code selected what we considered to be them almost anywhere. and little help in using it. the best and have included them on With both the Portable and the first Over the past eight years The HP the 2000 CD InfoBase. Palmtop, HP included a relatively Palmtop Paper has printed several arti­ The files therein contain informa­ complete set of instructions for the cles and dozens of tips on how to use tion both for beginning users of 1-2- spreadsheet program. The HP 95LX 1-2-3. Thaddeus Computing also sells 3 as well as a wealth of material for also contained several exemplary the Micro REF "Quick Reference advanced users. Here is a summary of spreadsheets in ROM. Without the Guide to Lotus 1-2-3" both as a print­ what we found. printed instructions and the sample ed booklet and in electronic form on spreadsheets many users would have the 1999 and 2000 CD InfoBase. Beginning 1-2-3 put Lotus 1-2-3 in the category of However, users keep asking for more. 123BOOK.EXE (123BOOK.TXT) is "nice-to-have-but-otherwise-useless." However, when HP brought the 100/200LX to market, they omitted ABOUT THE AUTHOR the instructions on how to use 1-2-3 Ed Keefe is an author and editor of The HP Palmtop Paper and and they removed the sample spread­ the book PC In Your Pocket: Information When You Need It. sheets from ROM. They must have Ed is also a former college instructor of logic and computer sci­ assumed that users knew how to use ence and a consultant in the computer industry. Ed can be the then-standard spreadsheet pro- reached at [email protected]

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 7 REVIEW: Through the Looking Glass - The Lotus Tapes

a 24-page document in both text and complete inventory for a business, (Note that HP Calc does many of electronic form that gives all the basic computing the payroll for up to 15 the same calculations. However, you information about 1-2-3 (release 2.4) employees, keeping track of software could use this spreadsheet applica­ in the quickest way possible. If you're registration codes, recording the tion as an extension to HP Calc in the new to 1-2-3, here's the place to start. scores for employees in a training Palmtop.) Once you've digested this material, program and tracking utility costs. you'll be ready for something like the For those who are involved with Beyond Templates to Macros MicroREF book. statistics and want something more Lotus 1-2-3 without macros is If you're looking for something to than the List/Stat program in HP Calc merely another way to store infor­ take the place of the missing tutorial but less than a dedicated statistics mation and perform a few mathe­ that comes with the full version of program, the Blossom series of Lotus matical calculations. With macros, Lotus 1-2-3, take a look at the templates will let you perform the you can make a spreadsheet program TechnoJock tutorials by Bob Ainsbury. following statistical tasks: I-way I into a personal business or scientific There are three tutorials that deal with Analysis of Variance, Chi-squared test tool. Yet, for many users, macros Printing, Databases, and Menus. All for an N x M contingency table, 2- remain a mystery. of these run on the Palmtop's version way frequency table for two columns Admittedly, creating complicated of 1-2-3. of data values, create graphs with macros is not something to be under­ If you want to read more tips about confidence limits, produce single and taken as a casual hobby. However using 1-2-3, there is a wealth of mate­ double life tables with a significance there are add-ins and libraries of rial in the Lotus Tips collected by Dean test, perform linear regression with macros that can make the task a lot Wood over a seven year period. The optional weighting, do parabolic simpler. We've included a couple of tips cover such topics as using date regression, calculate statistical prob­ macro libraries to let you explore this and time functions, using 1-2-3 as a ability distributions and interpret all dimension of spreadsheet computing. database engine, sorting techniques, types of t-tests. creating graphs, examining the struc­ In the science and engineering area BlackBox Macro Programming ture of worksheet data files, using 1-2- we found a 1-2-3 template that uses Forrest Harlow, creator of the 3 as a word processor or outliner, and Lotus macros to emulate a scientific BlackBox set of macros, has done the on and on. Most of the information is calculator - one that you can modi­ nitty-gritty work of testing and debug­ contained in a series of text files, but fy. The calculator-emulator does ... ging the most commonly used macro there are also a number of .WKS files. 1. Simple arithmetic. commands and bundled them in what (The .WKS extension means that the 2. Functions editing and function he calls "Black Boxes." Instead of writ­ sample worksheets should also work evaluations. The program can han­ ing your own low-level macro code in early releases of the 1-2-3 as well as dle functions having from one to you can build a spreadsheet program the version in the Palmtop.) seven variables and beyond. by snapping together pre-written mod­ 3. Physical units definition and ules. The modular approach is much Spreadsheet Templates conversion. faster to learn, easier to use, and yields For those who want ready-to-use 4. Integration and differentiation of more reliable programs. Of course, if spreadsheets or who want an appli­ analytic functions and data tables. You you use the black box approach, you'll cation that they can adapt to their can key in the functions to integrate or miss learning about all the low level own situation, there are several files differentiate or import them from a macro commands: you'll also miss the that contain fully functional spread­ text file. The program will produce headaches involved in getting them to sheets for scientific, statistical and graphs of the functions before and work correctly. business applications in 1-2-3. after integration and differentiation. On the other hand, if you really For example, in the business area 5. Editing and calculating statistic want to learn how to create your own there are spreadsheets for tracking functions on lists of numbers. Both "black boxes" in the Lotus 1-2-3 response for various advertising the formulas and the data tables may macro language, we've included two sources, for calculating depreciation be keyed in or imported as text files. of the best references for this task. using the MACRS method, for track­ 6. Frequency distribution and nor­ R2MACS.WKl, by Craig Thurber, ing mileage, car expenses, mainte­ mal distribution of data. is an indexed reference guide to the nance, etc., for determining what your 7. Curve fitting (4 types). use of the Lotus 1-2-3 advanced macro billing rate should be, scheduling 8. Root finding (non-linear equa­ commands. It contains explanations employees, estimating the cost for a tions). and working examples of the com­ number of jobs, tracking expenses on 9. Matrix and vector operations. mands. The reference guide is a a monthly or quarterly basis, keeping 10. Simultaneous linear equation spreadsheet in itself. When you load track of frequent flyer miles, taking a solving. it into 1-2-3, you'll see a screen con-

8 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 taining several subjects. You can high­ niques and Secrets for Lotus 1-2-3." It rows. As a result, they don't suffer light a subject of interest with the cur­ is a hypertext electronic book about from the limitations of other macro sor and press Alt-G to go to that sub­ the Lotus macro language presented as libraries. They don't demand that the ject. There are many example macros a Microsoft Windows 3.1 help file. The data in a range has to be of the same included. To activate one of these .HLP file contains the equivalent of a type. For example a macro designed to examples, you simply point to it and 1,000 page printed book. The Help file change labels to uppercase will ignore press Alt+A. will work in Windows 9x/NT as well all the other types of data and will The worksheet is its own manual. as Windows 3.1. However, to make it treat only the labels in the range. If the You can print it out by selecting Print useful on the Palmtop, we converted macro is designed to multiply all the under the General subject category on the .HLP file to an equivalent HTML numbers by a factor, it will multiply all the first screen and running the macro package. You may need an extra mem­ the numbers in the range and ignore all named Print. The manual is 21 pages. ory card to accommodate all the files in the other cells. The macros handle both The most thorough reference for the set. There is over 6MB of detailed 2-D and 3-D ranges transparently and macros is from KI.T.A.L. Software. It's information in more than 100 files. automatically sense what version of a shareware product consisting of two "Super Power" presents a step-by­ Lotus 1-2-3 you're using and apply the parts. The first part is a macro com­ step analysis of over 200 macros. You correct code. mander and the second is an electron­ can look up a macro, key it into a ic book on 1-2-3 macro programming spreadsheet and run it. The text will @SUMmingup for intermediate to advanced users. explain what each command in the The collection of Lotus 1-2-3 files on Macro Commander is a Lotus 1-2-3 macro is supposed to do. Once you the 2000 CD InfoBase provides a wealth add-in that speeds the entry of advanced see how the macro works, you can of resources for both beginning and macro commands into your spread­ either use it as-is or modify it to suit advanced users of the Palmtop's most sheet. With Macro Commander, you can your own application. The macros con­ powerful program. Hopefully it will reduce spelling and syntax errors, quick­ tained in the book are masterpieces of answer the oft-asked question: "Where ly check a command's arguments and the macro art. They include tricks and can I get more information about 1-2-3?" decrease your spreadsheet template techniques that have not been printed If you can't find it here, you probably development time. The operation is very in other books on the subject. The won't find it elsewhere . • similar to the way you might build a macros deal with the common tasks function in MS Excel on a desktop com­ of printing, creating graphs, copying, puter: namely, click on the name of a moving, formatting output, etc. The function and fill in the blanks. unique feature about the macros in the The second part of the package con­ "Super Power" book is that they work sists of "Super Power Macros: Tech- with ranges rather than columns or

Ja;~ ~!{~~~ ....~~,>. ~~.~~~:~.. :~~, 1 New Products: What's New ~~~}~~L~,~~':'~<';~ '.; ..: .. ~ .:~~'~>~,:~.-\~ The following programs are available at on the 2000 CD InfoBase? the Web sites mentioned in the article as well as being available on the Jan 2000 issue of The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK. Continued From Page 6 Autocaps.zip - freeware by Stefan Peichl; VDE19.zlp - shareware by Eric Meyers; LXTCP.Z1P - freeware by Rod Whitby; For all those interested, the offi­ http://member.nifty.ne.jp / toy ozou/ palmpc/ release.html CRIB.ZIP - the freeware cribbage game; cial Morphy One site at www.mor­ VPROM2.ZIP - shareware by Russell phy one.org now appears to be up http://www.mobilenews.ne.jp/ne Holloway is also available on the and running. Sadly, it is virtually all in ws/1999/11/0101pda.html • S.U.P.E.R. site; WBDlO.Z1P - freeware by Japanese. A second source for infor­ Curtis Cameron containing the mation is: WDBLOAD and WDBDUMP programs; http://games.hplx.net/ morphy LXCIC 2.0 - freeware from Stefan Peichl; one.htm PNR32S.ZIP - freeware Palmtop News Reader from Rod Whitby; GP3R1.ZIP - If you read Japanese, check out: shareware Goin' Postal e-mail program.

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 9 NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S The New, Improved Palmtop Paper Web Site

Ed gives a sneak preview of coming attractions on The HP Palmtop Paper Web site.

