Digest Articles New member but seasoned user, research-writing software I use, games by daloh@xxxxxxxx (Daryl L Hardes) From: daloh@xxxxxxxx (Daryl L Hardes) Subject: New member but seasoned user, research-writing software I use, games Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 03:11:37 -0400 Introducing Myself I'm new to the Poqet-users group, but on my 3rd and 4th Classics. I got the first one used (scarcely) together with the floppy drive; the second from Poqet (you took the order, Bryan); three and four from California Digital - the latter from their last 12! My wife is going to bury me with one, she says. Will Heaven allow it? I already had a flying dream in which my Poqet lifted me up. Making the Poqet Into a Research Tool I've honed the Poqets for what I do, research and writing about UFOs et.al. The phone rings, somebody's telling me their encounter, I've typed a page at 80-100 word per minute on my Poqet before "Windows 95" can show on my Sharp Widenote. I use NYWord (158K, shareware, www.filepile.com), once nose-to-nose with WordPerfect. It works fine in the Poqet except for dropping wordwrap once in a while. If I'm short on PC-card space, I switch to QEdit (53K, then 90K, now called TSE Jr.), which I've configured to look and act like NYWord minus a few functions. I've spent a lot of time in university libraries and seldom seen a notebook. Too heavy to lug, along with books. But my Poqet was collecting info far faster than the pencils scrawling around me in the library and at Hebrew class at a local seminary. The shareware INTEXT does Hebrew and Greek on it. Mostly I'm in libraries assembling stories of gods flying in metal disks in ancient Egypt, Sumeria, Ireland and over Hopi mesas; with long breaks eating Indian food and typing what the owners tell me about flying "vimanas" in ancient India. My clumsy notebook is in my case for when I need to run BibleWorks for Windows, my Poqet is whipped out everywhere else. I think the Poqet-class computer has been mislabeled, so few know what it's really good for. It should be called the "note-grabber". My wife looks at me and says it should be called the "arm-extender." I did grad study in Hebrew and Near Eastern Studies, but overwhelmed myself in data. My professor passed me on sheer work, but I had a real problem. I'd assembled hundreds of files on my 2mb card. I couldn't I find and assemble the data fast enough for my final paper, let alone the book I was doing! I'd sprung for AskSam for DOS, the commercial freeform database (around 250K). It runs solid and amazingly fast on the Poqet. I'd loaded my files into it and I had a database without having to create fields (you can). I could do complex searches instantly and cut and paste what I found from the contexts shown. But... I had a problem: I'm used to DOS's file system. I really wanted to do searches through my ordinary TXT files. Eventually I realized I had the answer already and didn't know it: my file manager LIST (shareware). It was already simplifying DOS for me, launching programs, launching files in NYWord, viewing files. It will also, I found, search directories for word strings in context, and I could cut and paste what I found to my chapter file! Here's how to turn random TXT files into a giant, searchable, cut-and-pastable database. Go into your directory and at the prompt type something like this: LIST *.*/T your word string ...or something like this... LIST egypt*.txt/T Horus' flying disk Your Poqet will search through a hundred files pronto. When you see a context you want, hit ALT M to mark the top of the screen and ALT B to mark the line you put at the bottom; then ALT D to paste the resulting block to a file. Hit ALT A to see the next occurance of "Horus' flying disk" and keep trucking. Incredible. That's about it, except for a handful of utilities I can't live without. For quick and dirty editing, I use TED (3K! PC Mag freebie). I was excited to find that its successor RED has word wrap, but it flickers on my Poqet annoyingly. For viewing files even faster than LIST, I keep FILECTRL on hand (PC Mag freebie). Occasionally I tinker with changing the text in EXE files I use, like adding direct commands in NYWord's drop-down menus. The old program FM (10K) does it fine in the Poqet. When I misplace a file, FAST FILE FINDER (PC Mag) grabs it. Here's one of my favorites. I'm working along in NYWord and wonder, "Now where in the heck is that note I made on Horus of Egypt flying in a metal disk?" I shell temporarily to DOS to find it (CTL X or the menu). Then I use a utility like LOCATE (PC Mag freebie), typing something like LOCATE METAL DISK and - presto! - not only does LOCATE give me lines with "metal disk" in context (a few words), but that list is nabbed by NYWord into a window! Back at work in NYWord, I see