Reader 2.2a Install Copy Reader.opa to the APP directory and install with I from the system screen. Next you will need to create a TXT directory using + and enter \TXT and select the drive you want to keep the text files on (files you want to read or view.) Note: Once Reader is installed you may want to assign a button to start up Reader from the touch pad above the key board. I use Control+Agenda (icon sort of looks like a book.) To do this, first have the cursor under the Reader icon, then press A to assign a button to the application. Then select the button you want to use close the dialog and you are all set. Quick Start Once Reader is installed you can copy any text file to the TXT directory. And its name should appear under Reader's icon (note: file name should end with the .TXT extension for this to happen other wise use at the system screen and select your file that way.) Overview Reader is intended for the viewing or processing large text files that exceed the 40k limit of the Word app. Since only a small portion of the file is read at a time, things like paging backward and reformatting the current screen cause the text to "wander" a bit since all the internal buffers are set to display the next page. Also when going backwards (Page up or up arrow key) Reader will often start in a middle of a word or line of text. This was done so you could maneuver in any type of file such as a MS Word (tm) file which does have (mostly) readable text somewhere in the middle of the file. This is a bit disconcerting at first but hopefully will not cause any serious deterrent to using Reader. Reader uses a special methodology for wrapping lines in the view window and tries very hard to maintain the original look and feel of the document in a smaller (or larger) window. It does so by making an intelligent decision on what to wrap and what to leave on a separate line, its not perfect but for me its better then all one way or the other. Note: When first starting Reader it may take viewing a screen or two for Reader to adjust to the file and display the text in a more consistent manner. In case your file would be more readable wrapped differently, Reader has different views (the diamond key) that can turn off the line wrap or wrap all the lines together into continues paragraph (broken only by a blank line in the file.) One use for Reader is the reading of electronic There are several "Electron Books" available on Compuserve (tm) in the Palmtop forum in library 17 (Miscellaneous) and there is a wealth of minor works in other forums such as LitForum and the Sci-Fi forum. The largest collection on Compuserve is in the STUFOB (Student B) forum in the English/lit section and the Gutenberg collection can be accessed from CIS by GO GUTENBERG but you will need to join Ziffnet in order to access the files (A few dollars extra per month.) America On Line (AOL) has over 300 Electronic texts in the Palmtop forum. Here are some sources for E-Books on the Internet: 1) Internet: ftp: mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu Electronic Books Site, big choice 2) Internet: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/ DataSources/bySubject/Literature/Gutenberg/ Lit_Author.html 3) There are two Web pages I can recommend for links to lots of different etext repositories: http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/books.html http://www.adc.com/~don/arts.html 4) E-Books Internet:ftp.books.com Book Store On line If there are other sources of free electronic text I would be interested in hearing about them, my address is at the end of the next section. Reader can also process large files so they can easily be loaded or merged into the Word application. Carriage returns can be removed or retained (selectable by the viewing mode (diamond key)) and a large file will automatically be split into smaller files. See the Export section for more information. Note: When viewing vertically the font is built up from the ROM font so the initial display is a bit slow but speeds up rather quickly. When Reader goes to the background (when you switch to another app) Reader closes down resources including its copy of the vertical font. So when you switch back Reader will then build the font back up in the background. This process is a bit time consuming so there will be a delay in processing keys. In general count to 10 before thinking Reader is ignoring your key press. Once the font is built this problem goes away. Any feed back in regard to Reader would be welcomed. Reader c/o Barry Childress 3415 North Second Street Harrisburg PA 17110 Phone (717) 234-0750 - Compuserve 73510,1420 Internet: 73510.1420@compuserve.com Options: Menu Screen Setup S The setup dialog has all the options for the screen display. Font You can select any of the Series 3a fonts: 8 S3 normal 8 S3 bold 8 Mono 8 Roman S Roman 11 M Roman 13 L Roman 16 8 Swiss S Swiss 11 M Swiss 13 L Swiss 16 6 Mono The letter or number in front of each font is the point size "hot key" (6 - 6 point, 8 - 8 point, S - Small 11 point, M - Medium 13 point and L - Large 16 point.) You can "hot key" to any point size by pressing 6, 8, S, M or L. Pressing the same "hot key" again will move to the next style for that size. You can use the arrow keys to quickly select a font of a different size but in the same style. Note: The Swiss character set is generally thinner then Roman, so you can get more text per line using Swiss. See also Z & z (Zoom.) Style This lets you select Normal or Bold type for the display font. See also B (Bold toggle.) Vertical Tracking This sets the space between lines, -1 = close together, 0 = Standard, 1 = farther apart. See also V Status window This selects the size of the Status window. The settings are Off (none,) Small or Large. Also the keys. Line wrap This selects how the lines of text from the source file will "wrap" on the screen. On - The computer analyzes the text and attempts to reformat the paragraph to fit on the screen and still maintain the original "look." Sometimes the computer gets it wrong by not wrapping a line (text starts on a separate line that should be continued on the previous line) or wrapping a line that should start on a new line (trying to make a paragraph out of table data.) Off - All new lines in the source file start a new line on the screen. If the line is longer then the display area the line will break at a word and continue on the next line. All - This wraps all new lines as part of a paragraph unless separated by a blank line. Also