Zoomer Uses

Scott Johnson (srj@3com.com)
Wed, 29 Jan 1997 15:06:15 -0800

kslater> Okay Scott, I'm intrigued. Can you give us other
kslater> Zoomer afficianados some further detail on your uses
kslater> of your Zoomer? You sound like someone who's getting
kslater> a lot out of that little black box! Maybe you could
kslater> list off a task you routinely use the Zoomer for
kslater> (e.g. reconfiguring a router) and the software (with
kslater> semi-complete acquisition information) you use in
kslater> addition to the out-of-the-box software that
kslater> accompanies the Zoomer. What do say?

All I use is standard stuff that has been previously mentioned on this
list like Text Editor, GeoComm, and the stuff that came with the Zoomer.

If I want to reconfigure a router (for example, someone loans us an
extra router for testing or development, and invariably doesn't change
the IP address) all I do is use the serial cable and GeoComm to
reconfigure the router through the console port. It's nice to be able
to just take it out and use it, instead of having to find a laptop or
some such. I wish it was easier to enter control characters than it
is, but I'm working on a solution...

If I want to read mail, I use GeoComm and a modem to talk to the
dialup lines and I use VT100 emulation to access my mail via Emacs.
I'm looking, matter of fact, for a pocket modem (most of them have
fallen by the wayside in favor of PCMCIA) for better portability.

I use a Text Editor for note-taking, but I can also use Notepad if I
desire (and I did, until the Text Editor would accept
Graffiti-keystrokes in the main window-- right now, I'm still
evaluating the Text Editor, as I find it a little slow). As long as I
eventually end up with ASCII text files, I can use anything. ASCII
allows me to email things, to edit them on the PC, or upload them to
UNIX.

So you see, it's not any special gee-whiz software I've got; it's just
'run what ya brung' and being a little clever at times.

Future? Figure out some way to do formatted text on the Zoomer so I
can pen up letters for later printing. Maybe if I ever get a bigger
ramcard...

-- 
 --srj           Make money fast: don't give it any food.
       o_O                                                         --unknown
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        U  Ack!  Scott Johnson  3Com Corporation  srj@3com.com  408-764-6248