2 EK G       1                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        HP Palmtop Paper - a former bi-monthly printed mag
totally devoted to LX palmtops. ended pub in Oct 2000.

Santa Clara County Palmtop User's Group
Location: Morgan Hill, CA
Contact: Bill Childers childers@garlic.com
    
Programming: PAL - Palmtop App Library for the LX, 
Curtis Cameron's LX Development Page Links
 
SAM is a program which lets you access all the apps in the machine. Start it by pressing the &MORE key. Use the arrow keys to explore, especially down arrow. see the games?
SAM has two main views: icon and list. Toggle F8. The list screen, while not as pretty, shows memory use, state, and hot-key assgns. The icon screen indicates which apps are running by dspyng the name in inverse video. 
SAM will accomodate 38 apps. Resident apps use 17 leaving 21 avail pos for DOS/sys app pgms. This can be exended by creating another APPMGR.DAT file. Also MoreEXM will do the same job, but it won't do icons. Can be used with Tasklist, KeyM, and Pocket Launcher.

AppMgr alarm (hidden) file: ALARM.Q

AppMgr is a small HP win clone supervisory pgm (not TSR). Built in Apns; Edit AppMgr.Dat file to change, add, or del hot keys for built in apps. You needn't CLOSE/TERM one app to go to another, but doing so saves mem and prevents file corruption. Closing apps that uses the serial port (eg; Datacomm, Filer, and cc:Mail) saves batt life too. To DELete a line: ^del. 
 
If you want to gain some mem and have started an app using Appl Mgr (&...), Appl Mgr will stay in mem; call it again and hit ESC - this will remove it from memory, if it has been modified to do so. 

ApsMgr icons are in APPMGR.DAT file. After selecting an icon for an app that appears on the screen, the .icn file can be deleted. The icon will continue to be displayed until you modify the entry that "calls" for that .icn file.  

The app will execute normally, the display will behave
normally, you just can't fuck with the entry or you will
"lose" the icon.

How can I put an icon in AppMgr for a specified DB GDB file that loads the DB app and opens the GDB file directly?
 
You can't really do that with Appn Mgr. You can, however, with XFinder or SMMX. I use SMMX and have a "DB" icon on the main menu. Selecting that brings up another SMMX menu with icons for all my DBs

Use SUBST.EXE from MS-DOS V5.0  It needs less RAM than ASSIGN, and it is more compatible with Stacker. ASSIGN is known to cause trouble sooner or later when used together with stacker.


To backup to A and check for A: via appt schedule: add the following line: command.com /f /c backupc.bat
where "backupc.bat" is the BATch file with the BU inst.  

"command.com /f" loads a second command processor which will automatically bypass a failure of a flash card not being present.  The /c switch tells the new command processor to run the BATch file and terminate the new processor at end. No other software or any tricky error detection routines are needed.


LX has a built in undoc carpet designer. It is function 16hex of the int5f graphics interrupt. Usually it is abused to draw circles and round edged boxes, but it's real purpose is to design carpets.

Extract the 99 bytes CARPET.COM and surprise. Use Esc to quit, a-z for different designs. Any other key suspends drawing. Stefan. These pgms are meant to be run in video mode 6.


Sometimes a DOS pgm that uses colors will be hard to read
on the LX. One solution is to use the MODE command to
turn the display into a monochrome (B&W) dspy. This cmd
is typed in before the pgm is executed. 
Black and White, Color modes on HP LX.
MODE BW80 changes the display to B&W and 80 columns. 
MODE CO80 changes back to color (CGA) and 80 columns. 
Exiting DOS and re-entering will also reset the dspy
to color.

Subject: LX - Floppy Disk based FILER for PCs 26 Oct 1996
If you ever needed to transfer pgms to a PC that doesn't
have the connectivity pack installed and found that the
LX cpack pgms were too big to fit on a 360 KB FD ? Of
course now, there is no problem with larger FD sizes,
but, if you're like me you'd want ALL of your data files
on it too. All 100+ MB will fit on a LS 120/ZIP disk :)

Anyway, These are the minimum LX CPack files:
CG.COM  **      TKERNEL.EXE
UN200.EXE       CFILER.EXE
FILER.ENV       SETUP.ENV
CPACK100.FNT    CFILUS.HLP *
FRESUS.RI *     JQBTAUS.RI *

* For the US version only - you can try fooling
  with these files for other (county) versions.

** CGA emulator not needed on a CGA machine.

The CPACK apps have one big handicap that the apps in the
LX don't have. The LX apps actually have more RAM to work
with because the pgms are in ROM so RAM is only used for
working storage. With the CPACK, the RAM has to be used
to load the SysMgr shell with the appn and the data.

Some cpack apps need well over 550K to run. Use the MEM 
command to see this. The amount of RAM that an appn like
the Appt book needs is not so dependant on the size of
the data file as the whole data file is not loaded into
RAM, just the indexes and the record currently being
worked on. 
 
Cpack does a decent job of translating DB files into
delimited files importable by other DB SW. I don't know
if TransFile does this.
 
> CPack can work on CGA.
> Remove the line "CG.EXE" on APP200.BAT.
> Doesn't need CGA emulation on a CGA machine.
> It works well, just like a LX machine.
> But Cpack isn't a good ans for an alt of the sysmgr,
> because it can't task-sw and the .EXM SW can't work
> with it.

> --------------------------------------------
>  Kazu (Kazuhisa Tanabe) Kyoto, Japan
>  E-mail QWQ11433@nifty.ne.jp
>
I use a DS LX and 96MB upgrade and Pretech 160MB ATA (A:)

CPackfpy.zip, minimum files
There is a file somewhere on SUPER which either contains these 
files or at least contains a description how to put cpack200 on a floppy.  it is called  cpackfpy.zip

Converting HP-LX databases to a CSV file - How to export
data from the LX databases (pdb, ndb, gdb) Jan 99.  Often
the question comes up on the news groups on how to move
data out of an LX database to another platform as a  Palm
or WinCE machines (or even desktop pgms as MS Outlook). 

This is intended to answer those questions. Every one of
these new systems can use CSV files to import data; you
just need a way to create it from your db. The key
feature is that the Smart Clips can be used for custom
print forms and you can print the entire database to a
file. Defining a Smart Clip to build a CSV
(comma-separated values) file is very easy.

When the database is open, the key lets you work with
Smart Clips. Define a new one that starts with the quote
character <", then press the key to add the first field
for your export. Follow that with another quote <", a
comma , and another quote <" before you insert the next
field. Repeat this until all the necessary fields are
represented. It should look something like this in the
Define Smart Clip screen: "Name<","Business<","Home<" 

It's important to try to fit everything on one line,
since most import programs take the start of a new line
as the beginning of the next record.* When all your
fields are represented, give this new Smart Clip a name
you can identify, like "All fields CSV" and return to the
main screen displaying the database you want to export.
Use the 
/File/Print command sequence and choose All Items under
"Print", Custom under "Style" and use the key to move the
cursor into the box underneath. Here you use the down
arrow key to select the name of the Smart Clip you
created. Move on to the "Print to" area and select File,
then press the key for "OK". 

You will be prompted for a filename and at this point you
can name the file with a .CSV extension. Remember that
for large databases, this operation can take some time,
so be patient. If you're operating on batteries, you may
be able to speed things up a bit by holding down the
shift key (this disables light sleep mode). 

It's up to you how you transfer this file to another
machine, but that's pretty much all there is to it. See
the HP 200LX User's Guide for the sections on: "printing
using Smart Clips" (p. 380) "To define your own Smart
Clip" (p. 41) 

* What do you do when you have too many fields to fit on
one line?  Good point! This is an area worth addressing
with some additional detail. A maximum of 220 chars can
be put on a single line of the Smart Clip Definition
before it wraps around and starts a new line. Since the
Definition controls the appearance of the output, a new
line in the Smart Clip Definition would create a carriage
return character in the .CSV file and that is interpreted
as the end of the record.

The size of the fields' contents almost never matches the
length of the field name. So if your db contains lots of
long field names, even if they have narrow contents, you
will need to stop adding fields for output when you reach
this limit. I have run into this issue on occasion and
had to create another .CSV file to merge with the data
from the first. It's important to include at least one
field in common between these Definitions. That field
should contain unique, non-blank data for every record on
which to key, so that the records can be lined up when
they are merged. If your db contains lots of short field
names with wide contents, you may run into other limits.
I haven't explored that side enough to know.


Rate table is lost when C: is lost. Need to restore the
file: CALC.ENV from BU or reinput the data.
 
The HP-Calculator has a currency-converter, and at
http://www.palmtop.net/money.html download a macro (first
pre-define which currencys You want, and bookmark this
page then), rename the file-ext from money.exe to
money.mac, load it in c:\_dat on the LX, start the
sys-macro-app on the LX, load the money.mac and execute
this macro then, the currency-values in the calc curr
module get updated auto. The guy who provides this
service is Peter Watkins. 

A DOS FD can have 112 files/dir in the root dir, a DOS formatted (FAT16) HD can only have 512 files/dir in
the root dir. Could it be that the LX only allows 64

Required files to get DOSSHELL to work on LX:
CGA.VID        6144 CGA video driver
CGA.INI        2560 CGA program group
CGA.GRB        2048 CGA support
DOSSHELL.EXE 139264 program
DOSSHELL.HLP  35840 help file
DOSSWAP.EXE   14336 swapper
DOSSHELL.COM   2560 swapper


The LX has only one FAT.

In the upper left hand corner of the screen is the curr
appn name and filename. The problem with it is that it
doesn't tell you what drive it's on. Be aware of this as
if you are updating a file and back up in the wrong
direction, you can clobber the good file. You can check
the drv you're on when you select the file with F9.

>Normally, the fat is what links together the clusters.
When the file is deleted, probably the	head of	the
cluster chain is linked to an avail pool, but the chain
is not disturbed until the space is reused. If it were,
at deletion, Norton could never restore the file.
 
Nice theory, but it doesn't work like that...
When a file is deleted, the FAT table "chain" for that
file is cleared. That's how DOS "knows" which sectors are
available for use by other files. The only thing left
(until it gets reused) is the a file entry record in the
directory, with	the first char in the filename changed to
mark it as "deleted". The dir record also has a pointer
to the 1st cluster used by the file, the size of the
file, some flags, and the time/date stamp.
 
Norton uses "reasonable guesses", but it can't success-
fully recover all large files on a badly fraged drv or
after you've deleted a lot or created much on the disk
after deleting. It knows that the file consisted of the
cluster pointed to by the dir record. If your file was
less than one cluster in size, that's enough (plus the
1st char of the filename) to get your file back. If your
file was larger than one cluster in size, it "guesses"
that the next <n> clusters that are curr free belonged to
that file and it chains them together for you. If you're
lucky, that's enough, but it's not a sure thing...
 
I've heard that some file-recovery pgms (don't know about
Norton) can use the backup FAT-table images if you've
been making regular "image" backups using their tools. 
If your file was in the image, it can use the "chain" in
the backup FAT copy to recover the file.
 
I've spent weeks (recovering what I could from a very old
DOS sys) patching FAT and dir tables by hand.  I know
this stuff far TOO well.
 
John L.	Stanley	<JLStanley@addcoinc.com>
Sr. Software Engineer -	ADDCO Inc.

>If there are more than 250 files in a directory, then Filer can only display the first 250 on it's screen.

However, you can use the filter option (F4) to choose which 250 files are shown on its screen. So all files in a subdirectory can be accessed.

> This is a limit set by the pgmng technique used by the pgmrs. Basicly, a choice of pgm size versus flexibility. You allocate so many resources for a given task, given your expectations on the use of the program. In this case, the memory required for sorting and maintaining the list of files versus how many appns are avail.

PNS200 V1.3 - Point and shoot from FILER .. There is an undocumented feature of the HP200LX palmtop computer, that allows to start a DOS application from FILER by pointing to a data file and pressing ENTER. It is possible to specify the DOS application to be started in a file called C:\_DAT\FILER.INI. The following is an example of a FILER.INI file:

[Launcher] ZIP=a:\bin\pkunzip.exe % ICN=d:\bin\icn200lx.exe % DAT=a:\bin\list.com %

The part before the "=" specifies a file extension and the part after the "=" specifies the command to be executed whenever a file with that extension is selected. The '%' is replaced by the name of the selected file. If you have installed the above FILER.INI file, select a file named 'EXAMPLE.ICN' and press ENTER, the icon editor (icn200lx) is started.

However, if you have a file named EXAMPLE.DAT, you sometimes want to only view it, and sometimes you want to edit it. But FILER.INI only lets you specify ONE action for each file extension.

This is where PNS200 comes in. Instead of calling a DOS appn directly, PNS200 is called and lets you choose which program you want to apply to the specified file. Assuming you have put PNS200.EXE into the directory C:\BIN, the FILER.INI file would now look like: [Launcher] ZIP=c:\bin\pns200.exe % ICN=c:\bin\pns200.exe % DAT=c:\bin\pns200.exe %

Unfortunately, there is no possibility to use wild cards within FILER.INI. Therefore, you have to specify a line for every file extension you might want to pass to PNS200. There is an exam FILER.INI file included with this pkg. You can use it with PNS200.

If you have installed PNS200 and use the above FILER.INI, you will see the following after selecting EXAMPLE.DAT and pressing the ENTER key: m - Load file into MEMO l - Dspy file using LIST

If you now press 'm', the selected file is loaded into MEMO. But if you press 'l', it is loaded into a program called LIST'.

It is possible to configure PNS200 according to your needs. PNS200 loads its configuration from the file C:\_DAT\PNS200.INI. An example of a PNS200.INI file is included with this package. PNS200.INI looks a bit similar to the FILER.INI file. It consists of four sections:

[Match] Within this section you can specify which operations are applicable to which files. Each line looks like <file spec>=<key>{<key>} <file spec> specifies to which files the operation can be applied. Examples: 'MYFILE.DAT' specifies a file named 'MYFILE.DAT'. '*.DAT' specifies any files with an extension of '.DAT', eg, 'MYFILE.DAT' or 'FOO.DAT'. '*.*' specifies all files. The list of file specifications is read top down and the first specification that matches is taken. Thus, you should specify '*.DAT' before '*.*'. <key>{<key>} specifies a set of "keys" that can be applied to the specified files. A "key" is the name of a key that you can press in the menu. What it exactly means will become clear in a moment.

[Menu] This section specifies the meaning of the keys. Each line looks like:

<key>=<menu text>

The <menu text> is the text that is displayed within the menu. This text explains what happens when the key <key> is pressed. An example of a line is:

m=Load file into MEMO

[Patch] Every line within this section looks like:

 <key>=<file name> <file position>

Now, what is this good for? The internal applications use a .ENV file to keep their configuration even if you close them. Among the information kept within the .ENV file is the name of the currently active file. The fastest way to change that file is to patch the .ENV file. <file name> specifies the name of the file to be patched. <file position> specifies the offset from the beginning of the file and indicates where exactly the file should be patched. You do not need to modify the values in this section when you use the example PNS200.INI file.

