This on-the-road engineer tracks his contacts and correspondence,
quotes prices, creates technical drawings, stays in touch with the
world, and has fun all with the Palmtop in his pocket.

By Jorgen Wallgren

My motto is why use a desktop/notebook PC when I can use the power I have in my pocket? I have decided to do everything on my Palmtop, since it is for me the most portable and hence the most powerful PC available. When I talk about powerful, I do not talk about the CPU or clock speed a desktop PC has. I talk about how I use the Palmtop and the results I achieve with it.
I am in a business which requires frequent traveling. It is an interesting business, but not an easy one. Since I only spend about one week a month at home, I need to take my office with me wherever I go. I have tried all kinds of portable computers, including laptops, notebooks and sub notebooks. Once I experienced the HP Palmtop, the choice was easy.

As powerful as a portable!

I find that I can accomplish the same result with my Palmtop as with the portables I've tried. In fact, I hardly use the other computers any more. My Palmtop provides the power I need through a combination of the built-in software, old DOS software which can run on a CGA screen, and the Palmtops macros capability. I have a HP 200LX with 2MB of RAM. Additional file storage is provided by an 85MB flashcard from Sandisk. I also use the EXP ThinFax PCMCIA fax/modem card with 4MB flash memory for communications.
In my work I write many letters and memos, create technical drawings and provide estimates on projects. I send and receive many faxes and cc:Mail and compose most of them right on my Palmtop in WordPerfect 5.1. To organize my correspondence I've created an archive database with the built-in Database program shown below.

The archive database has the following data fields in it:

Name	Type of field	Purpose
&Date	Date field	Enter date created
&Ref.No.	Text field	Name of the fax/letter
&To	Text field	Client/company name
&Attn	Text field	Contact person
R&E	Note field	Subject of correspondence

Create this by opening the Database application, pressing (MENU) File Define New Database. Add the data field names and types listed above. Position and size them to look like the screen displayed on the previous page. After you've created this database, save it as
C:\ _DAT\FMS_CLOG.GDB . Then press (F7) and sort the Database as follows: The 1st sort field should have "Ref.No" selected, with a descending sort order (uncheck ascending). The 2nd sort field should have "Date" selected, with a descending sort order. Then press (F8) to arrange the columns so that "Ref.No." is the first column. Finally, fill in your first entry in the new communication log with the first "Ref.No." as "F/100/96".

Macro simplifies use of the archive database

At first I entered information into the archive database manually, but it required switching back and forth between applications and pressing many buttons. It took a long time, so I created a system macro to speed up the process. I have contact information for all my customers in the Palmtop's Phone Book file. When I want to send a fax to a customer, I just highlight the customers name in Phone Book and start my system macro. The macro logs my fax into the custom database, gives it a reference number and saves the contact information in a temporary text file.
I use WordPerfect 5.1+ on the Palmtop to compose faxes and letters. I then transfer the contact information from the temporary text file described above to WordPerfect. I open up Word Perfect and run a separate Word Perfect macro which opens up a fax template I've created in Word Perfect, appends the information saved in the temporary file described above and cuts and pastes the company name, person, date, and reference number to the appropriate location in the fax header.

Modifying Phone Book and creating the fax macro

Below I describe how to use the macro. As it is presently structured, it must be used with a modified Phone Book. You can do this by importing your Phone Book data file (with the .PDB file extension) into the Database application and pressing (MENU) File Modify Database. You can also create a new Database file by opening the Database application and pressing (MENU) File Define New Database. Save the Database file with the .PDB extension and open it up in Phone Book. The new (or modified) Phone Book file must contain at least the following five fields to work with the macro described below:

Name	Type of field
Company Name	Text field
Contact Person	Text field
Salutation	Text field
Area Code	Text field
Fax Number	Text field

The individual Item screen of the new (or modified) Phone Book should look something like the screen shown below.

You'll also have to create a Smart Clip to be used with the macro to cut and paste the desired information into the temporary text file. To do this, open the custom Phone Book you just created and press (F5) to go to the Smart Clip dialog box. Press (F2) to define a new clip. Press (F2) again to enter the fields you want in the Smart clip. Put "Company Name" as the first line, "Salutation" and "Contact Name" as the second line, "Area Code" and "Fax Number" as the third line. Press (F10) to save the clip, with "&Fax To:" as the name.
Next, use Memo to create the empty temporary text file and save the file as C:\_DAT\CLIP.TXT. The system macro and Smart Clip will save the contact data to this file.

Create the macro

Open the built-in Macro application and type in the following macro exactly as shown. Assign it to the Fn key of your choice. (Type this macro in with no carriage returns.)

