Hello Again!

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Daren
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2023 10:03 pm

Hello Again!

Post by Daren »

Good to see forum back!
amenjet
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2023 7:54 pm

Re: Hello Again!

Post by amenjet »

Good to be back, indeed.
i don't suppose there's any way to get the previous posts on the old forum back is there?

My Psion journey started in the mid 80s when I got a Psion XP which I used for many years to do various things. I wrote some OPL and used the data storage facility to keep track of timesheets. Later in a job I built an XP into a piece of control equipment for measuring viscosity concentration. It was used to perform tasks on the equipment such as starting a cleaning cycle using a comms link to talk to an embedded processor. i think the processor was an STE industrial computer. The code for the XP was OPL, stored on a datapack. I still have my original XP, but I don't know which one it is, it has got mixed in with all the others that have appeared recently. I also have my original comms link (now partially dismantled, see my Youtube).

I then bought a Series 3, which I think I still have, that was joined by a comms link and some SSDs and I used that for a while, dropping the XP. A 3mx was next, I think, after I saw a colleague's. The Psion 5 (and 7) were too expensive, but I did buy the SIBO C SDK, which I also still have.

I then left the Psion world for a while and went into the PC world and electronics.

Years later I found a Psion 5 on ebay for 99p. It was broken (bad flexi) and I bought a new flexi and repaired it. I still have it but it's a bit the worse for wear. Then a Psion Netbook which still works, the batteries still hold a charge, but there's now a line on the screen. It still gets charged and used occasionally. I tried to put Linux on it but failed for some unknown reason. I may revisit that task.

Then an LZ appeared and I found it much nicer to use than the XP. I found a few sites on the internet that described hardware interfaces and i built one. Then I built a few more bits and bobs. After investigating the Series 5 and finding that the service manual described dismantling as destructive, I stayed with the Organiser II as it is such a robust design.Inow carry my 'Sharon' (an LZ with it's name written on the sliding cover, I assume many years ago) with me everywhere now. It has 2 512K flash packs that I use to store information. I'm starting to feel a bit lost without it. It's not totally pocket sized, but you can sit on it without it suffering any damage at all.Several times people have asked me why I carry it and I get it out and throw it on the floor. 'That's why!' I say and they are generally quite shocked that I just did that. Sharon doesn't care. She just keeps on working. as she has for, well, 30 years? She also gets subjected to various hardware being put in the top slot, and tests all the 512K flash packs I make. Unfortunately smoke came out of her recently when I messed up a change to the speech adapter and I shorted the top slot supply to GND. After some 'hot resistor smell' I found that a 4R7 resistor had got hot. After finding that I didn't have a SMD 4R7 I checked it and found it was still a 4R7 resistor, so put it back and it has been fine. Hardy thing.

Once I realised that the two internal PCBs could be replaced with modern PCBs and components I built a re-creation with a RP Pico running a 6303 emulator and a ROM. I run an LZ ROM on it but it should run any ROM. I'm still working on it and may even replace Sharon if I can get datapack reading and writing working. I think I'm coming to realise that the security of data on datapacks is a large part of why I'm happy to put so much data into Sharon. I'm pretty sure that it will be there in 5 years time. If I really want to save data then I'll write it to EPROM. That will be there in 30 years time. (well, maybe if I fit new EPROMS, oh, can you get new EPROMS? what's the expected data retention for flash chips?)

I'll have to do a catalogue of all the PCBs and code I've done over the last 2 years or so, there's quite a bit now. Still a few more things to work on.

I also bought an Organiser 1 a while ago and that's quite similar to the Organiser 2, but I find it more claustrophobic to use than even the XP. It's interesting, though. The Link Up pack is a novel peripheral (it fits in a datapack slot) and its limitations could have been the reason why the Organiser 2 has a top slot.

After dismissing the Series 3 and 5, a recent exploration of a Workabout showed that a robust, easily disassembled Series 3 does exist. It's a bit big to carry around all the time, but it doesn't have the Series 3/5 hinges.

Hmm, bit of a ramble.

Andrew
Hawsey
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2023 12:35 pm

Re: Hello Again!

Post by Hawsey »

Hi everyone, thanks to all involved getting us back up and running.
@amenjet way back machine does have some posts stored but I've not delved in to it so not sure exactly what .
Click on the link to look .

https://web.archive.org/web/20220925230 ... 8c1f66914f
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psion
Site Admin
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2023 5:03 pm
Location: Montreal, Qc (CANADA)
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Re: Hello Again!

Post by psion »

About this link : https://web.archive.org/web/20220925230 ... 8c1f66914f ... Thanks, this could help Martin to get back some pertinent texts! Unfortunately, these captures are incomplete, but we will restore what we can...

Because we have no information about what's really happening with the old web forum, it will be complicated to get back all messages, but this link could help a bit.

YM
Regards,
---
Yves MARTIN
YMartin@CanaMail.com
YMartin.com
JMonteiro
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2023 3:15 am

Re: Hello Again!

Post by JMonteiro »

Hi all,

Good to see the community is still alive. I'm currently working my way through "programming your Psion II" which is fun. Have also been talking to Andrew about his gadgets!

I love the Org II and it's limitations - I just wish we had qwerty version! Psion 3 and later don't count...
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Martin
Global Admin
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2023 5:18 pm

Organiser II Books

Post by Martin »

Welcome back everyone...

As for books... I managed to rescue (here) a few PDF's of Organiser II books from the PSION2.com website, before it finally disappeared for good. There is even one in French Yves.

Sincerely Martin
Cosi
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2023 5:23 pm
Location: Poland

Re: Hello Again!

Post by Cosi »

Hello again, comrades!

Let me join you in thanking Yves and Martin for bringing our forum back to life. Maybe we should consider setting up a voluntary "fund" to cover the costs of the domain and hosting in advance so that we don't lose all the gathered knowledge again (as has happened twice already)?
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