[Action] Within this section, you can specify what should happen, if a certain key is pressed. Every line looks like:

<key>=<command>

If there is a '%s' within the command string, it is replaced by the file name. If there is a second '%s', the program asks for input and replaces the second '%s' with the input. An example:

x=myprog %s %s

If the 'x' key is pressed, a program called 'myprog' is started. It gets the name of the selected
file as its first argument. A second argument can be given by the user.

If a '%k' is used instead of the first '%s', each backslash within the filename is replaced by two backslashes. This makes it possible to pass a file name to KSTUFF (The backslash is a special character in KSTUFF; a double backslash is needed to produce one backslash).

Some more comments about PNS200.INI:

- Everything within the PNS200.INI file is case sensitive (except the file specifications).

- The order of the sections is important. At the end of a section, there may be a empty line, but not within the sections.

- The key names '|' and '^' are special. '|' stands for the ENTER key and '^' stands for the space bar.

- From the example PNS200.INI file, several freeware and shareware programs are called. All of them are available from the libraries of the HPHAND forum on CompuServe. You might want to download some of them. Most notably KSTUFF.ZIP (lib 11), a program that pushes keys. It is used to start the internal applications from PNS200.INI (the command 'ks')

- You have to use full file names (including the path) in the [Action] section.

- If you want to start a batch file in the [Action] section, you have to do it as follows:

D:\DOS\COMMAND.COM A:\BAT\FOO.BAT

Only .EXE and .COM files can be run directly.

On the LX you can create a file called "filer.ini" in the
C:\_dat DIR, and use it to tell the system what program
to start when you select a file in Filer and press
[Enter]. The following sample will tell filer to start
PICEM to view files with an extension of .pcx:
       [Launcher]
       PCX=a:\bin\picem.exe /v:c %

For a complete explanation of filer.ini, see ...
http://www.thaddeus.com/p19/p1900027.htm
 
DIRNOTES (ZDIR): a little PCM pgm that lets you maintain
an annotated list of your files as a DIRxxx.DAT file in
the same DIRectory. To use it within the LX; modify the
FILER.INI so that .DAT files invoke DIRNOTES within
Filer.	Then when you want to view the DIRectory
annotations, highlight the .DAT file and press enter.
People with .DAT files used for	other purposes might have
a problem, and people with 4DOS have their own way of
annotating.  - Longden Loo

Inserting comments into .INI and .DAT files:

Inserting comments into FILER.INI The file that
"launches" DOS aps from the Filer icon seems to work and
did not seen to hamper operation of Filer or ICN200LX.

[Launcher]
ICN=D:\BIN\ICN200LX.EXE % :test comment

Inserting comments into the APPMGR.DAT file will be very
difficult (and useless?) due to the "encrypted" format of
that file, other ".dat" files might not be a problem.


Sample Filer.ini file Sat, 18 Nov 2000 

filer.ini is an "undoc" feature CMIIW. Here is the
format, create with any ascii editor and place in
c:\_dat\

[Launcher]
IDX=c:\maps\lxmap.com %
ICN=d:\bin\icn200lx.exe %
ZIP=c:\bin\pns200.exe %
ARC=c:\bin\arce40g.com %
LZH=c:\bin\lr.com %
ZOO=a:\bin\zoo.exe -ex %
GIF=c:\lxpic\lxpic.com %
PCX=c:\lxpic\lxpic.com %
TIF=c:\bgfax\view.exe %
JPG=c:\lxpic\lxpic.com %
BMP=c:\lxpic\lxpic.com %
.
NB: If you would like to have a chioce of actions for a
particular file extension, use PNS200.EXE (as I did in
ZIP above)... see PNS200 docs (SUPER) for more info...

The formatting pgm checks each sector so that the time it takes to format is a function of the size of the RAM card.
Formating of upgraded 32/64 MB drvs, use RDT2T.EXE from DOS.

Several SW pkgs for LX on the SUPER that do GPS. Several
GPS receivers put out serial data that can be read by
these SW pkges. DeLorme has one of the most inexpensive
receivers on the market.

GPSCGA, a very nice shareward GPS "moving-map" pkg, and
LXGPS, which is freeware.  LXGPS has more nifty features
(like displaying satellite positions and signal strengths
and using std PCX files for maps) while GPSCGA has the
advantage of having an included DB of cities and airports
around the world.

Hardware-wise, most any GPS unit that will connect to a
serial port with an NMEA protocol will work.  (I could be
wrong on this... it's been a while since I read up on
it.)  Garmins are popular, as is the extremely low-priced
Delorme Tripmate.

---------------------------------------------------------
Garmin to track waypoints for LX GPS 7/01.
http://www.anali.demon.co.uk/gardown.htm  GARDOWN GPS PG

GARDOWN is Simple but effective MS-DOS program that can
download and upload Waypoints, Track data, and Route data
to a garmin GPS. Gardown is the latest version and now
can also montor NMEA 183 from a garmin or any GPS with
NMEA 183 output. 

Gardown fetures:-
Upload Track,Waypoints,Routes,Proximity Waypoints.
Download Track,Waypoints,Routes,Proximity Waypoints.
Display Current Position.
Display Garmin time. Turn off a Garmin. 
Display Garmin software version number.
Upload waypoint to a Yemon plotter (NMEA 183 ).
Download & Upload waypoint , routes & track from a
macrologic GPS
Log NMEA 183 output.
Change files datum to a new datum. Set serial port 1 to
4.
You can now use British O/S grid & UTM grid.
Gardown will now also upload waypoints to NMEA devices.
There is also a switch to change the date format for use
with GPSS.
Garmin (sm) is a trademark of GARMIN Interational"); 
Changes to gardown13
Ver 13.00 05/Feb/98

--------------------
I have changed add a format command so OSGB & UTM can now
have there own
Datum's. There for datum number 102 & 103 no longer work
to get these format
-F0 Lat Long
-F1 OSGB
-F2 UTM
Ver 13d.00 19/Feb/98
Bug fix for South lat Long to UTM Also gardown13 will now download & upload waypoint , routes & track from a macrologic GPS

Visit Mike Edwards web Site and Download ROO2GPS, a
utility which will
convert routes created with GPSS to a format suitable for
uploading to your
GPS receiver using Gardown.
Also, see a summary of a book By HJ Edwards, about hidden
codes and new
discoveries in the construction of the Great Pyramid

G7TO: http://einstein.fet.uni-hannover.de/~purnhage/gps/
g7towin.htm 

GARDOWN: http://www.anali.demon.co.uk/gardown.htm 
GPSCGA: http://www.palmtop.net/super3.html 
LXGPS:
http://members-http-2.rwc1.sfba.home.net/gregrenda/lxgps/


These are some links for your friend. I can't find the
link that displayed information on GPSCGA anymore, but we
have the demo version stored on the SUPER site which I
note above. I don't know if the e-mail for them is any
good - I'll send an inquiry tonight and see if I get a
reply. -Chris Lott 

G7To is a DOS program written in a combination of Borland
C++ 3.1 and Borland Turbo Assembler Version 3.1. The
assembler is used for the Serial Port interrupt routines.
G7To is designed to execute on a MS-DOS PC, however, the
program will execute properly in a Windows Command Prompt
under Windows 9X or Windows NT 4.0 or greater. If
operation under MSDOS is not intended then G7ToW is
recommended for use under Win 9X and Win NT 4.0.

G7ToWin is a Windows 9X/Windows NT 4.0 program designed
to transfer data between Garmin or Lowrance/Eagle GPS
units and a PC. 
The program supports download (transfer from the GPS to
the PC) of waypoints, tracklogs, routes, events
(Lowrance/Eagle units only), and for those units which
support it, dowloading a copy of the current display as a
Windows bitmap. 

G7ToWin supports upload (transfer from the PC to the GPS)
all of the above except for the display, display bitmaps
cannot be sent to the GPS.
Waypoints, routes, events, and tracklogs can be edited by
G7ToWin and stored to various file types. Downloaded
display bitmaps cannot be edited, however, they can be
rotated. Display bitmaps may also be saved in a standard
Windows .bmp file.

NOTE: G7ToWin requires version 4.72.3611.1900 or later of
COMCTL32.DLL the common controls dynamic linked library.
If your system does not have a suitable dll installed
then some of the user controls will not work as intended.
Currently the easiest way to get the latest dll is to
download it from Microsoft's web site. Installing IE4 or
IE5 will also install the proper file.	

NOTE: Version A.04.27 represents the last routine update
I will perform on g7to/g7tow. These command line based
programs are similar in concept to G7ToWin, but the code
has diverged to the point where updates are beginning to
be a very time consuming task. I am releasing the source
code to g7to/g7tow. Feel free to modify it as you see
fit.

Just where did the name G7To come from? Well, when I
first started using a Garmin GPS, the GPS-45, several
years ago, the only free software that I could find for
communicating with the unit was Gardown version 7.  The
output format of Gardown7 was fixed and I wanted to be
able to transfer data from programs other than Gardown7,
so I wrote a filter program that would take data from a
Gardown 7 file and translate it to several other program
formats. At the time, the ones I supported were Garmin64,
PROJ and NAD.  The first G7TO program translated from
Gardown7 (G7) 'to' other programs so...G7To. I later
added the ability to upload/download data from the Garmin
units and the 'filter' aspect was less useful, but so
many people were using the software that I was stuck with
the name.  When I later ported the software to a Windows
Console program I simply added the 'W' for G7ToW. After
adding a Graphical User Interface G7ToWin was born.  The
moral of this story is simple: Be careful what name you
give to software--the uglier it is, the more likely you
are to be stuck with it!	

GWS61v.ZIP V6.1 Will convert almost any graphic format to another format and even create standalone .EXE files to display a graphic image. This is the last known version to work on the LX. Later ver need a 286 CPU, this ver supports GIF and TIFF files. On the LX you only need GWS.EXE, GSW.RES and GWSHLP.RES. Shareware by Alchemy Mindworks

> Here is a way	to even	more hide sensitive info:
> 1. Hide sensitive info into DIR.COM or FILER.EXM.
> 2. go	to DOS prompt
> 3. type: xine dir.com dir.xin (To compress the file)
> 4. Delete dir.com (del dir.com)
> 5. If	you really want	to make	things harder for a hacker, type : attrib dir.xin +h  (this will hide the file)  This is OK if you don't need the info too often.
>

Have you ever wanted to assign a letter to one of your
appns, and that letter was allready used by one of the
built-in apps?  This may be a solution.  

This is not a step-by-step description, if you are a
little spooked by the appn mgnr's appmgr.dat file,
don't mess with this. Start with a BU of your existing
appmgr.dat file. 

Using Xtree (or your perfered HEX editor), find the "&"
in the appmgr.dat file that sits before the "hot" char in
the application name that you no longer want to access
with a single key-press.  Cover-up the "&" with the
letters or word that follows it and cover-up the last
letter of the "old" word (or letters) with a HEX 00.  

Example:  Data &Comm  The "&" you don't want.

          Data Commm       ^
                   The "m" that needs to be HEX 00.

After you have backed-up your appmgr.dat file, copy the
new file into the c:\_dat directory of your palmtop. 
Close ALL of your applications and exit to the "Topcard"
screen.  Press <CTRL><ALT><DEL>.
  
When the application manager restarts, you can now see
that the "hot" key (or) keys you "fixed" are not
underlined any more.  

Use the normal method to set hot keys for your apps.  
You will have to use this HEX edit method to replace the
built-in application hot keys.  

phildrum@netcom.com (Phil Drummond)

Introduction to IrDA IrDA is a standard defined by the
IrDA consortium (Infrared Data Association). It specifies
a way to wirelessly transfer data via infrared radiation.
The IrDA specifications include standards for both the
physical devices and the protocols they use to
communicate with each other. The IrDA standards have
arised from the need to connect various mobile devices
together. 

(Primary use for IrDA is to link notebooks or various
personal communicators; however, even video cameras are
sometimes equipped with an IrDA interface.)  <>IrDA
devices communicate using infrared LED's. Wavelength used
is 875 nm +- production tolerance (around 30 nm). Many
CCD cameras are sensitive to this wawelength too.
Receivers utilize PIN photodiodes in generation mode
(incoming light "kicks out" electrons. Signal continues
into a filter. Only allowed frequencies for a particular
IrDA modulation can pass through.) There is a direct
relationship between the energy of the incoming
radiation, and the charge that the optics part of the
receiver generates.

Range and speed of IrDA IrDA devices conforming to
standards IrDA 1.0 and 1.1 work over distances up to 1.0m
with BER (Bit Error Ratio - number of incorrectly
transferred bits over number of correctly transferred
bits) 10-9 and maximum level of surrounding illumination
10klux (daylight). Values are defined for a 15 degree
deflection (off-alignment) of the receiver and the
transmitter; output power for individual optical
components is measured at up to 30 degrees. Directional
transmitters (IR LEDs) for higher distances exist;
however, they don't comply with the required 30 degree
radiation angle.  Speeds for IrDA v. 1.0 range from 2400
to 115200 kbps. Pulse modulation with 3/16 of the length
of the original duration of a bit is used. Data format is
the same as for a serial port - asynchronously
transmitted word, with a startbit at the beginning.  
Transmitter can use either 3/16 mark-to-space ratio for
one bit, or a fixed length 1.63 us of each optical pulse,
which would correspond to 115kbps. With fixed length and
speed of 38400 bps, each bit would take 3 pulses.

In addition, IrDA v. 1.1 defines speeds 0.576 and 1.152
Mbps, with 1/4 mark-to-space ratio. At these speeds, the
basic unit (packet) is transmitted synchronously, with a
starting sequence at the beginning. The NRZ signal in the
figure is the original data signal without modulation.  
A packet consists of two start words followed by target
addres (IrDA devices are assigned numbers by the means of
IrDA protocol, so they are able to unambiguously identify
themselves), data, CRC-16 and a stop word. The whole
packet (frame) including CRC-16 is generated by IrDA
compatible chipset. Start and stop words cannot appear
anywhere else in the data stream - start and stop words
last 1.5times the bit duration (6 times longer flash than
usual).

For 4Mbps speed, so-called 4PPM modulation with 1/4
mark-to-space ratio is used. Two bits are encoded in a
pulse within one of the four possible positions in time.
So, information is carried by the pulse position, instead
of pulse existence as in previous modulations. For
example, bits 00 would be transmitted as a sequence 1000
(flash-nothing-nothing-nothing), bits 01 would be 0100,
bits 11 would be send as 0001.   Main reason for the 4PPM
modulation is the fact, that only half of the LED flashes
are needed than in previous modulations; so, data can be
transferred two times faster. Besides, it is easier for
the receiver to maintain the level of surrounding
illumination - with the 4PPM modulation, a constant
number of pulses is received within a given time.

