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INTRODUCTION |
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============ |
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This package is meant to make the Psion 5 series of PDAs, as well as other |
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small computers running EPOC 32, more usable to non-Windows users. But even |
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they may profit from the data I collected. |
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The package consists of several parts: |
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* Documentation about Psion 5 data formats; |
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* A library which can be linked against application that have to read |
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and write Psion 5 files; |
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* An example command-line program which reads Psion files and writes |
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more commonly used formats. |
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DATA FORMATS |
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============ |
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As far as I know, and have gathered from the newsgroups, Psion does not want |
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or is not able to release the data formats of the saved files of their |
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internal applications. I am trying to reverse engineer these data formats |
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and to document them for general use. At this moment, I understand their |
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Word, Sheet, TextEd, Sketch, MBM, Clipart and Record files, as well as a |
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few other less important formats. I want this information to be available |
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to everyone, in order to write better file conversion utilities for popular |
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(non-)Windows programs. |
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All documentation is written in Psion 5 Word. Fortunately, the utilities |
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in this package can translate it to HTML and other formats. |
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Unlike all other files in this package, the *.psi files in the directory |
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formats/psion are completely public domain. I ask anybody who reproduces |
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them, or uses their information in other programs, kindly to attribute |
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them to me. |
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The documentation files are not installed on a `make install'; you can |
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find them in the subdirectories of the formats directory. |
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THE LIBRARY |
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=========== |
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libpsiconv is a library of routines that you can link against your own |
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application. It allows you to read and write Psion 5 files. Note that |
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it comes under the GNU General Public License; that means that you can |
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only link it to programs which are also covered by that license. You can |
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contact me if you need other license terms. |
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The following formats are supported at this moment: |
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Word (R+W) Word processor files |
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TextEd (R+W) OPL editor files |
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Sketch (R+W) Picture files |
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MBM (R+W) Alternate picture format; can contain several pictures |
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ClipArt (R+W) Internal picture format; can contain several pictures |
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Sheet (R) Spreadsheet files |
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Documentation is scarce; please examine the source code or the example |
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psiconv program. Some things may also be found in the doc subdirectory. |
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THE PROGRAM |
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=========== |
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Psiconv is a command-line converter that reads Psiconv files and outputs |
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more commonly used formats. It is linked against libpsiconv, and can |
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handle anything that it can. |
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Please enter `psiconv --help' if you want to know about its syntax. |
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The current HTML4 target is not very ideal. HTML is just not made to |
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represent detailed layout considerations: it is a document description |
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language. Still, the output is quite readable already. Of course, headers |
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and footers are not displayed, because there is no notion of pages in |
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HTML. Tabs are also difficult; they are not supported yet. This can be |
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solved using tables, but it is quite hard to do it correctly. Some other |
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things are just approximated too. |
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The XHTML target uses cascading style sheets (CSS). You need a not-too-old |
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browser for this to display correctly. Generally, the output of this |
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generator is of higher quality than the normal HTML generator's. |
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A plain TEXT target just grabs all text, without any futher conversions. |
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All ImageMagick graphic output formats are supported; depending on how |
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you compiled ImageMagick, this is betwee 20 and 50 different formats. |
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Your favorite one should be somewhere in there... |
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In the past, my focus was on extending the number of output targets for |
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this program; at the moment, I belief more in import/export filters for |
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office applications like AbiWord, Gnumeric and the Gimp. |
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Psiconv is licensed under the GPL. Please read the included file COPYING |
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for exact licensing information. Please contact me if you need some other |
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licensing terms. |
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NEWS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS |
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============================ |
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Starting with version 0.2, psiconv should keep all namespaces unpoluted. |
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Starting with version 0.4, the conversion routines are linked into a |
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(static or shared) library. Version 0.5 has autoconf and libtool support, |
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and should run on many more platforms. Version 0.6 has support for |
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graphics. Version 0.8 can generate files and add Sheet support. Version |
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0.9 uses Unicode inside, add the psiconv.conf file and has many more |
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enhancements. |
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High on the TODO list are input routines for Record files. |
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Sheet files will be next. I am running into some trouble understanding |
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Data and Agenda files, but with a little luck, I'll figure it out after |
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all. This is more long-term though. |
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INSTALLATION |
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============ |
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Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions. |
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