Zoomer FAQ
pat@tstc.edu (Patrick E. Hykkonen)
Errors-To: brian@grot.starconn.com
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 12:22 PST
Message-id: <9401171726.AA01737@tstc.edu>
X-Comment: Zoomer PDA List
Originator: zoomer-list@grot.starconn.com
Errors-To: brian@grot.starconn.com
Reply-To: <zoomer-list@grot.starconn.com>
Sender: zoomer-list@grot.starconn.com
X-Listserv-Version: 5.5 -- Copyright (c) 1991/92, Anastasios Kotsikonas
From: pat@tstc.edu (Patrick E. Hykkonen)
To: Multiple recipients of list <zoomer-list@grot.starconn.com>
Subject: Zoomer FAQ
Status: OR
Here is a BETA version of the Zoomer FAQ. Please distribute as widely as
possible. I welcome any and all feedback, as well as new questions and
solutions to add to the thing.
============================= cut here ==================================
The UNOFFICIAL Casio/Tandy ZPDA (Zoomer) FAQ
"Frequently Asked Questions"
Maintainer
----------
This FAQ is compiled and maintained by Patrick E. Hykkonen.
I can be contacted at <pat@tstc.edu>, or at (817) 867-4831
during normal business hours. AOL mail <hykkonen@aol.com>.
Revision History
----------------
Version .1 -- November 12, 1993 -- Initial Creation
Version .2 -- December 3, 1993 -- Added more information
Version .5 -- January 13, 1994 -- First Release to find bugs!
Submission Information
----------------------
Before sending information for inclusion in this FAQ, please
read through it at least once and insure that the information
is not already contained within. However, information updates
or corrections are extremely welcome!
When I add something to the list I will put your name and
email address on the item, unless you specifically request
that it not be included.
Distribution Information
------------------------
Seeing as how most of the questions on this FAQ are answered
by others, and not my original works I feel I cannot place a
copyright on this material. However, I do ask that if you
redistribute this FAQ that it be done so in its entirety with
my name left on it as the maintainer. If only a portion of
this FAQ is quoted please include the name of the person
submitting the item as well as the name of the FAQ and the
name of the maintainer. Thank you.
DISCLAIMER
----------
Some of the information contained within this FAQ is possibly
harmful to the data within your ZPDA. You the user of this
FAQ agree not to hold the maintainers or authors responsible
for possible damage by using the information contained within
this FAQ. I guess what I am trying to say is... USE THIS
INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Organization
------------
1. WARNINGS
2. HINTS AND KINKS
3. COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION
4. APPLICATIONS
a. Address Book
b. Date Book
c. Note Book
d. Pocket Quicken
e. America Online
f. GEO Works
5. APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
6. COMMUNICATIONS
7. ACCESSORIES AND EXPANSION OPTIONS
a. Accessories
b. PCMCIA expansion
8. HARDWARE
=================================================================
1. WARNINGS
NEVER remove both the AA batteries and the lithium backup
batteries at the same time. Doing so will cause all
information in the PDA to be lost. If you must remove both
sets of batteries make a backup copy of all your data either
to a PC or a Flash memory card.
2. HINTS AND KINKS
Help! My Zoomer will not respond to pen input!
Don't Panic. More than likely the screen is still
accepting input, try tapping on the screen a small
distance below where the "input" is required. Sometimes
you may need to touch on the very bottom of the screen in
order to get the PDA to respond. After you get the
Zoomer into a "sane state" you will need to bring up
Launcher/Utilities/Preferences/Digitizer. When the
digitizer window opens touch the Calibrate... button.
Again you may need to touch some distance below the
calibration marks. Repeat the calibration as many times
as necessary in order to move the screen closer to
calibration.
3. COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION
How can I get in touch with Casio Corporation?
How can I get in touch with GEO Works Development?
How can I get in touch with Palm Computing?
Palm Computing can be contacted through e-mail at
support@palm.com. Their toll free telephone number is
800-881-PALM.
How can I get in touch with Tandy corporation?
4. APPLICATIONS
a. Date Book
b. Address Book
c. Note Book
d. Pocket Quicken
e. America Online
Will AOL on the Zoomer work at speeds higher than 2400
baud?
No. Although the modem and the Zoomer will
communicate at speeds higher than 2400. The AOL
software on the Zoomer will only allow connections
at 2400 baud or slower.
f. GEO Works
How do I make GEO Works operate differently?
