PPPM20 10 POCKET PORTABLE PROGRAMMERS of MELBOURNE INC. TECHNICAL NOTES NEWSLETTER #20, MAY 1987 **************************************** The next PPPM meetings will be 19 May, 16 June, and 21 July at Monash Uni. I know that it is some time away, but the July meeting is our Annual General Meeting. This is the time for the election of a new committee. By July, the present committee will have been in office for two years and may feel they need a break. If some of the present committee decide not to stand again, WOULD YOU TAKE THEIR PLACE???? The April PPPM. meeting was held at Hewlett-Packard Melbourne. Thanks to HP for allowing us to use their facilities when Monash became unavailable. At the April meeting most of the discussion was modems and electronic communications. Mike Barlow gave a brief presentation on what is available in the modem world. Mike has spent the last month collating a large file on modems, what is available, $$$$, etc. His report was a brief run- down about his file. All of Mike's findings are in the club library. The other main topic of discussion was bulletin board access. The following notes cover most of the ideas that I presented at the last meeting. BULLETIN BOARDS & COMMUNICATION Over the last couple of months, I have been urging Melbourne members to become interested in accessing a bulletin board and the use of electronic communications. I believe that this is a vital part of our communications link with other groups around the world. Recently, I have been logging onto a number of local Bulletin Boards with the hope of finding one that might be able to accept PPPM as SENTRY has accepted Syd CHHU. I think that I have found such a bulletin board. The Sysop of the MELBOURNE DATA EXCHANGE BBS (DATAXC = my abbreviation for this board ) has indicated that he might accept PPPM on his board if there is enough member support. If the group does arrange access to DATAXC, then we will have access to a few BBS features that will enable us to keep in close touch with other members, Syd CHHU, and other groups. We would have message and file areas like Syd CHHU does on SENTRY (see TN#18). The DATAXC and SENTRY both have FIDOMAIL areas. This facility allows you to send messages to other BBSs on the FIDO network (ie to/from Syd). Another very important facility that may be available to us is ECHOMAIL. My vague understanding of Echomail is that it is a conference link such that when a message or file is loaded into the Echo area, it is automatically "echoed" to other boards on the conference. If we had Echomail, a file uploaded in Syd, would be echoed onto the Melbourne board and vice versa. This means we could share information between Mel/Syd for the cost of a local call. If this is not enough, Syd is currently in the process of organising Echomail with some USA groups. Hopefully, boards in Chicago, Detroit, and New York will be on the Echomail conference in the not too distant future, so we will have a direct information exchange link with the USA. This is just the beginning, there are many other interesting and exciting possibilities in the future, but we must get things moving now and the first step is to try and arrange access to DATAXC. So what is involved??? The first step is for P.P.P.M. to decide if the group wants to receive/send information via a bulletin board, and if so, give the project group support. By support, I do not mean that everyone has to rush out and buy a modem. The type of support that is needed includes: 1: Making a group decision to participate in the electronic exchange of information, 2: Members with access to a modem to logon to the bulletin board to send/recieve messages/files; 3: For the group to possibly arrange for a modem to made available at club meetings; 4: Possibly arrange with a member to send/receive info. for other members. Once we get going, Syd CHHU will help by arranging some messages and files to be dowloaded from SENTRY. This will help boost local activity and interest. They are keen to help us get under way. PARTICIPATION IS THE KEY. In the meantime, I will be using the FIDOMAIL area for messages to/from Sydney. If you want to receive or send messages to Syd CHHU, then a message can be left with me. Anyone wishing to send a message to PPPM can send it to me via FIDOMAIL. The local bulletin board is :- MELBOURNE DATA EXCHANGE (FIDO) Net 631 - Node 321 Sysop: Robert Broomhead (03) 561-6556 300, 1200/75, 1200 Baud ONE SMALL STEP .......... After presenting the above ideas, there was discussion about the proposal. The final decision was that PPPM wanted to be involved as a group in BBS activity that allowed electronic correspondence with other groups. ie. Step one above has been taken. With group support, I will follow- up previous contacts and try to arrange access to the DATAXC. I will keep members posted as to what is happening with regard to local BBS access. At present, local BBS activity will involve only a few members. How these members pass information on to the rest of the group will be considered over the next month. I have a couple of ideas and will keep everyone informed. One note: Processing information to/from the BBS must be a group effort, and while I will do what I can, others must also do a little work as well. TN takes up quite a bit of time, so member support and assistance is essential for the continued success of this project. LATEST NEWS (Some of the items below were received via SENTRY BBS. Thanks Syd CHHU.) 1: Version 2 of the HP71B ROM has started to appear. 2: We recently received two of the latest USER Journals (from PPC Denmark). Summaries of their contents appear later in this newsletter. PPC Denmark would also like to invite all HP handheld users to the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF HEWLETT-PACKARD HANDHELD COMPUTER USERS in Copenhagen 1987. The conference will take place on August 8th and 9th (Sat. and Sun.) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Participants will be user group members from all over the world. 3: This message is one of a series between Maynard Riley (USA) and Nick Reid in relation to getting a FIDO link between Australia and the USA. Thought it may be of interest. From: Maynard Riley To: Nick Reid Msg #162, 15 Apr 87 5:33:13 Subject: Re: NODE Got it now; the above message anyway; haven't been yet to the local reception. They're still trying to figure out routing at this end, how the hosts might handle it, what about files and that kinda stuff; Now I can get back to them and change the Dallas node on them again; they'll know I'm looney and revoke all priviledges fer sure. We'll see. Nick, I still need address info and US$ to send fer TN which has arrived. I like the content, and it seems that momentum is building, if slowly. It's sort of like a mile long freight train starting to roll. I rode the engine once; we started creeping away and were ten minutes out of the yard when the conductor radioed from the caboose that he had just begun to roll. -- 4: From: Nick Reid To: CHHU/PPPM members & handheld users Msg #78, 19 Apr 87 1:03:07 Subject: new hp handheld journal ex usa Brian Walsh has now got a definite Australian price for his upcoming HPX journal, of US $35 p.a. (no joining fee). This may come down if bulk posting to Sydney, and local distribution from here turns out to be cheaper: he's getting those figures now, now that he has his US and os airmail costs worked out. He will be sending application forms, with a clearer idea of proposed format and contents,etc, immediately after Easter: more news when they arrive. Anyone especially interested leave a message here (SENTRY). The "HPX Technical Support Line" will be preceeding the first copy of the HPX journal by three or four weeks, and is due to be up & running by the end of April, on voice telephone 1-404-391-0367. **** STOP PRESS **** Brian Walsh wants NO $$$ in advance of having application forms accompanying them: he's trying to keep human intervention to the minimum in all clerical activities. Application forms are in the post to Melb. and Syd. So copies will be available at future meetings and probably included in TN #21. 5: NEW BOOKS From: Nick Reid To: All HP handheld users Msg #79, 19 Apr 87 1:10:52 Subject: new hp handheld books Synthetix Inc (Keith Jarrett) has just published 2 new [(hp)] books: Control the World with your HP-IL, by Gary Friedman, and Advanced Programming Tips for the HP-41, by Alan MacCormack. No indication yet of prices on these. Nigel Davies has repeatedly pointed out how the early PPC got itself some easy pin money by buying bulk copies (20 or so) of earlier Synthetix publications and reselling them through local dealers. Also has repeatedly noted how Keith was happy to send them on consignment, meaning that the club didn't pay him until someone had paid them. OVER TO YOU. GRAHAM FRASER (ED)