the file that has the line I want and put it into one of NYWord's twelve windows. In short, I use Windows and notebooks for what they're good for - the Internet, graphics, type-setting, multi-tasking - but for serious raw work, I use DOS and my Poqet. Games That Work In the Poqet No computer is complete without games. If Poqet had put a couple in there, they might have made it big. Seriously! For years, I missed having none in my Poqet, though I already had an old shareware program I dusted off recently that works well, PowerChess (138K). When I went on the Internet, I wondered if I could find my other two favorite games in original DOS form, Freecell and Tetris. Yep! From www.filepile.com I got FREECELL (32K) and a Tetris clone called XTRIS (200K). Freecell runs best if you type: freecell mono (Enter). Xtris only works if you toggle on "color" mode (Poqet key + F3) first. Finally, this is not a game exactly, nor awfully practical, but fun: I hooked up a mouse through my Poqet's disk drive, loaded the MIDI program into my Poqet that came with my MIDI connector (Key Midiator MS124), and succeeded in recording my Yamaha keyboard improvisations. That was a challenge, like carrying my Poqet up an Adirondack mountain to record a fellow hiker's UFO encounters. That one I failed. An extra pound times 3000 foot elevation equals 3000 foot-pounds of extra work. The Poqet stayed in the tent. Does that mean I can't take it into Heaven? _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] Replacing Display Cable (was "Re: Digest poqetpc.v002.n080") by Bryan Mason From: Bryan Mason Subject: Replacing Display Cable (was "Re: Digest poqetpc.v002.n080") Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 15:33:53 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I've known a couple of people who have successfully replaced the Poqet display cable. The spacing of the conductors on the display cable is very close, however, so it requires a considerable amount of skill with a soldering iron. It's doable, but it's very difficult. -- Bryan At 11:36 PM 5-1-98 -0400, Michael Fetterman wrote: >I think that now that you are back home, a full size desktop or laptop is >better tool for transcription anyhow. > >The repair of a Poqet display cable >is well beyond most and likely all people on this list (possibly excepting >Bryan Mason) (though I do share and empathize with your spirit). Even >opening the case without damaging the contents is a mystery. I don't >think that a soldering iron is the repair tool either. > >Bryan, can you comment with authority ? Re: I LOVE MY "NEW" POQET PC! by Bryan Mason From: Bryan Mason Subject: Re: I LOVE MY "NEW" POQET PC! Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 15:34:02 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Andy, Welcome to the mailing list! Unfortunately, I don't know if there's a solution to your WordPerfect 4.2 problem. Poqet Computer only sold WordPerfect 5.1 for use on the Poqet PC, so we never tried to do a solution for WordPerfect 4.2. Lithium batteries should work fine on the Poqet PC. The only problem you might see is that low battery detection is a little different. The low battery detection circuitry is calibrated for alkaline batteres, and changing to another battery technology (like NiCd or Lithium) may cause some problems. For example, with NiCd batteries, you'll get a low battery warning and then immediately afterwards you're battery will be considered "dead," and you won't have enough time to save your data. I don't know if the same thing will happen with Lithium batteries, but you might get weird results like that. If you send me more detail on the problems you're having with Navigator, I'll try to help out. You can also download the files via anonymous FTP at ftp.bmason.com. -- Bryan At 06:27 PM 4/29/98 -0500, you wrote: >Dear Poqet Community, >I have a few questions for you denizens of PoqetLand: [...] >1) I'm using WordPerfect 4.2 on the Poqet, and I've found that my cursor, >along with the alphabet letter I've just typed, disappears every few minutes >or so. There's a software fix on the Poqet web site for use with WordPerfect >version 5.1; has anyone ever used this fix successfully with version 4.2? >Also, I'm having trouble downloading these fix files from the web site; Brian, >maybe you can give me some pointers? I'm using Netscape Navigator version 2. > >2) Has anyone used disposable lithium AA batteries in their Poqet? Do these >batteries pose any problems? It sounds like they could run the computer for >300 hours or more. > >3) When I use Poqet Link, I find that I have to tell the program to copy files >to the Poqet's D: drive in order to get them to copy to the B: drive. Has >anyone else encountered this? Not that it's a problem; I'm just curious why >it works this way. >