The Big List of Zoomer INI Things
---------------------------------
Maintained by Chuck Musciano
(chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com)
Version: 1.00
Last update: 02 Nov 93 10:00
**************************************************
This list documents changes you can make to the
GEOS.INI file to modify the way your Zoomer
behaves. MAKING THESE CHANGES IS NOT SUPPORTED BY
CASIO OR GEOWORKS, AND MAY BREAK YOUR ZOOMER AND/OR
LOSE ALL OF YOUR DATA.
***************************************************
---------------------------------------------------
Item 0: How to change the INI file
If you use the File Manager to look in B:\GEOWORKS,
you'll see a file called GEOS.INI. This contains a
bunch of configuration switches for GEOS and the
Zoomer. It also chains to another INI, A:\NET.INI
for lots of stuff that is configured in the ROM.
What is important is that the chaining occurs at
the start of GEOS.INI, so that anything you put in
the GEOS.INI will override the system defaults
programmed in by Casio and GeoWorks and everybody
else.
You can use the little text editor in AOL (start
AOL, skip the connect some stuff, and pull down the
File menu to open or create new files) to edit
files. However, GEOS locks the GEOS.INI file while
GEOS is running, so you can't even open it from
AOL.
So, use the file manager to copy GEOS.INI to
B:\GEOS.NEW. You can then use AOL to edit this
file and change things. However, the file manager
will not let you copy the new version back while
GEOS is running.
By some fluke, GEOS on the Zoomer is configured to
allow a batch file named ZDRIVER.BAT to be executed
directly from the file manager. (It also likes
SDISK.EXE, ZDRIVER.COM, and ZDRIVER.EXE, and
PENRIGHT.BAT). The batch files are executed by
exiting GEOS, invoking DOS, and when the file
finishes, restarting GEOS (and all the other Zoomer
stuff).
To copy your new INI file into the right spot,
create a file named ZDRIVER.BAT at the top level of
your B: drive. In that file, put:
COPY B:\GEOWORKS\GEOS.INI B:\GEOS.OLD
COPY B:\GEOS.NEW B:\GEOWORKS\GEOS.INI
Now, when you make changes to the GEOS.NEW file in
B:\, you can execute the ZDRIVER.BAT file to copy
the new INI into the Geoworks directory. When the
batch file exits, GEOS restarts, reading the new
INI file and modifying itself accordingly.
I would suggest making an archival copy of the
original GEOS.INI file somewhere safe on your B:
drive, and backing everything up to another machine
if you have a connection kit.
--------------------------------------------------
Item 1: Making DOS applications executable from the
File Manager
To update the files that the file manager
recognizes, add this to your INI:
[file manager]
filenameTokens = {
PENRIGHT.BAT = "gDOS",0
SDISK.EXE = "GDOS",0
ZDRIVER.EXE = "GDOS",0
ZDRIVER.COM = "gDOS",0
ZDRIVER.BAT = "gDOS",0
*.BAT = "gDOS",0
*.COM = "gDOS",0
*.EXE = "gDOS",0
}
The first five entries in the filenameTokens are
taken from A:\NET.INI, and are included to keep the
original settings alive. The last three make all
BAT, COM, and EXE files executable from the file
manager. If you make this change, you can verify
that it works by looking at A:\ with the file
manager. Lots of files should now have the DOS
icon.
After making this change, you can rename the
ZDRIVER.BAT file mentioned in Item 0 to something
like NEW-INI.BAT, to make it easier to remember
what it does. You can also write all sorts of DOS
batch files that *don't require input* to run from
the file manager.
--------------------------------------------------
Item 2: Rebinding the hard icons at the bottom of
the screen
You can change the applications associated with the
six icons following the Launcher icon at the bottom
of the screen. To do this, add the following to
your INI:
[hardIconBar]
app0 = Main\Address Book
app1 = Main\Date Book
app2 = Main\Note Book
app3 = Main\Pocket Quicken
app4 = Main\World Clock
app5 = Utilities\File Manager
This replaces the calculator (which is still
reachable from the Launcher menu) with the file
manager, so the file manager is just a tap away.
The apps are found in B:\GEOWORKS\WORLD, and the
path you specify must be relative to this
directory. Capitalization matters, as do spaces.
This list of apps can be found in A:\NET.INI. I'd
suggest copying it into your new INI to avoid
errors. Since it has no tabs, AOL will let you
copy and paste it :-) You can bind anything you
want, to make life easiest for you.
--------------------------------------------------
Item 3: Turning off the "click" sound when you tap
buttons.
If the click sounds bother you, you can turn them
off by adding the following to your INI:
[motifOptions]
clickSounds = false
--------------------------------------------------
Item 4: Changing the size of the fonts.