With bit speed of 4Mbps, the transmitter flashes at 2MHz
rate. However, unlike 0.576 and 1.152 Mbps, 4Mbps packets
use CRC-32 correction code. Most chipsets which can use
this modulation can also generate CRC-32 by themselves,
and check it when receiving - some chipsets (the ones I
have studied) throw away incorrectly received frames.  
More, IrDA defines so-called low-power IrDA device, with
range up to 20 cm and max. speed 115kbps (a.k.a. IrDA
1.0). Limiting factor for the range is the radiation
intensity at the receiver in mW/cm2. This value is higher
for faster bit speeds, for slower bit speeds (long
pulses) the possible range increases. (This is not
explicitly mentioned in the IrDA standards, but it
correlates to the amount of incoming radiation - receiver
thinks that short low-energy pulses are noise. For its
filter to let them through, they need to be either
longer, or their energy must be higher.)

Why a pulse modulation is used? The receiver needs a way
to distinguish between the surrounding illumination,
noise, and received signal. For this purpose, it is
useful to use the highest possible output power: higher
power -> higher current in the receiver -> better
signal-to-noise ratio. However, IR-LED's can't transmit
at full power continuously over 100% of time. So, a pulse
width of only 3/16 or 1/4 (mark-to-space ratio) of the
total time for one bit is used. Now, the power can be up
to 4 or 5 times the possible maximum power for LED's
shining continuously. In addition, the transmission path
does not carry the dc component (since the receiver
continuously adapts itself to the surrounding
illumination, and detects changes only.), thus it is
necessary to use pulse modulation. Integrated IrDA
transceivers (combined transmitting IR-LED and the
receiving PIN photodiode) do have filters that eliminate
noise other than the IrDA frequency range 2400-115200 bps
and 0.576-4Mbps (2M flashes/s).

Protocols used by IrDA devices IrDA Infrared Link Access
Protocol (IrLAP)  is a modification of the HDLC protocol
reflecting the needs of IrDA communication. In general,
it encapsulates the frames and makes sure the IrDA
devices don't fight among themselves - in multi-device
communication, there is only one primary device, others
are secondary. Note that the communication is always
half-duplex. Also, IrLAP describes how the devices
establish connection, close it, and how are they going to
be internally numbered. Connection starts at 9600 Bd; as
soon as information about supported speeds is exchanged,
logical channels (each controlled by a single primary
device) are created.

IrDA Infrared Link Management Protocol (IrLMP)  Since
configuration of IrDA devices changes (you turn on your
IrDA camera and put it next to your notebook), every
device lets the others know about itself via the IrLMP
protocol, which runs above IrLAP (IrLAP is a link
protocol; I would compare it to the IP protocol, although
address resolution is different). IrLMP's goal is to
detect presence of devices offering a service, to check
data flow, and to act as a multiplexer for configurations
with more devices with different capabilities involved
(compare to sockets in TCP/IP communication). Then,
applications use the IrLMP layer to ask if a required
device is within range, etc. However, this layer does not
define a reliable way to create a channel (like in TCP);
this is defined by IrDA Transport Protocols (Tiny TP).

IrDA Transport Protocols (Tiny TP)  This layer manages
virtual channels between devices, performs error
corrections (lost packets, etc.), divides data into
packets, and reassembles original data from packets. It
is most similary to TCP.  IrDA Object Exchange Protocol
(IrOBEX)  is a simple protocol, which defines PUT and GET
commands, thus allowing binary data transfer between
devices. It is built on top of TinyTP. The standard
3defines what a packet must contain in order for the
devices to recognize each other and communicate.

Extensions to IrOBEX for Ir Mobile Communications  This
extension of IrOBEX for mobile devices - handhelds, PDA,
cellular phones - defines how to transfer informations
pertaining to GSM network (address books, SMS, calendar,
dialing control, digital voice transfer over IR, ...)

IrTran-P (Infrared Transfer Picture) Specification  This
definition was made up by big companies manufacturing
digital cameras and specifies how to transfer pictures
over the infrared interface. It is built on top of
TinyIP, too.

IrDA components Here, I can describe my own experience
with several components made by Hewlett Packard. They
manufacture stand-alone IrDA transmitters (IR LED),
receivers, as well as transceivers (a receiver with a
transmitter in a single package). For speeds up to
115kbps (IrDA 1.0), HSDL-1000 transceiver is available.
It works in half-duplex mode. It is very easy to use.
Besides the transceiver itself, only several capacitors
to filter the signal and to reduce noise are used. The
capacitors need to be placed as close to the transceiver
as possible, preferably within 0.7 cm (0.3 in). Since the
HSDL-1000 is in a SMD package, it is a good idea to place
it on a two-layer PCB, with ground copper area on the
other side for shielding.

A faster version of the transceiver is labelled
HSDL-1100. It supports FIR speeds (up to 4Mbit/s).
However, I had problems with this one. In improper
design, the FIR output easily becomes an oscillator. This
part is also more sensitive to noise and unwanted
feedbacks than the HSDL-1000 (FIR output only).  Other HP
components available include IR LEDs HSDL-4230 and
HSDL-4220. These LEDs withstand modulation speed up to
10Mbits, maximum current 0.5A (mark-to-space ratio 0.2)
or 100mA (continuously). The only difference of the two
versions in the HSDL-4200 family is their radiation angle
(30 degrees for HSDL-4220, only 17 degrees for
HSDL-4230).                             
 HSDL-1000               HSDL-1100              
Also, Hewlett-Packard manufactures standalone PIN
receivers as well as IrDA modulation encoders/decoders.
Integrated encoder/decoder of IrDA 115kbps modulation can
be ordered under part No. HSDL-7000. It is an integrated
circuits with 8 pins. In addition to power, serial port
transmit/receive, a 16-times the bit frequency oscillator
needs to be connected to it (for 115kbps, required
frequency is 115200*16=1.8432 MHz). I had a chance to try
out encoder/decoder HSDL-7001; however, it offers only a
few additional functions (e.g. integrated frequency
divider, or a possibility to connect a passive XTAL
directly to its inputs). In addition, the integrated
frequency divider works for IR input only, not for the
output.                         
                        
Schematics of the 3/16 modulator HSDL-7000               
Of course, Hewlett-Packard is not the only manufacturer
of IrDA components. For example, Texas Instruments
manufactures UART's labeled TIR1000 and TIR2000. The
TIR2000 incorporates a driver for the 4Mbps modulation
(uses DMA mode). National Semiconductors produce their
own versions. And so on. In the Czech Republic, UARTs by
TI and NS circuits are probably the most commmon ones.

Practical experiences When playing with the IrDA data
transfer, our goal was far beyond the 1 meter range
specified by the IrDA standard. Using IR LED's with half
the radiation angle (17 degrees, instead of 30), we could
go up to 4 meters without additional optics at 115 kpbs
bit rate. Beyond a certain distance, the receiver tends
to loose individual pulses, or decrease their amplitude
and duration (after all, it is an analog circuit although
its output is supposed to be "digital"). For greater
distances (our requirement was to transfer data over a
200m distance), additional optics is needed.

We have found that, if speed is decreased 4 times,
distance can be increased two times. This confirms the
thesis about pulse detection via certain amount of energy
passing through the filter in the receiver.  Since our
goal was to connect two Linux boxes and run ppp protocol
over a serial line, we have created additional logic (1
gate ;). It would continuously send pulses while DTR
signal remained inactive, and thus signal a 'hang-up' to
the other side. A side effect is that if the serial cable
from the computer to the IrDA link is pulled out, the
circuit starts sending pulses - as if the computer had
hanged up via the DTR signal.

This can be used in debugging process - finding signal.
More, transmitter can be connected to the receiver on one
side, creating a several hundred meters long loopback -
ideal for checking connection quality in both directions,
without the need to run there and back.  With the
additional optics, we have found after some time that for
distances less than about 80 meters (115 kBd speed),
full-duplex mode cannot be used since the transmitted
beam reflects back and creates echos. The same applies
whenever there is a reflective object in the signal path
- a window, for instance.

Alignment of the link is critical. The mount has to be
very firm, and able to fine-point the components, so they
are co-axial. Reasonable bit errors can be achieved if
the link is aligned within about one meter (distance 200m
- corresponds to approx. one half of a degree angle).
Alignment is critical for the transmitter, not the
receiver. Our best result was about 0.0006% faulty
packets (MTU=296 bytes, ping packet length 64 bytes), in
other words, about one packet out of 170000 packets is
bad. The statistics for the other direction were about
four times worse - bad alignment. Normal rain is
obviously not an issue (it has been raining for two days
already), problems arise with heavy rain or direct
sunshine to the optics.  ppp0

Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol             inet
addr:10.1.2.4  P-t-P:10.1.1.4  Mask:255.255.255.0        
  UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING  MTU:296  Metric:1

RX packets:49724542 errors:233 dropped:233 overruns:0
frame:0           TX packets:49625500 errors:0 dropped:0
overruns:0 carrier:0 coll:0 This is our ppp line
statistics, 115kbps, full duplex, rain, 200m  ppp0     
Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol             inet
addr:10.1.2.4  P-t-P:10.1.1.4  Mask:255.255.255.0        
  UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING  MTU:296  Metric:1

RX packets:25255596 errors:18 dropped:18 overruns:0
frame:0           TX packets:25276229 errors:0 dropped:0
overruns:0 carrier:0 coll:0 and this one with good
weather and a different setting (again 200m)   Pictures
in the text are from WWW pages of Hewlett Packard, Texas
Instruments, and bitmap version of pdf documents by IrDA
consortium.

Written by:Vladimir Myslik  Revised by:Jan Rehak  English
translation by:Joe Hlavac                       

Windows CE IrDA FAQ By Chris De Herrera, Copyright 1998,
1999, 2000  V1.14 Revised 3/20/2000   Introduction  One
of the easiest methods of communications for Windows CE
based PC Companion (Handheld PCs, Handheld PC
Professional Edition, H/PC 2000, Palm-size PCs or Pocket
PC) is IrDA. It offers a wireless connection for
ActiveSync at up to 115.2k baud which is comparable to a
cable connection. The some of the H/PC Pro units can
communicate at up to 4 megabits per second! Most notebook
PCs have IrDA ports and some desktops do too. You can
purchase a Jeteye PC adapter from Extended Systems or an
Aegis IRCE if you want to add IrDA support to a desktop
without it. 

Only Windows 95/98 based systems can use IrDA with
Windows CE. Microsoft does not offer an IrDA driver for
Windows NT. You can use Windows NT with IrDA on the IBM
Thinkpad's IrDA port or with QuickBeam from Extended
Systems. Most units can not use the IR port as a remote
control. The IR port is configured to support IrDA and
not consumer IR. An exception is the HP 620/660LX -
SkyCommander - Universal Remote for Windows CE and Palm
Remote (formerly Remocon) for the Mips based Palm-size
PCs including Casio E-15/100/105 and Compaq Aero 2100.
You can also use the Network Client to access Windows
95/98/NT/NT Server drives as well.

I personally have used IrDA with multiple Handheld PCs,
Handheld PC Professional Edition and Palm-size PCs to my
desktop.  You can also send Contacts, Voice Memos and
Pocket Word/Notetaker files to and from PC Companions and
the Auto PCs. The contacts are sent from the Contacts
program by selecting the contact to send and File - Send.
To receive the contacts you must be in the Contacts
program and use File - Receive. To send a file from one
PC Companion is via the Windows Explorer.

Select the file you want to send and use File Send To -
Infrared Recipient. On the other side in Windows Explorer
use File - Receive.  You can also communicate unit to
unit with other non-Windows CE PDAs via IRChat. It
supports communications with Windows CE, Psion EPOC32 and
the Newton 2000. Coming soon will be support for the Palm
Pilot. Another feature that IrDA can provide is the
ability to connect to the latest GSM phones which are
common in Europe and are starting to appear in the United
States. This is done as if the phone is a modem and IrDA
is used instead of a cable. This requires an unsupported
registry change which is documented on Arne's Windows CE
Website. 

Requirements  In order to use IrDA you need the
following:  IrDA Port - Most notebook computers have
IrDA. Some desktops do to. If your desktop does not, you
can add it from Extended Systems Jeteye PC or Aegis IRCE.
Microsoft IrDA 2.0 drivers - These drivers are supplied
on the Windows CE Services CD under the Optional
Components. You can only install this driver on Windows
95. Microsoft does not offer a corresponding driver for
Windows NT, however Extended Systems does - QuickBeam.
QuickBeam support laptop computers and desktops with
their Jeteye PC.

Configuration  Once you have the IrDA driver installed,
you need to configure Windows CE services to use the
virtual com port. You can do this via the following
screen. Note that the virtual com port is Com5. This is
the one that you must use in Windows CE Services for IrDA
to work.   Also, you need to configure the Handheld PC to
use IrDA as well. This is done via Start -> Settings ->
Control Panel -> Communications. Select Pc Connection -.>
Change then Infrared Port from the list.   You should be
already set to sync via IrDA. Use Start -> Programs ->
Communications -> PC Link. Don't forget to aim the IrDA
port at the notebook or desktop's IrDA port. This may be
awkward if your notebook has the IrDA port on the back.
Here's the IrDA monitor while the units are connected:

Troubleshooting  If you are using an IBM Thinkpad, you
need to run the Thinkpad Features program to turn on the
IrDA port. It is shared with the Com1 port so you can not
use both at the same time.  You can check your to see if
your IrDA port is working by using a digital camera or a
Radio Shack Infrared Sensor Card. It is part # 276-099,
price $5.95.  Distance and lighting can prevent 2 units
from talking. IrDA connections can be affected by
fluorescent lighting so you should try to put the 2 IrDA
ports as close to each other as possible. Most units do
not work reliably beyond 12 to 24 inches. Conclusion  Now
you can use the Handheld PC the same way you use it with
the serial port. You can synchronize, backup/restore and
install applications. 

Glossary of Terms By Chris De Herrera, Copyright 2000,
2001 Version 1.06 Revised 2/12/2001   Introduction  I
created this glossary of terms to help users understand
the concepts that are covered on CEWindows.NET. Some of
these terms are specific to Windows CE while other are
generic to computers in general.

Terms 802.11, Wireless Ethernet - A wireless local area
network protocol which allows high speed access to
network resources. It operates at 11, 5.5, 2 and 1
megabits per second depending on distance. WECA is the
industry consortium which works with vendors on
interoperability. For information on PC Card
compatibility and configuring read 802.11 Wireless LAN
Configuration.

ActiveSync - The desktop software that the Handheld PC,
Palm-size PC and Pocket PC use to synchronize with. The
latest version is ActiveSync 3.1 which is covered here.

ADSL - Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line, a high speed
connection to the internet. Usually configured for 1.544
mb/s receive from the internet and 128k send to the
internet.

Cable Modem - Provides high speed access to the internet
at receive rates from 1,544k or faster. The upload rate
is much slower usually 256 or 512k. Each cable company
uses different standards for their cable modem.

CHAP - A security (authentication) protocol used with
PPP. It sends an encrypted hash of the password to the
client for comparison to the password entered. It does
not send the password over the PPP connection. Windows CE
does not support encrypted CHAP password authentication.

