VOGONS


First post, by yawetaG

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Yesterday I picked up a complete with all paperwork in mint condition Psion Series 5 in its box for the grand amount of 1 Euro:

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Its only big issue were a bunch of pretty crusty (and leaking) 20 year old AA batteries in its battery compartment, which caused some minor damage:

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The rubberised casing is also shedding some of its rubber in places, and the screen doesn't really close well anymore.

Today I cleaned out the battery compartment, plopped in some modern NiMH AA batteries and a new CR2032, and pressed the on/off switch. Worked in one go.
I'll be posting some pictures of it working later on.

First, let's have a look at what this thing is, precisely. Wikipedia has a pretty good page on it.
Some essential bits:
- Fourth series of Psion PDA's (Psion series 4 doesn't exist due to Psion's fear of bad sales in Asia if they used "4" in the product's name).
- Launched in 1997, two decades ago.
- Powered by a 32-bit ARM 710-based CL-PS7110 processor running at 18 MHz (later 36 MHz).
- Comes with 4, 8 or 16 Mb internal RAM storage, RAM contents are kept alive when switched off via backup battery. Mine is the 8 Mb version.
- Additionally, it has a Compact Flash card slot that supports 10-30 Mb CF cards (officially), but can actually take many different sizes of CF card up to several Gb in size (up to 2Gb partitions).
- It has an infrared port for communication, that apparently won't work with PC IrDA ports without an additional tool being installed on the PC.
- It also has a miniature RS-232 serial port (needs special cable, normally included in the box) with which it can communicate with a PC using the PsiWin software.
- Half-VGA (640x200) monochrome 16 grayscales touchscreen with switchable (but noisy) backlight and adjustable contrast. The screen can be touched with your fingers, but a passive stylus is included (which can be stored inside the Psion).
- Various accessories were produced, including a modem set, printer connection set, etc.
- Comes with the EPOC32 operating system, which later became Symbian. The system is very user friendly and visually looks rather like Classic Mac OS.
- Includes very usable Word processor, spreadSheet, Database, Agenda, Calculator, Sketching program, Dictionary/word game (Spell), Programing editor to write your own programs, voice Recorder, minesweeper clone (Bombs), terminal program (Comms), alarm clock/time zone listing (Time) on ROM.
- Y2K compliant.
- Really good keyboard for such a small thing.

It comes in a slipcase, with a rather luxurious inner box with a cheap yellow plastic tray inside. Originally, it came with 2 AA and one CR2032 battery right in the box. Also included is the serial cable, the PsiWin CD-ROM with quick start guide in a CD case, a quick start guide for the Psion itself, a accessory catalogue, a warranty registration card, a warranty booklet, a service booklet, and a thick almost 200-page, pocket-sized manual.

The original price is still attached: 1699 Dutch guilders, or 772 Euros (not corrected for inflation).

More later...

Reply 1 of 18, by brassicGamer

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I had a Psion Revo back then (a cut-down version of the Series 5) and loved it. I actually can't remember what happened to it, but it teamed up really well with my Nokia 8210 via IR as it meant I could use it as a modem for basic web access and email, plus I could backup my contacts. It came with one game, which was some version of Otello I think, but I did download a bunch more. Nice score - these were the bees knees back then!

Check out my blog and YouTube channel for thoughts, articles, system profiles, and tips.

Reply 2 of 18, by Jo22

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Cool, the Psion Series 5! Always wanted one.. 😉

In case anyone is interested, there once was an PC/XT emulator named XTM.
The original link is dead, but the archive has an intact copy.

Sadly, it's not the freeware version that was released shortly before the site went down.
But thankfully searching the web for its original file name (s5xtm308.zip),
brought up somehting what I believe is a russian Psion fan site: http://www.mypsion.ru/software.php?aid=166

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 3 of 18, by yawetaG

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I've just taken 60+ pictures of this thing to showcase it. Guess I'll start with the box:

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It comes with this neat slipcase that shows the Psion on the front and explains what it can do on the back:

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Once the slipcase is removed, a stylish black box (now a bit faded) is revealed:

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A sticker on the side tells us which model is inside, and the original price sticker is also still present. Rather remarkable, neither the slipcase nor the black box were sealed with a seal. I guess it might have been shrinkwrapped instead.

Once opened, the Psion, its serial cable, software and manual rest in a yellow tray:

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The yellow is quite dark, so it's not too garish, but a different color would have made it look less cheap.

Reply 4 of 18, by yawetaG

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Taking out the (thick) manual reveals the CD box and finally the Psion:

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The box would also have contained two AA batteries and a lithium battery, but of course those are missing (and the very crusty AA batteries are in the trash).

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I'm not entirely sure what the small sheet of plastic with the colored dots is...possibly the left-over of the shrink wrap, as it has a small sticker on it indicating the Psion model.