By Ed Keefe

y the time you read this, the Illii ; B new www.PalmtopPaper.com Web site will be in the testing phase. It has taken almost three Use the blue keys OR the left to Navigate this site. months to update the electronic home of The HP Palmtop Paper with an addi­ tional 50MB of information and an The Ultimate Palmtop Store New 200LX's -- We have them. entirely new appearance. The site contains all the informa­ 2, 6, 8, 32, 64, 96 MB Upgrades + Double Speed tion needed to purchase new and CD Infobase 2000 + Super Software Carousel used Palmtops, accessories, upgrades, Much, much more software and knowledge products. The addition of all the past issues of The HP Palmtop Paper and the e­ mail Newsletter will make this site Read About the ultimate reference source for Read upcomjng artjcles jn The Palmtop users. - HP Palmtop Paper. Screen 1 shows the opening screen of the site. The overall color scheme is News, Reviews, Profiles, Tips, blue and orange and black, the color Feature Articles, New scheme of the printed version of The Products, HP Palmtop Paper. Synchronaing r------­ with Outlook, Some More Blue Keys etc. The Palmtop Rin, Site is oWllod by The HP Palmtop Papor. The navigation buttons, on the left side of the screen, should make Vicit The Wobrin, Palmtop users feel right at home. They're our addition to the blue keys Screen 1: The Home Page of www.PalmtopPaper.com on the HP Palmtop. The buttons will work on any Web browser but, to see screens for The Palmtop Paper Online. able to search for individual topics or them in action, your browser must By clicking on one of the images of snag a couple of issues, load them on support Javascript. The HP Palmtop Paper, you'll have your Palmtop and take them with you access to the six issues for that year. in your pocket. With a 64MB Palmtop, The Palmtop Paper Online Clicking on the label for the issue will you should be able to squeeze all of the When you click on the button send you to a table of contents. issues on to your machine. labeled Palmtop Paper Archives, This part of the Web site will be The work of converting all the you'll jump to the subweb that con­ available on the 2000 CD InfoBase in issues to HTML was done by a team tains The Palmtop Paper Online. case you're not on the Internet. of volunteer users: Rod Whitby, Gary Screen 2 shows one of the opening With this knowledge base you'll be Spiers, Quinton Jones, Ripin Pen, Jeff

10 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 MaIka, Mike Little, Mike Kopplin, Gilles Kohl, Brent Hodges, Neil Currie, Lisa Cook, Al Chin, and Steve Carder. The HP Palmtop Paper Olliine We debated whether to edit the material and delete or CJjck on a graphic to see the issues. Click on the title above to retJlm to the home page change information that is out of date. The consensus was "'"t ". --=...... ' 'litr .... - , to leave the issues as they originally appeared. As such, they iIP~lmtop ~~~: jg'pc~lmtop ~~: contain the same information as printed versions of The HP Palmtop Paper and the HyperReader version on past and cur­ rent CD lnfoBases. Since the out of date information will be on the Web and available to the general public, we've added a "disclaimer page." See the sidebar for our disclaimer. -g:;;:.. 1999 ~-' What's New? Jan/Feb [431 When you click on the picture of The HP Palmtop Paper Mar/Apr [441 May/Jun [451 labeled "What's New?" you'll link to another new feature of Jul/Aug [461 the Web site: a section devoted to upcoming articles for The ==- . :::..-:.. . Sep/Oct [471 HP Palmtop Paper. You'll be able to preview the articles and - . - . Nov/Dec [481 offer your own insights and comments. The button that invites you to subscribe to the Palmtop Search the Issues Disclaimer E-mail Newsletter will also let you read all the past newslet­ ters at the click of button. Screen 2: An Opening Screen for the HTML Versi on of The HP Palmtop Paper

Technical Details The goal was to create a Web site that struck a balance In case you're wondering, yes, some of the early stages of between eye-appeal and speed. As a result the graphics aren't development of the Web site were done on the Palmtop. I used as brilliant as they could be but they are as fast as they can be. Project Vision to create a timeline and Notetaker to keep The past three months have been, for me, the typical notes and a custom appointment book to keep on target. development cycle of frustration and elation - disap­ However, when it came time to build the site, I resort­ pointment when three days of work gets blown away in a ed to a WinNT desktop and a combination of MS Front Page Windows crash and elation when something actually works (pretty good for keeping things together-not so good for the way it's supposed to. tweaking HTML code), Jasc's Paint Shop Pro 6.0, Visio I hope that my efforts will be of use to the Palmtop Pro, MS PowerPoint along with TextEdit 4.0 for the HTML community. • and Javascript coding. Important Disclaimer The HP Palmtop Paper Online is provided "as is." We given e-mail address, try a "people finder" on the Web. have simply converted the content of the past issues of The If you're looking for Palmtop hardware or software, try HP Palmtop Paper from its HyperRe~der format to HTML. www.palmtoppaper.com.Ifwedon·thavewhatyou·re This will let you view the text and pictures with a Web looking for, we may be able to direct you to the appropriate browser on any computer. We have purposely stayed vendor. away from frames, Javascript, DHTML and all the bells If you're looking for software for the Palmtop, try and whistles of the WWW so that the material could be searching the 2000 CD lnfoBase in the \ONDlSK and transferred to the Palmtop and viewed with the \Bonanza directories. For the latest versions of some soft­ HyperViewer (HV) browser. ware, try www.palmtoppaper.com/download.htm or go The downside to this literal translation is that any and directly to the SUPER site at www.palmtop.net or all references to products mentioned, Web sites, phone www.dasoft.com numbers, and e-mail addresses may no longer be valid. Due to limited resources we will not have time to The HP Palmtop has been around since 1991. During answer questions about topics covered in the articles. If that time, several third-party companies have entered and you have questions, we recommend that you post them exited the Palmtop market. Likewise, e-mail addresses on the HPLX-L mailing list. You'll get a wider variety of change on a daily basis. If you can't find an author with the answers, sooner. •

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 11 NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S User to User: Uncovering Palmtop Possibilities at COMI)EX

Hal roams the halls of COMDEX with Mack Baggette turning up potential Palmtop enhancements.

By Hal Goldstein

n the "Golden Era" of Palmtop data from two CD ROMs. Imagine Ponce, formerly of EXP, now with I computing, the Fall Las Vegas putting our entire CD InfoBase, New Media. I explained our need for COMDEX computer show was a including the Gutenberg collection, fast, low-powered PC card modems. gold mine of possibilities for the HP on a card and popping it your 200LX. Dave told me about a project in Brazil Palmtops. At least I found goodies to SanDisk's Senior VP, Leon Malmed, where they used a 56Kbps faxl data write about for The HP Palmtop Paper. let us test the card. Mack installed his modem card with the HP 200LX. The For the past couple of years however software on the 200LX and successful­ modem consumed as little power, the show has been a bust. Commercial ly wrote data to, read data from, and both during operation and when idle, DOS software has all but vanished deleted data from the card. I asked as any card he had come across. from the scene and HP no longer dis­ how much the card cost. Leon, with Mack's independent tests verified plays anything about the HP 200LX in tongue in cheek, told me this card (the Dave's claims. We tracked down the its showcase. Happily, this year it was only one in existence) would set me modem and will be offering it in our different. The industry seems to have back a cool $1.5 million. When Sandisk Ultimate Palmtop Catalog for $99.95. finally recognized the potential of the is ready to ship the card, in about a This is the fastest modem we have handheld market. Consequently, a year, the price will be more reasonable found to work in the HP 200LX. number of possibilities emerged that - probably $2,000-3,000. Thanks to However, the 200LX's CPU and the 16 should bear fruit for HP 200LX users. Mack's testing, we already know it bit DOS software available for the This year I spent a lot of time wan­ works with the 200LX! Palmtop won't push this modem to dering around the show with Mack Mack's software PC card driver the limit. Users should expect the Baggette, developer of the HP 200LX will be multipurpose. It will read modem to operate at about the speed doublespeed and memory upgrades. large capacity SanDisk cards, take the of a 28.8 Kbps or, at most, a 33.6 Kbps place of HP's built-in modem driver modem. Mack and Hal's Excellent and allow low-powered LAN cards to Given these speed expectations I Adventures work. We expect to sell the driver was pleasantly surprised to get the Our first adventure took place at commercially in several months and following e-mail from police officer, the SanDisk booth. Mack wanted to package it free with LAN and large friend and neighbor of Mack, and test his new driver which allows PC SanDisk cards. strong Palmtop user, Jeff Johns. (See Cards with 220MB capacity or greater last issue's profile). to run on the HP 200LX. We moseyed Low-Powered 56Kbps Modem "Yes, I like the modem. I would over to the SanDisk booth and asked Our next adventure led us to Dave - recommend it and Mack's tests prove the person in charge if he would "loan" us a spare card for a few hours ABOUT THE AUTHOR of testing. SanDisk didn't have any Hal Goldstein ([email protected]) is Publisher and Executive Editor commercial, high capacity cards avail­ of The HP Palmtop Paper and Handheld PC Magazine and president of able. However, they did have, under Thaddeus Computing. He has published, edited, and written for five wraps, a 1.2 GB prototype PC card. 1.2 magazines on portable computing since founding Thaddeus GB is enough room to store all the Computing in 1985. He lives with his wife, Rita, and sons, Thaddeus data from 833 micro disks or all the and Solomon, in Fairfield, lA.

12 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 that it is very low-power and in the serial plug. Users can then plug in same class as the X-Jack 14.4 or even their own HP Connectivity cable to better. It can also be powered down make the keyboard operational. by using Stefan's LXCIC while it is in the slot. 110V/240V Small Adapters I had some problems initially with Another popular product that it maintaining a connection but after Mack developed is the "one-outlet spending some time with AT com­ AC adapter" that we sell in our cata­ mands we figured out that using the log. This adapter only takes up one following commands: HP's Jornada Keyboard electrical outlet whereas the HP adapter can cover up two outlets. ATVV2S37=30[)Txxxxxxx driver to map the Jornada keyboard Mack's adapter is the better solution x represents the phone number to to the 200LX keyboard. if you're using an AC power strip. be dialed, and it works great. The 30 VVhat makes the solution superior On the other hand, Mack's adapter can be raised or lowered to achieve to anything we saw at COM[)EX is the can't handle 240V AC lines. Until different effects. I found that with my keyboard itself. It has a great feel and now, the HP adapter was the only ISP with a value of 30, I am consis­ it's easy to type on. VVhat's more, it one that could do that. At COM[)EX tently connecting at about 45Kbps. It maps almost perfectly to the 200LX we discovered a 110V /240V adapter seems that the LX is able to keep up keyboard. There are enough extra keys that is about 60 % the size of our cur­ at this speed when using VVVVVV /LX to take the place of the HP 200LX's rent offering. VVe hope to have these and when using the EPPP[) packet blue keys. There is an ALT key (which newer adapters for sale in the Fall. driver, Rod VVhitby's LXTCP and his can also serve as the MENU key) and LXTELNET. It seems to work fine a FN key. Mack wrote his driver to Backlighting about 95% of the time at this fast use the additional VVindows Start key VVhat can I say?! You're probably speed, the other 5% of the time it to generate application keys. If you as tired as I am of hearing about our seems to want to slow down and hold the Start Key down while press­ well-publicized vaporware product. retrain, but that could just be line ing the first eight function keys, you'll VVill we be able to offer backlighting noise. I would buy the modem and start the HP 200LX's built-in applica­ soon? I think so, but then I've thought would recommend it. " tions. Alternatively, press the VVin­ so for the past several months. I con­ dows Key and the first letter of the tinue to be pleased with my proto­ Keyboards for the Palmtop application. So, Start Key P starts type, but even though I'm the first For the first time a number of ser­ Phone, Start Key A starts Appoint­ kid on the block with a backlit ial touch-typeable keyboards showed ment and Start Key M starts MEMO. Palmtop, I honestly hope I don't up at COM[)EX. It seems a lot of Palm (Start Key & starts MORE). become the only kid on the block with Pilot owners are getting tired of VVhat makes the solution costly is one. Our current target for announc­ scratching out notes on their pocket that we have to buy the HP keyboard ing the upgrade is March. However, digital assistant. They want a keyboard (retail $80) through a distributor and that target date is only cast in silicon­ for easier data entry. Mack and I talked there is very little profit margin. In based memory and there's still an to several manufacturers. Based on addition we have to either locate no outside chance that we will never what we saw, we thought we would be longer manufactured HP Connec­ offer the upgrade. For the latest on able to announce a reasonably priceol tivity cables ($40) or have them cus­ backlighting, you can e-mail me at solution in which the user would sim­ tom made. Add to that the cost of [email protected]. • ply plug in the HP Connectivity cable Mack's software driver, labor, and to connect the keyboard and the our profit. Even so, the solution is 200LX. As always is the case, the fol­ excellent and definitely worth it if low-up on this item has taken much you want to enter data into the 200LX HP Jornada Keyboard for 200LX - longer then we expected. from a full-sized keyboard. Hopefully, $139; Comes with software and stan­ In the meantime Mack found a we can trim the cost back as soon as dard serial plug. better, although more expensive, solu­ we can buy the keyboards directly HP 2OOI.X Connectivity Cable - $39.95; tion. HP sells a new serial keyboard from the manufacturer. Standard 200LX cable required for the for its VVindows CE HP 430SE Jornada As of this writing, we have not keyboard. Palm-size Pc. Mack took the Jornada located 200LX connectivity cable con­ 56Kbps Modem - $99.95 keyboard apart, replaced the HP nectors. That means, in addition to All these products: Thaddeus Jornada serial cable with the HP con­ the normal J ornada serial end, we Computing, 800-373-6114, nectivity cable and wrote a software will add a second end - a standard www.PalmtopPaper.com.