CF, CompactFlash - A non-volatile secondary storage card
which is compatible with Windows CE originally designed
by Sandisk. CompactFlash uses flash memory so it does not
require very much power to work. With an adapter it is
compatible with a PC Card slot.

DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, Automatically
configures the pc companion with an IP address, subnet
and gateway. Optionally, can configure WINS and/or DNS
entries. DHCP is supported with Ethernet and wireless
LANs including 802.11 and Proxim. DNS - Domain Name
Server, the server where host names are translated to
their IP address. This server is used on the internet and
some private networks.

Domain - This is the Windows NT/2000 domain name for
Netbios/WINS. You should not use this unless directed to
do so by your ISP. This is not the Internet domain name.
It is commonly used when dialing corporate networks.

DSL - Digital Subscriber Line. A high speed data line
used to connect to the internet. Different kinds of DSL
exist such as ADSL and SDSL.

FTP - File Transfer Protocol. A common way that users
download or upload files to the internet. Can be used to
update a website as well.

H/PC, HPC - Handheld PC, a Windows CE PDA with a 640 x
240 or larger display and a built in keyboard. For more
information read the PC Companion Feature Comparison.

H3/PC Pro - Handheld PC, Professional Edition, the 3rd
generation of H/PC.

H/PC 2000 - Handheld PC 2000, the 4th generation of the
H/PC. 

IMAP4 - Internet Messaging Access Protocol 4. IMAP4
allows you to download the e-mail subjects then select
the messages to download. Also, you can choose to
synchronize a folder of messages as well. Microsoft
Exchange supports IMAP4 access to e-mail. Mail clients
that use IMAP4 use SMTP to send e-mail.

MMC, Multimedia Card - A postage stamp size memory
storage card originally designed by Sandisk. Retrieves
information serially at approximately 2 megabits per
second. Compatible with PC Cards using a special MMC PC
Card reader. Encrypted version is called SD or Secure
Digital. In the future the MMC slots will support
peripherals such as modems and ethernet cards.

NAT - Network Address Translation, a program or piece of
hardware that converts the IP address from a private
address to a public address real time. This allows
multiple users to share a single public IP address. It
also prevents access to these users from the outside
without special configurations. NAT is used in home
networks and corporations to allow multiple PCs to access
the internet via T-1, ADSL, SDSL or Cable Modem.

Netbios - IBM and Microsoft's peer to peer networking
protocol. Windows CE uses Netbios of TCP/IP to
synchronize and communicate to Windows Networks.

PAP - Password Authentication Protocol, a security
authentication protocol used with PPP. The password is
sent to the client as clear text for comparison. CHAP is
a more secure protocol.

Partnership - The connection made with ActiveSync to your
desktop. Partnership is stored on both the desktop and PC
Companion.

PC Companion - A term used to describe the Handheld PC,
Palm-size PC and Pocket PC as a group.

PDA - Personal Digital Assistant. A term used to describe
computers small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

POP3 - Post Office Protocol 3.The address for receiving
e-mail from your ISP. You will need to know your username
and password to access this. In some cases the username
and password are NOT the same as the log on username and
password.

Pocket PC - A computer that fits in the palm of your hand
which runs the latest Windows CE Operating System 3.0.
Includes Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Calendar, Contacts
and Tasks as well as other applications. For more
information read Pocket PC Articles and the PC Companion
Feature Comparison.

P/PC, PPC - Palm-size PC, the first and second generation
keyboard less PDA. Normally not used to describe a Pocket
PC. For more information read the PC Companion Feature
Comparison.

PPP - Point to Point Protocol, the protocol that is used
to connect to the internet and corporate networks via
dialup networking. PPP depends on CHAP, PAP or scripts
for authentication. Windows CE does not support data
encryption for PPP connections.

SD, Secure Digital - A hardware encrypted version of the
Multimedia Card. Requires 2 additional pins for
encryption support so existing MMC devices may not
support SD. Designed to prevent unauthorized duplication
of data.

SDSL - Synchronous Digital Subscriber Line. Data service
provided by the phone company with both the send and
receive speeds the same. Usually available in 384, 768
and 1,544 k bits per second speed.

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, The protocol that
you use to send e-mail via your ISP. It is used with both
POP3 and IMAP4.

SPA - Secure Password Authentication. SPA is used to
prevent unauthorized use of a SMTP mail host to send
e-mail. It is used by MSN to send e-mail. SPA is not
supported by Windows CE's Inbox.

SSID - Service Set Identifier - Specifies which 802.11b
network you are joining. Some systems allow you to
specify ANY SSID so you can join any network.

TCP/IP - Transport Communications Protocol/Internet
Protocol. The communications protocol that the Windows CE
uses to communicate to the internet and synchronization.

USB - Universal Serial Bus. An 11 megabits per second bus
for peripherals. Requires one host controller and
supports multiple slaves.

WINS - Windows Internet Naming Service, the service in
Microsoft networks that translates host names into the IP
address. WINS uses Netbeui as the protocol and is
compatible with Netbios. 

There is a pgm in ROM of the LX D:\BIN dir called
KEY200.COM. The text file D:\BIN\KEY200.TXT explains
through example how to remap the KB and a number of tricks, including Menu+ltr key combos for macros.  Also
an example that tells you how to set the Menu key to
toggle the menus instead of just turning them on.  

KEY200.COM only takes up 512 bytes in memory.

A KEY200 trick to remap the KB to access GDB or NDB aps from the FILER key. Pressing the FILER key once opens DB and pressing a 2nd time (dbl click) then NDB starts. I use one key to cycle between the pgms. CTRL+FILER starts FILER.

Part of AUTOEXEC.BAT that executes KEY200
---------- autoexec.bat ----------
@echo off
prompt $p$g
key200 key200.txt
doskey
200

KEYBEZ
Internal util permits use of foreign lang KB. To activate. Go to DOS; type KEYBEZ then use dspyed menu to enter lang code. NB: English lang cmds may not work afterwards.
decided to reassign the Quicken key to bring up the DB pgm. Here is what I did. I made a file called mykeys.txt and put	it in my root dir, and it looks like this:
QUICKEN: CTRL PHONE ^PHONE ^CTRL
 
In my autoexec.bat file there is this line:
KEY200 C:\MYKEYS.TXT
 
Also in	my autoexec.bat	file is	a path statement that includes: PATH d:\bin
 
If you don't want to add the above path	to your	path statement, you could just add the full path name to the KEY200 file in the d:\bin dir, and same thing with the MYKEYS.TXT file, it could be put into a sub-directory and a full path added to the line in the autoexec.bat file.
 
After rebooting, each time I hit the Quicken key, the database opens.	Hope this helps.
 
Robert Hocking Sterling Heights, Michigan
Email: hocking@flash.net

When a pgm (ED) locks up the LX so that the only way to
resolve it is to take out ALL the batteries then reload
C: One reason for the lock up is that the pgm in question
can't be run in a DOS shell. SysApps must be TERMINATED
first. A good BU is (always) a must.

Resetting 100/200LX   
1. IF 100LX or 200LX 
Press CTRL (Control) - ALT - DEL at the same time 

2. Try this when 1. fails. 
Press CTRL - Shift (up arrow key) - ON   Type N for No
when the palmtop asks whether to initialize RAM. 

3. Try this when unable to reboot palmtop - it will
perform a hardware test 
* Turn off the HP 
* Press and hold down the ESC key 
* Press the ON key 
* Release the ESC key 

The LX enters a self test mode; the following tests are
available : 
Test all 
Display 
Keyboard 
Wire serial port 
Batteries 
RAM 
ROM 
IR Serial Port 
Timers 
Plug-in RAM Card 

 By moving the up and down arrow keys you can select a
test and then press ENTER to run test. When running the
display test you need to press ESC every time the screen
redraws itself until you are back in the self test menu 

B After performing all the tests press ESC to reboot the
machine

LOTUS
Auto load a file on startup: name the file auto123.wk1 and put it in the DIRectory specified under {menu} Worksheet Global Default Directory and it can contain a macro named /0  that is run auto when the file is opened.

Default DIR: Change the default dir for saving spreadsheets? Menu: Worksheet/Global/Default/Directory

Directional arrow keys in Lotus move the whole screen
(columns/rows) move as opposed to just the active cell
changing.
You're in scroll mode.  Pressing Fn-Backspace will toggle
this feature, and you'll see an indicator at the lower
right of the spreadsheet go on and off

To have more than one SS running all the time, try the lotus 123 add-in viewer, the desktop v2.4 and extract viewer.123, viewer.adn, viewer.sym and viewer.txt (not a text file!). Put these files in c:\_dat and 123 can use the viewer with /AA~I or you can have it auto-load at startup.

Viewer allows you to view(!) and link and/or open other files and is less than 100k for the four essential files. 
Re rmks on help file mods, is it possible, to use the 123 desktop help file somehow? It is 7 times as big as the built-in one and for those of us with the space/need, it could be most a useful project...

PASSW

In Lotus 123:
1. Menu-File-Save
2. Give filename as: filename p
3. Follow the prompts.
4. Don't forget your password.
To delete the password, do /File Save <backspace> <enter> 

To write protect a whole file , go: /Worksheet Global
Protection Enable then you can do /Range Unprotect if you
want to allow changes only to a certain area.  (then you
can use /Range Input and the cursor will only move into
unprotected cells.  this is useful if you have someone
doing data entry or filling out a form you've created.)

Lotus dates: If you have a cell which contains, @date (96,12,1) and the cell formatted for a date of mm/dd/yy, the result that you see is 12/01/96 (in 1-2-3). Then if you use the Fn/Copy function of the Palmtop you will get the 12/01/96 in the cut/paste buffer.

DON'T INSERT PCMCIA CARDS! while the LX is on and charging batts because the charging circuit is controlled by SW, and the CPU needs to be running while charging. HP advises that you should not extract or insert flash RAM cards while the power is on. If one's in the slot, fine. But don't insert another one while recharging your batt.
[The screen also remains on while charging. However,
unlike the CRTs your desktop uses, an image on an LCD
dspy doesn't "burn in" if the display is left on Rich.]

REFORMAT DISK TO INCREASE OR DECREASE ROOT DIRECTORY FILE
LIMIT. You can usully only put 64 files and/or dirs in the root dir (C:\). DOS divides any disk up into "sectors" and, by default, allocates 4 sect for filename storage in the root dir. You can reformat the disk to increase or decrease the number of sectors avail for filename storage using the FORMAT command with a /r switch. 
For example, the command format c: /r:5 would increase
the number of sectors to 5, allowing you to store 80
files on the root directory. Conversely, format c: /r:2
would let you store only 32 files on the root directory.
The advantage of reducing the number of sectors is that
it gives you a little more actual storage space for
files, and indeed I was able to set my RAM disk space to
511K instead of 510K.

To determine which ROM version an LX is: Reboot the
machine (cntl-alt-del) and watch the screen. This is an
incomplete list of bugfixes/features. The ROM ver are
listed here with the earliest known serial nbr prefix
containing that ROM. eg: The SG342 by 100LX ROM ver 1.04a
means that it was introduced around the 42nd week of
1993. There may be a few weeks' time when the two diff
ROM ver were being manufactured simultaneously.  See the
description of what's encoded in the serial nbr, below,
for details on decoding serial nbrs. E-mail the editor if
you have an earlier serial nbr with a given ROM ver.

 200 LX ROM Ver
Ver.  Ser.#
1.00a SG425, 1.01a SG430, 1.02a SG442

 100 LX ROM Ver 
 Ver.  Ser.#   Comments
1.01a SG3??   Original version.  Some were eproms
1.02a SG325   Infected by the HEU bug
1.03a SG336   HEU (sHift kEy bUg) fixed, speed up for
carry-forward todos.
1.04a SG342   Last ROM version prior to 2MB Model.  Does
not need FS.COM that comes on the CPACK disk for the
redirector.
1.05a SG351   Added support for 2MB
1.06a SG412   Final 100LX version.  Some cc:Mail bugs
fixed.  Found on latest 2MB units, and on some 1MB
models. At least one user reported a dramatic (2x)
speedup in the calendar app monthly view when updating
from 1.02a to 1.04a.

To run DOS pgm upon termination of Appn system manager. Put the following lines at end of AUTOEXEC.BAT 
:LOOP
200
DOS Pgm
goto LOOP

The on / key combination will reverse the screen.  That
sometimes helps, too.
The on * combination causes the palmtop to toggle between
2 different methods of emulating colors with greys.  Try
flipping that.

If the machine hangs-up or freezes, try: ESC. or Ctrl C, Ctrl MENU. Next try: Ctrl, Alt, Del. If it hangs during boot sequence, there an err in the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file. Boot D:
Ctrl Shift On. When asked if you want to reformat your C: drv. - Usually answer NO. Answering YES deletes all data in C:
- run diagnostics: Press ESC and ON

CIC100 pgm is built into LX and installed by default as a TSR Pgm. The sys aps pgm recognizes a modem/card and installs it as COM 2. Running other pgms rqeds that it be config when starting and when power is switched on/off. 
 
How to you get removed from the HPLX-L mailing list?
Send "signoff HPLX-L" to LISTSERV@UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU

FAQs available at http://www.hplx.net.

In Outlook Express --- if you go Tools Message Rules Mail you can send all
items from this mailing list to a particular folder rather than your inbox.
Then you can view messages at your leisure without cluttering your Inbox.
Most email programs have this feature.
----------------------
For my work I mainly have French text files which I view with quick-view in
8 directories all open at the same time and accessed via moreexm shortcut
keys.
I use all built in applications, plus an international assortment of
masterpieces:

    memory resident are:
quick.com to save time writing French on a USA model LX200 (swiss)
lxpromin.com to see power status with quicken key (german)
moreexm to prevent using more than one dos application (japanese)

    my editor programs are:
PalEdit (swiss)
LE editor  le.exe (34k) with large font  le.fon (10k) (usa)

    utilities:
lxpic.com (9k) (german)
quick view (austrian)
zoom.exm (japanese)
tasklist (japanese)
power monitor (usa)
drkr.exe encryption (usa)
shass.exe shoplist (usa)

    databases:
medical.ndb and others from the SUPER site (usa)

    games:
hta.exe (97k)  Go game for DOS (china)
lines.exe (russian)
--------------------

:    Peniel Romanelli <peniel@WEB2000.NET>
Subject: Re: MUST HAVE set of palmtop applications?

Wed, 12 Apr 2000 10:03:44 -0500 (EST)

Hi gang-

My must-haves would include:

Loaded at startup:
Mack's dbl-speed driver and TREMM
A font loader (my own fonts)
MaxDOS
MoreEXM
Buddy

Use all the time:
X-Finder (instead of AppMgr/Filer)

Communications:
WWW/LX
COMMO

Editors:
VDE
PE

Battery Management:
Charge-It!

