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Revision 2		Revision 358
1	INTRODUCTION	1	INTRODUCTION
2	============	2	============
3		3
4	This package is meant to make the Psion 5 series of PDAs, as well as other	4	This package is meant to make the Psion 5 series of PDAs, as well as other
5	small computers running Epoc 32, more usable to non-Windows users. But even	5	small computers running EPOC 32, more usable to non-Windows users. But even
6	they may profit from the data I collected.	6	they may profit from the data I collected.
7		7
8	The package consists of several parts:	8	The package consists of several parts:
9	* Documentation about Psion 5 data formats;	9	* Documentation about Psion 5 data formats;
10	* A library which can be linked against application that have to read	10	* A library which can be linked against application that have to read
11	(and in the future, perhaps write) Psion 5 files;	11	and write Psion 5 files;
12	* An example command-line program which reads Psion files and writes	12	* An example command-line program which reads Psion files and writes
13	more commonly used formats.	13	more commonly used formats.
14		14
15		15
16	DATA FORMATS	16	DATA FORMATS
…		…
18		18
19	As far as I know, and have gathered from the newsgroups, Psion does not want	19	As far as I know, and have gathered from the newsgroups, Psion does not want
20	or is not able to release the data formats of the saved files of their	20	or is not able to release the data formats of the saved files of their
21	internal applications. I am trying to reverse engineer these data formats	21	internal applications. I am trying to reverse engineer these data formats
22	and to document them for general use. At this moment, I understand their	22	and to document them for general use. At this moment, I understand their
23	Word, TextEd, Sketch, MBM and Record files. I want this information to	23	Word, Sheet, TextEd, Sketch, MBM, Clipart and Record files, as well as a
		24	few other less important formats. I want this information to be available
24	be available to everyone, in order to write better file conversion utilities	25	to everyone, in order to write better file conversion utilities for popular
25	for popular (non-)Windows programs.	26	(non-)Windows programs.
26		27
27	All documentation is written in Psion 5 Word. Fortunately, the utilities	28	All documentation is written in Psion 5 Word. Fortunately, the utilities
28	in this package can translate it to HTML and other formats.	29	in this package can translate it to HTML and other formats.
29		30
30	Unlike all other files in this package, the *.psi files in the directory	31	Unlike all other files in this package, the *.psi files in the directory
…		…
38		39
39	THE LIBRARY	40	THE LIBRARY
40	===========	41	===========
41		42
42	libpsiconv is a library of routines that you can link against your own	43	libpsiconv is a library of routines that you can link against your own
43	application. It allows you to read Psion 5 files, and helps you output	44	application. It allows you to read and write Psion 5 files. Note that
44	more commonly used files. Note that it comes under the GNU General	45	it comes under the GNU General Public License; that means that you can
45	Public License; that means that you can only link it to programs which	46	only link it to programs which are also covered by that license. You can
46	are also covered by that license. You can contact me if you need other	47	contact me if you need other license terms.
47	license terms.
48		48
49	Libpsiconv consists of two parts. The parser reads the Psion file into its	49	The following formats are supported at this moment:
50	internal data structures. The generator reads these data structures and	50	Word (R+W) Word processor files
51	generates an output file in some other format. Libpsiconv is written to make	51	TextEd (R+W) OPL editor files
52	it easy to add generators, without having to modify the parser side.	52	Sketch (R+W) Picture files
53	Actually, it is a lot easier to write a generator than to modify the parser!	53	MBM (R+W) Alternate picture format; can contain several pictures
54		54	ClipArt (R+W) Internal picture format; can contain several pictures
55	The parser is quite good at the moment. Page layout codes are not yet	55	Sheet (R) Spreadsheet files
56	read, but almost everything that is described in the documents in the
57	format directory is supported by it. Of course, it can also not yet
58	cope with inserted objects (ie. documents in some other format) and
59	other as of yet undocumented things.
60
61	The current HTML target is not very ideal. HTML is just not made to
62	represent detailed layout considerations: it is a document description
63	language. Still, the output is quite readable already. Of course, headers
64	and footers are not displayed, because there is no notion of pages in
65	HTML. Tabs are also difficult; they are not supported yet. This can be
66	solved using tables, but it is quite hard to do it correctly. Some other
67	things are just approximated too.