The rest of the paperwork is below the tray:

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Reply 5 of 18, by yawetaG

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Serial cable:

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The manual, close to 200 pages of very complete instructions:

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It's about the same size as the Psion, so easy to take with you on a trip:

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Most of the documentation is in Dutch, the language of the Netherlands, and so are the OS and the programs.

Reply 6 of 18, by yawetaG

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The CD-ROM with PsiWin (sounds like something the PsyCorps in Babylon 5 would use 🤣 ) software:

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The CD is pretty much flawless:

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Rear of the box showing compatibility chart with popular office software:

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Warranty cards:

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When I write that the paperwork is mint, I mean it's mint:

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Reply 7 of 18, by yawetaG

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Catalogues etc.:

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Looking at the catalogues, I believe I might have missed out on picking up an accompanying printer set on King's Day, as the printer shown look quite similar to one that stood there...

Next up, the actual hardware.

Reply 8 of 18, by yawetaG

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So, it looks like this:

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About the size of a large smartphone, a bit thicker maybe, 17 x 9 x 2.5 cm, made of sturdy rubberized plastic, with a metal badge and a sticker indicating it uses the EPOC OS.

The rear end:

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Behind the glossy black plastic there's the infrared communications port, on the left the speaker, and two covers cover the battery compartment and the serial port:

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Unfortunately the tab on the battery cover broke off on mine when I had to force the battery compartment open to remove the very dead and crusty original AA batteries 😵 . No leakage into the Psion fortunately.

The backup battery has its own compartment and cover:

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Getting the backup battery out was a pain in the behind, but according to the manual this is on purpose and there's a trick to get it out: push it with the stylus through the small gap. Right next to the battery there is also a reset button in case the Psion crashes.

There's a connector for a power supply on the left side of the Psion:

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Last edited by yawetaG on 2017-05-02, 10:18. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 9 of 18, by yawetaG

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The other side has another little door and something that looks like a button:

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The latter, when pressed, pops out a little bit and then you can pull out the stylus:

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The stylus is just a passive affair:

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It holds well in the hand and is perfectly suitable for its purposes.

The door gives access to the Compact Flash card reader:

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It also allows you to pull out the stylus whenever the release mechanism jams.

Last edited by yawetaG on 2017-05-02, 11:46. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 10 of 18, by yawetaG

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So I found myself a Compact Flash card, in this case a 32 Mb Cannon-branded one I got with my first digital camera and that I almost never used because it was way too small for more than a few photos:

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And put it in:

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It merely needs to be gently pushed in with the ridge pointing upwards. I'll see whether it shows up when the Psion is running.

The Psion also has a recorder mode than can be used without opening the screen:

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Push in the small cover preventing the record and playing buttons from being used, and then press the record button while talking into the microphone. Sound quality is pretty decent, too. I'll have to see whether that's also valid for music files (if I can find MP3 player software).

I'll continue with pictures of it running at a later time.

Reply 11 of 18, by yawetaG

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But first, let me show you how it opens.

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It has this nifty mechanism that makes the keyboard slide out while opening the screen, which comes to rest against the rear of the Psion.
The portion of the keyboard that is hidden when the Psion is closed has the FCC and other information printed on it:

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And the result is maximum screen estate at a good viewing angle and a pretty large keyboard with keys with decent travel:

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Reply 12 of 18, by yawetaG

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So, OS and applications...

Upon starting the Psion for the first time, it will show the OS boot screen, but upon subsequent boots it will boot straight into the desktop:

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Boot and shutdown are pretty much instantaneous. The desktop is also the file manager, and the screen above shows the Psion Series 5 equivalent of the My Documents folder, which has shortcuts to all of the important programs and which also holds your files. Programs can be accessed by double-clicking them with the stylus (or your finger if they're small enough), or by hitting the appropriate icon at the bottom edge of the screen. The latter option is possible because some screen estate has been sacrificed to provide hot access areas which trigger either specific programs or functions. Programs are listed at the bottom of the screen, while functions are listed at the left. The upper left icon triggers the menu in each program, which offers even more options.

Below is a look at the Word processor, showcasing a bit of text I wrote about the Psion on the Psion:

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The word processor, Word, is pretty much full-featured, including embedded objects from other Psion programs. There are quite a few formatting options: Three fonts, three types of headings plus normal text, bold, italics, underline, alignment, borders, bullets... Some objects can easily be embedded by hitting the appropriate button on the right of the screen, or by going through the menu (see below), or by creating them in another program and copying and pasting them. There is a spelling control and a print function, too. Many things can also be controlled directly from the keyboard, using similar shortcuts as on a PC. Special symbols can also be inserted, but accented letters can also be typed directly from the keyboard fairly easily.

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The only strange bit is the use of the word "Archief" ("archive, file") instead of "Bestand" ("File").

Sheet, the spreadsheet:

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Prett much an Excel clone, it has just one failing: a lack of export options.

Trivia: programs are called "Apps" in the system folder 🤣 Back in 1997.