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 13 NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S NEW S The Next Three Years Should Be Exciting A leading developer looks forward to several years of enhancements fO'r the Palmtop.

By Mack Baggette

fter spending only two days we as a team can come up with to a long way in the past year in terms A at COMDEX 1999 I can say offer the 200LX community. of how we can map the current 200LX that I am more excited than It seemed that everywhere I looked hardware for use with the AMD Elan ever about the future of products and at COMDEX this year I saw new series embedded processors. This is a software for the 200LX. Oddly e­ opportunities for the 200LX. We even very exciting processor which con­ nough, the development of Palm and had the chance to test a new ATA dri­ tains just about everything needed to Windows CE machines has opened ver that I have developed with a develop a single chip solution for the up a new world of PC Cards, hard­ SanDisk 1.2GB Flashcard and I can next generation Palmtop without ware and software for 200LX owners. claim that my software driver worked needed external chips to process the Sure, many of the newer PC Cards perfectly. This means that we are posi­ video, keyboard input, IR, serial, and are more power hungry and also use tioned to use larger and faster Flash­ PC card interfaces. The great thing is the newer Card Bus 32 PC card inter­ cards for some time to come. that this series can handle all these face, but these are cards that aren't We at Times2 Tech are looking at things and more, using standard really necessary for the Palmtop such other enhancements to the Palmtop interfaces that operating systems such as cards for MPEG2 decompression such as beefing up the PC card power as Windows9x, NT, Linux, and many and 1O/100Mbps network cards. supply to at least 300m a, helping in others can use. We have learned to live within the the development of the driver board This isn't to say that driver devel­ confines of the 200LX hardware con­ for the EL backlight solution so that opment won't be necessary to emulate straints just fine and some newer 56k the board can fit in the hinge of the such things as a virtual VGA screen on modems, network cards, IO cards, etc. Palmtop, We are also looking into the CGA hardware but it is quite reason­ are being built to use much less power possibilities of using another PC card able to assume that they can be creat­ than before so they can work within the port and many other enhancements. ed. This platform will be completely hardware constraints that even Win­ I can't really say what will pan out open as the BIOS will be flash upgrad­ dows CE and Palm Pilot users need. I from all this but we are hopeful and able and the developer's documen­ am still developing software and hard­ will continue to look for newer and tation for the Elan is currently avail­ ware for the Palmtop and will contin­ better ways to enhance the 200LX for able on the Web. With the support of ue to do so as long as possible. I believe the future. the LX community, I believe we can this will be at least 3-5 years due to One very exciting development keep this platform alive for some time the overwhelming support for this plat­ that we are looking at is the devel­ to come and the future will only be form even at a time when HP has dis­ opment of a 486 replacement moth­ more exciting. • continued this machine. erboard for the 200LX. We have come You can look for new products to be sold by Thaddeus Computing in the coming months. Hopefully these ABOUT THE AUTHOR will include such items as a serial Mack Baggette is the President of Times2 Tech and the developer of keyboard, smaller universal AC adap­ the 200LX memory and speed upgrades for the HP Palmtop. Mack ters, more software drivers for other works for a New York firm called MBG Telecom Software, Inc. and PC Cards, a greater variety of PC also works with BellSouth where he creates billing analysis soft­ Cards and whatever other goodies ware for Windows and Web platforms.

14 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW The Psion Revo

A reviewer for Byte.com puts this Palmtop contender through its paces. by Ernest Lilley

or the past several months, I've F been carrying around an HP 200LX and a Palm Pilot 3x. I do all my work on the HP Palmtop but I organize all my work on the Palm Pilot since I can more easily synchronize it with my desktop orga­ nizer, Outlook 98.

The Quest for a PDA As fond as I am of the HP Palmtop, it's time for an upgrade to something with the Palm Pilot's speed and synchronization and I've been on the lookout for a likely candidate. I tried the HP Jornada 680, but found Screen 1: The Psion Revo is smaller than the HP Palmtop. it too bulky and the screen too hard to see in sunlight. So I kept looking. I first saw the Psion Revo hand­ held at COMDEX '99 in Las Vegas HP Palmtop or take out my Palm Pilot, 200LX and can live without the back­ and was taken with its slim, sexy style people start looking for a pocket pro­ light of a Palm Pilot, then the Revo (Byte. com awarded it a Best of Show tector in my shirt. When I produce the may fit your needs. award). See Screen 1 for a picture of Revo, they want to play with it. Even Synchronization is at the top of my the Revo's Case. Palmtop users find it intriguing. list for PDAfunctionality, and the Revo The Revo, brought to market in The Revo does almost everything promises to talk seamlessly with pro­ November 1999, is smaller than the the HP Palmtop does: only faster and grams like Outlook and Notes. Mostly Psion Series 5mx or the HP 200LX. It with more options. The Revo's it lives up to that promise with the has a "thumb-able" keyboard as part strength is that it's pocketable, com­ installation of PsiWin 2.4, which allows of its design specification. Its rounded fortable and fairly fast. It's not as fast agenda and contact synch with a PC, case fits easily into shirt or pants pock­ as my Palm 3x, or its bigger brother, as well as backup and file transfer. et and feels comfortable in your hand. the Psion Series 5mx, but fast enough A few flaws showed up, making The touchscreen display is crisp to be useful. If you're tired of carrying this process less than perfect. "J otter" and has excellent contrast (Screen 2, around a Palmtop the size of an HP the Revo equivalent of Outlook next page). Psion promises that it will provide software to synchronize the data in the Revo with popular desk­ ABOUT THE AUTHOR top organizers like MS Outlook. Ernest Lilley is a devoted user of handheld computers, including his trusty HP 200LX. By day he is Director of General and Computer Don't Ignore the Cool Factor Operations for a pharmaceutical research company and the rest of the In my opinion, the Revo is one cool time he amuses himself reviewing digital gadgets and science fiction as well as being a regular contributor to Byte.com. Palmtop. Typically, when I open my

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 15 What are you , I I , 3 Greal Optionsl

Get the Best of the Best! Warrantied. Guaranteed. Proven. Anordahle! • A Refurbished HP 200LX C1iIWW·ltJljijill.IMijij,lt • Upgraded to 5, 8, 32, 64 or 96 MB • Upgraded to DoubleSpeed • A Brand New HP 200LX • Free 90-Day Warranty (extendable) USmmeans • Upgraded to 4, 8, 32, 64 or 96 MB • 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee UKENEW! • Upgraded to DoubleSpeed Manuals not included. We buy a lot of Palmtops. • In-the-Box with Manuals 200LX We resell the best. We • Free One-Year Warranty (extendable) 5 MB DoubleSpeed '349 #20U5 maintain very high stan­ 8 MB DoubleSpeed 399 #2008 dards for Palmtops we resell. Those that don't 200LX 32 MB DoubleSpeed 599 #20LN make the grade are used for 64 MB DoubleSpeed 899 #20U6 4 MB DoubleSpeed '674 #2004 parts. HP engineering com­ 8 MB DoubleSpeed 699 #200N 96 MB DoubleSpeed 1225 #20U9 bined with Thaddeus 32 MB DoubleSpeed 895 #2032 Computing's quality control 64 MB DoubleSpeed 1175 #2064 Used Palmtops are currently in short processes ensures that your 96 MB DoubleSpeed 1499 #2096 supply. 64 MB and 32 MB orders will Used Palmtop will meet or be processed first. exceed your expectations!

Guaranteedl Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade Now! Guaranteedl

1. Free-up PC card slot for email and Web 1-2-3 computations twice as fast. 8. Take advantage of hardware breakthroughs. access anywhere. S. Have more fun - challenge your mind. 9. Expand capability of indispensible 2. Be more productive. Add 20 applications, Add 20 games with Super Software. Palmtop you know so well, rather than with Super Software Carousel. invest time and money on less developed 6. Run vertical software for work or play on Windows CE platform. 3. Have more information available all the your Palmtop with Software Carousel. time. 10. Free up PC card slot for more storage, 7. Have English Dictionary and language for backup or for printing. 4. Access Phone, Database, ToDo data and do translation software a keystroke away.

i Mail/Fax Enclosed Order Form or Call: 800-373-8114/515-472-8330 Fax: 515-472-1879 For information on backlighting .,SB""II' see Page 13 P20011t1000CI • Upgrade to 2, 5, 8, 32, 64 or 96 MB • Upgrade to DouhleSpeed • Free 90-Day Warranty (extendable) NEW 98 MB Upgrade! Upgrade* vour HP 2DDlX or lDDDeX Palmtop Our inventory depends on avail­ FROMffO- 50r6MB** 8MB 32MB 64MB 96 MB*** ability of this latest chip technolo­ 1, 20r4MB ' 119 #UP5 ' 159 #UP8 '395 #UP32 '675 #UP64 '999 #UP96 gy. A new hardware design makes 50r6MB N/A 124 #U86 360 #U326 640 #U646 964 #U966 this upgrade even more reliable and 8MB N/A N/A 330 #U328 610 #U648 934 #U968 faster than other upgrades. First 32MB N/A N/A N/A 455 #U643 799 #U963 come, first served, when they are in 64MB N/A N/A N/A N/A 599 #U964 stock. Upgrade any HP 100/200LXl1000CX to DoubleSpeed only: '75.00 #UPCD * All memory upgrades include DoubleSpeed free. You may also upgrade your I MB 200LX or 1000CX to 2 MB: '89.00 with DoubleSpeed # UI2D, or '49.00 without DoubleSpeed #UI2. ** 2 Meg units with serial numbers greater than or equal to SG6 will upgrade to 6 Meg. *** 96MB upgrades can only be performed on 2 meg umYs wlYh serial numbers greater than or equal to BGS. Great gift for you, a friend, colleague, or family member! WARRANTY Upgrading speed and/or memory voids HP's warranty. Thaddeus Computing provides a free 90-Day Warranty on all Used and Upgraded Palmtops, and a Free One-Year Warranty on New Palmtops. You have "Ooooh, I like this! More the option of extending these Warranties at the time of purchase as follows: Palmtops to follow." 90-Day Warranty extended to One-Year '25.00 #IYRW -Satisfied upgrade customer 90-Day Warranty extended to Two-Years '75.00 #2YRW "It works great!" One-Year Warranty extended to Two-Years '50.00 #IX2W -Steve Carder "64 MB Doublespeed combination In the U.S.: All Palmtops: '9.50 each. Upgrade in a hurry? One day U.S. turnaround service is available is fantastic!" for Upgrades: '55 (#HIDT). -Edward Caine Outside U.S.: All Palmtops: '35 each. We cannot guarantee delivery time outside U.S. (normally one to two weeks). "Wow, is that thingfast! And all that memory! I highly recommend IMPORTANT! UPGRADE CUSTOMERS: the Thaddeus Palmtops for anyone Upgrading removes all data, so be sure to do a complete back-up before shipping. Use a thinking of upgrading." trackable method of shipping. Please include daytime contact info in case we have questions. -Robert J. Vondra Non-U.S. customers: write "Used Equipment For Repair" on your shipping container.

