Digest Articles Re: cables and card batteries by Virtual Bob From: Virtual Bob Subject: Re: cables and card batteries Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 17:47:38 -0500 (CDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII In-Reply-To: <199705012044.NAA19556@xxxxxxxx> > The part about the parallel to serial converter got may >attention. I ran right out to Radio Shack thinking this might be a way to >print directly to my parallel printer from my Poqet serial cable. There >was no such converter in the catalog at Radio Shack (or on the shelf). I >tried a number of other connections and programs. No luck. Is there a >converter that, what?, gathers the bits to send bytes to the parallel >printer? I don't recall Radio Shack having a parallel-serial converter. They are available through mail-orders elsewhere from $50 to about $80 depending on the features. Note there's no guarantee that you can print from the printer even if you have the converter... >The card battery question: > Have any of you changed your card battery - after a low battery >warning - without losing data? I'm thinking that, if there's a little juice >left in the battery at the low warning, then you can remove the card, remove >the drawer, put the card back into the socket, and change the battery. >Anybody tried that? I've imagined to replace these PCMCIA SRAM card batteries without losing the contents, you need to change the battery while the card is in the computer (and the computer is on). I may be wrong here, however... ------------- clip here with virtual scissors -------------- ************************************************************ Send any interesting roadkills to honge@xxxxxxxx! Keyboard stuck error. Press F1 to continue. Any unsolicited e-mails will be charged $1500/KB, $3300 min. Just say "Your lights are on" to DRLs ************************************************************ Serial -> PCMCIA adapter by Bryan Mason From: Bryan Mason Subject: Serial -> PCMCIA adapter Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 17:21:45 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I found this in one of the many computer catalogs that I get: ======================================================================== Now you can use PCMCIA Cards on any Computer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As an external PC card holder with a standard serial interface, the Modulette enables any Type II PC Card modem or GSM data card to connect to any desktop, laptop or PowerBook computer even if it doesn't have a PC Card slot! No special software needed. Just a serial port. Supports data communication up to 115,200bps. Lightweight and battery powered (3AA). Cables included. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PCMCIA Card Modulette Item #9013 $295 ======================================================================== It looks like this thing just makes it so you can talk to the serial port in most PCMCIA modem cards. You slip your PCMCIA modem in the slot, hook the serial port on the other end of the "Modulette" to the serial port of a computer, and away you go. It might be a way to get a PCMCIA modem to work in a Poqet (even though it's not what you'd think of at first). It didn't look too horribly big in the catalog picture (little bigger than a pack of cigarettes). You can reach 1-800-batteries at -- you guessed it 1-800-batteries (1-800-228-8374). They have a Web site at , but I found their online catalog to be pretty useless. You can order stuff on the Web site, though. Anyway, just thought I'd pass this along. I haven't bought one of these, so I'm not 100% sure it would work with a Poqet, but it looks like it should. If anyone does buy one of these things, please let the rest of us know how it works (or doesn't). -- Bryan ______________________________________________________________________ Bryan Mason, Menlo Park, California, USA, Earth e-mail: Poqet PC Home Page: Poqet PC Mailing List: Re: cables and card batteries by Bryan Mason From: Bryan Mason Subject: Re: cables and card batteries Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 22:42:23 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 4:42pm on 1 May 97, AnnaBlade@xxxxxxxx wrote: [...] >The card battery question: > Have any of you changed your card battery - after a low battery >warning - without losing data? I'm thinking that, if there's a little juice >left in the battery at the low warning, then you can remove the card, remove >the drawer, put the card back into the socket, and change the battery. >Anybody tried that? Yup -- this method works great. I used to recommend this to users all the time. The only danger is that you have to be a little careful not to bend the pins in the socket. -- Bryan Re: cables and card batteries by Bryan Mason From: Bryan Mason Subject: Re: cables and card batteries Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 22:42:25 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 5:47pm on 1 May 97, Virtual Bob ("the artist formerly known as Psycho Bob") wrote: [...] >>The card battery question: >> Have any of you changed your card battery - after a low battery >>warning - without losing data? I'm thinking that, if there's a little juice >>left in the battery at the low warning, then you can remove the card, remove >>the drawer, put the card back into the socket, and change the battery. >>Anybody tried that? > >I've imagined to replace these PCMCIA SRAM card batteries without losing >the contents, you need to change the battery while the card is in the >computer (and the computer is on). I may be wrong here, however... I don't think you need to have the computer on for this to work. Just having the SRAM card in the machine should be OK. -- Bryan Re: Parallel data transfer by Bryan Mason From: Bryan Mason Subject: Re: Parallel data transfer Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 