February 2025 – Page 5

Psion organiser II LZ

I am now in possession of my third Psion organiser II. You can view any of my posts on them by viewing the menus listings of this site. This one is the LZ version and is a great clean example. This one cost me a little more than the other two £30Gbp all in. However we have progressed in technology and it is now 1989, this unit has grown up considerably since its siblings were produced three years earlier.

These units have a four line display compared to the earlier two line displays of the older versions. The screen size is larger on the LZ, it is 4 lines of 20 characters compared to the earlier two line screens that were 2 lines of 16 characters.

My current organisers marked with an asterisk to the left this one has a “Massive” 32Kb of ram and 64Kb of rom. Oh how times have progressed

Here is a great review of the capabilities of this unit.

Psion LZ review

Unlike the previous versions I have, this particular unit does not suffer with the Y2K issue.

Below I have included a section from the operating manual for this unit.

The Psion Organiser II Models LZ and LZ64 come with a powerful set of utilities including:

A database which allows you to store items of information and retrieve them again instantly.

A diary to keep track of personal appointments.

Alarms to remind you of your diary entries, or to use as an alarm clock.

A sophisticated calculator, for simple or complex calculations involving mathematical functions.

A clock, with a stopwatch and timer.

Notepads with calculation, for information such as things- to-do or expenses lists.

International time and dialling codes.

A month-at-a-view calendar.

Password protection.

A multi-file database.

A choice of European languages.

The Organiser also has its own built-in programming language called OPL. The language is designed to exploit all the machine’s facilities to the full and to let you tailor the Organiser to your own specific needs.

The Organiser has an internal memory and two external devices which are the equivalent of disc drives on a desk-top computer. Each one can hold a Datapak for you to store information on, or a program pack containing a program such as the Pocket Spreadsheet.

The internal memory of the Model LZ holds around 32000 characters and that of the LZ64 around 64000 characters. In addition, one or more Datapaks can boost the storage capacity considerably – by up to 128000 characters per Datapak.

Courtesy of Psion PLC1989

I’m going to use all the organisers I currently own to look into learning the OPL operating language that all these units use. I have already programmed in a couple of basic routines that just perform actions such as a clock routine that shows up when you turn the unit on – see picture below.

This simple routine consists of no more than about six lines of code, it really is simple but allows you to adapt it to just how you want it, there are a number of options you can use to incorporate it into other routines or have it just running on its own as I have here.The routine above stops whenever you press any button. Simple.

That was the appeal of PDA units such as these in the 80’s in that you could develop and write programs that you wanted that suited you and your requirements. I like this as it takes me back to the days when I purchased my first computer the ZX81 back in the early 80’s when you had to learn BASIC programming just to get it working.

I know I’m probably 40 years behind everyone else and the whole programming scene has moved on in leaps and bounds to a point where it is super technical and advanced, however I love the slow pace and infancy of it all. And I’m not doing anyone any harm, so I’ll just plod on at my pace. It keeps me occupied, and I’m constantly learning. And at my time of life that is no bad thing.

Morse code on a Psion organiser

I did my Morse test back in 2003 just after I passed my City and Guilds 765 RAE exam in Amateur radio. It wasn’t a compulsory requirement as it was in the States at that time, but I chose to go with it. I wasn’t the fastest in the world but I enjoyed using it to be able to partake in my favourite part of the hobby, low power QRP operations.

As morse uses such a small bandwidth, distant operations using very low power below 5 watts are very achievable. Wspr transmissions operate in even smaller power ranges, however that’s a whole different story.

So what’s the Psion organiser got to do with Morse?

When you set out trying to master Morse you look at loads of techniques and ways to make your journey that much easier. There are Morse trainers, there are even Morse decoders and encoders that basically allow you to “Cheat”, but what’s the point of that as you’re not going to learn anything that way.

I used a technique called the visual mode technique that allows you to learn Morse by associating the dots and dashes with the actual shape of the letter and number. It works well when translating to paper, however Morse is a sound mode and it is better to use sound association, that will always work the best. I have this on a book mark to this day, as well as having it as screensaver at work. It worked for me. That’s where the Psion also had a part to play in my education.

I have a pre loaded data pack that runs perfectly on this old 1980’s machine. I used a very similar program back in the day, but not this actual one (See pictures above). The program and files are extracted and copied from the Interair Airnav pack and i have uploaded a small video below to show it whilst working.

