The most balls achingist day ever

[Magic_Sailor]

After starting at 0730 this morning (having done 3 hours last night) the time is now 1750.

I have spent all that time trying and finally actually succeeding in getting this pox ridden computer to talk to my equally pox ridden NEW!! mobile phone and connect me to the internet via same.

I've spoken to Orange - many times. I spoken to AOL - many times. I've visited 2, yes 2, Carphone Warehouses and been sold a USB cable and then exchanged it for an old fashioned Serial cable.

I've been told a myriad of reasons why the flipping (very restrained) things would not work. All bloody different. (One of the last ones was "Oh, Orange doesn't support AOL" - a sort of whinging, snorting, sniffing noise came out of my nose).

Finally, finally it works - and I don't think anyone really knows why. I'm not using Nokias "modem". The Nokia lady said obviously it just won't work with the AOL number " cos its a bit flaky" but I thought I'd have a go (despairingly).

Can you imagine my surprise. Can you have any idea of the elation. Can you feel how I feel.......I have a dream.

Calling.....
Talking to network....
Verifying username and password.....
I was in!!!!!!!

I even sent an email to myself to celebrate.

Tomorrow I intend to go an buy an anorak so that I can talk in a very boring voice to other like minded folk about com ports and baud rates and the like - see, I started to do it then!

A cup of tea beckons. 2 Solpadiene. Peace, endless peace.



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[Bergman]

Re: Don\'t celebrate too soon

Just wait until you get the bull for call charges!

But well done anyway

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[petery]

.. and if you're anything like me you'll use it 10 times to connect top the Internet on day1; 9 times on day 2; 8 times on day 3 ..... and go back to your trusty bulky desktop system connected via the POTS after two weeks

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[andy_wilson]

As long as the fundamentals are right, this is a piece of cake.

Most common problems.......

Customer buys (or is sold) mobile phone that is not data compatible.

Laptops sold with XP Home edition instead of Pro', so no support for 'mobile' applications.

Top brand PC's or laptops with firmware that conflicts with your aims.

IrDA ports that have a little dark red window but no transponder on the M/Board.

No IrDa drivers or configuration.

ISP dial up does not support low data rates of mobile phones.

If Windows XP home or ME is the problem, Windows 2000 drivers can be pressed into service... but you will need W2K disk of course.

AOL is likely to cause continued dissatisfaction. Go to FREESERVE (you mentioned Orange, also part of France Telecom), create a dial up account and use that to dial-up and access AOL mail server.

By all means PM me with the the details of your PC, OS, phone and method of connection and I will endeavor to give you the warts and all view.

Technology .... great in'it

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[Gunfleet]

If you really need it mobile and you really need to get email an SPV takes some beating. I've had mine for 2 months. Get my emails in France and wherever. Synchronise with my PC when I want. Can reply SMS or email if I want. Magic.

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[Metabarca]

Wot's an SPV when it's at home, then?

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[Magic_Sailor]

My thoughts entirely

Single Personal Vehicle?

Small Painted Vignette?

Sounds interesting though. Although the advantage of a mobile phone is that it's a phone as well.

I want it for sending/receiving emails and voice contact with family. No surfing.

Magic

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[Magic_Sailor]

Hate to disagree Andy

A piece of cake it is not.

Latest (nearly) Nokia 6310i phone - specifically recommended for the purpose by Orange

Laptop running Windows 2000 professional.

Wasn't using Infra Red - to do this you need to download the Microsoft SP£ pack from the Microsoft website - estimated time 10 (yes 10) hours - blow that. Was using data cable specified by Nokia.

I used to use Freeserve in the early days but found it a nightmare (constantly chucked off theserver) - maybe different now. Thought about using another server but seemed counter productive and yet another layer of complication. (Everyone kept telling me "This next thing I tell you will solve the problem" - a new ISP was one of these suggrestions).

Thanks for your offer but as you know, I am now sorted although my head appears to be on back to front.

My background is electronics and this seems to be a particularly exacerbated area that always occurs throughout the industry. Namely standard interfaces......they ain't. Especially as all the systems involved are technically extremely complex - hardware and software.

