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Text File | 1997-03-06 | 12.4 KB | 377 lines

Andrew Lord Pason 4e Jan 1997 *********** ******** ******** This utility is an enhanced version of pason that was originally 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 the password a number of minutes after the Psion was last switched off. 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.(described below) o Once Pason is running you can forget about it. It does not stop during backups and does not appear when cycling through the list of programs ( with SHIFT-SYSTEM) o Switch on your Alarm sounds, in case you forget to re-enable sounds after switching them off. o Switch off the remote link o For those with an Acorn Pocket Book, having Pason installed should allow you to change your system password whenever you please (but not to initialise it). ***************** REQUIRED HARDWARE ***************** Pason4e runs on a 3a , 3c and the Siena. Sorry Psion 3ers but Pason now uses "Switch on" events. These are not signalled on Psion 3s. 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 6.8K of disk space and 10K runtime space. ************ INSTALLATION ************ If you already have an older version of Pason running then stop it. Copy sys$ps4e.opa to the M:\APP\ directory. Then install the Pason application on the System screen using <Psion-I>. Now we are ready to start the program using <Enter> on the application. When the application starts it will ask you a number of questions: ---- Current System Password - This should be your system password. "Activate password at regular intervals after a given time OR a number of minutes since the psion was last switched off?" Choose either "Since switched off" or "Regular intervals". If you chose "After last switch on" you will also be asked for the number of minutes. ---- "Do you want alarms enabled at regular intervals?" If 'yes' your alarm sounds will be enabled at regular intervals that you define. This is useful if you're forgetful (like me) and often switch the sound off (eg in meetings or at the cinema) but forget to switch it back on afterwards. Pason remembers to switch thesound back on for you. ---- "Do you want the link Disabled at regular intervals?" If 'yes' your link will be switched off at regular intervals that you define. This option is included because it is possible to access all data on the if the remote link is on, even if the password is set. It's only really useful if you don't want your data to fall into the wrong hands and remember you don't want the link switching off in the middle of a backup. ---- If you are either 1) Enabling the password at regular intervals 2) Re-activating alarms or 3) Switching off the link You will also be asked for a start time and an interval at which to do these things. ---- "Start time?" This is the initial time that pason4 will execute the alarm and link options. ---- "Alarm/Link switch frequency (hrs)" This is how often the alarm and link options will be executed after the "first switch time" above. 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 <Psion-/> key. ******************************** REMOVING PREVIOUS VERSIONS ******************************** Pason4a-Pason4d: Stop pason and delete M:\app\sys$pas4.opa Pason2: Stop pason and delete M:\app\pason23.opa or M:\app\pason23a.opa Pason: 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? (taken from Steve's original file) ********************************* 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 <PSION+CONTROL+p> and entering your password the PASON menu will appear. This allows you to : 1) Re-configure Pason. 2) Change your system password (*) 3) Change the HOT-KEY assignment. 4) Exit Pason. (*) Change your system password via the PASON menu so that PASON always knows what it is otherwise Pason will stop running. Pason Mini FAQ ************** Q1 PsiWin stops in the middle of a backup because it couldn't copy sys$pas4.opa. Can this somehow be circumvented. I mean, do I always have to sit beside it to conconfirm that annoying dialog box? Once you perform one backup of sys$pas4.opa when Pason is NOT running the problem should go away, and you can keep Pason running after this. Q2 I can't remember my hot key - How do I stop Pason quickly? Re-install the pason icon and use the "Kill Application" option from the system screen. This is SHIFT-PSION-K on UK models. ************************* My favorite configuration ************************* o Activate password 60 minutes after last switch off. o Enable alarms at 3am and every 6 hours thereafter. ************************* Things to be sorted/added ************************* o Hot key can be mis-assigned to strange characters. o The owner information screen has temporarily disappeared. 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 ******* **************** pason4e **************** o Finally found a reliable way for Pason to determine whether it was resp. for switching on the Psion - regardless of event scheduling delays. o Temporarily removed the owner information screen. The new event loop made this screen bit slow to appear. It may be back in a later release. o Hotkey bug fixed. **************** pason4d 09/11/96 (limited release) **************** o Changed onfiguration screens. o Added switch off tolerence. o Finally sorted "After last switch off" in such a way that doesn't require frequent polling. Eg if you set after last switch off to be one hour, but only switched the Psion on for ten minutes, Pason will first wake up one hour after switch ON and then ONCE ten minutes later to activate the password. *************** 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. This was probably the cause of severe battery drain that some people experienced. Sorry folks! o When Pason switches on the Psion mementarily 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 couple 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. <Shift-System> <PSION-ESC> 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 but unless the event time is set for a really unsociable hour the Psion could switch off in mid use. ****** 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 Andrew Lord, except for those bits attributed to Steve Hawtin, it may be freely copied provided o The complete copyright section is incorporated including these conditions unmodified o All changes to the body of the file are clearly marked and attributed o The file is not supplied in any collection or via any distribution mechanism without the written consent of the copyright holder. ******** Manifest ******** This release contains two files pason4e.txt This file sys$ps4e.opa The Pason application for series 3a/3c/Sienna sys$ps4e.opl The source I was distributing the source automatically via email but because Lotus CC Mail rules are client side this was problematic. So the source is back. I only ask that you send enhancements/suggestions to me or (because I'm quite busy these days) release alternative versions with DIFFERENT names (ie NOT called pason* or similar - and not for money if you use the source!) This should allow me to keep control of Pason releases. **************** 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.* newsgroups 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 (Isn't this a big readme for such a little app!)