68
69	The HTML4 target uses style sheets. You need a not-too-old browser for
70	this to display correctly. Generally, the output of this generator is
71	of higher quality than the normal HTML generator's.
72
73	A plain TEXT target just grabs all text, without any futher conversions.
74
75	I would very much like to add other targets, like (La)TeX, RTF (Rich Text
76	Format) and XML (for AbiWord). If other people want to work on this, please
77	let me know! Of course, you could also write your own conversion applications
78	just using my data format description. Native import/export filters for
79	some word processors would be very welcome!
80		56
81	Documentation is scarce; please examine the source code or the example	57	Documentation is scarce; please examine the source code or the example
82	psiconv program. Some things may also be found in the doc subdirectory.	58	psiconv program. Some things may also be found in the doc subdirectory.
83		59
84		60
…		…
89	more commonly used formats. It is linked against libpsiconv, and can	65	more commonly used formats. It is linked against libpsiconv, and can
90	handle anything that it can.	66	handle anything that it can.
91		67
92	Please enter `psiconv --help' if you want to know about its syntax.	68	Please enter `psiconv --help' if you want to know about its syntax.
93		69
		70	The current HTML4 target is not very ideal. HTML is just not made to
		71	represent detailed layout considerations: it is a document description
		72	language. Still, the output is quite readable already. Of course, headers
		73	and footers are not displayed, because there is no notion of pages in
		74	HTML. Tabs are also difficult; they are not supported yet. This can be
		75	solved using tables, but it is quite hard to do it correctly. Some other
		76	things are just approximated too.
		77
		78	The XHTML target uses cascading style sheets (CSS). You need a not-too-old
		79	browser for this to display correctly. Generally, the output of this
		80	generator is of higher quality than the normal HTML generator's.
		81
		82	A plain TEXT target just grabs all text, without any futher conversions.
		83
		84	All ImageMagick graphic output formats are supported; depending on how
		85	you compiled ImageMagick, this is betwee 20 and 50 different formats.
		86	Your favorite one should be somewhere in there...
		87
		88	In the past, my focus was on extending the number of output targets for
		89	this program; at the moment, I belief more in import/export filters for
		90	office applications like AbiWord, Gnumeric and the Gimp.
		91
94	Psiconv is licensed under the GPL. Please read the included file COPYING	92	Psiconv is licensed under the GPL. Please read the included file COPYING
95	for exact licensing information. Please contact me if you need some other	93	for exact licensing information. Please contact me if you need some other
96	licensing terms.	94	licensing terms.
97		95
98		96
99	NEWS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS	97	NEWS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
100	============================	98	============================
101		99
102	Starting with version 0.2, psiconv should keep all namespaces unpoluted.	100	Starting with version 0.2, psiconv should keep all namespaces unpolluted.
103	Starting with version 0.4, the conversion routines are linked into a	101	Starting with version 0.4, the conversion routines are linked into a
104	(static or shared) library. Version 0.5 has autoconf and libtool support,	102	(static or shared) library. Version 0.5 has autoconf and libtool support,
105	and should run on many more platforms.	103	and should run on many more platforms. Version 0.6 has support for
		104	graphics. Version 0.8 can generate files and add Sheet support. Version
		105	0.9 uses Unicode inside, add the psiconv.conf file and has many more
		106	enhancements.
106		107
107	High on the TODO list are input routines for Sketch, MBM and Record files.	108	High on the TODO list are input routines for Record files. I am running into
108	Sheet files will be next. I am running into some trouble understanding	109	some trouble understanding Data and Agenda files, but with a little luck, I'll
109	Data and Agenda files, but with a little luck, I'll figure it out after
110	all. This is more long-term though.	110	figure it out after all. This is more long-term though.
111	On the output side, I hope RTF will soon be done. This will allow most
112	office tools to read the Psion files.
113		111
114		112
115	INSTALLATION	113	INSTALLATION
116	============	114	============
117		115

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