Magic Cap Users Mailing List
Thursday October 10, 1996
From: Sean Kenny <seank@KERN.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 02:00:18 -0700
Subject: ML page size
Is there anyway to make the ML 1K print/fax a note/letter in a
regular 8.5 x 11 format? Every time I fax something, it comes out in a
little, screen-sized, notebook page-cute, but not proper for some buisness
letters/memos.
Thanks.
From: Luke Derossi <lderossi@comcat.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 10:17:43 -0400
Subject: Re: ML page size
Sean Kenny wrote:
>
> Is there anyway to make the ML 1K print/fax a note/letter in a
> regular 8.5 x 11 format? Every time I fax something, it comes out in a
> little, screen-sized, notebook page-cute, but not proper for some buisness
> letters/memos.
> Thanks.
>
Sean,
There are two options available to get faxed/printed documents to be
stretched to fix 8.5"x11". The first uses a package called InkWriter,
from the Aha! Corporation. InkWriter's main purpose is to allow the
user to input and manipulate text in handwritten ink. It does this by
treating every close group of penstrokes as a 'word' and will let you
apply italics, bold, underline, etc. and move chunks of text around.
The side benefit of InkWriter is that its pages come out in 8.5x11 when
faxed or printed by rewrapping the text in the paragraphs to fit the new
page size. Oh yeah, you can just type into one of these pages too, you
don't *have* to use handwriting. InkWriter is available from Sony at
1-800-571-SONY ext 333. You can check it out at thier website too,
http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/Magic/software.html
The second method is somewhat of a hack, but its a neat one. PenCell
allows faxes and prints to be full page as well. If you're looking to
make a business form, like an invoice, you can make a template in
PenCell and then just make copies and fill out the information. If you
just want to do a standard letter, you might be able to stretch the B
column (keeping colums A and C for 'margins') super-wide and dump your
text into it. I haven't tried the latter, but I did successfully often
use the former method for printing invoices. In fact, I released the
invoice generator as a package. Last I saw it was only available on AOL
in the General Magic file area (keyword GENERAL MAGIC) but I've grabbed
it from there and placed it on my web page, at
http://www.spies.com/lderossi if anyone wants to take a peek at how I
did it.
Regards,
Luke Derossi
for
General Magic, Inc.
From: Josh Schrier <0schrier_j@SPCVXA.SPC.EDU>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 10:54:19 -0400
Subject: Aha! InkWriter
That sounds like some pretty neat software...does anyone know ehre you
can get a demo? How much does it cost? How much RAM does it take up?
Anyone looking to sell a copy?
--Josh
From: Josh Schrier <0schrier_j@SPCVXA.SPC.EDU>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 10:56:45 -0400
Subject: Why SRAM?
Why did Sony/Gen Magic decide to go with SRAM instead of FlashRAM? I
understand that SRAM doesn't wear out like FlashRAM does, but FlashRAM is
available in larger denominations, and costs less. Anyone know why?
If there were a FlashRAM "driver" would the hardware prevent the use of
FlashRAM.
Just Curious
--Josh
From: Luke Derossi <lderossi@comcat.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 12:44:01 -0400
Subject: Re: Aha! InkWriter
Josh Schrier wrote:
>
> That sounds like some pretty neat software...does anyone know ehre you
> can get a demo? How much does it cost? How much RAM does it take up?
> Anyone looking to sell a copy?
>
> --Josh
Josh,
I don't believe there is a demo available of the Magic Cap version,
however you can take a look at Aha!'s web site, at
http://www.ahasoft.com and get a demo of the Windows version of
InkWriter. As you can imagine this is probably fairly different than
the Magic Cap version though(at least in user interface). The original
MSRP for InkWriter is $129, however I believe I've seen it for less
recently. Sony's website asks that you call for current pricing. They
also say it requires a minimum of 256K of RAM either in main memory or
on a SRAM card.
Regards,
Luke Derossi
for
General Magic, Inc.
From: Aaron Wallace <aaron@IFACT.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 10:00:22 -0700
Subject: Re: Why SRAM?
At 10:56 AM 10/10/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Why did Sony/Gen Magic decide to go with SRAM instead of FlashRAM? I
>understand that SRAM doesn't wear out like FlashRAM does, but FlashRAM is
>available in larger denominations, and costs less. Anyone know why?
>If there were a FlashRAM "driver" would the hardware prevent the use of
>FlashRAM.
Most likely it's because SRAM can be treated like normal RAM in terms
of read/writing, while FlashRAM requires special programming techniques
when writing information to it (you have to bulk erase a region
of the memory and rewrite data into it, more or less). FlashRAM also
consumes much more power when writing to it, and is a bit slower...