22:42:21 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" For all intents and purposes the Poqet has a unidirectional parallel port. (To confuse the issue further, the Poqet hardware is actually capable of being bidirectional, but its not compatible with the ECP or EPP standards). However, many file transfer packages (LapLink is one, intersvr/interlink may be another) can do bidirectional data transfer over a unidirectional parallel port. You can only transfer data 4 bits at a time in the "reverse" direction, but there is a way to do it. It has to do with transferring data over the "control" signals that are normally used by the printer to send status information (ready, paper out, etc) back to the computer. -- Bryan At 6:05am on 1 May 97, faethor@xxxxxxxx (J. Lawrence) wrote: > > I don't believe you'll be able to do bi-directional data transfer via >parallel on a Poqet Classic. Correct me if I'm wrong Bryan, but isn't the >Poqet Parallel non-bidirectional? > > If it IS bi-directional, try the DOS intersvr/interlnk software.. > >-j Re: cables and card batteries by K. Peterson From: "K. Peterson" Subject: Re: cables and card batteries Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:22:26 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII In-Reply-To: <199705012044.NAA19556@xxxxxxxx> Serial-parallel converters exist, but are not common nor cheap. If you enjoy hunting and a bit of a gamble, try to find one of the early-eighties print spoolers like the "Angel". These were used back before the Centronics interface became defacto standard, to let you spool a kilobyte or two. To be able to sell the same unit to everybody, they acepted your choice of serial or parallel inputs and serial or parallel outputs: 4-way usage. Ken Peterson On Thu, 1 May 1997 AnnaBlade@xxxxxxxx wrote: > Bill writes: > ... > >worked: I hook up the Poqet cable with the > >parallel female connection to a Radio Shack male > >parallel to female serial converter... and this > ... > > The part about the parallel to serial converter got may attention. I > ran right out to Radio Shack thinking this might be a way to print directly > to my parallel printer from my Poqet serial cable. There was no such > converter in the catalog at Radio Shack (or on the shelf). I tried a number > of other connections and programs. No luck. Is there a converter that, what?, > gathers the bits to send bytes to the parallel printer? > > The card battery question: > Have any of you changed your card battery - after a low battery > warning - without losing data? I'm thinking that, if there's a little juice > left in the battery at the low warning, then you can remove the card, remove > the drawer, put the card back into the socket, and change the battery. > Anybody tried that? > > Thanks, > Anna > > New Subscriber Introduction + ACT! Contact Mgmt S/W on the Poqet by RFROOSA@xxxxxxxx From: RFROOSA@xxxxxxxx Subject: New Subscriber Introduction + ACT! Contact Mgmt S/W on the Poqet Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 10:22:58 -0400 (EDT) --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Introduction + ACT! Contact Mgmt S/W on the Poqet Date: 97-04-30 13:26:58 EDT From: RFROOSA To: PoqetPC@xxxxxxxx CC: RFROOSA Hello, I am a new subscriber to the Poqet mailing list. I have a Poqet Classic with two 2MB SRAM cards, and have hardly had a chance to really dig into it and use it. I have already loaded DOS s/w onto the SRAMS via the PCMCIA slot in my laptop, and have gotten it to work on the Poqet. I use ACT! 2.0 for windows contact mgmt s/w on my laptop, and I would like to have it interface with my Poqet. I have the old ACT! 1.0 for DOS, but I have not yet tried to load it on the Poqet. Has anyone tried using any version of ACT! on the Poqet and linked it with a windows version on a laptop or desktop? Regards, Rich Roosa Batch files & Time/Date by faethor@xxxxxxxx (J. Lawrence) From: faethor@xxxxxxxx (J. Lawrence) Subject: Batch files & Time/Date Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 09:43:09 -0500 (CDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" bmoy@xxxxxxxx wrote, on the subject of batch files and time/date.. >SETUP.BAT >========= >@copy a:\autoexec.bat d:\ >@copy a:\config.sys d:\ >@date 4-30-97 >@time 12:00 >Simple but effective for my purposes and you only >have to set date and time once a day if you're not >particular about the exact time. You apparently aren't using the updated os$clk2.sys, which correctly saves the time and date after initial entry. I believe you can get a copy from Bryons' Poqet Page. Load it as a device in your config.sys. If you're going to keep a selection of 'utility' batch files, it makes things much neater to put them in a sub-dir, and include it in your PATH. PATH is far too useful and integral to a DOS system to not use to its fullest. A way to spice up the older version of DOS, you can download many little programmes, mv (move), for example, to make DOS 3.x more 'complete'. A little more extravagant route is to run 4dos. I'm using version 3.1, because the older version takes up less memory and storage. The basic 4dos files take up ~230k, with help utility. With no TSR's loaded, chkdsk reports 426,928 bytes free. Included with a bunch of new command-line commands is an 'alias' function which is similar to the DOSKEY programme in later DOS versions. In fact, the additional commands make it very much like DOS 6.x. -j Re: Digest poqetpc.v001.n100 by Michael Fetterman From: Michael Fetterman Subject: Re: Digest poqetpc.v001.n100 Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 16:33:58 -0400 (EDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII In-Reply-To: <199705012045.NAA19732@xxxxxxxx> I doubt that the BIOS in the POQET will recognize a 1.44 drive. An external dxevice driver, such as drivparm in the config.sys file MIGHT do the job. Michael Fetterman d005041c@xxxxxxxx