Entertainment:
Games - Mostly Curtis Cameron's

Miscellaneous:
LXPic
SetCOM1
Vertical Reader
Visible Clock
HisWord
DBCheck
HP-Pygmy Forth
WhereIs
KeyM

Launcher EXM


           favorite progs:

quickview wit copy features
http://home.earthlink.net/~qman/Alank.html

WWW.EXE/Post.EXE I live on, must be #1, then PNS200 - I
uend up using it to kick off many programs via Point-n-Shoot,
then Phonebook, apptbook, VIEW from BGFAX, List (Van Buerg),

LE is a Japanese text editor/viewer it can be download from:
http://www.vector.co.jp/pack/dos/util/machine/hp/

for the latest version of VDE plus some related software try:
http://www.punky.com/vde/

a good shareware wordprocessor called Breeze. Lots of features.
www.ozemail.com.au/~ksolway/

you can find many faces of go here: "www.underdogs.cjb.net" under
"puzzle"

Buddy 3.0 is on the super site. This version includes the DOS-only
option that I now have running to give me SmartCaps, etc, in a DOS SC
session, such as WWW/LX, with PE. Have a look at it


X-Finder -  It treats ZIP & LZH files like directories in its file view
screens, and allows almost all file handling functions (copy, move, rename
etc.  + editing & viewing) to work inside archives!
> xfinder
a program launcher like the built-in programmanager + file manager.
I believe that the latest version (R.10) does not yet have English
documentation. If you can find a copy of R.9 (which you may be able to
find on Peniel Romanelli's site) which has the full English documents
and configuration file (although not quite as neat and functional).
It takes a little work to configure it properly, but it is well worth the
effort.
X-finder is really neat.  I use it in the background every day.  It is
nice to be able to launch databases just by clicking on them and to set
up a "desktop" of often-used files.
It is also great to use as an archiver since it can read .ZIP or .LZH
files as if they are directories. I have an archive called DOCS.LZH
which contains the documentation files of all of the programs that I
have currently installed on my HP. There are about 1.3meg worth of
files which are compressed to 450k on my flashcard. I also have a
directory full of electronic texts. Each of the files is compressed to
about 30-40% of their original size.  XF can load the decompressed text
into VerticalReader (which I also highly recommend if you don't already
have it) so I can read it easily.  VR remembers my place in the file
so I can pick up where I left off.
X-Finder R.10 is available from:
http://www.vector.co.jp/pack/dos/util/machine/hp/

.zip    ,k  ,pkunzip -v %c

> what do the particular codes mean?  I gather
> the c after 90 has something to do with the control key, but what about
> the rt after the 200?  And what are the percent codes?  In my file I =
see
> %t, %p, %k, %x, %c ... all used.  What do they mean?
You're right about the c character.  The numbers are the amount of
memory alloted for the app.  The rt means: Shift key for the command,
replace the file in an archive if working in an archive.  The t is for
shift, the r is for replacing the archived file.  The % stuff:

%c =3D file name (with extension)
%x =3D file name (no extension)
%p =3D path (with trailing \)
%q =3D path (no \)
%t =3D trash basket (recycle bin)
%k =3D edit/run the command

You can find the info on these and the rest of the codes at the end of
finder.env and also in finenv.txt


XFCP (X-Finder for the Connectivity Pack)
yet?  Just got a CP, and wondered if anyone had tried this yet...
Should be cool to be able to run XF on both the desktop/laptop and the
palmtop.

Collins dictonary - the version sold by Thaddeus (www.palmtoppaper.com)
allows for English to/from Deutsch, Italiano and Francais translations
The best I've seen is the Collins dictionary. Some may find it a little
expensive at $60USD but I can say it is a very good package to have on the
LX. It's fast, provides common phrases and puts words into, context.
http://www.palmtoppaper.com/cgi-bin/shop.plx/SID=PUT_SID_HERE/ page=dictions.

PFE is FreeWare
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/people/cpaap/pfe/

PEDIT 3.30 also freeware
 http://www.spark.net.hk/~pedit

For a good selection of older tools check out:
http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/selling.htm

Turbo Pascal (various versions):
http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/borpas.htm#tp2

Turbo C++ v1.0 and Borland C++ v2.0:
http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/borc.htm#bcpp


WP5.1  Word Perfect word processor
ED.EXE Word Perfect text editor
List   Text lister
NCD    Norton Change Directory
Key200
 ClipVue
 MoreEXM
 GlobalSearch (GS)
 ProjMgmt (PJT2.EXM)
 FilIni
 PE and WWW/LX


lxdc - Let's you manage a Kodak DC-100 Digital Camera
> asic - Nice little BASIC compiler
> PalEdit - LX specific editor
> Lotus Agenda
a personal information manager. Some like it, some don't. Hard to
learn, but extremely flexible.
> VDE editor
a text editor with some wordprocessing capabilities. This mail is
written with vde, do you see the difference?
> Turbo C
A programming language.
> LXTel
For germans only. Tells you which phone company is most
inexpensive at the moment.
> asic - I think it's for accessing compuserve
> lxmap - for viewing maps on the lx. Several maps available on Super.
>Lotus Agenda
powerful PIM with terrible user interface
>LXTel
A database with the cheapest telephone connections in Germany (and in
Switzerland too?)
>Foxpro
dBase (DBF) compatible database program
>LXBatch
a quasi programming language. Very easy to learn/use. I never had the time
to really use it. You can create batch files with the look and feel of
built-in apps. Nice batch file enhancer with 200LX specific commands and
features
>Nettamer
a really functioning email program. Terrible user-interface. But it works
almost all the time. I had _NO_ problem to install and run it with my OmniGo
700LX.

>PalEdit
It is called PE too. A text editor for the LX. You can download PE from
www.dasoft.com for free. It's reeally a great editor!
Today we needed to look at a 1.6GB text file on the network. Yup
Gigabytes!!! *Nothing* we had would cope.*Until* I got out my floppy disk
with PalEdit on. It was like sheer magic.palrun -v pe.exe o:\ws99l--1.ext
and up came the file!!! In addition it allows simple and easy database
operations
on structured ASCII text
A good and fast search program is XGREP which I use in conjunction with
PalEdit. I think I downloaded it from Simtel. I highly recommend xgrep! It's
small, fast (not the fastest when reg. exp. is used), and it supports
recursision www.simtel.net/  I append everything as a singleline to my
database files and "xgrep" them. Whenever I'd like to read the output
comfortably, "fmt" is a quick solution.  For the first zoom mode of our
palmtop, fmt -64 is a proper width (my default).This free program runs
circles around the Microsoft product, with better features for general usage
and programming alike. Both columns and lines can be marked for alterations
and/or deletions. Indentation of source files can be changed with no fuss.
You can insert/append another file into the current file and easily access
an ASCII chart and tables for line-drawing and foreign characters. Other
features include mouse support, position marking and jumping, word wrap of
marked blocks (so text documents and email can be modified and easily made
readable again), an integrated spelling checker and thesaurus, the ability
to copy and paste to Windows applications, macros, and long-filename
support. Even though DOS programs of this type aren't in vogue nowadays,
Pedit would still make a great addition to any power user's toolkit.
> Removing Carriage Returns Utility menu
PalEdit does this. With the cursor anywhere in a paragraph press ESC
then Q and the paragraph is reformatted to wrap nicely between your
margins
To get rid of the arrows, select the entire text by hitting Ctl-X then H.
Then format the selected data by either hitting Esc-Q, or Menu T-F.  If you
use Menu T-F without selecting the whole text, then it will format only the
paragraph where the cursor is sitting.
To open files, hit f9, then key in the full path for your file.  OR, you can
just key in a directory without the file, and repeatedly press TAB until you
get to the file you want to open.  When you hit f9 to open a file, you can
press the down-arrow to see a drop down list of recently opened files

I can only recommend everybody to look at XGREP as Longden suggests. I
use it daily with PalEdit as filter to search my ASCII databases.
Examples from my PE.CFG :

Search String in &current file= xgrep -i -n "@@" %s >SCRATCH
Search &WWW+acCIS=xgrep -r -i -nl "@@" c:\w\*.txt c:\w\posthelp.i
c:\accis4\accishlp.fld c:\pim\db\computer.db >SCRATCH
String in &PIM finden= xgrep -i -nl "@@" c:\pim\*.pim c:\pro\albstadt.pim
>SCRATCH
String in Daten&bank finden= xgrep -i -nl "@@" c:\pim\db\*.db >SCRATCH
Search Help Files of PE/PIM= xgrep -r -i -nl "@@" c:\pim\*.doc
c:\pim\help.db c:\pim\db\dabeta.db c:\pim\db\computer.db >SCRATCH


Another great program that I use is TODO.exm, which allows me to create
lists of things to do on a matrix.  As I complete the tasks, I just
check them off the list.  This is very handy for busy nights in the ICU
or to remind myself to do something in the future.


Both LXMAP and TODO are available on the SUPER site.  I would visit
www.palmtop.net/supernew.html and search for both of those programs.  They
are probably also listed on the "20 most downloaded files" page.  Have you
visited WWW.PALMTOP.NET before?  It is a terrific resource for people who
use HPLX regularly.

When you get LXMAP installed you should also visit the "Map Database" on
palmtop.net.  They have great maps of major cities in Europe, America, and
Asia as well as some very nice maps of Metro systems that are very
helpful.  I have even used the map of the San Francisco Bay Area


 SecureDevice ... encrypted drive
 Software Carousel ... should probably be #1
 RDT2T ... gatta have that 32M !
 TREMM ... expanded memory speeds up Software Carousel
 CPACK ... for connection to desktop for backups

SecureDevice is a device driver that creates an encrypted drive.  The
encrypted drive is actually a file on your C: drive, you pick the size,
I use 64K.  It uses the IDEA cipher which is supposed to be very good.
You can find it on SUPER.

Software Carousel is a commercial program, it costs about $90USD and I
think is worth it.  It is a task swapper.  It is like having multiple
LXs. You can have multilple full size DOS sessions instead of having to
use the DOS from the system manager.If you load software carousel, you
can switch between up to 12 DOS sessions. The 11 of them you're not
using are swapped to the disk (C: or flash card), so they're inactive
(_no_ multitasking!). Very handy if you use more that one big DOS
application and don't want to load each of them entirely and unload
them when using another (no need to save a file in application 1, quit,
enter application 2, open a file, work, save it, close app 2, enter app
1 again... - just stay in app 1, press CTRL-2, and there's app 2. Press
CTRL-1, and you're back in app 1!)


RDT2T is the driver that comes with the 32 meg upgrade. It is what the
upgrade uses to make the new larger ram disk visable to the LX.  By
listing the program I was really saying the 32meg upgrade is very nice
to have.


Maxdos is on SUPER. Maxdos  - is a program which swaps your system manager
session, including all apps to a disk file and therefore makes nearly the
entire lower 640k of memory available for a single program.  That lower 640
is where all programs run on the 200lx, and sysmgr divides it among
applications it
switches between.  It seems to me that your DOS workspace is too small for
your needs.  By invoking maxdos you get a maximal workspace.
The best way to invoke it is from within symgr via an
icon which I believe is described in the documentation.  I have three such
icons: one for ms word5, one for a menu program through which I look at
zip files, and one for pure dos, should I have other needs.  Each maxdos
session is invoked through a batch file which upon exiting the program
returns me to the sysmgr exactly in the form I left it.  I have never had
a problem with maxdos.
Beware that some programs run under maxdos may turn off the sleep
properties of the palmtop, requiring remembering to turn it off manually.
A program called sleepon is designed to deal with this issue.  Upon
returning to the sysmgr session the machine will again sleep as usual
whether or not the sleepon program was run.
I am fairly certain workspace is your problem, so you might get by
increasing your dos workspace under sysmgr.  But you are using your
application space pretty heavily already from what you have indicated,
rendering that an unavailable option.
What maxdos basically does is mark a place in memory when you first run it.
You can then load more TSR's and system manager after that. When you run
maxdos again it will go to that 'spot' in memory again and all programs that
you loaded after the initial maxdos load will be swapped out. It literally
copies all the memory below it to a temporary disk file, and frees up the
memory for program use. When you exit maxdos it replaces the contents of
that memory with the temp file and exits. The end result is that you can run
maxdos from a system manager DOS window and get more memory for program
execution. The caveat is that system manager and all programs you loaded
after the inital maxdos load are temporarily disabled. This means that
appointment alarms won't work while maxdos is loaded the second time.
  Maxdos swaps the whole system manager setup to disk (or EMS) but only when
starting a DOS program that needs a lot of space.  For those you can insert
maxdos in the path box in the "add application" screen. For example
         c:\bin\maxdos.com  a:\evp\evp.exe
Some examples which I use with PWRMENU (also availlable at www.palmtop.ne=
t) :{   D O S     P R O G R A M M S}
{}
{Palmtop Editor}c:\tools\maxdos.com c:\pim\pe.exe %1
{Text DRAW}c:\tools\maxdos.com c:\tools\textdraw.exe
{WINDI DOS W=F6rterbuch}c:\tools\maxdos.com c:\windi\windidos.exe
{}
{Lotus Magellan 2.0}c:\tools\maxdos.com c:\mag2\mg.com
{dBASE III+}c:\tools\maxdos.com c:\dbase\dbase.exe

MaxDos doesn't automatically get you the extra ram for the large DOS session
unless it's specifically invoked from within AppMgr (in addition to the
references in your autoexec.bat).

Your autoexec.bat "maxdos -l" simply loads MaxDos to make it available.
Once in
AppMgr, you can (for instance) create an icon that has this in the "Path:"

     Path: a:\maxdos.com |

And what you'll get is a DOS session that has completely swapped out 200.

Changing the value for DOS memory in Setup/System/Advanced is independent of
MaxDos.... if you're at 386304 free and you ask for 390k, you're not going
to
get it using the normal DOS icon, but you can still get that much (and more)
if
an icon is setup to run MaxDos.

I hope I haven't muddled things completely.

- Longden





robert c lewis <rc-lewis@STUDENTS.UIUC.EDU> on 03/10/2000 12:26:13 PM

Please respond to HPLX Mailing List <HPLX-L@UCONNVM.UConn.Edu>; Please
respond
      to robert c lewis <rc-lewis@STUDENTS.UIUC.EDU>

To:   HPLX-L@UCONNVM.UConn.Edu
cc:    (bcc: Longden Loo/AGH/Candle)
Subject:  maxdos (?) problem




I thought I had solved this once before but I've been changing things
around on my system lately (including using a different flash disk),
anyway, here is the problem, probably pretty simple for someone:

In my autoexec.bat I load some (relatively small) programs, then finally
conclude with the lines:

maxdos -l
200
maxdos -r

This starts up the palmtop system as it should.   Now here is the problem,
when I set the 'dos size' above 380 (setup; f5 system; advanced; Dos=390)
and I go back to the system manager and try to start DOS it fails ('not
enough memory to open the application')   Now, I KNOW (from running a
DOS session before, and running mem /c in it), that the memory structure
looks like this (when I've run DOS from the system manager with the DOS
mem set at 380)

Name            Size

MSDOS           20800
COMMAND         2992
...etc
200             208800
FREE            386304

Ok, so why didn't the system (i.e. 200) get out of the way for the
expanded DOS session?  Isn't this what 'maxdos' is supposed to do?