the key. Orientation The selects how you want to hold/view the Psion while reading. The choices are Horizontal, Left-Vertical and Right-Vertical. Horizontal is the normal viewing mode of the Psion. Left and Right Vertical are sideways fonts with the left or right referring to which side of the screen is the top. See the note in the Overview section for more info about Vertical fonts and their quirks. Also the O key. Save as default D This saves the options for the screen display to be used when viewing any new files. The options are saved as Reader.def in the \APP\ directory (same disk where Reader is installed.) Zoom in Z This changes the font to the next font. See S (Setup) for a list of fonts. Zoom out Z This changes the font to the previous font. See S (Setup) for a list of fonts. Note: ALL the system fonts (but the Psion 3 number font) are available not just the normal four in the standard apps. Bold toggle B This toggles between Normal and Bold font. See also S (Setup.) Vertical tracking V This adjusts the amount of blank space between lines. It will also effect the number of lines that will appear on the screen. Orientation O This cycles between Horizontal and the two sideways fonts. For more direct access to the screen orientation press (no ): < - for Left-Vertical > - for Right-Vertical / - for Horizontal See S (Setup) for more information. Write to file W This writes the contents of the current screen to a file. The dialog defaults to a file with the same drive, path and base name as the original file with the extension changed to .SAV. Pressing while in the file name box will let you select any existing file. You can use the up and down arrows Zoom (Z & Z) and Vertical tracking (V) to adjust the contents of the screen. Note: using the down arrow key is not a precise way to set the screen. The internal counters only approximate the current location with a tendency to be further into the text then what is on the screen. Use this option for quick collecting of highlights from the text you are reading. If you wish to create a new file other then filename.SAV then use T & E (Export.) I have a Word alias set up so all the saved files will appear under this icon. To do this place the cursor under the Word app icon in the system screen. Press E to create a new list. The Directory will be \TXT\ the extension will be SAV. If you normally view files with the wrap mode set to ON or ALL then the type should be Word Processor. You can then (optionally) select the supplied Clip icon. I used Clips for the name of the list but anything can be used. About A This brings up a screen containing the version number and Copyright right information. There is also information on how to contact me. Search Find word F Note: For the fastest searching Reader needs at least 16k free. It will still work with less then that but a bit slower. Word Enter a word (or phrase) to find. Note: Reader will not find a phrase that spans two original file lines. Although Reader will find a phrase that it splits across two (or more) lines it will not highlight it. Mode Start of word-This is like whole word search but allows for different endings. Anywhere-Find the text in any location. Case sensitive Select ether Yes or no. No will find the text in any case. From Beginning-Start looking from the beginning of the file. Current-Start looking from the current file position. Show before Enter the number of characters to show on the screen before the text that is found. Find again G Find the next occurrence in the file. Jump J The dialog box pops up indicating the current percent within the file. Type in a new percent and enter. And the text relative to that percent will be displayed. Page P The dialog box pops up indicating the current page (relative to the current screen (type) size) within the file. Type in a new page and enter. And the text relative to that page will be displayed. Note: If you go to the last page there may be a few lines still following that are part of the file. CIS If the file you are viewing is a Compuserve forum message file these options will be available. (Each file is tested for a '#: ' that begins a line. Reader will also highlight portions of the header to draw your attention to them. It checks the To: and Fr: line for your name (Press A and check the "Special thanks" line I have your name correct as you use it on forums. And new subjects are also highlighted. Note: that when viewing vertically the highlight will not work if the text to be highlighted is split to another line. Note: The top of the screen is used to determine the start of the current message. So if the screen does not start off with a #: the message header on the preceding screen is used as the "current" message. Next Header H or H Previous Header Shift-H or Shift-H Goes to the next/previous Header (message.) Next Thread N or N Previous Thread Shift-N or Shift-N Goes to the next/previous message with a different Sb: line (subject.) This is a bit slower then normal searching since each message is checked for it's Sb: line. Response file R or R Generates a TapCIS (tm) send file (.SND.) I hope to resume work on generating files for Dennis Lefebvre ReadCIS script but as it is that part is still not done. Keep file K or K Saves the current message to filename.SAV on the same drive and directory of the source file. Please note that Reader starts at the top of the screen and looks _backwards_ for a #: to figure out the current message. Using the down arrow to adjust this is fairly safe unless the message is real short (a line or less.) See "Write to file" for more info on the down arrow key. Bookmark Create C You can create up to 26 bookmarks for a file. Each bookmark is represented by a letter A-Z. I like using letters over numbers (0-9) so if I do use more then a couple of markers in a file I can assign some sort of mnemonic to help memorize the key. You cannot change the modifier it is there as a reminder that you can quickly jump to any bookmark using combination. If you attempt to update a marker that is already in use you will get a dialog confirming the update. When you exit Reader (with X) you will be asked if you want to save the bookmarks. If you answer yes the bookmarks will then be saved and automatically recalled each time you open the file. Once the bookmark file (filename.BKM) is created you will no longer be prompted to save bookmarks it will automatically be updated for you. If you wish to delete all the saved bookmarks just delete the file filename.BKM. Note: only new or updated bookmarks are written to the disk. So the bookmark file is flash friendly. Go to Mark M This lets you jump to a previously created bookmark. By pressing (or using the left or right arrow keys) in the dialog box you can see a list of markers that have been set (in case you forgot.) Select the marker you wish to jump to and press pressing will abort the operation and return you to where you where. Remember that the markers are accessible through their short cut key combination . Note: if you are having trouble using Control-S exit Reader and restart, that should fix the problem. Or use M to go to the mark. Export Note: The only way to abort an export is to exit Reader. Set Top (start) T This sets the first line of screen as starting the export file. The default is the first line in the file. Export to here (end) E This marks the last line of the screen as the last line to export and brings up the dialog box of exporting details. The top of the screen (outside the dialog) will show the starting file contents of the export and the bottom line will show the end of the file export. Note: The wrap mode that Reader is in is used to determine how you want the text exported. If the wrap mode is off the original file lines will go to the export file as is. Otherwise they are wrapped together as explained below. The title of the dialog box shows the approximate page numbers of the exported pages. Use this and the information on the screen to help verify that you correctly set the beginning (T) and end of the text to be exported. Name Enter the name of the file with the extension you want (.WRD) to export to. The default directory is \WRD\ unless it is a CIS message file then the default drive is the same as the source file. This can be an existing file or a new file. You can press to open the file list box and using the arrow keys (and ) navigate to the disk, directory and file you want. If the file already exists it will first be tested to make sure it's an ASCII file before the text is append to it. If the file is not ASCII an error message is displayed and no export takes place. To correct, restart the export with E and fill in a unique name for the file name. Printing is still very limited at this time since I'm not using any of Psion's printer drivers. But with the Psion linked to a PC you can use the name of REM::LPT1 (or any other printer number) or REM::PRN and it should work (unless you have a postscript printer.) With Psion's parallel cable using a file name of PAR:A should work for a printer (but I can't test it.) On laser printers you need to press the "page eject" (or some such) button to get the page, Reader does not issue a form feed. My apologies to Macintosh owners in that this method will probably not work. Disk Select the disk you want the file sent to. Split file length Enter the desired file length of the exported file. When the file exceeds this length a new file will be created and the export will continue and repeat as necessary. The new file will have the same filename with digits appended to indicate the sequence of the split. Use 0 (Zero) to indicate no split . Use this option to split a large file so it can be loaded into the Word app which can only hold approximately 40,000 characters (30,000 characters is the default to leave some room for editing.) Another use would be to split a large text file on the remote computer so parts can be loaded to a smaller SSD. In this case make sure the wrap mode is off before beginning the export (other wise you can loose some of the paragraph formatting.) (You will also need to turn on the remote link and MCLink (or equivalent) and have the two computers connected for this to work. ) You can then select the file on the remote drive and specify a new file name on the remote drive. The file will then be split over the remote link. (Multitasking on the Psion can still take place while this is going on.) Note: split happens only at paragraph boundaries so a file may slightly exceed the amount specified on this line. Line length When the wrap mode is set to ON or ALL you will get this option. You can use this to set the right margin of the exported file. Typical values are 60-80 or use 0 to indicate no split for a line (a return only at the end of a paragraph.) Exit Save place X Exit Reader and saves current position and settings (for that document.) This information is kept in a file with the same base name as the text you are reading but with the extension .RDR. Note: The RDR files are "Flash friendly" and consume just a small number of bytes on exit. Just exit X Quit Q Exit Reader without updating any files. Delete support files X You can delete the 'file.RDR' and 'file.BKM' files on the final "Close file" dialog by pressing or as D (and from the Exit menu.) The main TXT file is not deleted (you can do that from the system screen.) Help Pressing help will bring up a reminder of these keys: Esc or Del Pages up (approximately) one page. Up or Down Arrow Moves text Up or down a line (some times more) at a time. or Goes to the top or bottom of the file. Sometimes when going to the bottom it will miss by a few lines so sometimes another page down will be necessary. & Change the text wrapping mode. See Screen - Wrap Mode for more information. Starts the "auto scroll" (look ma no hands.) Repeated pressing will speed it up. Any other key will stop and take appropriate action. (Pressing is a good choice. for stopping.) Slows the "auto scroll." Note: once you go past the slowest setting the will work like up arrow and stop the scroll. All other keys Page down the text. This is so no mater how you are holding the Psion you can easily page the document. Note: A gray bar is drawn to the right of screen to indicate the position within the file. If the file is small enough you will see a small break in the bar to indicate the size of the current screen relative to the file length. Copyright Reader is Copyrighted 1994 by Barry Childress All rights reserved. To distribute please contact me. Registered versions are licensed to a single user or single machine (the only way that more then one person can use the same program.) Copies for backup purposes are allowed. I have done my best to make sure the program performs adequately but I can not make any guaranties as to its performance with data I have not tested. If you have any questions or comments you can address them to me at my Compuserve address 73510,1420. (tm) Trade Marks are help by their respective companies.