You can make the fonts used in the menu bar, pull
down menus, and popup dialogs bigger and smaller.
Add the following to your INI file.
[system]
fontSize = 12
This will make the fonts bigger. The default is
10. Using 8 makes things smaller but still
readable. Note that changing this breaks some
dialog box layouts and does weird things to the AOL
initial "You probably" screen.
If you want to use items 3 and 4 in your INI,
combine them into one [motifOptions] section,
instead of making two separate sections. This goes
for all attributes within a single section that are
listed separately in this list.
--------------------------------------------------
Item 5: Make your zoomer multi-windowed!
You can force each Zoomer app to come up in its own
window, and actually use multiple apps
simultaneously! Add the following to your GEOS.INI
file.
[uiFeatures]
interfaceLevel = 3
launchModel = 3
launchLevel = 3
docControlFSLevel = 3
All the apps will have title bars, and the File
menus will "Exit" entries on them. You can iconify
apps onto the tiny little Zoomer desktop, and
double-tap to open them back up.
Things do get a little odd, though. If you reduce
the size of the DateBook window, the month view is
distorted. Also, GEOS' ability to automatically
shut down running apps to start new ones is lost,
meaning that when you go to start the third or
fourth app, you'll get a "I'm to busy to do that
right now" error. Exit some existing tools to
start the new ones.
5. APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT
I am interested in developing applications for the ZPDA
(Zoomer), What do I need?
You will need the GeoWorks Software Development Kit,
available from GeoWorks development at (I lost the
number) on CD-ROM for $99.00. This SDK is currently in
Beta as of November 12, 1993. You will also need Borland
C++ Version 3.1 in order to develop applications.
6. COMMUNICATIONS
What is the Zoomer mailing list?
The Zoomer mailing list is an Internet listserv for the
discussion of the Casio/Tandy ZPDAs. It is open
subscription. To subscribe to the list send a message to
<listserv@grot.starconn.com> with the body text of the
message stating "subscribe zoomer-list firstname
lastname". You will receive a reply message stating that
you are subscribed to the zoomer-list as well as text
explaining how to use the listserv software. To send a
message to all users currently subscribed to the zoomer-
list send a message with the To: field set to <zoomer-
list@grot.starconn.com>.
What are the com port numbers for the various devices?
From: "John D. Mitchell" <johnm@po.EECS.Berkeley.EDU>
The IR port is indeed just another serial port. The
serial ports are assigned as follows:
COM Port # Device
1 Mini-D connector
2 IR Port
4 PCMCIA serial card (if any)
7. ACCESSORIES AND EXPANSION OPTIONS
a. Accessories
Where can I get accessories for my Zoomer?
Probably the best place is your local Radio Shack.
They will most likely have to mail order the items,
but should have them within seven days of your
order.
From: Marc Armstrong <marmstro@mcs.kent.edu>
CAT# PRICE DESCRIPTION
16-2018 19.99 AC adaptor
25-3101 24.99 Serial cable (null modem) for
connection to PC 5' PDA to 9
pin.
25-3102 TBA Infared interface (for
connection to PC serial port)
25-3103 7.99 Replacement styli (2 per pack)
25-3104 5.99 Deluxe ballpoint pen type styli
25-3105 99.99 Pocket modem Zoom 2400 bps
(DATA MODEM ONLY WITH ZOOMER
FAX capability with Tandy 3900
laptop.)
25-3106 19.99 Serial cable for modem
connection (18", PDA to 25 pin)
25-3107 249.99 1.8 MB memory card SunDisk
FlashDisk PCMCIA (up to 20 MB
available by special order)
25-3108 24.99 Leather slip case
25-3109 119.99 PalmConnect PC connection
Software includes serial cable
(35-3101)
25-3110 99.99 Intellilink for Windows
Transfers text data between PDA
and PC applications including:
Lotus Organizer, ACT! for
windows, Paradox, Word for
windows and more (25-3101 cable
needed)
25-3111 249.99 Motorola NewsCard PCMCIA
wireless E-mail pager with
EMBARC service (Customers call
the EMBARC 800 number for
activation and service options)
25-3112 249.99 AMT 2400 bps PCMCIA modem
(works with no additional
driver)
25-3113 89.99 Serial to parallel adaptor
(requires 25-3101)
b. PCMCIA Expansion
8. HARDWARE
============================== cut here =================================
--
Pat Hykkonen ** N5NPL ** pat@tstc.edu ** CNSA ** (817) 867-4831
Bill Clinton today announced what topology the NII will be based upon...
TOKIN' RING!