“Peace”

With this program every digit you press on the keyboard is repeated back to you in Morse code. It’s a fantastic way to keep yourself on the ball. There are a few minor errors but the numbers and letters are pretty much spot on. It’s a great way to learn the shape of a word by sounds, and that’s a big part of Morse code, where you use phonics or the sound and shape of a string of dots and dashes to learn particular words or formations of groups of words. I’m probably making it sound more difficult than it actually is, and I apologise for that as it really doesn’t have to be. Each person finds their favourite way to learn, and this worked just fine for me all the way back in the early 2000’s about 22 years ago.

Have a great day and peace to you all or should that be :

.- -././.-/-.-./. (Check above) 👆

Cameo

What’s your favorite candy?

Not sweets, that’s for sure. This is Candy by the 80s funk/R&B group Cameo. This is the second song off of their 1986 album “Word up”

Cameo – Candy

You got to admit the lead singer at the time – Larry Blackmon had some special presence, and a cracking range of Cod Pieces.

And this tune has a knack of getting everyone dancing the same routine on the dance floor.

Ain’t no Candy like a “Cameo” Candy.

Enjoy…

Pic courtesy of t’internet

Work

Do you need a break? From what?

I think I wrote a good time back about creating a good work life balance. I actually stick to that and I’m now enjoying a good separation from my workload much to the displeasure of my bosses who seem to think you are contracted to work for them 24hrs a day, 7 days a week.

Now I don’t like to disappoint people, however excessive hours were affecting both my family life and my health and ultimately that combination would have probably finished me off, and that’s no good to anyone. Now they have me working at my best, and most productive and a recent yearly review was very complimentary to me and my work ethic. So that’s a good thing👍

The real answer to the question that I’ve been skirting around is that I need a break from Work. I’m probably a couple of years away from retirement now, and I’m so looking forward to that. We already have plans in place and I’m looking forward to that final day I leave work and close the door for the last time.

I’ve done my time, it’s now time to give the youngsters a go. Let’s be honest we are only ever numbers at work, and the minute you leave someone else will be doing your role, without there ever being a second thought for you.

You’ve done your time, paid your dues it’s now time to go and enjoy your autumn years.

Peace.

How Do We Deal With Microplastics In The Ocean?

An interesting read on what is a problem now that is only going to escalate if we don’t change our ways.

Like the lead paint and asbestos of decades past, microplastics are the new awful contaminant that we really ought to do something about. They’re …
How Do We Deal With Microplastics In The Ocean?

Radio development

The most important invention in your lifetime is…

I had to think about this question and just what has influenced me most in my lifetime.

Radio commenced a good few years prior to my appearance on this earth but it has been the most featured aspect personally within my life.

As a kid of the 60’s and 70’s we grew up with radio being a massive influence to us, all the celebs and stars we knew were probably radio DJ’s and pop stars and all we ever wanted was a small transistor radio of our own to walk around with constantly held to one of your ears. It preceded television that in the 60’s was still really in its infancy, and back then we only really had two television stations that only broadcast for parts of the day.

Radio was the go to medium. Pirate radio stations were popping up all over the place being constantly hounded by the BBC and the government until the BBC gradually softened and realised this was what the younger generation wanted, so all of a sudden we had pirate DJ’s appearing on national radio stations, however they were tightly controlled and governed.

The first item I ever remember repairing was a radio, given to me broken by a neighbour, I repaired it and they were so impressed they brought it back off me, how good was that? At this point my interest in radio was heightened and i realised I could make a living myself, if I wanted to learn. And learn I did.

That’s my personal reasoning for believing radio was the best invention, if you look at how it has affected all our lives, not just in creating a fantastic communication medium, then the effects are long ranging and global. Here’s just a few items that have radio to thank for their arrival into our everyday lives.

Television
Mobile phones
Satellite communications
GPS
Radar
Remote control
MRI scanners and many other medical applications
Data WiFi
And the good old internet probably would not have been born without radio waves to assist it.

These are just a few of the applications that have had their roots in old fashioned radio science. We really have to thank the founders, Heinrich Hertz who discovered radio waves in 1886, and Guglielmo Marconi who sent the first Morse code radio message over a short distance nine years later in 1895.

These two men changed the way the world developed from that point onwards in my eyes.

Radio was and still is, the most important invention throughout my life time.

A day with those who have gone before

Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.

If just for 24hrs you could be with those you miss the most, those who have gone before you who have left you with so many unanswered questions, this would be the perfect day.

To spend more time with loved ones, to walk another mile with them, hold hands and just look at that reassuring smile, how lovely would that be?

Talking with them to the point that comfort and assurance is restored and having those doubts and worries brushed away. To know they really are happy, well and worry free, and that you are loved and still looked after, wouldn’t that just be perfect?

The end of the day would come, you’d be upset for sure, you’d say gentle goodbyes, but this time you’d be smiling, what a difference to the last time you parted company. You could now live the rest of your life free and without the worries and doubts of your past to haunt you. No more grieving.

