From: anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.palmtops
Subject: Re: Your chance to spend someone else's $$$!
Date: 23 Dec 1992 23:17:00 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4

In article <1992Dec23.215238.24332@tvnews.tv.tek.com> kevink@tv.tv.tek.com writes:
>In article <725060207snz@chrism.demon.co.uk>, chris@chrism.demon.co.uk (Chris Marriott) writes:
>|> 
>|> The HP95 is DOS compatible but I consider that to be a positive
>|> *disadvantage* I'm afraid.  There are very few, if any, DOS apps you can
>|> actually run on it sensibly because of the screen size.

An 80x25 MDA text display is virtualized in the 40x16 display.  True,
this makes many programs a hassle (but not impossible) to use, some
programs work quite well.  Some programs even have special support for
a 40x16 display.

Software development is very easy on the 95, almost any MS-DOS compiler
produces code that will run on it.  Compare this to the Sharp Wizard,
and Casio machines that need a special and not neccesarily available
development kit.  Some people program right on the 95 in C, Pascal,
assembly, and other languages.  The Psion's OPL is quite nice too, and
I think there is assembly support on the Psion 3.

Programmability isn't an issue for some people, however, without user
programmability, freely distributable shareware is nearly impossible.
Note the many programs available for both the HP and the Psion, there
are almost none for any of the Sharp, Wizard, or other machines.

I don't care for MS-DOS much either, certainly in some ways it's a
disadvantage, like no multitasking, short filenames, and poor graphics
support.  Has anyone tried running DesqView on the 95?

>|> a fully DOS compatible file system - and, with the addition of the "3Link"
>|> comms cable simply sees the PC or Mac's disks as additional disks attached
>|> to it, and vice versa of course. (ie, no special procedures for file
>|> transfer - just plug in the cable and do "copy a:\*.* c:").  It has a

This is exactly how the DCS95 package works that comes with the HP
Connectivity kit.  Programs like PC-Anywhere and LapLink also work on
the 95.

>My bid would be for the OZ-9600 primarily because of the excellent scheduling
>software built in as it would apply to your stated objectives.
>
>Milestones and deadline objectives could be tracked by the "to-do" function
>which is integrated with the scheduler which could be used to track and graph 
>actual performance as related to planned project objectives.  The built in

The 95's Todo function has similar funtionality.  Each todo item has a
one line description, a priority (1-9), a carry forward flag, a date,
and a 40x11 notecard.  Items are show in the priority order.  The carry
forward flag determines whether or not the item is seen after the item date.

>notepad is more than sufficient for note taking and memos.  Drivers for HPLJ
>series printers, Canon BJ series printers, Epson FX & LQ series, and the lowly
>IBM Proprinter are built in.  The VT-100 emmulation is servicable and Xmodem
>and ASCII file transfer protocols are built in as well.   Windows based 
>"Pak-Rat" software would be a reasonable package to interface with the OZ-9600.

The 95 has Epson FX-80, HP LaserJet, and IBM Proprinter drivers.  The
built in terminal emulator does VT-100 with or without wrapping over an
80x25 virtual display.  Other terminal emulations and protocols are
available in MS-Kermit and other programs.

>Secondly, your need for free-form databases is nicely met by the "user-file"

This is pretty nice.  The only things the 95 has built in is the text
editor or the phonebook.  There are however several freely distributatble
database programs. 

For someone who is truely torn between an HP, Psion, or Sharp it would
probably be best to actually try out all three.  In my area Office
Depot carries the HP and Sharp and has a 30 day no questions asked
return policy.  I'm sure the Psion is available on similar terms.

For some people none of these machines will work well, a larger palmtop
or notebook would be better suited.  I use both my 95, a Toshiba
laptop, and various desktop systems.
--
<-:(= Anthony Stieber	anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu   uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony
Newsgroups: comp.sys.palmtops