------------------------------


http://games.hplx.net has been updated with a new game to
download, a Centipede-clone

I use Vernon Buerg's LIST with FV.COM for listing zipped files within
LIST and ZV by Gordon Haff for reading text files without extracting the
files.

You don't have to manually de-compress xtg3 every time you run it.
Rather, it is decompressed on-the-fly using the computer's memory.
That's how PKLite, LZeze, and Diet work

You can download LZexe and Diet from here:
http://webnews.altu.net.au/~stwood/dos.htm

You can download PKLite from here:
http://www.pkware.com/shareware/
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.1/artpacks/programs/dos/archivers/ pklts201.exe

Make sure you save a copy of any program before compressing it.  You
will have to experiment with all three memory-EXE compressors... they
all won't work in every case (sometimes they won't compress a
program, and occationally the program won't run after being
compressed).  When more than one works, you'll want to choose the one
that compresses the most.  It's cool to save space, and not have to
uncompress your programs manually to use them.  To save space on text
files, you might want to try some of the utilities to create
executable .EXE or .COM files from your text files....then run the
resultant .EXE or .COM through PKLite, LZexe, and Diet. :)  You can
rename XTreeGold's .XTP files to .EXE (some need renamed to .COM)
then compress them.  I've never tried compressing .EXM files,
but you might be able to rename them to .EXE or .COM, try a compress,
rename back to .EXM and see it it works. Have fun compressing your
programs!


just finished converting my NoteTaker files to use in my new HP 430.
I found a program from Ilium Software (www.iliumsoft.com) called ListPro.
It's a rather nice replacement for NoteTaker. I used Smartclip to get the
data out of the HP200LX.  The conversion wasn't painless -- ListPro uses
<tab> delineated files and chokes when it finds the <tab> character in a
field. I did some find&replace in Word to clean up the file before
importing.


Subject: Re: Special Characters / Extended ASCII set(?)

In the Setup application (Control-Filer), International settings (F7)
you can define the code page that is used in DOS (i.e. the character
table for the international characters). In a Portuguese palmtop I have
it setup for code page 850.

The accented characters are produced by pressing on the accented
character (~ =3D Fn-I, =B4 =3D Fn-R, ` =3D Fn-T) followed by the vowel.

The only problem is when you want to transfer the text files written in
the LX to a Windows machine, that uses the newer standard ISO-Latin-1:
all you accented characters are replaced by something else.

For this purpose I wrote two small utilities: win2lx and lx2win
(available in super.hplx.net). win2lx converts a text file written in
Windows (e.g. in Notepad or Word) to the code page 850 of the LX, and
lx2win converts in the oposite direction.


I have a file named "filer.ini" in my "_dat" directory
contains the following four entries:
[Launcher]
GIF=c:\util\lxpic.com %
JPG=c:\util\lxpic.com %
PCX=c:\util\lxpic.com %
Then when I'm in Filer, I just highlight a file and press enter, then it
automatically opens inside LXPIC.


sites on the internet which have medical information for use on handhelds.
 Check out Thomas Malka's Orthopedics/HP200lx site.
Also, www.memoware.com has information for the PalmPilot which can be
converted for use on the HPlx using the programs "doc2txt" or "prc2doc"
from SUPER.
I also highly recommend getting the programs "open.exe" and "pns200.exe" so
that you can easily launch different databases from either filer or
X-Finder (which I recommend since you can launch databases from an icon!).
 Currently I have icons on my XF screen which will launch databases for my
personal notes and pearls, drug formulary, normal fluid and lab values,
renal drug dose modifications, infant formula analysis,

program at SUPER called "Whereami".
Included in that zip file is a databse of every U.S. city.
I use "List" by Berg or "Max Find" by Stan Peters when I want to search
for a city.


>config.sys reads "rem" too? (didn't know)
in config.sys you can use "rem" or ";"
in autoexec.bat use "rem" or ":" or better "::"


HPCRACK.ZIP exists on SUPER to brute force crack the HP encryption and
show that it isn't very strong.  If you want good encryption why not
store your db files on a SecureDevice encrypted drive?

SecureDevice uses the IDEA cipher which is supposedly very good.
SecureDevice can be found on SUPER: SECDEV14.ZIP


My backup script is:
        syncdr16 c:\ a:\_bak_c_ /a/u/dd/f/r/v
syncdir is public domain, and can be fetched from
http://people.delphi.com/rrutt/syncdir.htm


to save nottaker as ascii or excel
From Notetaker press shift/space to select all the records, then do a
smartclip on all the fields (if thats what you want). Then go to File/Print
and select Custom, Print to File. Hit OK, and name your file. That should
create a text file that should be readable on a CE device (I think). Give it
try.
or
Do a print to Clip-Vue File and you have a simple text file. If you need to
maintain the database structure use "," in you Clip-Vue. Excel and Access
will be able to import that.


Is there a way to configure the Application Manager so that it always starts
when one types 200 and presses Enter.
I can think of two ways to do this. (Both are really the same if you dive
into the code.)

1. Get KEYSTUFF from SUPER and before you start 200, stuff the [MORE] key
onto the keyboard. Then when Sysmgr starts up it will assume that you have
pressed [MORE].

2. Get 200MNU from SUPER. It includes a small program caled 200.com which is
an overlay for 200 which accepts a command line parameter, stuffing the
relevant key onto the keyboard before starting up the full version of 200.
You install it by copying 200.com into your path. In order to start Appmgr
you change the line 200 in your autoexec to:

c:\bin\200 q

:

   I use Stefan Peichl's LXCIC. Here is an excerpt from the DOCs:

> LxCic is a I/O card enabler and thus a CIC100 alternative on
> the Palmtop. LxCic may be used nonresident or resident. If
> loaded resident, it only takes about 1200 bytes of memory and
> may be unloaded at any time.

I load it "Resident" in autoexec.bat so I have access to all my FLASH,
MODEM, Network cards in every session. You could load & unload as
needed within a workarea. This is a far superior replacement to CIC100
in both memory allocation & functionality..."KUDOS" to Stefan!

Oh, did I forget to mention it only works on a double-speeded unit


windows text editor that
has a feature similiar to PE's Ctl-C. It's called UltraEdit, and it can
be downloaded at:  http://www.idmcomp.com/downloads/index.html

TSR             Memory
200             214.4K
STACKER          39.0K
MSDOS            20.4K  (probably can't do much about this one!)
ACECARD          12.3K
BATTMAN          11.1K
LXFONT            7.4K
CIC100            6.7K
..as well as a few other minor 2K things..



First select or mark the records you want to fill out the form for.
Open a new Smart Clip definition. Type the form text, or switch to
Memo and paste the form text from an existing file into the new clip
definition. Select the fields you want to use in the right places, and
close and name your Smart Clip. Then use the database's print
function and select Custom Style, your clip, 1 record per page, and
print to file, name the file, and... Done!


Hold down Alt & Menu, and type the high-ascii code.

Don't know for sure if this will work with Word 5.5, but it works in
other DOS apps in my 200LX.



Subject: Re: ApptBook file bad

> ...  Now, to the original culprit...  This occured
> because I didn't realize that I had opened a second  Sys.Mgr on Software
> Carousel.  What's the best way to avoid this in the future ?

For me the best way is to ONLY run SysMgr in SC area 1 and let SC start
it as part of the boot process.  Since _I_ never start SysMgr manager I
don't worry about starting more than 1 in multiple SC areas.  If I need
a SysMgr function I have to switch to SC area 1 to use it.

I tried to come up with a way to prevent SysMgr from starting in the
wrong area, like I prevent multiple WWW/LXs, but the fact that "100"
is a built in command and "200.COM" is in D:\BIN which is in my PATH
make it impossible to hide or front end the SysMgr commands.


there's an easter egg hidden in the squid game.
As soon as you start it, type "gallery" (without the quotes) and you'll
see photos of the HP-LX development team on the walls of the maze
Proceeding down the corridor, they are:
      LEFT                      RIGHT
Andy Gryc            Pat Megowan
Everett Kaser        Bill Johnson
Lynn Winter          Susan Wechsler
Eric Evett           "special thanks"



 -Commander Keen 4 (platformer)
  http://games.hplx.net/games/downloads/keen4c.zip (548 KB)

 -Electrobody (platformer)
  http://games.hplx.net/games/downloads/ebody.zip (322 KB)

 -Galactic Battle (shoot-em-up)
  http://games.hplx.net/games/downloads/gb.zip (48 KB)

But all the games that I have available for download are worth
trying out in my opinion! They might not be the ultimate
graphics-wise, but special recommendations go to:

 -Bowling Champ (ten-pin bowling sim, best in multiplayer)
  http://games.hplx.net/games/downloads/bowl.zip (27 KB)

 -Goal (excellent soccer management sim)
  http://games.hplx.net/games/downloads/goal.zip (135 KB)

 -Tetlix (my favourite Tetris clone. If anyone knows (or is)
the author, please get in touch!)
  http://games.hplx.net/games/downloads/tetlix.zip (11 KB)

For the complete list, just hop over to
http://games.hplx.net/games/downloads/index.htm - you'll find
at least one game you like, guaranteed!

Also, check out the Info & Reviews pages for a huge list of
old DOS games that work on the LX, and information on them.
See http://games.hplx.net/games/info/index.htm for details.

Final point (I promise!): For the more cultured
palmtopper(s?!), there's also a literature section where you
can find info on how to turn you expensive LX into a... book!
A small collection of literary classics and the required
software to read them can all found by going to
http://games.hplx.net/literature/index.htm.


Software Carousel

From:    Steve Carder <S_Carder@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Re: Software Carousel & Database/File Corruption

The resource pool shows Expanded Ram: 288k         Extended Ram :  0K Disk
File as Ram: 1248K   for a total of 1536k.   Is this enough?  BTY, = I have
a 32m palmtop and have SC on a 48meg flashcard.. How much is enough depends
on how many work areas you have and how big = they are.  Add up the size of
all your work areas and add 16K extra per work = area. For example, I have 6
work areas that are 512K each.  512K x 6 =3D 3072 = plus 16K x 6 =3D 96 for
a total of 3168K of resource pool space required.  Be sure = to include your
system RAM (probably around 600K) as part of your available resource pool.
So, I would need a disk file of 2568K plus my 600K of = System RAM for my
example setup described above.

Ted Brown wrote:
> The resource pool shows Expanded Ram: 288k         Extended Ram :  0K
> Disk File as Ram: 1248K   for a total of 1536k.   Is this enough?  BTY, I
> have a 32m palmtop and have SC on a 48meg flashcard..

If you have a T2T 32M palmtop then I recommend you put ALL of your SC
resource pool in Expanded memory provided by the TREMM.EXE driver that
came with your 32M LX.  Splitting your pool just adds complexity and is
probably slower too.

What I did...
 - Boot dos without SC and without Tremm expanded memory.
 - Erase the old SC pool swap file and the Tremm pool file.
 - Run CONFIG /F to clean up any errors before continuing.
 - Run Optimize to defrag your disk.
   This allows the big Tremm file (created next) to be contigious.
 - Run Instemm.exe to create a new bigger file for Tremm's expanded
   memory.
 - Run SCCONFIG.EXE and change the SC resource pool to all in expanded
   memory.

I created a 4M file on the 32M C: drive for expanded memory.
This is more than my 4 full size SC sessions really need but the extra
will be available as expanded memory for other programs if needed.
Having too much expanded memory available also allows SC to grow
easily as needed.

Your SC swap file can ONLY be used by SC.  If you had SC swap into EMS
you would have faster swaps, NO loss of disk space, and more flexibility
due to SC and your other apps sharing a common resource.  Need EMS for a
program? Shut down an SC session.  Need another SC session? Shut down an
EMS using program.  It's ALL disk space so an SC disk swap file has NO
advantage over using that same space as EMS (provided we're talking
about C: disk space which is only where the EMS can go).
So, using you system I would need to remember that yesterday afternoon I
started an EMS using program in SC session 5 and didn't shut it down =
before I could safely swap to SC session 6 today.  I don't want to be forced
to = close down some programs to free up EMS to run others.  The whole
reason I = purchased SC was to avoid being forced to close one program
before I could run = another. I tried using only EMS for SC swap space and
had trouble with SC when = other programs used up a chunk of the EMS.  With
a disk file for SC swap space = I don't have to worry about the hassel of
(as you put it) "Need EMS for a program? Shut down an SC session.  Need
another SC session? Shut down an = EMS using program."


X-Finder uses a small server program on the desktop or laptop.  The palmtop
acts as client, the big machine as server.  Transfer is controlled in a
split-screen resembling Filer, with the palmtop files on one side, and the
PC files on the other.  You simply use the XF copy function just as if you
were doing an internal copy.
X-Finder Server (for IBM PC) is a software to establish a remote link
between the X-Finder and an IBM compatible PC. An HP-LX and an IBM PC is
connected with a RS-232C serial cable. The IBM PC works as remote drives and
a remote acceralator for the HP-LX. X-Finder R.4 or later should be used as
a client software on the HP-LX.
Advantages:
o Runs within a DOS window supplied by Windows95 (runs also
  within a minimized DOS window).
o Reads and writes FAT32, if you run on Windows95 OSR2 or
  later.
o Works as a remote accelarator.
o Runs also on XT, AX (Japanese old standard) and Toshiba's
  Dynabook series.


for connecting to pc:

1) HP Connectivity Pack (aka Cpack) software
2) Transfile 200
3) XFinder
4) Laplink remote
5) Interlnk/intersvr (from DOS 6.2)
6) Zip program (from the SUPER site)
7) Datacomm (builtin) and a terminal emulator (Terminal in Win 3.1,
HyperTerminal in Win9x/NT)
There is also the freeware program FileMaven version 3.5a.  It's a
fantastic disk management program, as well as having the capability of
linking directly to the 200LX and the PC, once you've transferred a copy of
the program to the 200LX. You can find it at www.briggsoft.com


OPEN lets me do point and shoot handling of files in Filer and lets me
create icons in HDM or AppMgr to open a specific file, and there's no RAM
TSR
needed except the 544 byte kbuf128 (which is optional), and no other file
needed except filer.ini.



I have successfully printed to a Laserjet 5 using a TSR driver I found on
SUPPER (?) My autoexec refers to ld.bat which in turn launches 2 programs:
lamptsr.com and comtsr.com.
I haven't been loading these TSRs because it intereferes with the IR link
to my Omnibook 425...



current daylight savings settings for Europe & Australia.  Just clip
this and save in C:\_DAT as TIMEZONE.DAT


European
3:25-31 6 1:00
10:25-31 6 0:00
Northern
4:1-7 6 1:00
10:25-31 6 0:00
Southern
3:1-7 6 0:00
10:25-31 6 1:00
Australia
3:25-31 6 0:00
10:25-31 6 1:00




> Which bit of IOMega software do you use under DOS?  I have been unable
> to figure out what to use, and Iomega has been unresponsive.
> 73, doug
If you mean for the "normal" zip driver using the Transdigital parallel
pcmcia card:
ASPIPPM1.SYS     22655 01/22/1996
GUEST   .EXE     54619 01/22/1996
GUEST   .INI       321 05/27/1996
NIBBLE  .ILM      1429 01/22/1996


Subject: SC: swap to disk file vs EMS

There have been discussions in the past about what sort of swap space
produces
the fastest Software Carousel swap time.  One candidate has been a
contiguous
swap file on a RAM drive like the palmtop's C: drive.  Another option has
been
swapping to the simulated EMS provided by drivers like Tremm.

