Andrew Lord Pason 4.c May 1996 *********** ********* ******** This utility is an enhanced version of pason that was written by Steve Hawtin and whose copyright (the original version) belongs to him. Here is his description of it :- "I like the ability to have a password on my Psion, it makes it more likely that the machine will be returned if it is lost. Unfortunately the in-built password mechanism forces you to retype your password every time the machine is turned on, this can work out at hundreds of times a day! What I wanted was to have a password that I have to type in first thing in the morning but only once a day. That is what this software provides." In addition pason4 can optionally do the following: o The number of hours before pason4 is activated can be between 1 and 24. o Pason can optionally be set to activate a number of minutes after the Psion was last switched on. This effectively means that the password is enabled after a short period of inactivity (eg 10 mins ). This can run concurrently with the existing ability to switch on the alarm sounds at regular intervals. o An option is available to always display owner information when the machine is switched on. o Switch on your Alarm sounds, in case you forget to re-enable sounds after switching them off. o Switch off the remote link DOWNSIDE - 3a only! ******************* Sorry Psion 3ers but Pason now uses "Switch on" events. These are only signalled on 3a machines. Your best bet is to get Pason2 (or better still, the unofficial Pason3) until I figure a crude way to mimmick Switch On events on a Psion3. RESOURCES ********* pason4 uses 6.5K of disk space and 10K runtime space. INSTALLATION ************ Copy sys$pas4.opa to the M:\APP\ directory. Then install the Pason application on the System screen using . Now we are ready to start the program using on the application. When the application starts it will give a dialog. The information required is :- Password - This should be your system password. Timer Mode -"Regular Intervals" All Pason features will activate at regular intervals. This is specified in hours. -"After last switch on" The Password will activate 'n' minutes after the last switch on. This does not affect the alarm sounds and link options. "Keep Alarms On" - (yes/no) Do you want pason to re-activate your alarm sounds? Useful if you use your Psion as an alarm clock - but sometimes turn the sound off (eg. cinema/meetings) "Switch off remote link" Do you want pason to switch off the link?( Remember you don't want the link switching off in the middle of a backup.) "Show owner information (yes/no)" If yes , pason4 will make sure that owner information is displayed when the Psion is switched on if the password is not activated. --------------------------------- Timer Mode Dialog --------------------------------- "Activate After last switch on(min)" This is the number of minutes that should elapse after switch on, before the password is enabled. This option is not available if you selected "Regular Intervals" for the timer mode. "Next Event" This is the initial time that pason4 should switch on. 2:30am is a good time for most of us! "Repeat(hrs)" This is how often you want pason4 to activate itself. Once this is done the application is running and will disappear from the screen. To add security I would recommend that you now remove the application from the System screen using the key. Done. If you had the second version then delete M:\app\pason23.opa or M:\app\pason23a.opa If you previously had the first version of pason installed and your desperate for space you may delete the following files : M:\app\pason.opa M:\macro\mco\pason.mco and M:\pason.dat if it exists. Why install on the Internal Disk? ********************************* While the program should work if you copy the files to A: or B: the fact that M: cannot be removed makes it more secure. I have run the program from A: but it has only been fully tested running on the internal disk. USING PASON *********** Pason is a background task so there's not much to do. However by pressing the "Hot Key" combination and entering your password the PASON menu will appear. This allows you to : 1) Re- configure Pason. 3) Change your system password - so that PASON knows that you've changed it. 2) Change the HOT-KEY assignment. 