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Aaron Wallace The Internet Factory, Inc. |
| aaron@ifact.com http://www.ifact.com |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: Paul Linhardt <plin@SONYSOFT.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 11:32:14 -0700
Subject: Re: Why SRAM?
>Why did Sony/Gen Magic decide to go with SRAM instead of FlashRAM? I
>understand that SRAM doesn't wear out like FlashRAM does, but FlashRAM is
>available in larger denominations, and costs less. Anyone know why?
>If there were a FlashRAM "driver" would the hardware prevent the use of
>FlashRAM.
>
>Just Curious
>--Josh
Back in the days when Adam & Eve were still in the Garden of Eden, a
FlashRAM driver was on Sony's list of must-have features before Magic Cap
1.0 shipped. However, as typically happens, as the development schedule
slipped more and more, Sony & GM had to decide whether it was more
important to ship with support for FlashRAM or ship in time to get into the
end-of-the-year distribution channels. (Those of you familiar with retail
distribution channels know that a product that doesn't get into the
channels by October doesn't get another opportunity to get into the channel
until the end of January.) At that time, there was a FlashRAM driver, but
everyone knew it was not robust enough to be released and there were no
engineering resources available to complete the task. For whatever
reasons, FlashRAM never made it back to the list of high priority features.
IMHO, while a FlashRAM driver would be nice, there are many other features
(such as drivers for different types of wireless cards) that would be more
valuable to the MC community.
-Paul
---------------------
Sony New Technologies
http://www.sonysoft.com
1-800-739-7337
E-mail: plin@sonysoft.com
From: Jacqueline Curry <Live4Words@AOL.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 15:50:40 -0400
Subject: AOL update
[This message may have contained graphics created by a Magic Cap device on
America Online.]
Dear MAGICCAP List,
I called and asked AOL again about the lack of news retrieval (since
upgrading it's system to 3.0, the news retrieval forML users have been
nonexistent.), and was basically told that since there's not that many of us
using AOL (via ML), we're not exactly top priority. Bottom priority maybe...
I wish there was someone I could talk to about this. It's not right that
this is happening.
From: Joe Solem <Jrsolem@AOL.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 17:55:24 -0400
Subject: Re: AOL update
Live4Words(Jacqueline Curry) wrote:
>I called and asked AOL again about the lack of news retrieval (since
>upgrading it's system to 3.0, the news retrieval forML users have been
>nonexistent.), and was basically told that since there's not that many of us
>using AOL (via ML), we're not exactly top priority. Bottom priority
maybe...
>
>I wish there was someone I could talk to about this. It's not right that
>this is happening.
Several of us on this list have experienced AOL's lack of regard for it's
customers who use Magic Links. I know there was almost a complete lack of
interest on their part when my Magic Link capable local access number was
discontinued. They have people working in the PDA department, but they
don't seem to have any power in influencing the company's policies. They
didn't even know about Hawaii Magic Link access being cut off until I
told them. I wrote a letter to the chairman, Steve Case
(stevecase@aol.com) and got a terse reply from one of his underlings
which basically acknowledged the fact that yes, I had been cut off. My
admittedly cynical view is that the situation with AOL is only going to
get worse. ML users constitute such a small percentage of it's user base
that they have no clout whatsoever. My suggestion for all of you trying
to work with AOL on your Magic Links is to make all the noise you want to
them, but when you finally get Presto!Mail/Links and an ISP write AOL a
letter and TELL them why you are discontinuing their service. In the
meantime you can leave mesages in the PDA forum.
Mandatory disclaimer: I don't work for any of the companies mentioned.
I'm a self-employed photographer and a disgruntled AOL user.
Joe Solem
Joe Solem
From: Undetermined origin c/o LISTSERV maintainer
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 15:36:36 +0000
Subject: MCW sync?
Downloaded MCW. I don't see any sync features. I remember there being much talk about how MCW would link with our Links and Envoys. Am I missing something?
P.mchugh@worldnet.att.net
From: MCW Online <mcwonline@genmagic.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 17:27:52 -0700
Subject: Re: MCW sync?
At 03:36 PM 10/10/96 +0000, Undetermined origin c/o LISTSERV maintainer wrote:
>Downloaded MCW. I don't see any sync features. I remember there being much
talk about how MCW would link with our Links and Envoys. Am I missing something?
>
>P.mchugh@worldnet.att.net
>
Greetings Paul,
No you are not missing anything. Yes we are working on a Data Sync package
for MC for Win95. This package will allow the exchange of Namecard and
Datebook data between the handheld devices and Magic Cap for Windows.
