> Can someone tell me what are the best available utilities
> for the Zoomer and what is the best way of purchasing those utilities from
> Australia !!
>
I'm in the UK, so the situation is similar. They might have accessories
around, but I stopped asking when I saw the L600 ($900.00+ !!!) on the
Casio version in a store. Unfortunately, your best bet is to e-mail
your friend(s) stateside and have them buy for you. Second best is
probably to phone in your order international long distance with a
credit card.
> I have not been using it much
> because of the speed and bad recognition that is built in.
*Exactly* my experience until I got ahold of Graffiti. Took me weeks
to get back into using it, even then.
>
> My main concerns are :
> Speed,
Ha ! It is an 8086, mate. Having said that, you can do a lot with
modifying the geos.ini as discussed in the faq, other info docs floating
around the Zoomer net sites, or the `Expert plus' package from Chris D.
published on this group. Basically, the modifications set up the Zoomer
to have multiple tasks running simultaneously with their own windows;
things are much faster when you want to change to something else because
the other process is already loaded into memory. Of course, you can
only have so much in memory at any one time...
> Recognition,
Graffiti. Hand writing recognition that works, even though I know
you don't believe such a thing exists after using the built-in stuff
on the Zoomer. Must learn to write a few of your characters a little
differently, but it is very fast to learn. The $80 package from
Radio Shack in the US includes the null modem cable you need to
install the software and for ZDOS (below) as well.
> and additional Storage
(doing this a little out of order to make sense later...)
Get at least one pcmcia memory card. I find 2 megs works ok, and I
saw a posting here recently of some being sold at $99 (if there are
any left :-)
> Backup, Connectivity with PC's,
the pcmcia RAM card is the main thing for backup, as it will stick
around after you've done the A-B reset on the Zoomer (as long as it's
own internal battery is good !). Next up, among the things I've tried,
is ZDOS. ZDOS came along with the uuencoded expert+ package when I got
it, and basically lets you use a pc as a terminal on your Zoomer. That
is, you can just type in all the Zoomer commands at the pc, as well as
send and get files between the two machines. Still need that null modem
cable, though....
You can get the expert+ stuff from the mailing list archives at
http://www.grot.com/zoomer/zoomer.html
or
> http://www.eit.com/mailinglists/zoomer/zoomer-list/archives.html
>
> See the subjects: 'Re: Expert Plus Mode! Pt1',
> 'Re: Expert Plus Mode! Pt2',
> and 'Re: Zoomer Expert Plus Mode Fix!'
Or check the digests you can get from the newsgroup server as described
in the info text you got when you joined.
cheers,
rob.
-- ------------------------------------------------------- Rob Miller, Ph.D.Biomolecular Structure and Modelling Unit (BSM), Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University College / Gower Street / London WC1E 6BT. United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 171419 3896 Fax: +44 171380 7193
Internet: rmiller@bsm.bioc.ucl.ac.uk http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/~rmiller -------------------------------------------------------