I Email: [email protected] Order Online: www.PalmtopPaper.com REVIEW: The Psion Revo

reliable. Throughout several weeks of testing, the Revo never crashed.

Epoch Isn't DOS or Windows Psion marches to its own drum­ mer and the Revo operates a bit dif­ ferently than HP users are accustomed to. Files are constantly updated and you can't save them with new names. You can however rename files after they are saved. Psion prides itself on having the best file management sys­ Item. I, on the other hand, found too much of the screen devoted to field names and menu buttons in the data and contact applications. Typing on the keyboard is fairly easy and the ability to enter data with­ out setting it down is a major plus for me but the lack of a "sticky" shift key like my HP Palmtop uses makes capital letters an awkward stretch. Screen 2: The Psi on Revo Handheld The Revo Can Grow on You I put aside all my other PDAs for "Notes" doesn't update, you have to Infrared Transfer Really Works two weeks to give the Revo a thor­ export and convert it, at which point Though Web browsing, e-mail and ough test and, after the first week, I it becomes a text file on the PC rather the ability to dial a cell phone are started to feel at home with the dif­ than a collection of notes in Outlook. touted as strengths of the Revo, the ferent applications. I downloaded an Note that the Palm Pilot does this ability to use the infrared port to link electronic book, "Three Men in a without batting an eye. to cell phone works well with many Boat," and found that the Revo made Otherwise I found the transfer and European GSM cell phones. An IR a very usable ebook reader. The dis­ conversion of files between Revo and modem is due to start shipping short­ play has a zoom function that makes PC to be fairly good. ly for around $200. reading a lot easier depending on The Revo's applications have a As an exercise in transferring data lighting conditions. After a few days very Windows-like look, and the with the IR port, I was able to exchange I got used to its touchscreen and kept menus are easy to navigate. File for­ my contact list with a Palm Pilot as forgetting that my laptop doesn't mats must be converted, using soft­ well as transfer files and databases to have one. ware that installs itself under Win­ a Psion Series Srnx. Although I haven't I also found that the Revo's alarm dows. The software lets the Revo's seen it, Psion has an infrared printer is the best I've ever had. The Revo word processor talk to MS Word, and pod that hooks up to a standard par­ comes with 12 different tones, from a the Revo's spreadsheet to be read by allel port and allows printing from the "soft bells" that sounds suspiciously Excel. Both applications are fairly Revo using almost any printer. like the contamination alert from liThe sophisticated, allowing you to embed The operating system for the Revo Andromeda Strain" to a piercing sketches and notes. Although the is epoch32, developed by Psion and "high phone" that demands instant Series Srnx has spell checking as part used by all their handhelds. Psion acknowledgement. Just try to ignore of its applications, the Revo does not. Software, which created epoch32 is an alarm and it will keep repeating The Revo has a nice display of now called Symbian. It's actually a itself, louder and louder. useful daily information that you can partnership between Psion, Nokia, get to from the system display. It Ericsson, Motorola and Panasonic to Is the Revo a Replacement shows appointments and tasks next to use the operating system in cell for the Palmtop? each other and still has room enough phones and other wireless devices. It could be, at least for a while, to show information about power and Stability is always an important until HP comes to its senses and rein- memory usage. Infuriatingly, you concern and the epoch32 operating can't edit items displayed in this view. system appears to be very stable and Continued Page 32

18 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 OW TO USE YOUR PALMTOP USER PROFILE World Wide Phone Guide What you need to hook up your modem just about anywhere in the world! by Steve Kropla

The following article is reprinted with permission from the Web site maintained by the author. For more information about where to get the necessary equipment, see the Web site at www.kropla.com/phones.htm

his is a guide to some typical standard. This type of plug has been T issues that may arise when adopted in many countries world­ you hook up your modem in wide, including North America, a different country. It includes a table Greece, Spain, Ireland, most of Central of telephone plugs used worldwide America and the Far East. (EDITOR'S NOTE: see www.kropla. In countries where the table shows com/phones2.htm), ways to deal with the US RJ-ll system, this jack will be hardwired phone systems, and how found at least in major hotels, if not to handle special situations like dig­ throughout the country. Older phones ital phones and tax impulses. This is Screen 1: Digital line tTester and Modem Saver may be hardwired or may use an intended especially for world travel­ older type of connector. (In this case, ers and road warriors, although the you will need to use special equip­ information here can also be useful for ment as described below.) people who have purchased and/or In my travels, I have noticed with moved computer equipment from increasing frequency cases where the one country to another. If you need to wall plug may be been of a local find an item mentioned here, check design, yet the connection at the back the list of sources. Screen 2: The US RJ-11 , the American standard phone plug of the phone is a US RJ-ll. Or, even if there is a local-type plug at the wall, First Things First used at the wall jack. (If there is no in some places that plug may accept The first thing I do when preparing plug, this may also a problem; this is an RJ-llline from the phone. If you're to hook up in a new location is test the discussed in the hardwired section). really lucky, the phone may even have phone line. I may need a plug adapter Most developed countries have a RJ-ll data port. (You know you're to do this, as discussed in the follow-, their own specific type of telephone living right when the phone has two ing section. I use a line tester sold by connections. There are a few dozen lines and a data port.) IBM as a Modem Saver™ (Screen 1), types of plugs used around the world, Since many portable computer but similar devices are made by others. as shown in the table of worldwide modems (notably the Megahertz X­ The main purpose in testing the line is phone plugs. Jack) are designed around the RJ-ll, to establish whether it is an analog The American-style plug - the US hooking up is very easy. If you can't line or a digital line. Digital lines may RJ-ll (Screen 2)-is the closest to what connect at the wall, but have an RJ-ll present a special set of problems, so might be considered an international at the back of the phone, simply you need to know this right away. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Phone Plugs Steve Kropla, in his work with an international trade association, logged more than One of the most obvious incom­ 87,000 air miles last year. He has connected with the Internet from almost 30 countries patibilities you are likely to notice worldwide. He is also the principal of SMK Enterprises, a firm which specializes in Web when hooking up your modem in Design and Internet communications consulting. He can be reached at steve@kro­ another country is the type of plug pla.com and via the Phone Guide Web site at http://kropla.com/phones.htm.

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2000 19 HOW TO USE: World Wide Phone Guide

laid-back approach to things can get and probably 28.8 moderns out there, a good night's sleep, evaluate your though I can't say for absolute sure." needs, and then saunter out to a local None of this stuff is a sure bet, but merchant in search of the proper he reinforces my point: consult your adapter. Examples of places where modern manual before you leave to you might find what you need are know what your options are. also listed on the sources Web page. Screen 3: A variety of phone plug adapters (EDITOR'S NOTE: see www.kropla. What if it's Hardwired? com/sources .htm) You might even be You may find that instead of a wall able to get one from the hotel - but jack, all you have is a line corning out don't count on it. of a plate in the wall. Upon closer examination, you find that there is no A Quick Word About Dial Tones jack at the back of the phone either­ So you've got your adapter and just the phone cord disappearing it's plugged in. You're set, right? Well, inside the case. As you probably know, maybe. Dial tones can vary from this is called a "hardwired" phone. country to country, and your modern This can be a nightmare, but it need if Screen 4: A typical acoustic phone coupler may not recognize the tone at your not be a deal breaker you've got the new destination. You can get around right tools and equipment. this by adding a command to your Sometimes, even though the unplug the line from the back of the modern setup string telling it to phone may be hardwired to the wall, phone and snap it into the X-Jack. If ignore the dial tone. On Hayes com­ there is a modular connection be­ your modern has a line that tenninates mand set moderns, this is done by tween the phone and the handset. If with an RJ-ll, an in-line coupler will let inserting Xl after the initial AT com­ you can disconnect the handset cord you tie the line from the phone to your mand. Check your modern manual from the phone, then you can use a modern. If you have an extension before you leave to see if it's the same digital line connector as described phone cord and a dual jack adapter, for yours. Either set this string ahead below. This will work even if it's an you can keep the phone and the of time, or write it down so you'll analog phone line. It's a neat and modern plugged in simultaneously to have it if you run into dial tone prob­ effective solution, although, in my keep from switching the line back and lems (that way, you don't have to opinion, these things tend to be over­ forth between voice and data calls. haul the entire manual with you). priced. There isn't much to them, yet However, you could just as easily they go from anywhere between $65 find that the line from the wall has a More about dial tones ... and $140 US. local jack and is hardwired to the back One of my trusty correspondents However, this won't work either, of the phone. The quickest and easiest wrote: if the phone is also hardwired solution to this problem is to obtain an " ... you mention using the Hayes between the base and handset. In this adapter that will let you connect the command Xl to force the modern to case, here are your options: phone plug from your modern into connect without waiting for a dial Use an acoustic coupler. Remember the wall jack at your destination. tone. Setting to Xl also strips a lot of these? Maybe you're not old enough. You have two basic choices here. the error correction and data com­ This is how people hooked up their If you're like me (a scary thought) pression that your modern will nor­ moderns before phone systems be­ you want to be able to plug in and log mally use (Off the top of my head, I'm came modular. You insert the handset on to your mail server the minute not sure all of what it strips). Now, into a cradle which uses the handset's you get to the hotel room, even if it is some newer moderns will need you to microphone and earpiece to send and 1 a.m. when you land in Muscat or consult with your manual to know receive data signals (Screen 4). Singapore. To do this, you will need what level of "intelligence" you need This will also be your best bet if to be prepared for whatever outlet set your modern to in order to sup­ you need to connect through a pub­ you may encounter at your destina­ press checking for dial tone, and in lic pay phone, since those with data tion upon arrival. This is where I can this case Xl or even XO is a sure way jacks are still rather rare. I do not per­ help. Consult the table of worldwide of getting it to work, but in most cases sonally carry one of these, since they phone plugs to learn what type of you can set it to X3. X3 was general­ are not only somewhat expensive plug(s) may be used where you're ly (meant to) suppress checking for ($100 US plus) but are also on the going. Then contact one of the various dial tone without disabling any other bulky side and usually require bat­ sources that sell such items (Screen 3). functionality in your modern. It teries. However, they do work, and Those of you who take a more should work just fine with any 14.4 can be effective in a situation where