This package is due to be released before the end of this year.
Best,
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Joel Connors /
Magic Cap For Windows95 Support
General Magic
Email at: MCWOnline@genmagic.com
From: Jacqueline Curry <Live4Words@AOL.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 20:12:36 -0400
Subject: Re: AOL update
[This message may have contained graphics created by a Magic Cap device on
America Online.]
Dear MAGICCAP List,
>I wrote a letter to the chairman, Steve Case
(stevecase@aol.com) and got a terse reply from one of his underlings
which basically acknowledged the fact that yes, I had been cut off. My
admittedly cynical view is that the situation with AOL is only going to
get worse. ML users constitute such a small percentage of it's user base
that they have no clout whatsoever. My suggestion for all of you trying
to work with AOL on your Magic Links is to make all the noise you want to
them,
Thanks for the email address. Like you said, if enough of us spoke up about
it, maybe, just maybe something might come if it.
I wrote to AOL suggesting that maybe they could turn to a third party
concerning news retrieval (isn't there one out, costing around $10/month?),
but won't hold my breath.
From: Greg McKenzie <gregm@SONYSOFT.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 17:29:29 -0800
Subject: Beta Testers Needed
Sony New Technologies is seeking fifteen motivated individuals to test
it's new Farcast news service package for Magic Cap for Windows.
Applicants for the beta test program must have Magic Cap for Windows and
must be able and willing to use the news service daily for the next two
weeks. The most productive bug reporters will be awarded complimentary
Farcast subscriptions of up to six months.
This product will begin beta tests early next week and the test is
expected to last approximately two weeks. Applicants are asked to
contact Greg McKenzie at:
gregm@sonysoft.com
Send a message to the above address with the following subject line:
"Buggy Baby Beta Beaters"
Applicants should include the following information:
1. Your full name
2. Your snail mail address
3. The email address where you will be receiving Farcast messages
4. The email address where you can receive the Farcast package (may be
same as above)
The above information is needed to set up a Farcast test account for
each beta test participant.
Thank you for your interest.
Regards,
Greg McKenzie
Senior Product Design Engineer
Sony New Technologies, Inc.
From: Paul Linhardt <plin@SONYSOFT.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 18:18:25 -0700
Subject: Re: AOL update
Jacqueline Curry writes:
>>I wrote a letter to the chairman, Steve Case...
>I wrote to AOL suggesting that maybe they could turn to a third party
>concerning news retrieval (isn't there one out, costing around $10/month?),
>but won't hold my breath.
Jacqueline,
Sony NT developed a client application for a service called Farcast which
for a flat fee of $9.95 per month allows you to:
* Get stock quotes, weather, sports updates delivered to you 24 hours a day.
* Get company news stories sent to you as they happen.
* Stay on top of breaking developments as they impact your decisions.
* Obtain the latest news when it is convenient for you - day and night.
* Review news articles as far back as 30 days.
* Customize personal searches to report periodically as events change.
The news information is sent to you by e-mail so you can use it in
conjunction with AOL or any other e-mail provider. The service also allows
you to set up "droids" which watch the wire services for keywords which you
specify (such as "General Magic" or "Bigfoot").
The software can be downloaded for free from our web site or ordered on
floppy in Magic Xchange format for a modest fee from Sony Electronics at
1-800-571-SONY. There is a 30 day free trial period so you can try out the
service.
To find out even more about this service visit:
http://www.sonysoft.com/farcast/ or
http://www.farcast.com/
Regards,
-Paul
---------------------
Sony New Technologies
http://www.sonysoft.com
1-800-739-7337
E-mail: plin@sonysoft.com
From: Steve Hirst <hirst@WELL.COM>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 19:53:19 -0700
Subject: from PLink->P!Link
This message contains mail encoded for MagicCap
--magicmail
--magicmail
Content-Type: application/prestomail
begin 000 PrestoMail
M`0!CQSX/4&5R$QA8F5L
M`P`!=,3-KTP,
MLH<`P#\2=7-T96US$B`?36%N
M86=E2!M86EL+B`@37D@2!!4T-)22X*"EER
M2!I;F-O;7!A=&EB;&4@=VET:"!0
From: Johnny Culver <MrsTroi@AOL.COM>
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 00:13:19 -0400
Subject: Re: AOL, Magiclink and usenet
is there a way to retreive usenet from my magiccap, without prestomail? I
have the software, but, alas, do not have a magicexchange to convert it for
my magiccap.
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