Re: More Zoomer experiences

starnet!apple!usl.com!ford (Mike "Ford" Ditto)
Message-id: <9310220106.AA10242@apple.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 21:04 EDT
From: starnet!apple!usl.com!ford (Mike "Ford" Ditto)
Sender: starnet!apple!usl.com!ford
To: zoomer-list-1993@grot.starconn.com
In-reply-to: Chuck Musciano's message of Thu, 21 Oct 93 14:04 PDT <9310211918.AA26610@trantor.harris-atd.com>
Subject: Re: More Zoomer experiences
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 1986
Status: OR

assorted comments...


>      * I stuck a Newton PCMCIA card in my Zoomer, and it politely told me
>	 the card was incompatible!  What is different?  Aren't they all
>	 the same?

I plugged a TDK PCMCIA modem into my Tandy Z-PDA and got a similar
response.  I called Tandy support and was told that only Zoomer
certified PCMCIA cards will work, and that there are no known Zoomer
certified cards at this time.  Humph!  So much for the new universal
hardware standard.

Does anyone know if the recently announced Geos SDK includes docs and
other support for accessing Zoomer hardware and PCMCIA cards?  If I get
the SDK will I be able to write PCMCIA drivers?  Does the Zoomer have
MS-DOS style Socket Services and Card Services?

Who is handling hardware-specific developer technical support for the
Zoomer?  GeoWorks?  Casio?  Tandy?


I am disappointed with the treatment of text and ink on the same page,
as in the Notebook app.  This is such a potentially powerful capability,
but it seems like they got it wrong...  If I use ink to scribble some
notes or diagrams next to my text, and then insert or delete a line (or
sometimes even a character) of text, the ink doesn't move vertically
along with the text and has to be erased and redrawn (or manually cut
and pasted -- arduous in either case).  It is so cool to have neatly
typed text and be able to draw lines under or through items, draw
circles or check marks, etc., but it might as well be on paper, since
you can't really edit the text after you've done this.  Sigh.


My Zoomer has crashed three times in the 4 days I've had it, once
locking up until I pressed the reset button.  It hasn't lost any actual
data aside from forgetting my home city a few times.


The Zoomer is disappointingly slow.


The serial port uses the same connector as the Zeos PPC and the Olivetti
Quaderno, but not the same pin assignment as either.  Just what I need,
a third set of indistinguishable but incompatibile cables.


					-=] Ford [=-