Magic



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[Gunfleet]

Dunno what spv stands for. It's from Orange. A phone, email machine (with Outlook on it) SMS device, MP3 player... oh, you get the picture. It's gprs so it's connected all the time and automatically fetches the first hundred words of an email to let you decide do you want to download and read it, scrub it or simply leave it on the server. It has a little usb cradle so you can get it to synchronise with your computer and you can buy memory cards for it - up to abt 500Mb. I have a 128 Mb card and it's loads. The thing will take and send pictures too but I don't bother with that.

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[IanPoole2]

Remember Captain Scarlet (and the Mysterons)
SPV - Spectrum Patrol Vehicle - always wanted one when I was a lad

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[Rich_F]

No, I'm sorry, that's not the most balls achingist day ever. For a strong contender, see the story in this month's Sailing Today, page 129.

In summary, it combines a heavy seaway with a sandwich comprising a toilet bowl, the "crown jewels" of a 16 stone gentleman, the toilet seat, and the rest of said 16 stone gentleman with complete inability to get his footing.

My eyes are still watering!

Rich

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[iangrant]

Serial cable from Com1 to a Nokia 6210 using it's own modem software,
Er I must have got it wrong then, took about 20 minutes,

Dialled BTconnect and connected first time.


Ian

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[Guest]

Not even close. I had the snip on Monday.....

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[extravert]

SPV is a phone marketed by Orange but built by a non-mainstream handset manufacturer. It runs a Microsoft operating system, which is new for phones. It has a built in colour screen and camera and can take pictures and send them as picture messages. It can send and receive emails as well. SPV stands for Sounds Pictures Video.

A similar alternative is the Sony-Ericsson P800, just launched in this country. It is marketed by a variety of network operators. It runs the Symbian (British) operating system, nothing to do with Microsoft. It also has a colour screen and camera, although the screen is larger than the SPV and is also touch sensitive. Similarly it can send and receive emails and picture messages. The P800 has a web browser so can access webmail services like Hotmail.

The Nokia 7650 is similar again, but has been around longer than the SPV and P800 and has less features and memory.

For people what want to stay in touch by email at sea but don't need everything else a PC might offer, these seem to me to be a better option than a laptop and phone combination, because...

1) They are cheaper
2) They are a phone too
3) They use very little power
4) They can be recharged from 12V boat system
5) Their batteries last for ages in standby (over a week for the P800)
6) They are more rugged than a laptop
7) They are pocket sized so can be carried easily away from the boat

All phones will be going this way in the future. The likes of the SPV, P800 and Nokia 7650 are the first.



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[DeeGee]

I'll let you into a secret... I have a crystal ball that enables me to see into the future, so I don't indulge in guesswork.

The future is not a phone, nor a PC. It is the logical descendant of the current trend in PC's... the rollup screen, with touch technology for input (like iPAQ) so no keyboard, screen about a foot long by about 10inches, with special edges so that when you unroll, it snaps flat. The electronics are hidden behind the screen embedded in flexible film. The battery is slid off and on the shortest edge and is, itself, about twice the capacity of the current generatioin.

Tablet PC's are the nearest thing to this today, and can embed a phone or use bluetooth, and IR communcation with your fridge (yes, I did say today!).

As to connecting your laptop with a nokia phone - most of the problems are software+user, not hardware.

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[Jacket]

One of the researchers here at Cambridge has been developing very much what you describe. the last I saw it was at the stage of roll up screen (admittedly fairly poor resolution) with semi-flexible electronics embeded into it. It wasn't touch sensitive though, so you needed a seperate keyboard.

So still a long way to go, but impressive none the less.

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[vyv_cox]

There was a roll-up keyboard at the Amsterdam Boat Show, looked like bubble-wrap with letters on it. No idea whether these are new technology but we were impressed.

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[Magic_Sailor]

Cough, splutter

Does your crystal ball warn you when people get cross! Only joking.

"Most problems are software + USER" - that is me! I think not.

You're only partly right. I haven't found a standard yet - software or hardware - that actually works all the time. Even the humble RS232 cable which has been with us since Adam was a lad can go wrong - people never know when to reverse the send/receive lines. The problems with my system were manifold:

Software
Hardware
Inter company agreements
Bloody call centres (at one point I was connected to Bombay on a bad line speaking to a man with a very strong Indian accent - nightmare 'cause I didn't want to appear rude)
People
Shops

Oh and me - just a bit.

Magic

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[graham]

2 big black balls dont allways mean "Not Under Command"

Been there got the T shirt.

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