20 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 the phone and handset are both hard­ Netherlands, tip and ring are red and wired. This is also the only solution blue, respectively. In Germany, they should you have the misfortune to are red/black and red, and in the UK encounter a hardwired digital phone they are white and blue. But these (although I think such beasts are rare). rules may not always hold true, and Practice basic wiretapping. Instead many other countries may have no Screen 5: Ancient phone found in 1996 of an acoustic coupler, I carry a length uniform method at all. The point is: in a posh South of phone cord that has a modular con­ you will probably need to rely on a American resort L....,;...... __ ~ ___---' nector on one end and a set of test combination of intuition, trial and leads on the other. A test lead is noth­ error - and your line tester. ing more than a short length (12", or What I do is remove just enough The only way I was able to make this 30 cm) of small wire with a spring insulation from the conductor wires work was to 1) pick up the handset clip (known as an alligator or crocodile (these are small wires) so that I can and give a hefty push on the outside clip) at each end. If there's a wall plate, clamp the spring clips to them. Again, line button, 2) dial the local access I pull it off (I also carry a Leathermanlm I hook the test leads to my extra number for my provider myself using mini-tool which acts as screwdriver, length of phone cord and use the line the rotary dial, and 3) connect the pliers, knife and performs other func­ tester to make sure I've got a proper modem manually with my software tions). If there is a terminal block connection before I hook it to my and hang up the phone once I inside (where the line from the wall is modem. I also carry a small spool of obtained a carrier tone. Had I not had connected by screws to the lead to the electrical tape so that when I'm done a local access number, I would have phone instrument), I hook the spring I can properly repair the cuts I made had to have the switchboard place the clips onto the screws. Before I dare in the insulation. If you must resort to call, and then connect manually. hook this to my modem, I snap an in­ this type of action, please be respon­ (Before any of this could occur, I might line connector on to the RJ-ll con­ sible and patch it up when you're add, I had to practice basic wiretap­ nector at the other length of the phone done. As I said, this is a form of ping as described and shown above.) cord. Then I use my line tester to make surgery. No responsible surgeon Even if you never encounter a sure the line is good. would cut open a patient without phone system as unusual as this one, But there may not be a terminal being prepared to seal the incisions you still might find situations that block, or perhaps the screws are upon completion. require making a manual connection. recessed and can't be reached by the If you are trying to work through a spring clips. Then I must perform Practice Connecting Manually digital phone system, you might find minor surgery. If there is no terminal Another skill that you should prac­ that you are unable to auto dial using block - only a relatively large wire tice before you set out on your trip is either a digital connector or acoustic running into the wall - I carefully that of making a manual connection coupler. The solution will be to con­ strip the insulation from the wire. through your modem. In other words, nect manually. Even the public data This exposes the conductor wires you dial the call yourself (rather than phones I've seen in the U.S. expect inside. If there is a terminal block, the letting the modem autodial) and then you to make a manual connection conductor wires will probably already use your software to connect the after you've dialed the call. be exposed, although you might need modem manually once you hear the Fortune may smile on you, and to remove some insulation to make , carrier tone. Notice the phone in you may never encounter a situation them more accessible. Most phone Screen 5 above. While this looks like that requires connecting manually. wire has four conductors, although in (and indeed is) a relic of the past, it However, if you want to increase your a single-line analog system only two was nevertheless encountered at an chances of connecting successfully wires are usually used. These are otherwise posh and modern resort in from virtually anywhere, become called "tip" and "ring" wires. Tip is South America in early 1996! While familiar with hooking up manually by the positive lead, and ring is the neg­ most software and modems can be practicing at home before you leave. ative lead. Traditionally, in the US set to use pulse dialing when using It will save you frustration (and the and Canada, tip was green and and old rotary systems like this, the setup expense of many fruitless phone calls) ring was red, although in modern at this hotel presented a special prob­ if you should unexpectedly run into construction you're just as lik€ly to lem. International calls had to be a situation that requires it. find twisted pair where blue/white placed through the switchboard. To (blue wire with a white stripe) is tip obtain a local outside line, I had to Special Situations and white/blue is ring. Other coun­ press the button to the lower right of Digital Phone Systems tries have different wiring schemes. the dial (a task which required a sur­ Many office phone systems are For instance, I've read that in the prising amount of physical effort). digital, and you will find hotel sys-

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 21 HOW TO USE: World Wide Phone Guide terns that are digital as well. A digital choose from (see the sources page). phone system is an internal system (a Digital connectors usually require a 9- system within a building, office, hotel, volt battery, and may come with an etc.) that uses electronic switching. A optional AC power adapter. Unlike I ! PBX (private branch exchange) sys­ many computers, the "wall wart" I , tem is an example of a digital phone power supplies furnished with these system. You may find that the sys­ devices are normally not auto-sensing tem is digital but the phone includes or designed for foreign travel (Le., il.. • an analog RJ-ll data port, which capable of switching between 110 or - makes it all very easy. Otherwise, dig­ 220 volts). So you may need a voltage -..... ital phone systems are likely to be a adapter, and perhaps a plug adapter problem when you try to hook up (see the World Wide Electric Guide for your modem. At best, you will get a more on this subject). I don't usually , "no dial tone" message when you travel with the AC supply, but I Screen 6: Digital line connector hook your modem to a digital line. At always take some spare 9V batteries. worst, you will destroy your modem. Second, if the phone is hardwired nical problems that prevent you from PC card (PCMClA) modems are espe­ between the base and the handset, you making a satisfactory data connec­ cially vulnerable to this. The reason is will need to use an acoustic coupler. tion. Sometimes, sheer persistence will that digital systems operate at a volt­ These usually also require one or two prevail, since the conditions that pre­ age level in excess of what most 9V batteries (or perhaps AA batteries) vent you from making a connection on modems are designed to handle. The to operate. one attempt may clear up on your line tester I mentioned earlier tells next (or your 40th) try. Most of the me if it's a digital line (the reason it's Tax Impulses places I've been (all continents, except on my list of highly recommended Some countries use what are called for Africa and Antarctica) have not equipment). If for some reason you "tax impulses" on the phone lines. posed any overwhelming problems. don't want a line tester or can't get These are high frequency pulse signals Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Jakarta, one, then a regular residential-type which are used to meter local phone Indonesia were places that tested my telephone will work as a substitute. If usage and assign charges. They may patience. Nevertheless, after repeated you plug a regular phone into a dig­ interfere with your data connection tries, I was able to get online at least ital system, you will not get a dial and keep you from making a suc­ long enough to send and receive e­ tone. Presuming the phone that nor­ cessful hookup. You may encounter mail (though sometimes 2400bps was mally goes into that jack works, this tax impulses in Austria, Belgium, the the fastest connection available). The is a good indicator that you have Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, and only place from where I have never encountered a digital phone system. Switzerland. To get around this, you been able to make a modem connec­ There are two ways around this may need what's known as a tion, after days of trying, was the problem. First, you can use a digital TeleFilter. This a small device which Greek island of Mykonos (it's a nice line connector, which is a term I use plugs into the phone line between the enough place, so I really didn't mind). here to describe a simple device wall and your modem. When you travel, be aware that there which goes between the base and are many areas of the world where handset cord of the telephone and Will This Stuff Guarantee a the local phone system may still be lets you hook your modem down­ Connection? light years behind the technology stream of the phone line, where the Sadly, no. In some parts of the you're carrying in your briefcase. • signal is analog (Screen 6). world you will encounter phone sys­ Not long ago these things were tems that have not been modernized, scarce, but now there are a variety to are overtaxed, or simply have tech-

22 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2000 OW TO USE YOUR PALMTOP USER PROFILE Door to Door With the lIP Palmtop

The Palmtop gets a new heft and feel and keeps a Malaysian sales force fully automated.

by Jimmy Tan

he company I work for T believes in doorstep delivery using our own van trucks. Typically, a salesman closes a sale and issues the goods on the spot, sub­ ject tothe stock in his van. Back in 1988 we equipped our salesmen with handheld computers and they have been using them ever since. In 1995 the rate of breakdowns and scarcity of spare parts became a real issue. The ever-increasing price of the non-stan­ dard rechargeable batteries was also driving us crazy. When my boss came to me with the task of replacing these handheld com­ puters, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. A number of established brands were in the market plus a cou­ ple of new entrants. Then he dropped Custom Case Handles Always Open and Always On Palmtop and Printer the bombshell. The criteria were: a. It must be an open technology; and usability, such machines are total­ Next we went shopping for orga­ b. It must cost less than an entry­ ly unacceptable. We couldn't imag­ nizer-type devices and tried out var­ level PC or laptop. ine a salesman lugging it around and ious brands such as the Sharp PC Now that was a real challenge waiting for it to boot up every time he 2000, Psion, Poqet PC and the HP because a typical industrial handheld turned it on to take a customer's order. 200LX. We put them through their computer had exactly the opposite qualities. They were proprietary in ABOUT THE AUTHOR terms of hardware and software, and Jimmy T.H. Tan ([email protected]) is the MIS Manager the prices were plain ridiculous. of Yeo Hiap Seng (Malaysia) Berhad, the second largest food and So what could I recommend short beverages company in Malaysia. He has been with the company for of a laptop itself? It didn't take long for eleven years, beginning his career as a programmer and rising my team to realize that a laptop or through the ranks to his present position. He is in charge of the well­ notebook computer was not the being of 300-odd Palmtops which are standard equipment to the company's sales force. answer. When it comes to portability -~-'

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2000 23 HOW TO USE: Door to Door With the HP Palmtop

paces with simple prototype pro­ the Palmtop by the PC Server admin­ prices of groceries, etc. Sometimes I grams. No prizes for guessing who istrator, price manipulations are draft memos and e-mails on my won the shootout! curbed. Third, the sales staff immedi­ Palmtop and send them up to my PC ately enjoys tremendous savings in to finish off. The solution day-end paperwork because the PC I use rechargeable batteries and Having identified the technology, Server automatically generates the nec­ depend on Power Monitor to help me locating a vendor was easy because essary reports free of arithmetic errors. manage them. In my free time (which the 200LX's operating system was Fourth, the Sales Manager can moni­ is a luxury given my hectic schedule) industry standard - I mean who tor the time-efficiency of the sales staff I pursue my interests with the help of doesn't know DOS? We decided on C by analyzing the audit trail which this software: Sky globe - an astron­ as the programming language be­ time-stamps every single activity that omy program; NJ Star - a Chinese cause of speed and size of the exe­ is entered in the Palmtop. Word Processor; GO - the ancient cuteables, and selected Linux as the Of course, we didn't expect the ~ame of strategy. Recently I added operating system for the PC Server. Palmtop to be as durable as an indus­ Project KickStart to my little arsenal of The server consolidates the sales trial handheld computer, but it was software. All this I keep in my 15MB transactions from the Palmtops at the truly a workable solution. So far we Sandisk Flash Disk. I just love the abil­ end of every day through a wired have seen worn-out keyboards and ity to work or play at anytime, any­ connection. We could handle the con­ broken hinges and, occasionally, acci­ where with my Palmtop. • nection to remote units with a PC dents like a smashed LCD screen. Card modem. However, the benefits in terms of time We designed a custom carrying saving and reduced clerical overheads Software MeDtieaecUlltlae·Ai"l1'iI!Ii ~ case to house the Palmtop in its opened far outweigh the running costs of state while connected to a battery oper­ these Palmtops. Power Monitor 2.0 - freeware, by ated printer (see picture). This ever­ Some sales people complained Eugene Dorr is available on the ready position plus the instant sleep­ about the visibility of the screen under S.U.P.E.R. site, www.palmtop.net/ and-resume mode of the Palmtop par­ poor lighting conditions, so maybe super.html allels a typical handheld computer it's time we introduced backlighting! Skyglobe 3.6 - shareware by KlassM although it is comparatively more Software available on the S.U.P.E.R. site bulky. We managed to package them Next steps NJCGA 2.1 - freeware editor, is avail­ all into a portable unit at less than half Once we brought the technology to able on the 1998/99 CD InfoBases from the price of a handheld computer with the front-end, the number of possible Thaddeus Computing, Inc. comparable specifications. applications is virtually limitless. One GO 9.0 - a commercially available The biggest challenge was getting useful application we are consider­ program from David Fotland of all this off-the-shelf technology to ing is a simple program to allow our Commercial Smart Games Inc. work as a single system. We spent sales staff to enter customer feedback Project KickStart 1.0 - a commercial­ countless hours of trial and error to regarding our products and services. ly available program sold by Thaddeus arrive at this workable solution. To be We could even take it a step further by Computing. honest, the journey was as rewarding recording stock levels of our products as the end result itself. as well as the competitors' at the cus­ tomer's premises. All this data would In Use be uploaded into a central server to be The advantages of automating the analyzed by our strategic planners front-end of our business are numer­ and decision-makers. So what we will ous. First, by entering an order into eventually have is an in-house market the Palmtop, the sales people are intelligence system! doing the office a favor: data capture at the source eliminates a separate How I use my Palmtop team of data entry staff at the office My personal Palmtop is my trusty and reduces the risk of transcription companion that I carry around in a errors. The information is sent to the holster-like leather case. I use the back-end system which automatical­ Appointment Book and the Phone ly updates creditor information and Book extensively, and the customiz­ inventories - all done with mini­ able database to keep useful infor­ mum human intervention. mation like car maintenance records, Second, because prices are preset in interesting Web sites to check out,

