Newsletter #21 - April 2000

Please visit lists.markspace.com to change your newsletter subscription.

1. NEW: Online 1.4 (PalmOS) Released
2. NEW: PageNOW! E-Mail Gateway 1.0.2 (MacOS) Released
3. NEWS: TRG Shows PageNOW! 2.0 at CEBIT (PalmOS)
4. STORY: Online at 10,000 feet under the sea...
5. NEWS: Palm Desktop 2.6 for Mac OS Spotted!

Online v1.4 has just been released!

Major new features include:

• re-designed tool bar with quick access to popup keyboards via tool bar or 123/abc silk-screen buttons
• ability to assign macro text to each of the 4 hardware buttons
• ability to assign macro text and a label to each of the 4 on-screen navigation buttons
• text pacing (in case a remote system can't keep up!)
• support for XON/XOFF flow control via the app (the OS support is marked "not implemented")
• larger buffers and improved code for increased speed!
• Preference to send DEL or BS for delete
• Local echo
• 2 bit (gray) and 8 bit (color) application icons
• added 115K baud to list of available rates

For a complete list of changes, see "Release Notes.doc", included with the distribution.

Version 1.4 is a free update - just use the serial number you received with version 1.2 or later (registered customers of 1.0-1.2 can request a free 1.4 serial number by sending hotsync name in a message to sales@markspace.com).

If you there are features you would like to see implemented in future versions of Online, remember to join the online-talk mailing list to participate in beta discussions and learn of new developments instantly.

The next major features being worked on for Online are the ability to log to and send DOC files (which breaks the 4K memo pad record barrier), telnet connections via TCP, and file transfer protocols (most likely YMODEM or ZMODEM).

PageNOW! E-Mail Gateway 1.0.2 (Mac OS) is now available for downloading.

This free update contains the following changes:

• New: Now supports APOP style authentication
• Changed: User Guide now in PDF format
• Updated: Documented use of EIMS virtual domains

The PageNOW! E-Mail Gateway provides a link between email addresses and pagers or digital phones. The gateway simply checks internet email addresses, and relays any messages found to the designated pager or phone. The gateway can be used with email accounts on an in-house email server, or those on an internet service provider - you can even mix and match.

To reach a pager or phone, just send email to address such as "page_brian@yourcompany.com", "sales_force@pagers.mycompany.com" or even "personal_account@national_isp.com". The gateway can be configured on a per-address basis to limit the contents of the forwarded message (ie, complete message, or sender and subject only) as well as the times of day that the account should be active (ie, 9am-5pm or 24 hours/day).

HANNOVER, GERMANY TRG Products demonstrated a TRGpro connected to a Siemens S-25 phone using Mark/Space Softworks PageNOW! wireless messaging solution for the Socket Communications Digital Phone Card on the TRGpro at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany.

TRG Products manufactures the TRGpro handheld computer, the only Palm OS computer that incorporates CompactFlash into the computer. CompactFlash is an industry standard that can support either I/O or storage. TRG Products exhibited in the Palm Computing Platform Pavilion in Hall 13 #B36.

Mark/Space develops PageNOW! and other communications software for PalmOS, Mac OS, Windows and Web. PageNOW! is used by consumers and corporations around the world to send and receive wireless text messages with pagers and digital phones.

Socket develops a wide range of Compact Flash cards, including the Digital Phone Card.

CeBIT is the world's largest electronics trade exhibition. TRG Products participates annually.

TRG is at http://www.trgpro.com Mark/Space is at http://www.markspace.com Socket Communications is at http://www.socketcom.com

Think you've taken your PalmPilot just about everywhere? Online customer Peter Kauffman , a research engineer at the University of Washington Oceanography department describes his usage of Online:

I will be using the PalmPilot with Online in the submersible 'Alvin' at a hydrothermal vent zone about 10,000 feet down. I need it to 'talk' to instruments that are being deployed in and around the high temperature vents. The PalmPilot is great for this because there isn't much room in Alvin and a lap-top can be awkward. Online will make this possible. We also sometimes need to extract data from instruments: usually no more than 1 MB or so. Having a hand-held terminal for collecting data under difficult field conditions has been a wish of mine (and other 'field' scientists) for a long time. I have already ruined one lap-top machine trying to 'talk' to an instrument on the deck of a ship in the rain.

I'm sure Peter will be looking forward to the "log to DOC file" feature coming in the next release of Online!

If you enjoy similar stories, be sure to cruise on over to the original "PalmPilot Was Here" web page run by a long time friend of mine, Terry Conklin.

http://www.conklinsystems.com/pilot/

His BBS, run on a TRS-80, was one of the first systems (either THE first or the second) that I called way back in 1982!

I sent a picture of my pre-production Handspring Visor at a few thousand feet in a World War I fighter-trainer (that is UP, not down!) looking out over the history Hudson Valley. This was during the official release of the Visor at PC Expo in New York City last summer.

However I don't think that compares to some of the places other people have taken theirs, such as in outer space (MIR), an active volcano, or inside the mouth of a Wiemriener.

If you have a good "Pilot Was Here" story, or a unique way in which you have used a Mark/Space product, drop us a line. If we like it enough to publish it in the newsletter, we'll shower you with kudos (and perhaps an "I Like to Watch" PhoneWatcher 2.0 t-shirt).

Users of Mac OS and the Handspring Visor are in for a treat. A stealth upgrade was spotted by yours truly earlier today at the Handspring web site.

Touted as a fix for those running Mac OS 9.0.4, it has the added benefit of being a version AHEAD of the one that Palm is shipping. This new version 2.6 sports the new Palm logo on its splash screen, but the most exciting part is that it supports hotsync via Visor USB Cradle, Palm USB Connect, any cradle hooked up to serial port, or via USB->Serial adaptor (such as from Keyspan) AND (if using a PalmOS device with OS 3.3 or later, which sadly does not include the Visor) IR!

Kudos to Handspring for this smooth update.

At last I can have one Palm Desktop for all my PalmOS devices!