Reply 13 of 18, by yawetaG

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Data appears to be a simple database:

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However, according to my research it is quite a bit more powerful than just a card filing system and with judicious use of the available functions (including import/export) can be used for quite a few different things, especially since Data objects can be embedded into the other programs.

Agenda is an agenda, pretty comparable to the Agenda in Outlook (or not):

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It supports various embedded files, including audio alarms and voice messages. It can display its information by day, week, year (with a pretty neat display of the months that I haven't seen before), important days, or actions, and has an incorporated calendar function - also note how it correctly calculates the date today in 2017. It has extensive action list management and can synchronize between different agendas (so you can have split private and official agendas).
And all this is easy to use, with none of the problems encountered in popular modern programs.

Back to the OS for a moment...

The OS has a control panel through which all system-wide settings can easily be accessed:

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Boot/shutdown options:

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Via the desktop/file manager's menu it's possible to display information on the system, for example general information on the machine:

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Reply 14 of 18, by yawetaG

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Let's continue with some of the other programs.

Time...is a really cool program:

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It can show where you are (chosen from an internal list, which can be expanded with new information), including time (duh...) and location on the world map, sunrise/sunset, and date. Then, it's possible to select another city from the list (or by clicking on the world map), and Time will show the time it's in that city, sunrise/sunset time in that city, on which side of the date line and in which time zone the city is, how far away it is from your current location (in km, miles or sea miles), and the then-valid international phone access number for that other city. It's also possible to set a list of alerts, indicate on which days you work, when summer time is, etc.
And it all works smoothly.

Calc(ulator) is a pretty bog-standard calculator, similar to the Windows one with a normal and a scientific version:

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It does have some stuff that the Windows calculator is missing, such as some alternate display options, custom short-cuts, and 26 memories into which results can be stored (just like my old scientific calculator, except that Calc has more).

Sketch is a drawing program:

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It has various shapes and tools to draw with, and four shades of gray for colors, plus a few transformations. All of which can be accessed via the keyboard, too. It even has clip-art:

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Of course, you won't be drawing with the keyboard. Instead you'll use the stylus. Which brings me to the touchscreen. The absolutely EXCELLENT touchscreen. Tracking is pretty much perfect. Drawing with the stylus, and everything with the stylus really, is fun, direct, precise, with good response. It's better than a Wacom drawing tablet (can't believe I wrote that...). Sometimes clicks are missed, but it never gets in the way of anything (except getting fast scores in the Minesweeper clone).

Reply 15 of 18, by yawetaG

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There's a few other programs. These can be accessed via the Extra's menu, opened by clicking on the Extra's icon at the bottom of the screen:

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I'll have a look at these later...

Oh, remember the Compact Flash card?

It shows up in the Desktop/File Manager as "D":

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...and can be accessed:

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I even copied my text file to it! 😘

Psion, if you still exist somewhere, and come across this:

Make a modern version of this thing. Improved version of the OS and programs, color screen, USB, Wifi internet access, phone function, and you'll kill your competitors deader than dead.

Reply 16 of 18, by idspispopd

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yawetaG wrote:

Psion, if you still exist somewhere, and come across this:

Make a modern version of this thing. Improved version of the OS and programs, color screen, USB, Wifi internet access, phone function, and you'll kill your competitors deader than dead.

You are not the first one to request this.
There are so many resources about Psion handhelds that I don't even know to begin.
The spiritual heritage of the EPOC32 system was Symbian, arguably the first smartphone operating system. There are several devices, especially from Nokia, which resemble the Psion devices. The last of these is probably the Nokia E7. Nokia N900 looks similar but is based on Linux.
Some people with similar needs switched to Sharp Zaurus devices which are also based on Linux.
A still active German site is http://www.psionwelt.de

To get on topic, there are/were some games for EPOC32:
http://www.ericlindsay.com/epoc/sigame5.htm
http://www.pscience5.net/LFGames.htm

I still have a Psion 5MX Pro lying around (36MHz CPU, 32MB RAM, OS not in RAM but needs to boot from CF card). No time to play with, though.

Try not to open and close the screen all the time. The display cable is somewhat prone to break, and it's not too cheap or easy to repair (possible, though).

Reply 17 of 18, by brassicGamer

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yawetaG wrote:

Psion, if you still exist somewhere, and come across this:

Make a modern version of this thing. Improved version of the OS and programs, color screen, USB, Wifi internet access, phone function, and you'll kill your competitors deader than dead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N900

Check out my blog and YouTube channel for thoughts, articles, system profiles, and tips.

Reply 18 of 18, by Pasi123

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yawetaG wrote:

Psion, if you still exist somewhere, and come across this:

Make a modern version of this thing. Improved version of the OS and programs, color screen, USB, Wifi internet access, phone function, and you'll kill your competitors deader than dead.

GPD Pocket?
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gpd-pocket … 10-os-laptop--2#/

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