24 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2000 HPLX-L Connection - - • • • • by Hal Goldstein any HP Palmtop users enjoy participating in the HPLX-L e­ tant in the context of the note, we will not include it. We exclude Mmail list that AI Kind, at the University of Connecticut, main­ names mostly for expediency as it can take a long time, if ever, to tains on a nonprofit basis to serve the HP Palmtop community. In the get someone to OK a comment for publication. However, thanks e-mail list, 200LX users ask and answer questions, report software goes to both those whose posts we reprint and the entire e-mail and Web site discoveries, and chat (although that is discouraged). community of 200LX users. We feel that printing this information If you want to sign up to get on the mailing list, visit is completely within the spirit of users sharing knowledge and www.sp.uconn. edu/ - mcheml/ HPLX.shtml. Once you sign up, experience with other users. you will start receive 100s of e-mailsaweekaboutthe200LX.To We have kept much of the informality of the HPLX-L in this post a message, all you have to do is hit "Reply" to any message column. That means, the language below is more "NetSpeak" from your e-mail program. than English (There is a nice explanation below of NetSpeak in one Most e-mail programs have a feature that you can apply to of the entries.). Therefore, for the purposes of this column: avoid your e-mail inbox being flooded. Simply have your program • We will do minimal grammatical editing - just enough to send all messages from the HPLX-L e-mail list to a folder that you make sure the point is comprehensible. designate. Then you can look through the folder at your leisure • We use common e-mail abbreviations (see the Glossary on without interfering with your other e-mail. page 27). There are many nuggets of interesting information in these e­ • We will do some (but not thorough) checking, so be careful. mail posts. However, in practice, it may take a half hour of read­ Take the comments as someone's opinion, not something definitive. ing e-mail to uncover one or two pieces of golden Palmtop advice. If you have questions about any of these, join the e-mail list! The purpose of this new column is to share some of the more If a source for software is not given in the comment, click interesting and useful pieces of information posted on the e-mail "Downloads" at www.palmtoppaper.com and search. list. Except when someone's name and e-mail address are imp or- Ready? Here goes.

HP 200LX Games Web Site data even without power. I recommend that you store all Just a quick note to say that plenty of stuff has been of your data files on it. So that even if your batteries fail updated at http://games.hplx.net. I've added a new and the Palmtop'S C: drive disappears, your data is safe. Asteroids game (Blaster Game) to download, as well as a That is what I do. slowdown utility for those games and other programs that The life cycle of the card is something in the millions of run too fast even on an LX! writes these days. In other words, the card will outlast you. There's also plenty of new games information, new I don't spend a single second worrying about my flashcard useful links and a completely new site format. wearing out - and I am a very heavy user. Mike Wagstaff [http://games.hplx.netl I also recommend SanDisk as the #1 brand of flash­ card. Personally, I will not buy any other brand. I am Reformat PE Document All at Once currently in the market for something larger than my 40MB Q: Is there a way to reformat an entire text document and don't care about what other off-brand cards there are in PE all at once? or the so-called savings I might see. Peace of mind is very A: ESC-Q on each long line or Ctrl-X H to select whole valuable to me. buffer then ESC-Q. There is no way to quantify any battery life reduction when using a flashcard. It all depends on the type of bat­ PC Cards and the 200LX teries, the battery life you got before the flash card, how Just leave the flashcard in the Palmtop at all times. It often you write to it vs. read from it or use it at all. The point does not need or use any power when the Palmtop is is that it is not noticeable considering the tremendous ben­ turned off. Flash is non-volatile, so it will always retain the efit of having that much extra storage.

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 25 • HPLX-L Connection

200LX Power Supply Splitter: This may lead to a new form of written English called Q: It would be nice if I could run my primary LX and EnglishSpoke. backup LX from the same power supply As to the matter of "read" in the past tense. Fowler, the A: Radio Shack sells the exact ""Y"" shaped power sage of the English language who had an elegant sense of cable you seek. The plugs are the correct size for the 200LX. irony, wrote that inflection was a general name "for changes I don't know the catalog number, but it should not be too made in the form of words to show their grammatical rela­ hard to find in the catalog or on the rack in the store. I tions to their context or to modify their meaning in certain bought one there and use it for the exact same purpose you ways." With NetSpeak we do not need to do that. It can be want. Works great! "read" in the past, present and future tenses without any ambiguity. So let us take the words of Francis Bacon, First Double Speed and Legibility Baron Verulam and Viscount St Albans, who wrote: ""Read Q: Does a double speed upgrade cause any screen leg­ not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for ibility problems? granted, nor to find tplk and discourse, but to weigh and A: Some DS units have an unreadable screen if you consider." don't load the double speed driver in your config.sys file. Gareth Powell Normally, you would never notice a problem. However, if your batteries die and you have to reinstall everything, it will Japanese Database Program be harder to do with this sort of screen. The easiest solution I, too, found that Japanese database application quite is to keep the DS driver and your config.sys and autoexec.bat impressive. The non-decipheral menus are pretty dis­ files on a flash card. This way you can reboot to a normal tracting. Frankly, it probably serves many of us right since screen even if your internal RAM drive is gone. we expect everything to be in English. It would be nice if someone could at least post a form NetSpeak versus English showing what the drop-down menus actually say, although, Let not English grammar ever be mentioned in the guessing probably would work. same breath as Internet mailing lists. I think we are now It would be appreciated if one of our Japanese members moving into a new style of English which we will call here could contact the programmer to help with an English NetSpeak which is a genuine sub-set of English. Already menu structure. Or maybe get permission to patch the it is bringing new words to the English language - FAQ menu code if possible. is one example. It appears to work just like the HP version - if you open Punctuation may not exist as we know it in NetSpeak. the file, it gets re-written with current date/time even if you The use of paragraphing, commas, semi-colons is not as in don't edit anything! formal English. There are, however, other rules. For exam­ http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/-fronttom/book/ gdb ple, the convention is that if I write WHY DOES THE HARD win I index.html DISK NOT RESPOND I am shouting which is offensive. (This has a practical side. It is very difficult to read messages CompactFlash Power-Efficient which are all in capital letters. This has been shown by exten­ According to my tests, The CF flash disk is the most effi­ sive practical testing.) There seems to be a shorthand, fire­ cient in terms of power consumption, followed by the ATA from-the-hip feel about NetSpeak and my theory is that Flash Card. this is nearly always what starts flame wars. Messaging on the Internet is a more instant form of HP Calculator Museum communication than letters or even postcards. Emotions I would suggest checking the museum of HP calculators come across and are not masked by English grammar. Web site: http://www.hpmuseum.org. More interested in Even more interesting is that instant messaging creates a calculators but some computer links. I found a cut-open sub-form of NetSpeak which we might call ICQSpeak. view of my 12-C (now I don't need to dismantle mine). That is even less grammatical, more abbreviated, quicker to type. None of which I think is a bad thing. My son Running DOS on Windows CE Devices works on an Internet site and would not know a gerund if XT-CE can be found at: http://www.xt-ce.com and it bit him on the bum. The active and passive tenses are to while you're at it also checkout: PocketDOS - MSDOS 6.22 him a strange country. But he can write for the Internet. compatible DOS for your Pocket WinCE Computer A slightly different skill to writing for books, maga­ http://www.pocketdos.com. zines or newspapers. I write for all of the above and have to put my mind into a different mode for each of them. Windows Program Opens 200LX Database Files Where it will become seriously interesting is with voice This program is precisely what I've been searching for, recognition. I make extensive use of Dragon Dictate and i.e one into which I can paste big gobs of text from the the articles that result are as if written by another person. Internet. Even though it's written to support Japanese

26 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 characters, I fiddled around with my fonts for a while and no A drive when the ThinFax is in the slot and therefore the found that Arial Narrow works great in the datacard. For Palmtop will not be able to find any CONFIG.5YS or the sake of anyone else who might be tempted to try this AUTOEXEC.BAT files at A:\ while booting with the Windows program to open database files, use the follow­ ThinFax card. DOS will have to use what it finds on the C ing URL: http://fronttom.freeservers.com/book/ gdb drive for configuration. win/lzhl gdw090bs.lzh But, when the SRAM or flashcard is in the slot at boot time, there will be an A drive and therefore, you can have Modified Phone Book Works in lIP Connectivity Pack a different CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT there to I fired up version 1.02 of APP200, copied the Phone.pdb allow for a different configuration. file to Test.pdb, modified Tests.pdb in the database app and So, make your C:\CONFIG.SYS & A:\CONFIG.SYS reopened it in the Phone app. Works just fine. files to be the same and your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT & A: \ AUTOEXEC. BAT files to be the same except that the Boot Order of Drives and EXP Driver ones on the A: drive cards do not have the EXP drivers. The EXP driver is cranky and does not like other flash­ When you boot with the flashcard in there, the A: \CON­ cards or SRAM cards in the slot while it is loaded. There FIG.SYS will be used and no EXP driver will load. If you is nothing you can do about it that I am aware of. But there boot with the EXP card in the slot, there will not be any are ways to work around it. A:\CONFIG.SYS so it will use the one on C: and the EXP You can set up a procedure where you reboot after driver will load. Since the ThinFax card is also a modem, changing cards so that the EXP driver is only loaded when I would assume you would also want to use the modem, you are using the ThinFax card. When the ThinFax driver so put the CIC100 driver only in the C: \AUTOEXEC.BAT is loaded, you can only use the ThinFax card. When that file so that it doesn't bother to load when you are using the driver is not loaded, then you can freely swap between the flash and SRAM cards. flashcard and the SRAM cards. So, you will just need to This, along with the procedure described above will reboot after inserting the ThinkFax card and then again after make a simple and effective way to have a dual boot con­ you remove it and put either of the other two cards in. figuration that will only load the ThinFax memory (and This procedure takes advantage of a feature of DOS modem) drivers when it is needed and therefore prevent during boot time. During boot, DOS in the Palmtop looks interference with the other storage cards you want to use. for CONFIG.SYS in the root of the A drive first. If it finds one there, it loads it and then looks for AUTOEXEC.BAT in Battery Drain Fix the same spot. If the Palmtop does not find a CONFIG.SYS Q: Recently, my 200LX seems to have developed an at A: \, it looks at the root of C: next. If CONFIG.SYS is appetite for batteries. I have to replace batteries in about found there, then that one is used and so is the 1/3 the time I used to. C: \AUTOEXEC.BAT. If nothing is found at A: \ or C: \, then A: Sometimes pulling out all the batteries including the the Palmtop looks at D: \ and since this is ROM, it will backup battery for at least 24 hours and replacing them with always find the default files there. fresh batteries can clear up that problem. Make sure you The memory on the ThinFax card is accessed through backup everything first of course. a driver, so it appears as drive F. In other words, there is GLOSSARY

SUPER - www.palmtop.net (click download at while you take a jab at someone. www.palmtoppaper.com). CF - CompactFlash RAM card. The postage stamp HPLX-L - mailing list from whence this column comes. sized memory cards that are commonly used in cameras LX - short name for the HP 100/200LX Palmtop but are now available for use in the LX. Computer ATA Flash Card - the bigger PC Cards that can hold up to PE - Pal Edit - text editor preferred by many LX users. 220MB of data (or 1.2 GB if you can afford 1.5 Available at www.dasoft.com. megabucks - see User to User column page 12.) FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions. CPack - the HP Connectivity Pack is a suite of pro­ flame wars - personal attacks, followed by rebuttals, grams that let you run the same software on your desk­ followed by free-for-all and taking sides,followed by top as on your Palmtop, less Lotus, cc:Mail and Quicken. peace-makers, followed by silence - everyone is Transfile - a Windows program that will let you trans­ burned out. fer files back and forth from your desktop to the Big Grin symbol - often misused, sort of like smiling Palmtop. Search SUPER for it.