3) Exit Pason. Note: Change your system password via the PASON menu so that PASON always knows what it is otherwise Pason will stop running. PASON Uses 10K run-time space and 6.5K file space. Pason Mini FAQ ************** Q1 Why not use "After last switch OFF?" rather than "After last switch on"? I have used this rather than "After last switch OFF because no signals are sent to processes when the Psion is switched off. Q2 I've installed Pason and my Psion is not turning off. Whats up? This happens if you set the "After last switch on time" to be less that the system "Auto-Off time" in which case it should take the sum of both times, before switching off. This problem also MAY manifest itself for as yet unknown reasons! but I've only had one complaint and I'm investigating! Q3 PsiWin stops in the middle of a backup because it couldn't copy sys$pas4.opa. Can this somehow be circumvented. I mean, do I always have to sit beside it to conconfirm that annoying dialog box? Yes! Or you could stop Pason prior to backup and restart afterwards! This never used to happen with Pason2. I suspect that it's something to do with the fact that pason4 is bigger than pason2 so it isn't being cached in some way, but I'm not sure. My favorite configuration ************************* o Activate password 30 minutes after last switch on. o Enable alarms at midnight and every 6 hours thereafter. o Don't display owner information. (The screen's a bit slow and tacky and the password will come on in half an hour anyway!) Things to be sorted/added ******************* o pason4 stops running if you change your system password via the system screen. o The link should not be switched off if the Psion is legitimately on. I.e. user has entered password. o Rather than scheduling alarm reminders , there should be a "sleep sound" hotkey that disables alarm sounds in half-hour increments. This fits in better with the way I think that most people would like to switch off the sound. Eg in a meeting - switch off sound for half and hour, At the cinema - switch off for two hours. Pason could inform you if an alarm is scheduled to go off during the "sleep" period perhaps. If there is demand for this functionality I'll add it. HISTORY ******* pason4c 26/5/96 *************** o Pason will show the correct "Next Event Time" in the configuration menu. o Asyncronous events that complete before the IOWAIT are handled properly. Prior to this fix this resulted in Pason being left in the foreground giving a blank screen. o When Pason switches on the Psion momentarily it disables the sound so that utilities that Play tunes at switch on will not be heard. (They may get a chance to play a cople of notes though!) pason4 9/4/96 ************* o Added facility to activate a fixed length of time after the last switch on. pason4b-beta 5/2/96 ******************* o Event driven. - (Can't work on Series 3 :-( due to switch on events) o Hidden OPA. disabled. This only matters if you care more about your data than your PSION! o HOT-KEY feature to access various options. o Configurable Auto-off repeat period. o Alarm reminder. o Switchs off remote link. o Display user information on switch on o Auto-switch off - but only if it was just switched on i.e. Should switch off if the PSION is in use. o Smaller runtime footprint using GSETWIN 1,1,1,1 pason3 ****** This was a release by Edwin Deorre. It is identical to pason2 except that it switches off the machine rather than waiting for "Auto-Off". This saves battery usage. Pason2 ****** Enabled/disabled password directly with an OS call rather than via Tom Dolbilin's macro system. This allows it to be used on Series 3's. Added "LOCK ON" keyword , so that it doesn't need to be restarted after RCOM/PSIWIN backups. Pason ***** The original program by Steve Hawtin. This required the macro system (macsys) to be installed also. Legal Bit ********* Use this software if you accept that I cannot be held liable for any loss or damage that may occur as a result of using Pason. There is no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding the use or merchantability of Pason. More Legal Bits **************** (C) 1995,1996 Andrew Lord Changes pertaining to my version of Pason are copyright Andrew Lord. All prior copyrights apply. (c) 1994 Steve Hawtin This file is copyright Steve Hawtin, it may be freely copied provided The complete copyright section is incorporated including these conditions unmodified All changes to the body of the file are clearly marked and attributed The file is not supplied in any collection or via any distribution mechanism for which the eventual user is charged more than $20 in total, without the written consent of the copyright holder. Manifest ******** This release contains two files pason4.txt This file sys$pas4.opa The Pason application for series 3a I have taken the decision not to release the source code with this distribution, hopefully this should give me better control of Pason release. If you want to see the source code, email me with the text "PASON SOURCE" in the subject line. Acknowledgements **************** This software would not exist without the following people Steve Hawtin For pason!! Psion For the machine Tom Dolbilin For the Macro System Paul Merriman For the Cron program Holger.Pfaff@class.de - Hot key bug fix Thanks to them and all those on the comp.sys.psion newsgroup who helped with their feedback, ideas and suggestions and bug fixes. (You know who you are!) Author ****** Suggestions for improvements should be directed to Andrew Lord Andrew_Lord@tertio.co.uk Steve is happy for all suggestions to come my way, however I wouldn't like to see his name disappear from this file so : Steve Hawtin steve@tsort.demon.co.uk