Until recently, I have generally used a contiguous disk file on my 32 Meg C:
drive.  I use some DOS programs that take up huge amounts of EMS if it is
available.  Thus, they would tend to leave too little available for SC if I
used EMS for my swap space.  Recently my palmtop had to be repaired, which
erased all of the data.  Since I was reinstalling everything anyway, I
decided
to try a new approach.  I set up a large EMS file with Tremm.  Then I
rebooted
and opened all of my SC sessions once to mark all of the EMS SC needed as
used.
 Then when I ran one of my EMS hungry programs, it was only able to use what
was left over from SC.  This way, I don't run out of swap space as I had
before.

After all of this, I don't see a speed difference.  On my system, a
contiguous
swap file is just as fast as EMS swap space.  In each case, swap time is
about
one second for a 500+ K SC session in most cases.  The only exception is the
first swap after I turn the palmtop on.  That first swap takes about 3
seconds
and each swap after that is 1 second until I turn the palmtop off again.
Then
the pattern repeats.

One key point when comparing swap times to ensure that the SC disk file is
contiguous.  You have to run the optimize.exe program that came with SC
first
before you have SC create its swap file.  A non-contiguous swap file is
slower
than either option mentioned above.  You can confirm that the swap file is
contiguous by running d:\dos\chkdsk on the file.  First you have to use
d:\dos\attrib to remove the hidden attribute from the swap file.  Then run
chkdsk with the file name after it like:

 attrib -r -h -s ~carosel.tmp
 chkdsk ~carosel.tmp

BTW, my system is a 32Meg DS palmtop.  The swap file and EMS file were both
created on the 32 Meg drive.

Steve Carder



Another cool automation thing you can do with Lotus 1-2-3 (at least V.2.2
and later): if a spreadsheet file contains a macro named "\0" (that's
backslash-zero) it will run automatically when the spreasheet is opened.
There a setting under /Worksheet,Global,Default,Autoexec to enable/disable
this behavior, at least in V.2.4 in the 200LX.  Would be an in for a 1-2-3
virus or trojan horse or whatever.




DS is double speed.  The processor's crystal is replaced with one that runs
it at twice the normal speed.  This double speed normally makes the screen
look odd, so a special driver is needed to correct the screen and serial
communications.

The palmtop's built-in self test will measure the processor's speed.  Close
all of you open applications.  Now turn your palmtop off.  Now hold down the
ESC key while you turn it on.  This gives you the self-test menu.  If the
screen is garbled, then the machine has a double speed upgrade, so just
reboot.  If you can read the screen, run the processor test.  If the result
is about twice the normal range, then you have a double speed upgrade.  DO
NOT run the RAM card test on your PCMCIA card.  This test was designed for
SRAM cards and can destroy Flash RAM cards.
 Which is the processor test on the menu?  I see Test All, Display,
> Keyboard, Wire serial port, Batteries, RAM, ROM, IR serial port, Timers
and
> Plug-in RAM card.  None of them seems to be processor test.
Sorry, the test I mean is the one labled "timers".  This looks at how fast
the processor works.  See if it gives you a normal result or one that is
about twice normal.





The topcard is just a black & white (negative image) PCX file.  The
dimensions are 640 x 200.  If you have a digital camera or scanner, you
can import the image into pretty much any graphics software (hate to
admit it, but this'll work a lot easier in Windoze).  Add the text
info.  Reduce it to 2 colors, select negative image, and save as a PCX.
Transfer the file to the palmtop, and select the new image as topcard.


I boot from my internal drive whenever I need my modem card in the slot, so
I have the DS driver in C.  To protect against losing the speed driver in a
disk crash on C, I have the following opening lines in my autoexec.bat:
@echo off
if exist c:\utl\spd31.sys goto nxt1
md c:\utl
copy a:\utl\spd31.sys c:\utl
a:\utl\boot.com
:nxt1




Look for the OPEN program on the SUPER site.  It's designed to let you open
certain native files (.?db, .wk1) from Filer by hightlighting and pressing
Enter.  Also, it allows you to open the file using a native built-in app by
specifying the file on a DOS command line.

Works using some keybuffer tricks, and 123 worksheets may take more keyboard
buffer than is normally available (there should be a note in regards to that
included with OPEN).... so you may need the kbuf128.sys program (from
KEYSTUFF)
to extend the buffer .... or you may not need it if you're running Mack's
recent
DS driver, which I believe includes a keyboard buffer extender also.

Once you have that working, it's just a matter of creating an AppMgr icon
with a
command line in the Path field with both OPEN and the spreadsheet specified
that
you want to load.  Ie,

          Path:  a:\utl\open.exe  a:\data\cashflow.wk1


The PC card becomes drive A.
Normal autoexec.bat setup (from the factory) also adds a DOS ASSIGN
statement
which aliases the A drive to drive E (ie, referring to either drive A or E
in
your program gets at the same data).  Useful for older programs that think
drive
A has to be a floppy.  Most old-timers have replaced the ASSIGN with the DOS
SUBST command which takes less (none) memory and works as well.



[config.sys]
device=\spd31.sys
buffers=20
files=30
lastdrive=J
device=\rd32.sys
device=ansi.sys

[autoexec.bat]
rd32swap
@echo off
echo "running autoexec from big drive"
prompt $p$g
path c:\;d:\;d:\bin;d:\dos;c:\utils
c:
assign e:=a:
c:\prgms\net\lxcic /l
set tz=est5
set pgppath=c:\prgms\pgp262
set path=%path%;c:\prgms\pgp262
D:\BIN\KEY200 C:\_dat\KEYDEFS.TXT
utils\lighton.com

[max.bat]
@echo off
c:\utils\maxdos -l -e -wf:\
d:\bin\200.com
c:\utils\maxdos -r



icons with maxdos:

There's a simple workaround.  Start by entering the path line with just the path to the program (FSB or XTGold), Add comments (inverted ? and or !), then select the icon.  Tab back up to the path line, and insert the MaxDOS command in front of the program path and close the dialog box.  As I recall, this works fine.  (Haven't used AppMgr since getting XF working the way I like).


 I just completed my first charge cycle using the Kodak 1600mAh NiMH AA batteries. I must say that I AM IMPRESSED!!!! Previously I had been using Panasonic 11mAh Nicads and had been getting ~6hrs from full charge to 2.0v (yes, I live dangerously). My first charge sequnce using the Kodak's gave me 11.01hrs from ~full charge to 2.29V. ALMOST DOUBLE THE USEAGE!!!!!!!!!!

FWIW, I'm using some 1500mAh Digi-Key NiMH cells (part  no P015-ND) in my 6mb/2x 200LX, and ABC/LX's usage timer just crossed into the 15  hour zone with the cells still above 2.36v.


>c:\_dat\filer.ini that controls Filer actions for various filename
extensions.

  My hat's off to detective Longden. Problem solved! Sure enough there was
a line (many lines actually) in my filer.ini referencing a file that was no
longer on my flashcard.

  xcopy c:\*.* a:\backup\ /s/e/v

ggod site to get free isp:
> http://www.geocities.com/daveinfopage/palmpilot_freeISP.html


Avi announcing new or updated freeware programs...:
 PE,   The legendary PalEdit text editor has been enhanced with
nice features, outlining, sorting and more. Really interesting
stuff Andreas manages to stuff in there...
 NNTP - the name at least tells you something about the type of
program it is..
 FTPS - yes, an FTP Server...
 PRO/LX - Project/LX - works apparent magic with PE...

      ------------------------------------------------
      D&A  Software  Order  and  Registration  Request
      ------------------------------------------------

Mark an "X" in the box next to the products you are ordering:

[ ] WWW/LX Version 3 Package ..................... $79.00
      including WWW/LX W3, Post/LX V3, and
      RoboNews/LX
[ ] WWW/LX Upgrade Offer, details on Webpage ..... $39.00
[ ] TIMETRACKER/LX ............................... $39.95
[ ] QUICK/LX ..................................... $39.00
[ ] STOCKCHART ................................... $95.00
[ ] ABC/LX ....................................... $34.95
[ ] IRC/LX 1.0 ................................... $24.95
[ ] MAGNIFY ...................................... $19.00

             Total Order: ........ $
(Please calculate and enter total amount on the line above.)

Please enter the User Name that you wish to appear in the
registration you are ordering:

User Name to use: [                          ]

Please provide Credit Card information below.

Mark with "X" the Card Type: [ ] VISA  [ ] Mastercard  [ ] AMEX

Enter the Credit Card number: [                ]
Enter the Expiration Date:    [    ]  (enter as mmyy)

     NOTE: The numbers will be ENCRYPTED BEFORE
     they are sent by email!

Please enter your name exactly as it appears on the credit card
and today's date to authorize us to charge your credit card
account in the amount shown in TOTAL ORDER above. It is
important that you calculate the total amount correctly.

Your Name:    [                              ]
Today's date: [              ]

|  WWW/LX UPGRADE OFFER: If you already have a license for
|  WWW/LX, please see the details of our Special Upgrade Offer
|  on our Webpage at http://www.dasoft.com at the link called
|  "UPGRADE OFFER TERMS". This offer is LIMITED TIME ONLY -
|  Please review this information before proceeding.
|
|  If you are eligible for an upgrade, we require the current
|  license information. Please enter the current license
|  information below:
|
|  Current UserName:          [                        ]
|  Current Registration Code: [            ]

Please save this text now and exit the text editor. Post/LX
will encrypt this form and create an email to us.

If you wish to order using this form and wish to fax this form, please
print it and fax it to us at our fax numbers:

   USA Number +1 310 388 5600
   Tokyo, Japan Number (3) 5776 3400

Thank you for the order!

  D&A Software

As to customer base, it is really hard to say. I believe Avi (dasoft.com)
and us (palmtoppaper.com) and maybe A One Stop Palmtop Shop are the only
companies still active selling to the 200LX market. We will be mailing our
newest catalog to over 50K people from our database next week. Maybe 7000 of
those people have made purchases from us in the past 3 years.



One way that we can try to make a guess is to look at the serial number on
the bottom of each HP200LX or 100LX.  HP's serial numbering system is
SGywwxxxxx, where SG means made in Singapore, y is the year (final digit),
ww is the week number for that year, and xxxxx is the serial number for
that week.
 My three HP200LX have the following serial numbers:-
 /2mb RAM/DS : SG70300075 (made in 3rd week of 1997; original DS from HP)
 /4mb RAM : SG70101990 (made in 1st week of 1997)
 /2mb RAM : SG43304317, there were at least 4317 units manufactured in the 33rd week (August) of 1994.
 assuming an average production run of 5,000 a week for 50 weeks a year (with 2 weeks' vacation), we have an average production of 250,000 a year. If production began just after the beginning of 1993 (SG301...) and ended before the end of 1999 (SG948...?), that equals a total production of roughly 1,750,000 units.


What is news://news.hplx.net/list.hplx ??? It's a URL which references a newsgroup on a particular server, to be accessed via the "news" protocol.
 In particular:

news://news.hplx.net/list.hplx   has three parts:
 \___/  \___________/ \_______/
   |          |           |
   |          |           |
   |          |           +--- the newsgroup (or topic) within the server
   |          |
   |          +--------------- the server to contact over the internet
   |
   +-------------------------- contact the server via the "news" protocol

P.S.:  Generically, "news" refers to Usenet News -- a distributed, world-wide "bulletin board" system designed many years ago and still in use.  Some people run private newsgroup servers which don't share their messages with the global system.  news.hplx.net is one of those.


The basic theory of how RASSpy works is: essentially, RASSpy just runs in
the background when you attempt to connect using your ISP's proprietary
dialer (you connect using whatever proprietary connection program your
free ISP provides, rather than connecting with a standard Dial-Up
Networking connection like you do with a regular ISP) and displays the
decrypted username and password that the free ISP dialer was going to use
to ACTUALLY complete the DUN connection.  Then you close RASSpy and the
free ISP's dialer, and using the RASSpy-provided information, you can
create a PPP connection on the 200LX that uses the RASSpy-decrypted
username and password, and the phone number.

The manual specifies 9.6 - 14.4V (12V +/- 20%)

Get a regulated supply.  A 12V unregulated type may actually put out
14-16V with no load.

1> The HP adapter - expensive ($49.95 from Thaddeus) 110-220V AC
2> Thaddeus also sells a tiny adapter ($39.95) 110V only
3> Radio Shack has a couple of adapters: A small light switching type
adjustable from 3-12V ($39.95) and a heavy linear regulated supply,
also 3-12V ($14.95).  Both work on 110V AC only.
4> Other adapters are available from DigiKey, MCM, and other
electronics supply houses.

The plug is 5.5mm (outside) x 2.1mm (inside) - NEGATIVE CENTER.  Be
careful with the polarity.  Many adapters come with positive center
plugs.

I use both RS adapters, plus a very tiny ELPAC adapter from DigiKey
(with the plug replaced to fit the LX.

> Yes, I believe that the super site has a rtf (rich text format)
> conversion both to/from Memo.  I don't recall the file name.
>
> ** HPLX-L LIST Info at http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mchem1/HPLX.shtml
>
>
It is called DocRtf. It is on SUPER and it works nicely thanks. I prefer
typing in MEMO and then sending it off to M$WORD for polishing.


The is a conversion utility to convert from Memo format files to RTF format
(Rich Text Format) which will convert such things as bold and underline. RTF
is a file format that Word will open. Look for DOCRTF22.ZIP on SUPER
(www,palmtop.net)


To help you get started with GDBWIn, here is my interpretation of what all
the pull-down menus are supposed to do. I don't read Japanese (nor does my
computer present Japanese characters.) Triple question marks indicate gaps
in my interpretation. Any help would be appreciated.