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 27 PALMTOP Tips, Traps & 'fechnigues

In this new column, we combine the former Basic Tips and Quick Tips columns.

Unless otherwise noted, Tips, Traps and Techniques are by Ed Keefe

DOS 1. To Print From DOS Via a Shier Cable To The Pocket Jet: The following command ONLY has to be executed from Games the command line or contained in the Software Carousel start­ You say you want more games? If so, fire up your Web up commands list or contained in a batch file (PJON.BAT) browser, download a few from the site below and try them that can be run from Filer or the DOS command line. out. We haven't had a chance to examine these oldies but c: \lxstat S W goodies. Let us know if they're worth a second look. http://abandonware.universal.av7.net/abandonware.html The LXSTAT program will power up the serial port Coml: Martin Doering, [email protected] The batch file PJON.BAT (for Pocket Jet ON) is as follows: rem C: \PJON.BAT (Batch file to ENABLE DOS printing via HPCALC cable to Pocket Jet) c: \lxstat s w Equations from Curtis Cameron To power down, run PJOFF.BAT as follows: The following Solver equations have not been seen in rem C: \PJOFF.BAT (Batch file to DISABLE DOS printing via print before. Key them into the Editor in Solver and save cable to Pocket Jet) them for future reference. c: \lxstat s 0 Interpolate: (x-xl) / (xl-x2)=(y-yl) / (yl-y2) ! finds (x,y) that is on a line between (xl,yl) and (x2,y2) ! 2. To Print From DOS Via Infrared Port To The Hp6mp Laser Jet: The following commands have to be executed from the Binomial Distribution: comb(n:x) *pl AX * (l-pl)A(n-x) = px command line or contained in the SC startup commands list ! prob that there will be exactly x occurrences in n tries, or contained in a batch file (IRON. BAT): if the prob of one occurrence in one try is pI. With 10 coin flips, the prob that exactly three will be heads is 0.117! d: \dos \mode coml:96,n,8,I,p Great Circle: (to set Coml parameters) Distance=69.0466* ACOS(SIN (LTl) * SIN(LT2)+COS(LTl) * d:\dos\mode lpt1:=coml: COS(LT2) * COS(LGI-LG2» (to reroute printer output to Coml) ! finds the great circle distance in miles between two c:\irjeteye.com coml points on the earth. Must be in degrees mode. ! (to enable DOS Irda driver for Coml) c: \lxstat S W Horizon: d=sqrt(h/5280*(2*r+h/ 5280» ! distance to the (to power up the serial port Coml) earth's horizon (in miles) for an observer h ft above surface, c: \lxstat S I r should be 4000 miles. ! (to power up the infrared port) Curtis Cameron PRINTING The Batch file IRON. BAT looks as follows: Here are printer setups for various HP 200LX DOS edi­ rem IRON.bat (Batch file to ENABLE IR DOS printing to tors/word processors (PE, WORD, HPP) and for IR Lotus HP6MP) printing. d:\dos mode coml:96,n,8,I,p

28 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2000 d:\dos\mode lptl:=comI: First select or mark the records for which you want to c: \irjeteye.com comI generate a form letter. c: \lxstat s w Open a new Smart Clip definition. Type the form letter or c: \lxstat s i switch to Memo and paste the form letter from an existing file c:\lxstat into the new clip definition. To power IR down, execute the Batch file IROFF.BAT: Select the fields you want to use in the right places and rem IROFF.bat (Batch file to DISABLE IR DOS printing to close and name your Smart Clip. Then use the database's HP6MP) print function and select Custom Style, your clip, 1 record per c: \jetutil-d page, and print to file, name the file, and you're done! Of course, you may want to transfer the files to your desktop c: \lxstat s 0 d:\dos\mode lptl: word processor to add special printing fonts and logos, etc. Things become complicated when you want to select 3. To Print via the Infrared Port From Lotus (within SysMgr) many records from a large database and generate form Nothing is needed but ld.bat in Autoexec.bat or in the letters for all of them at different times of the month. The Startup command list for the SC Work Area where SysMgr trick is to get the Phonebook to remember which "clients" is running. NOTE: Printing Infrared with LOTUS starts only or customers already have been sent the form letter. several seconds after giving the GO command. Initially, noth~ You could do this by adding a check box field to the ing happens and it seems that printing has failed. Be patient. Phonebook with the field name "sent". When you've creat­ Win/ried Zettelmeyer, wzettelmeyer@MICROCADES ed and sent a form letter to the customer, just check the box. Create a subset based on the fact that the box is NOT checked. MISCELLANEOUS The next time you want to send some more form letters, just use this "NOT Sent" subset and create some more form let­ Use the Palmtop to Identify Yourself ters using the "clip definition" technique above. Here's a useful idea for those who travel a lot, especial­ Next month, when it's time to start over and send more ly backpackers. form letters, you could clear the check boxes with a suitable Scan your passport with signature and ticket receipt macro. However, it might be faster to modify the Phonebook into the Palmtop. The picture looks good enough to be database by deleting the "Sent" check box field, closing and read. It's not just the image that custom people and ticket then opening the Phonebook and adding the Sent field agents want, but the information as well. A half decent back into the record definition. scan yields good readability of each character. There may be cases where you want to use enhance­ AIChin, [email protected] ments you can not easily have in a smart clip. In that case you should use a more powerful editor. Still, as long as you DATABASE can switch between that and the database, I do not easily Another Way to Use Group Buttons see cases where a key macro would not be able to solve the You can use Group Buttons or Check Boxes instead of a problem. Costs you an hour perhaps, if the case is complex, Category field in the built-in database applications. but you will save your macro and have it forever. However, as was mentioned in Ed Keefe's article Geert ("DataBasics" Marchi April 99), you can't name the Check Nesting "Groups" in HOM Boxes something like 'I_Option', '2_0ption' because the For those who may be using Harry Konstas' HDM DOS Database Engine will tell you that these two are equivalent. program launcher, here's a tip to help you organize all the However 'I_Opt-I', '2_0pt-2', ... ,' A_Opt-A' aren't equiva­ icons. Simply put, use one icon to "HDM-launch" a copy of lent. In the Database Engine you can also use 'Optl', HDM that contains a group of icons. The effect is similar to 'Opt2' , ... ,' AOptA' to label the fields. creating a folder on Win9x/NT's desktop and putting a lot The rule seems to be something like: "Remove leading of the other desktop icons in the folder: it reduces "eye digit 0, .. ,9 and remove all special characters like '---'-, .... '. clutter" and brings some order to the chaos. For example, To define a subset you may select the option 'I-Opt-I' or you could have an icon for Card Games that would take you you may enter 'Il_Opt-II' or '(Optl)' etc. directly into the to another screen of card games. Pressing Esc on the Card SSL-Screen. Games screen brings you back to the main menu screen. The For data entry the 'Alt+I' -key can be used to set the HDM program does take up a little extra memory space each '1_ Opt-I' -option. time it is loaded-about 5K bytes on average. This means Hermann Kellinghaus, Hermann.Kellinghaus @knuut. de that you should be careful when running memory hungry programs from a second or third level HDM menu. There A Technique to Emulate "Mail Merge" using Phone book may not be enough memory left to run the programs. The easiest way to do mail merge is to use the Phonebook's clip editor. Here's how. Chris Randle , [email protected]

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 29 TlPS. TRAPS & TECHNIQUES

Elvis, the Vi Editor, Lives should tell you if the program can use EMS. Also, look for Here's a tip for those who favor the Vi-type editor on the whether the program requires a '286 processor or better. Palmtop. Typically Elvis will only run in 80X25 mode. Usually, such programs will not work on the Palmtop. However, if you can get a copy of Winsi.sys, an Ansi.sys replacement, you can run Elvis in 18-line, 64-column mode Running Connectivity Pack on 1000CX (or any other LX screen mode). WinsLsys lets you define a If you run Cpack on HP lOOOCX, you can connect this window for DOS programs that use line-mode output. Palmtop to a PC that is running Cpack or Transfile. Here Lines will wrap on the columns you define for the window, is the procedure: and output won't go beyond the lines you define. Winsi.­ 1. Install Cpack on the lOOOCX. Load the APP200.BAT file sys was written by David Goodman in 1992 for the 95LX, in an editor and put "REM" (without quotes) at the start of and it works fine on the HP Palmtop and Intel-based desk­ the line that contains CG.exe. This will prevent the CG.EXE tops. You can even use the Software Carousel "Device" TSR from being loaded. command to load WinsLsys in just one SC work area. 2. Run APP200.BATon the 1000CX. Once Winsi.sys is installed, you can set up the Elvis envi­ 3. Start Filer in Cpa£k on the 1000CX. ronment variables. Set TERM=ansi. Set LINES=18 and set 4. Run Cpack or Transfile on Pc. COLUMNS=64. Then do: echo /\[[1;1;64;18W and Winsi will After you've done all this, you can operate the lOOOCX set the window size. (/\[ is Escape - from the command line almost the same as the 200LX. Note that the baud rates must you can enter this as Control-V Escape.) Zoom the display be the same on both the lOOOCX and the Pc. To set the baud to 64x18. Then launch Elvis. The command line will be at the rate on the 1000CX, open the Cpack version of Filer and bottom of the screen, and the entire display will be con­ press ALT +C and select remote settings. tained within the window. If it looks funny, do :q and clear Solving Backup Problem the screen and try it again - you might have missed a step. Incremental backups are additive. If you delete a file One you're comfortable with it, you can write a batch file to from your Palmtop it is not deleted from your backup. The do all this and then set the window back to 80x25 if you want. backup grows larger and larger and contains a lot of pro­ George Coleman, [email protected] grams and files that are no longer valid. It becomes almost impossible to restore the Palmtop if that is ever needed. What Programs Can Use TREMM? One solution to this problem is to use the SYNCDIR If you have a "memory enhanced" Palmtop, you have the program for incremental backups. It updates a copy on opportunity to use some of the extra memory as extended the flash card of the C disk, removing files that were memory. This will let you run some programs that take removed in the source. A typical SYNCDIR command advantage of this memory swapping technique. would look like this: Here is a list of some of the programs that use EMM. Many are still commercially available. You might also look syncdr16 c:\ a:\_bak_c_ la/u/dd/f/r/v on eBay.com or one of the auction sites or at www.recy­ syncdir is public domain, and can be fetched from cledsoft ware.com for used copies. http://people.delphi.com/rrutt/syncdir.htm PKZIPIUNZIP: PKWare's file compression programs Software Carousel and Super Software Carousel from Windows 95/98 won't release the serial ports Thaddeus Computing, Inc. Many users have experienced a problem when trying to Framework from Ashton-Tate, Symphony and Lotus run the Connectivity Pack on a Windows 95 I 98 desktop or 1-2-3, release 2.4 from Lotus Dev. Corp. laptop. The program installs and runs but it cannot seem to Enable from Enable Corp. capture the serial port. As a result, there is no way to com­ Word Perfect's Office Suite (ver. 3.01) with its group of municate with the Palmtop over the connecting cable. applications: Word Perfect(5.l), PlanPerfect, DrawPerfect. To force Windows to release its serial ports, include the For example, WordPerfect will use EMS to load up to following additional lines under the heading "[386Enh]" in 300K bytes of menus, error messages and overlays. This dra­ the system.ini file in the windows directory: matically speeds up the program even on the Palmtop. ComBoostTime=5 ComlAutoAssign=2 Some program compilers may also use EMS: you'll need Com2AutoAssign=2 Com3AutoAssign=2 to check the manuals for which ones. Com4AutoAssign=2 ComlFIFO=l MAXDOS: freeware, available on the S.U.P.E.R. site Com2FIFO=l (www.palmtop.net) which will let you roll everything in Com3FIFO=1 working memory to EMS and let you have all memory to Com4FIFO=1 load memory hungry DOS programs. Reboot the machine and see if you can get the Palmtop This list is not exhaustive nor all inclusive. The best tip to connect with the desktop using Filer. is to look for DOS software that came to market in the Some users have stated that this suggestion does work. early '90s. If you have access to the software manuals, they Others have not been so lucky.