Never again to ask the question, “What if?” as you’d already have the answers.

What a lovely day that would be❤️

Psion organiser II CM

I have a Psion organiser II Cm from around 1986, a lovely blast from the past piece of technology that for a period of time, put the UK ahead of the world in electronic storage and retrieval technology. For an item that is thirty nine years old it was way ahead of its nearest rivals in both looks and capabilities. Let’s be honest the biggest selling data retrieval system prior to this coming along would have been the good old fashioned Filofax. It really was a game changer.

My personal organiser is in good condition. I’ve had it for about a year now. It has no known faults so I’ve not done this post to show a repair, I have created this post to highlight, just like us all, that the older we get the more care we have to take of ourselves, the same goes for this machine. There is a whole online community still committed to this equipment and the amount of knowledge available to anyone looking at getting one of these items is absolutely immense. Just look here: Psion Organiser II forum

My organiser is a CM version. It has a memory of 8 KB. Data packs can be added, mine has a 16 and a 32k pack so I have a whopping 48k of available additional memory. Extra storage is available between 16-128k again dependant on the limits of your unit.

This version, the CM was a victim of the Y2K bug that you will be more than aware of, if you are of a certain age and possessed a computer on the run up to the year 2000. Panic reigned supreme around this time, the world was about to end. It was a crazy time. For some it was just that, plain crazy and nothing noteworthy occurred, for others they will say it was a whole different story. However it wasn’t all that bad as we are all still here today. That said some units were rendered useless as their date ranges didn’t exceed beyond the year 1999, and that is where this particular model of the Psion organiser slots in to place.

It has that very issue as does the XP version, later editions such as the LZ did not have the issue.

I’ve created a very small video here that replicates exactly what occurred when midnight on the 31st December 1999 finally arrived.

My Psion, replicating the Y2K bug

In a nutshell it resorted back to the year 1900. Some computers freaked out, others that had been attended to had fixes deployed that added extra years to the internal data streams. And we can also do that with this unit today.

All we have to do is visit the site of Jaap Scherphuis who has provided the download to enable users to now extend the date range by another 84 years to 2083. My time on this planet will be done by then so I’m not that worried about what happens beyond this time period. I have quoted exactly what this little fix achieves, below.

When it is installed the main menu item TIME is redirected to the memory resident routine. This routine is identical to the normal one in ROM, except that it adds 84 to the year, making the range of the available years 1984 to 2083 instead of 1900 to 1999. This new range is chosen because these years have the same weekdays.

Jaap Scherphuis

To achieve this fix there are three ways that it can be achieved, either as a direct entry set of commands via a serial cable link to the top of the unit via a computer, direct entry via the unit programming mode, or by using a programmed data pack. I do not have the link, and I possess “Sausage fingers“ so I don’t trust myself to type the detail in correctly, so I will be using the latter option, i am cheating with one of these.

A vendor used to sell these on eBay. They are data packs that contain the very Y2K patch I need, as well as a few other little nuggets of interest all on a preloaded pack. There is an aside to this particular fix. As it is stored in the local memory, should the battery die, or be taken out to be replaced you will lose this fix and it will need to be reinstalled. With Psion, any hard data you wish to keep, has to be saved to one of the data packs, if you don’t you will simply lose your data, no auto save ability here.

So if the battery does die or get removed, with this pack it can be quickly restored to normal use in a couple of minutes with no need to involve other computers or peripherals.

I have now installed the new TIMEINST routine that adds the extra years into the the units memory and it is now usable for the next 78 years (For someone, not me though, as I won’t be around!)

So this is my Psion up and running. I don’t claim to know much about the technical side but I’m learning. If I can assist anyone in any way, whether that is by directing you to someone who knows, or by taking you through what I have done here, then please make contact. I will assist you however I can.

Thanks for passing by.

Stylophone portable organ – you were warned

Earlier in January I posted that I’d brought this retro pocket organ from EBay. Stylophone pocket organ It has now arrived and wow, it is in near perfect condition, the seller did not lie when stating it hadn’t been used since 2008. It is almost mint.

Anyway not being a person to disappoint anyone, I did promise that I’d video myself learning to play the unit. I wanted to prove that anyone can play these “Toys” that were hugely popular over the last 40 years. You lucky people. Here’s the video below.

Enjoy.

You were warned

Using the phone – between rational and irrational

Paul at Techalcoholics hits the nail on the head with this post. Your phone is probably, your biggest addiction.

Pic courtesy of Techalcoholics

If there’s one piece of technology that is universally used and embodies both the positives and negatives of modern advancements, it’s the personal …
Using the phone – between rational and irrational

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