I. File Menu
 A. Open File (CTRL+O)
 B.  Save
 C. Save as...
 D. Close file
 E. Exit File (save?)
 --------
 History list
 --------
 F. Exit Program

II. Edit Menu
 A. Display Record
 B. Insert (Add) F2
 C. Delete Record (Del)
 D. Undo (CTRL+Z)
 E. Cut (CTRL+X)
 F. Copy (CTRL+C)
 G. Paste (CTRL+V)
 H. Select All (CTRL+A)

III. View Menu
 A. Subset (F6)
 B. Sort (F7)
 C. Column (F8)
  The column button doesn't work. Instead, use the mouse to temporarily
widen a column in list view. There is no way to move whole columns to the
left or right in list view.
 D. Notes (F3)
 E. Data Card (CTRL+D)
 F. ???
 G. Top Tool Bar
 H. Bottom Status Line

IV. Search Menu
 A. Find (F4)
 B. Find Again (Shift F4)
 C. Reverse search (Shift F3)
 D. Search Next (Shift F2)
 E. Previous (F6) (Avail. only in page view)
 F. Next (F7) (Avail. only in page view)

V. Options Menu
 A. Smart Clip (F5) (Note None CRCR->CR etc???)
 B. Configuration (Tabs)
  1. Size of fields
   a.The slider sets the height of the fields in the record view.
   b. The 'V' checkbox bevels the fields in the record view
   c. The 'F' checkbox widens the fields in the record view to full width,
independent of the width of the list view.
  2. Color  ???
   The 'S' button opens a color selection box.
   Most of the color buttons within the slider box don't seem to have any
function. Toward the bottom of the list, the two Note options let you set
the text and background colors for the Notes full window display.
  3. Sets various fonts throughout the program. I have set my Notes field to
use Trebuchet MS, 12, Normal font style. The other options let you set the
fonts for the list view and the record view.
  4. Select default folder for extracting data with Smart cards, I think. I
have the 'D', GDB ('M') and 'E' checkboxes set with C:\temp\ as the
directory. The Note__RichEdit__ checkbox is unchecked.
  5. iPex ???
  Never having tried iPex, I don't know what this dialog box is supposed to
do. The 'D' button puts a check in the checkbox and the 'B' button select a
default directory for graphics files, perhaps.
  6. Sets the date and time formats for use throughout the database.
  7. The radio buttons choose between two different 'LX' options and a
GDBWin option. I have tried various choices but don't notice any difference.

VI. Help Menu
 A. Presents an "About" window with an automatic scrolling pesentation about
the GDBWin program most of which is blank.
 B. The second item (a blank underline) presents an OK box. When you click
OK, another large window opens. The only thing readable in this window is
the "Export Table" button. Clicking the button seems to do nothing. The
window with three tab buttons, likewise, appears to be a stub for further
development of the program.
 C. ??? The third help option leads to a GDBDump dialog box. The one or two
readable things in the window seem to indicate that this option is for CSV
dumps of the data. However, there does not appear to be a way to make
"dumps" happen within the program.

Menu structure of GDBWin (version 0.90b)
========================================

1. Menu

The menu bar consists of

  File(F), Edit(E), View(V), Search(S), Options(O) and Help(H)

The detail of the each menu are explained below

The buttons below the menu bar is:
[Open][Save] [Cut][Copy][Paste] [Undo] [Find][Find Next][Find Previous]
[Subset][Smartclip] [Previous record][Next record]

2. Detail of the menu
   Following is the detail of the menu structure.

File(F)
- Open... (O)
  Open dialogbox has a checkbox "Open as read-only" (R)
- Save (S)
- Save as... (A)
- Close (C)
- Exit without saving (E)
- Exit (X)

Edit(E)
- Edit a record(I)      Enter
- Add a record(N)       F2
- Delete(D)     Del
- Undo(U)       Ctrl+Z
- Cut(T)        Ctrl+X
- Copy(C)       Ctrl+C
- Paste(P)      Ctrl+V
- Select all(A) Ctrl+A

View(V)
- Subset... (U) F6
- Sort... (S)   F7
- Arrange columns (A)   F8
  Arrange Columns Dialogbox
     All the columns      Columns to display       [OK]
     [Listbox]      [>>]  [Listbox]              [Cancel]
                    [<<]                  Column width should be changed
                                          directly on the screen.

                                          Current setting:
- Note (N)      F3
- Show datacard (D)     Ctrl+D
- Datacard mode (M)
  -- Float (F)
  -- Stretch (S)
  -- Bottom (B)
  -- Always on top (T)
- Show tool bar (T)
- Show status bar (B)

Search(S)
- Find...(F)    F4
- Find again(L) Shift+F4
- Find next(R)  Shift+F3
- Find previous(E)      Shift+F2
- Previous record(P)    F6
- Next record(N)        F7

Options(O)
- Smartclip...(S)       F5
- Set options... (P)
  (see below)

Help(H)
- About (A) (see below)
- Dump dialog ... for debug only, do not use
- Database log ... for debug only, do not use


1) Avi and Andreas and Fred and Stan and Tony got me going in the good
old days of the HPHAND forum - and many others as well. I owe them my
mobility with my 96 meg DS HP200LX.

2) Andreas has contributed a lot of excellent freeware to the palmtop
community without which "I could not live any more" :
- PalEdit - now with PIM, database and Outline features
- PIM - my preferred  personal information manager since one year. It
  helps me manage my professional and my private life and is the only=20
  PIM tool I use. Even my secretary on her WinNT has to cope with it.
- FIND/LX helps me locate info in my ASCII databases which I have been
  building since I started to connect to the internet.
- there is many more which I use less frequently.   =20

I have been using the WWW/LX suite since I have internet access. It is
well worth it's money. I don't think that DASoft makes a living with
this product. Definitely not the 40% profit that M$ reports.

The palmtop community desperately needs vendors like DASoft and
Thaddeus. They earn every dollar they charge IMHO.


My dream unit will have the following:

1. Must have CF slot (Ipaq does not)
2. Must be fast - enough (Think that they are close if not there, looking
at some of the last generation devices Casio-105). I think the CasioE-115
or the HP-545/8 or the ipaq are probably good enough.
3. Would like to have flashable OS (like Ipaq). I find it interesting
that many consider this not important since the live of these units
is "max two years." My own experience runs counter to this ;). So does
my budget.
4. Good display -12 bit woould be good enough, though it appears that
Casio and Compaq have the best displays. For me, 16 bit color on a handheld
unit is way overkill - heck, 12 bit color is probably over kill.
5. Backup battery to protect data (Ipaq does not have this - if battery
dies you lose data - Casio does have this I believe).
6. I have to be able to see it in a store (CompUSA has HP's in stock,
but won't let you put your mitts on them). Can't even see a Casio or
Compaq yet.
7. Voice recorder - not critical but a good idea.
8. Prefer keyboard, but not enough to put up with the form factor of
the HP-690. Probably going to have to roll on this requirement.
9. Replaceable rechargeable battery


column of pixels missing about 3-4 pixel columns in from the left, pressing the screen makes it go away, but once finger is lifted column disappears again. My guess is that the connector area of the display got dirty. The following try for a fix is easy but somewhat risky if you are untalented. In any case make a backup of your machine and don't blame me if you screw things up ;-)

 Remove main batteries from the battery compartment. Leave the backup
 battery in place.

 Release the rubber shoes at the back of your unit to get access to the
 torx screws which hold the palmtop together. Unscrew the unit.

 Open the case and gently lift the mother board. Clean the flat film
 connector area on both the mother board and the backside of the
 keyboard with a dry cloth. I recommend not to use any solvents.

 Place the motherboard back in place - make sure it fits perfectly and
 reassemble the unit.


dos software: http://www.geocities.com/rlcgreen/softlib1.htm


The latest version of dawn has been released. It is version 4.5 final. This program converts adressbooks between numerous Email programs and can also be used to produce comma separated adressfiles for post/lx from these books- (this makes my post on-topic)
 at: http://zakharin.freeyellow.com/Software/Dawn.html


The way to recover from such a disaster is to press the boot
keys (cold or warm) then immediately press the Alt key.

That brings you a menu of 7 possibilities which detail where
to find the boot files (CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT) Remember,
you have on ROM in D drive an unalterable copy of both. These
will at least get you up and going, and you can then modify
the CONFIG.SYS and add the drivers (after restoring them from
a good copy) to the CONFIG.SYS and reboot.

The ALT key menu provides for booting from A: drive, D: or C:,
and for each source, whether to process the CONFIG.SYS and
autoexec.bat or not.

One thing you can create is a "Rescue PCMCIA". On its root
directory put a good CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and whatever
drivers you need. Then you reboot, press Alt, then select A:
as the boot drive, and process the boot files, and that puts
you back in business too.

Now you can deal with the mess on the C: drive etc.

In the past few weeks I have had several "meltdowns" and
several friends did too. I walked them through the process
enough times to become an expert. Then it happened to me, too,
and I talked myself through it and was up in 5 minutes,
although restoration of programs and other content took much
more time, of course.

BTW, the "rescue disk" is really not good to use for anything
else, because if you just reboot normally, the palmtop's
default sequence is to look for boot files on A: then C:, then
D:. Wherever they are found, they are processed. Some people
got wise to that and moved the boot files to a subdirectory on
that rescue disk, but that meant they could not use it as a
boot drive anymore, and when away from a PCMCIA drive, you
cannot move the file back to the root of the rescue disk.
Sense that Catch-22? <G>...

If you can get a hold of cheap 1 or 2 MB ATA card, it is ideal
- just put the absolute necessary stuff there and carry the
rescue card with you...



Date:    Sun, 13 Aug 2000 17:26:05 -0400
From:    Thomas Rundel <rundel-d@RUNDEL-D.COM>
Subject: Re: Lotus 123 Y2K

Lotus 123 is Y2K compliant; just enter years after 1999 with 3 digits.
For example, year 2000 needs to be entered as 100, year 2001 as 101,
and so on.

Tom


> hitting the Fn Date keys to throw in today's date and then having a
> formula in another cell work on that date, @datevalue(). How am I
> going to enter dates now? Will I have to do it manually each time?

There are probably several solutions, but since I don't know exactly
what you're trying to achieve, I'll venture at one or two.

You can program a one-liner macro in the spreadsheet (like Alt-D)
to lay down "@datevalue(@int(@now))" into a cell and that puts the
current day's datevalue in there.

Or if you wanted this function to be universal to other
spreadsheets, you can program an LX Macro function (Fn-F[1-10])
to lay down the same, or even program the function to lay down the
date any way you want, for instance you can write the normal Fn-
Date using {Date} and pre-pending the year with a "1".  That should
hold you over for 99 years or so.

-----
I just changed the system date a few times and tested the
@datevalue(@int(@now)){F9}(Enter}
-----

From:    Longden Loo <Longden_Loo@CANDLE.COM>
Subject: Re: DOS environment variable question

In answer to our de-cloaked doctor,

This is good for impressing other hacks, who are forever looking for
tools such
as this to fix/solve a problem.

A very clever use of some obscure DOS tricks in combination with the
mundane in
order to get a desired result.

The essentials of the original batch file (with apologies to the author):

@echo off
rem assigns the current day three letter abreviation to environment
rem variable "day"
rem ************************************
echo set day=%%4 > the.bat
echo. | date > temp.bat
call temp.bat
del temp.bat
del the.bat

As the remarks describe, the batch file results in the day of the week
(ie,
"Mon") being placed into the DOS environment (the same place where your
PATH
gets stored) for programs (and other batch files) that may need it.

     echo set day=%%4 > the.bat

This line stores a single command "set day=%4" in a file called "the.bat"
(for
reasons to be seen).  The %% is needed in order to properly evaluate
to a single
% when used in a batch file as a text string.

     echo. | date > temp.bat

This brings it all together.  "echo.|date" is a trick way of issuing
the DOS
date command.  The trailing period on the echo tells DOS to send an
Enter to the
date command, because normally the date command displays the date and
then waits
for you to enter a new date, or press enter.  The output of the date
command
creates a file called "temp.bat", which contains something like:

     The current date is: Mon 08/14/2000

Finally, the line

     call temp.bat

"executes" that file as the command ...  "The current date is: Mon 08/14/2000".

So you see, if DOS sees that on the command line, it would interpret
"The" as a
command and all the other words as parameters.  "the.bat" created earlier
is
used by DOS to interpret the line, and "the.bat" picks up the 4th parameter
which is the string "Mon" and uses it to set a variable called "day".
 The rest
of the batch file is cleanup.

You could also modify the batch file to store the %5 text (08/14/2000)
into the
environment, and likewise use the trick for the "time" command rather
than
"date", tho that is less useful.


From:    Theodore Heise <theise@NETINS.NET>
Subject: Internet dialup

For those of you who may have had some interest in my questions
about using the environment and hidden files for dialing my ISPs,
here's my final solution. (for now!)  I decided not to include the
calling card PINs on my 200LX, but enter them each time needed.
After all, they are only four digits and I don't need them that often.

The batch file is below for anyone interested.  It is set up to handle
my current main options: 2 dialup accounts and two calling cards.  I
have two sets of pppd.cfg, tcp.cfg, and incoming.jn files (one for
each account's servers), with extensions that match my abbreviation
for each account.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

Ted


[dial.bat]

:: batch file to logon to selected ISP, download all messages, and logoff

@echo off
if '%1'=='nl' goto begin
if '%1'=='ins' goto begin

:: error message for invalid parameters
@cls
echo .
echo . Try again!
echo .
echo . Syntax is: dial ISP <PHONE> <PIN>
echo .
echo .         where ISP = nl or ins
echo .
echo .             PHONE = med or mci (if long distance)
echo .
echo .           and PIN = 4 digit code (if long distance)
echo .
echo . Note: set PREFIX environment variable before running, if needed
echo .        (e.g., set prefix=9,)
goto end

:begin
@cd \prgms\lxtcp

:: set server configuration
@copy tcp.%1 tcp.cfg > nul

:: set PHONE environment variable with number to be dialed
if '%1'=='nl' set phone=7757000
if '%1'=='ins' set phone=%PREFIX%18004699990
if '%2'=='mci' set phone=%PREFIX%18008888000,,,,7654632155%3,,,7657757000
if '%2'=='med' set phone=%PREFIX%18002255288,,,,,07657757000,,,8571633934%3

:: set newsgroup file
@copy mailbox\incoming.%1 mailbox\incoming.jn > nul

:: cut out rest of script for testing without modem present
rem goto end

:main
::  * epppd calls chat to control the modem dial-up
::  * chat uses phone number in PHONE environment variable
::  * pppd.%1 sets login configuration
@epppd file pppd.%1 connect "chat -t120 REPORT CONNECT ABORT BUSY ''
AT&F OK ATDT%PHONE% CONNECT"

:: repeat until connected
if not exist ip-up.bat goto main

:: clear environemnt variable
set phone=

:: synch system time with level 2 ntp server
ntime molecule.ecn.purdue.edu

:: call mail transfer agent
@lxmta

:: update server specific newsgroup file
@copy mailbox\incoming.jn mailbox\incoming.%1 > nul

@termin 0x60
@del c:\prgms\lxtcp\ip-up.bat

:end


to backup all to A:\

 xcopy c:\*.* a:\backup /s /e /v
The /s switch causes xcopy to even copy sub-directories.  The /e switch causes xcopy to even copy empty sub-directories.  The /v switch causes xcopy to verify each file it copies.  I personally use, each night during an automatic backup, the xcopy command, with the /s and /e switches. I am sure it would not hurt to allow the time for a verify, when the xcopy is being run while I sleep.
 xcopy c:\*.* a:\backup\ /s /e /v
If you add a trailing backslash to the target then DOS will know it has to be a directory, and not a file, and therefore it won't ask you.