30 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 HP200 File Editing Hint that I have to type commands on the Palmtop and/ or look A common situation arises in my usage of my HP 200LX. to it for output if a program didn't work as expected. If I want to edit a text file or source code that resides on my you're not an Elvis vi user, try the popular vim editor. It Palmtop while I'm at my home or office desktop comput­ almost worked for me. I got the screen display redirected, ~r. I used to t:ansfer the file to the desktop computer, edit but not the keyboard commands. But the author of vim It, then copy It back to the Palmtop when done, overwrit­ s~e~ed ",:illing to investigate and incorporate any modi­ ing the original. Well, I just rediscovered recently an old fIcations m a later release. I also tried the popular and DOS command that makes this process much easier - the small vi-clone Calvin. It didn't work in this mode either, but CTTY (Change TTY) command. This command instructs the I haven't yet contacted the author to inquire. Other text edi­ command processor to begin accepting commands from, tors, if they can run over a serial port in other implemen­ and sending output to, the specified COM port. For exam­ tations, might well be coaxed into operating in this mode. ple, the command that I issued was: I suggest you contact the author. CTTYCOMI As for me, I'll be happily editing away on my Palmtop­ based ASCII files and spending less time transfering them Now, on the desktop, you have to open a terminal emu­ back and forth. lation program (or alternatively use a real terminal). From R Christopher Loft, P.E rc/[email protected] a DOS desktop system, you can use a program like Procomm Plus (PCPLUS). On a Windows system, you would use the Eventually after many hours of trying I can print from TERMINAL program supplied with the OS. Or on a PE and WORD to the Pocket Jet (or for that matter, to other Windows 95 or NT system, you have the HyperTerm pro­ printers). By pure accident I found and can consistently gram that is supplied with the OS. Of course, you can run a reproduce printing from PE and WORD only when print­ DOS terminal program in a DOS box - I regularly run ing from MEMO first. PCPLUS from a DOS box on my NT 4.0 system at work. I use Software Carousel with MEMO in Work Area I, PE At this point, you should be talking to your Palmtop's in Work Area 10, and WORD in Work Area 6. It turns out command line processor, command.com. The DOS prompt that after a reboot, going directly into the PE or WORD area, (c:\) should show up, and you can issue DIR commands, nothing moves. The printer does not even blink. After as well as many other ones. A word of caution: only certain Reboot, I cannot print with PE or WORD if MEMO has not pr?grams will function well or at all over the serial port in run once. Also, all three programs have to be loaded into thIS manner. Many graphics-like programs (like 1-2-3) their work areas with their text files before MEMO is run. access the computer's video RAM directly and hence won't When I run MEMO first and then load PE and/ or WORD work over the com port. But simple editing can be done and their text files, they will not print. with the DOS EDLIN (yuk!!) program. I once used this I realized that the questions of Null Modem, Printer dri­ exclusively for a week while my monitor was out for ser­ vers, MODE command (rerouting), Buddy interference (I do vicing, and learned to hate EDLIN. not use it at the moment) etc. are immaterial to the problem However, it recently occurred to me that my favorite vi­ of getting the printer to work. Only afterwards do these clone editors ought to work over the serial port. After all, questions have their place. Here are some more findings. that's how they work on UNIX-based systems from whence MEMO: Use Internal Printer drivers: set to Proprinter vi came. After a little experimenting, I found that the Elvis ONLY, otherwise no Umlauts are printed. Set Printer vi-clone will function in this mode just as expected. You have Parameters via MEMO/ FILE/PRINT/SETUP. to set the TERM environment variable to ANSI, then it's set PE: Use Internal Printer drivers: All 3 drivers can be to go. You can edit your files from the desktop's fullsize key­ used if no parameters are set. Printer Parameters can be set board without shuffling a file back arid forth. As a bonus, via the POCKETJT.EXE parameter program (shell to DOS). you can do all the various DOS file management com­ Then ONLY the internal HPLaserJet driver can be used. mands, such as COPY, RENAME, DEL, MKDIR, CD, etc. Also, to make POCKETJT.EXE work, the parallel port has from within this mode. Also file filter techniques work, to be rerouted to Coml (D:\DOS\MODE LPT1=COMl), You can use file redirection and piping in conjunction with otherwise POCKETJT.EXE will not run. DOS's SORT and others' UNIX-like filter programs such as WORD: Use WORD drivers HP3.PRD or TTY.PRD GREP, SED and AWK. Your own programs that run on the ONLY. With drivers Diconix.prd, Epsonfx.prd and IBM­ Palmtop in a command-line mode (such as a custom filter) PRO.PRD the printer simply stops. Set Printer Parameters should also work in this mode, as well. via WORD Menu ALT +Format. To exit this mode of operation, issue the following com­ mand: Winfried CTTYCON from the remote terminal. Feel free to experiment - the worst I've seen happen is

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2000 31 Review: The Psion Revo Continued From Page 19 How To Contact Us Please note: The HP Palmtop Paper does not and carnates the 200LX or Psion retools Although Psion wrote off the U.S. cmmot provide technical support. There are a number of ways to get in touch with the 5mx with a readable screen and market after poor sales two years ago, The HP Palmtop Paper staff. You can write, mail us crisper keyboard, or even if someone they are now looking to build a strong a disk with your comments, send Internet e-mail, fax, or call. Our mailing address and contact infor­ licenses the Palm OS and puts it in a presence and the Revo figures promi­ mation is: Palmtop with a keyboard. The final nently in that effort. answer is, as usual, "maybe." You Thaddeus Computing, 110 N. Court Fairfield, IA 52556 USA have to see how it fits into your A Final Note Phone: 515-472-6330 or 800-373-6114 portable computing style. Did I write this article on the Revo? Fax: 515-472-1879 Used in conjunction with a lap­ In part, yes. I kept my notes on the Internet: [email protected] top, the Revo can provide much of the Revo using the Jotter application, the TO SUBSCRIBE, change address, or clear up any data access of a Palm Pilot as well as Revo memo database, and roughed problem with your subscription, contact our sub­ scription department. Call or fax us at the phone the data entry capability of the HP out a draft there before exporting it to I numbers above. E-mail [email protected] Palmtop while keeping its size down my laptop. to something that fits in your pocket. Technical Support The final analysis of any device I Summing Up get for reviewing is how much I'm I liked the Revo for its size, cost, HP Technical Support - HP offers technical sup­ port from 8 am - 5pm P.S.T. Phone: 970-392-1001. going to miss it when I send it back. keyboard, speed, touchscreen and On-Line Support-offered by these bulletin board Though the Revo has room for rechargeable battery. services: improvement, it's an improvement I disliked the lack of backlighting, Q COMPUSERVE: GO HPHAND FORUM - over my HP /Palm duo and things the proprietary file formats, lack of Call 800-848-8990 or 614-457-8650. aren't going to be the same without it. tactile response on the keyboard, and Q AMERICA ON LINE: Keyword the lack of PC Card support. • PALMTOP - Call 888-265-8001 Will the Revo Succeed? for membership information. Q INTERNET NEWS GROUPS: I had a chance to go to London, news:comp.sys.Palmtops.hp where Psion is based, shortly after news:comp.sys.handhelds COMDEX. I visited the Revo head­ news:alt.comp.sys.Palmtops.hp Psion Revo Handheld - quarters and talked with Helen Black­ Q To sign up for the free Palmtop Paper $399 (www.psionusa.com) or CompUSA; Newsletter send an e-mail to listserv@ burn, the Revo's product manager Size: 157x79x18mm (6.2x3.lx.7 in); Screen: unbounded.com. The subject line of the about the design and marketing of the 480x160 pixel 16 level grayscale; RAM: 8 email must be empty and the body of the Revo. Handheld market share in message should contain the words MB; Processor: 32bit ARM 710 core 36.864 Subscribe PalmtopPaper (omit the brackets). reverse. Psion handhelds are common, Phones: www.mobile.psion.com; Ports: Q To register for the HPLX-L news service use Palm Pilots are gaining acceptance IrDA compliant infrared, serial connec­ your Web browser to go to news.hplx.net/ and CE devices are largely ignored. tion to docking station. and fill in the form. You'll be notified by return mail with your registration. Q HPLX-L mailing list: To subscribe, send an Software on email to: LISTSERV@UCONNVM. UCONN.EDU In the message body, put: The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK SUBSCRIBE HPLX-L or www.sp.uconn. edu/ -mchem1/ HPLX.shtml January/February 2000 You can find al/ the software described in this Issue at www.palmtop.net/super.html How to Submit an Article which Is now sponsored by our Web site www.PalmtopPaper.com. The richness of The HP Palmtop Paper comes PRODUCT FUNCTION FREEWARE/SHAREWARE from the contributions of Palmtop PC users. We and your fellow users welcome your submissions. AUTOCAPS.ZIP Capitalize words automatically Freeware (We do not offer payment for articles, your reward is knowing that you've helped others.) If you have BLASTCGA.ZIP Play Asteroid Blaster Freeware a good idea and want to "go for it," send it in via CRIB.ZIP Play Cribbage on the Palmtop Freeware CompuServe e-mail [75300,2443], Internet: ed@ ELV18EXE.ZIP Edit text with a VI-type editor Freeware thaddeus.com, or send disk or hard copy to Ed GP3R1.ZIP Latest update to Goin' Postal Shareware Keefe at the above address. Alternatively, you can send an outline of your idea. We will try to guide LXCIC.ZIP Replace CIC100 for modem Freeware you as to when and whether we would use the LXTCP20B.ZIP Setup for handling TCP/IP tasks Freeware article and contact you if we need clarification or PNR32S.ZIP Read newsgroups with News Reader Freeware have any suggestions - please include your phone number. We may want to use an article but for a VDE19.ZIP Latest update to Video Display Editor Shareware variety of reasons you may not see it for many VPROM2.ZIP Teleprompter for the Palmtop Shareware months. Please understand that we cannot promise WDBIO.ZIP ImportiExport data from WorldTime Freeware to run any particular article at any particular time. WINSI.ZIP Replace ANSI.SYS with this program Freeware If you can, especially if you write a Palmtop Profile, send us a photo of yourself.

32 THE HP PALMTOP PAPER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2000 The HP Palmtop Pape r ON DISK

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