Old Hardware Emulating - EPOC Symbian SDK Part 2

 

The SDK, Revo, and the Web

At $599 (4MB) and $699 (8MB) model, the Series 5 didn't come cheap. It was hard to ask users for that much money when a Palm Pilot was considerably cheaper. As such, Psion released the Revo for the lower-end of the market. The device had a smaller screen, smaller size, and lacked a backlite and Compact-Flash card slot. It was compatible with the Series 5 as both devices used the same processor.

The Revo was supported under the EPOC Symbian SDK if the Revo support files were supplied. Most of the default applications on the Series 5 carried over to the Revo configuration. As such, the word-processor and other productivity applications scaled well on the smaller screen. However (on the SDK anyway), the Revo didn't have support for a web-browser.

Also, I did encounter compatibility issues with applications that specifically conformed to the Series 5 640 by 240 screen resolution. Those applications did not scale correctly on the Revo, leading to application distortion.

The battery became something of a nightmare for Revo owners as the owner had to do a battery replacement every three years. The Revo didn't use user-replaceable AA batteries like the Series 5, but a built-in AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries. The owner had to be very delicate to there machine during the battery replacement procedure as not to damage the device.

At $399 at launched, the Revo was competitively priced with the latest and greatest from Palm.


Software

When it came to software, the Psion Series 5 did not disappoint. One would have gotten a wrong impression of the software library from a modern perspective. The vast majority of Psion-oriented sites are gone now, along with there software arcchies. It would be hard to beleive that when it came to size, Psion's software library was second only to Palm. When doing a Google Search for applications, one would be mistaken into believing that the software library for the Series 5 was practically non-existent. However, the Psion software CD had been archived on Archive.org. This is also a large number of Psion owners would have acquired there software. Also, many online software archives, like Tucows, would have offered such software back in the day. The vast majority of Psion-oriented sites are gone now, leaving the CD archives as one of the few places where one could find such software.



The SDK

The SDK was something else. I admit that I wasn't a particular fan of the EPOC SDK. The Windows installer demands that the emulator be installed on the root folder of the drive that you want to use the SDK on. As such, there will be a lot of folders on the root folder of the drive that the SDK is installed onto. It's worse in my case as I had three different installations on my XP virtual machine: drives C, E, and F. Drive F was a "Subst" folder made the dump of the Windows install program and the folder was mounted as a drive. In case your wondering why I needed three installs at once, it was because I wanted to highlight the different Psion setups. One install was a typical install, while the second install had the Revo support files installed. The third setup had the typical setup with the emulator running in gray-scale to mimic the early devices.

The EPOC SDK created a "C" drive folder in the "X:\EPOC32\WINS\C" (X: being the drive where the SDK is installed onto). The Psion software installers shipped as SIS archives. I copied the files into the EPOC "C" folder and started to install the programs into the emulator. It's at this point where crap hit the fan.

It has to be noted that the EPOC Symbian emulator isn't technically a device emulator. It's more of a port of the Symbian Operating System to Windows. As such, the hardware features are mapped to Windows. This isn't actually any different from the CE emulator operated with the WinCE SDK. The CPU conforms to that of your PC, thus making the emulator into a Intel-based Symbian device. As such, applications that specifically ARM-based will not run.

Several programs do run without issue. However, I've encountered yet another issue as well. It seems that during the install, some applications were overwriting other programs. I don't know if this issue was restricted to the SDK or if this occurred on real devices as well. I haven't encountered this issue on the Newton, WinCE, or PalmOS. This had only happened on the Psion. As such, I had to install the programs that I wanted in a particular order, and then forego the install of other, mainly financial, programs that I wanted to try on the emulator.

Even getting the emulator to run in gray-scale mode was something of a challenge. According to the documentation, in order to change the emulator from color to gray-scale mode, one would need to execute the "instcol bw" command from the Windows command prompt in "X:\EPOC32\Tools". Don't do this. This will mess up the emulator. In order to change the emulator from color to gray-scale, go into the "X:\EPOC\Releases\WinS\Deb\Z\System\Data" folder and edit the "WSINI.INI" file. In the part that has "WINDOWMODE COLOR256", remove the "COLOR256" and replace it with "GRAY256". Save the file and the emulator should now start in gray-scale mode now.

Later Models

As the 90's came to a close, the Series 5 models were updated. the 5MX came with more memory compared to the original. Psion was becoming flooded in a marketplace dominated by Palm. However, even newcomers like Blackberry and Windows CE was squeezing Psion out as well. However, Psion soldiered on. In 1999, the company released the netBook, which, like its predecessors, had a clamshell design with a screen that conformed to VGA resolution. The netBook also had a color display and a StrongARM processor running at 190MHz along with 32MB's of RAM.

As the name implies, Psion target the notebook towards users who browsed the net on a regular basis. For web-surfing, a bigger screen was a vast improvement over the smaller screens of the Series 5. Even now, with the vast improvements with mobile technology, I typically prefer using big screens for web browsing over small ones as its much more convenient. As such, I seldom browse the web on my phone. Is browsing a web on a small 3-inch screen possible? Yes it is. Is it convenient? Not really. It’s serviceable, but that’s about it. With the massive explosion of the WWW and devices that could utilize it, Psion tried to capitalize on the idea of "Internet Appliances”. This is basically devices that largely existed for the sole purpose of Internet use. This idea though largely panned out in the marketplace.

These netBooks were highly regarded by the industry pundits and tech journalist. However, this didn’t help Psion’s situation. In 2000, they merged with Teklogix, a Canadian tech company. Also, anything net-related often became victims of the tech bubble burst in 2000/2001. Despite that, Psion continued with the Series 7 netbook followed by the Series 7 Pro which was a Windows CE device. Psion sold its Symbian assets to Nokia in 2004.

This is the end.......(For Psion Anyway)
Sometimes, a ending  doesn't occur with a bang, but with a whimper. Psion brought many innovations to the table, but yet, they were never able to fully capitalize on there own technology. Psion was quickly eclipsed by Palm Computing at first, and then the Windows CE devices and RIM. Psion would fade into the background. However, SymbianOS was about to enter into a golden age of sorts. Nokia would bring Symbian to millions upon millions of people worldwide via there cellphones. However, that platform itself would be eclipsed by a shiny apple and a green robot.

Articles of Interest
Wikipedia : Psion Series 5 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5
Wikipedia : Psion Revo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Revo
Wikipedia : Psion Series 7 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_7
Wikipedia : Psion netBook - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_7
Wikipedia : Symbian - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbian
The Gatgeteer : PSION Revo Review - https://the-gadgeteer.com/1999/11/08/psion_revo_review/
ZDNet.co.uk : Psion NetBook Pro: a first look (Archived) -  https://web.archive.org/web/20070312002011/http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/notebooks/0,1000000333,39116901,00.htm 
CNET : Psion netBook - handheld - EPOC - 7.7" Specs - https://www.cnet.com/products/psion-netbook-handheld-epoc-7-7/
Amazon : Psion Series 5 Handheld Computer - https://www.amazon.com/Psion-Series-5-Handheld-Computer/dp/B00000JFEX
The Verge : https://www.theverge.com/2015/8/2/9080499/psion-series-5-vintage-pda-review
PC Mag : Sept 9th 1997 : Compact Power (Page 58) : https://books.google.com/books?id=eJVnzcZC5I0C&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=psion+series+5+price&source=bl&ots=MhFmWhzdRx&sig=86G2JET3DRaP_3HsJSMOuHV4Uac&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBDgKahUKEwjt1PeHzoXHAhXLVD4KHUkwCJM#v=onepage&q=psion%20series%205%20price&f=false

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