{F5}&{Enter}{Alt}q{Memo}{Alt}fn{Paste}{Database}{F9} c:\_dat\fms-clog.gdb{Enter}{Enter}{Alt+R}{Left}{Left} {Left}{Left}{Left}{Left}{Shift+Right}{Shift+Right}{Shift+Right} {Copy}{F9}{Tab}{Enter}{Calc}{Alt}oma{Enter}{Paste}+1= {Copy}{Alt}q{F2}{Alt+D}{Date}{Alt+R}{Paste}{Right}{Right} {Right}{Shift+End}{Del}{Home}F/{Right}{Right}{Right}/96 {Home}{Shift+End}{Copy}{Memo}{Paste}{PgUp}{Home} {Shift+End}{Copy}{Database}{Alt+T}{Paste}{Memo}{Down} {Home}{Shift+End}{Copy}{Database}{Alt+A}{Paste}{Memo} {F10}c:\_dat\clip.txt{Enter}{Enter}{Alt}q{Alt+E}

Then open your modified Phone Book, highlight the name you want to send a fax to and start your macro. After running, the macro ends in the archive database (FMS-CLOG.GDB) with the cursor in the field named RE. Fill in what the fax is regarding and press (F10) to save the new entry.
The macro modified the CLIP.TXT file in C:\_DAT. This file now contains the archive reference number for the new fax/letter along with the contact information. As mentioned above, I append this file to a Word Perfect file containing the fax/letter and use Word Perfect's macro capabilities to cut and paste the information to the proper location in the document. You could use this procedure with any word processer that runs on the Palmtop, including the built-in Memo application.

Quick price quotations

I am in sales and marketing and frequently have to give clients quotations on the price of products. I have created a custom database to track products, specifications and list prices. Although its easy to view and maintain the product/ price list in the built-in Database program, it cant do calculations. To overcome this limitation, I've created a special Lotus 1-2-3 template to make the actual quotation.
I highlight a product name in the Database and start a macro which copies the product specification and price to my spreadsheet. In the Database the price is defined as a number, but when you copy and paste it to the spreadsheet it become a text label (i.e., 163 is entered as '163). To convert it back to a number, the macro erases the apostrophe (using {Paste}{F2}{Home}{Del}{Enter} as a part of the macro).

Creating technical drawings on the Palmtop with EasyCAD

The products I represent are of a technical nature and I must be able to display them in the form of drawings. I used a notebook computer for this until I found an older version of EasyCAD (V2.67) that worked on my Palmtop.

I use a Thumbelina mouse as a pointing device. EasyCAD is surprisingly fast and powerful and I no longer have to carry the notebook around.

Faxing from the Palmtop

I use the MiniFax software which comes with the Thinfax PCMCIA modem card for sending most of my faxes. But sometimes I have to send faxes which contain technical drawings or my signature. For faxes with graphics, I use Bitfax V3.09.05.
I've placed the Bitfax program on my Thinfax cards Flash memory (the F drive on the Palmtop when the card is inserted). I put the printer capture utility that comes with Bitfax (PRINTCAP .COM) on my Palmtops C drive. PRINTCAP redirects a printing job and saves it as a file on my Palmtops C drive. All I do is run PRINTCAP, then print the document containing the graphic to my LPT1 port. PRINTCAP saves this print to a file. This file can be rather large, but I have usually about 700Kb free on the C drive which is sufficient most of the time. When I am ready to fax, I switch to my fax/modem card. Start Bitfax, convert the captured print file to fax format, and send the fax. I must admit that the capture and conversion is slow on the Palmtop, but it works and that is the important part for me.
If you have Bitfax for DOS and would like to try it on the Palmtop, you can save space by installing only the following files to make the program smaller:

BITFAX .BAT	31
BF.EXE	81413
BITSCHED.EXE	101463
PRINTCAP.COM	19364
PRINTER.CAP	9139
FAXBOOK .DBF	738
BMP43720.FNT	84480
BITFAX .CFG	630
CONFAX.EXE	24712
SUPPLY.EXE	75504
COUR10F.WPF	12595
BITFAX .SCH	1922
BITFAXTX.LOG	1170
COUR10FF.WPF	12601
COUR10N.WPF	8301
COUR10NF.WPF	8309
COVER.FNT	15771
20 files	458143

Staying in touch is important

While on the road I need to keep in touch with my office on a daily basis. My head office in Singapore has a computer network installed with three incoming telephone lines: One for fax, one for e-mail and one for cc:Mail. I use my 200LXs built-in cc:Mail daily to communicate with the offices network system, which runs on Windows 3.1. The Palmtop connects with a Windows 3.1 version of Lotus cc:Mail without any problem. Since my office is using Lotus cc:Mail for internal and external communication, I can send and receive messages to/from any person in the office or our distributors. I can also receive urgent faxes through cc:Mail wherever I am.

Maybe I am overenthusiastic

Some may think I am bit overenthusiastic to attempt all this on the Palmtop. This may be so, but the Palmtop gives me an advantage as a sales and technical person. I have all the tools I need with me all the time, in one pocket-sized Palmtop. I can communicate with the world and retrieve information whenever I need it. When I'm traveling and need information about a country, I run PC Globe 5.0 to look it up. (I once settled an argument about which country produces the most beer in the world.)

I've even run Windows 3.0 on the Palmtop. I did this mostly for fun and to see if I could do it. But it also enabled me to use Micrografx Designer 3.01 on the Palmtop to create some simple promotional signs for local stores. I read books on the Palmtop using Vertical Reader (VR ) by Gilles Kohl. I play Backgammon , Chess and Solitare on the Palmtop. I play around a lot, trying new programs, changing settings and doing simple programming. I'm far from being an expert in programming, but am having success using LX Batch 2.0 (LXB.ZIP ) by Rob Koenis, to make small applications which enhance my use of the Palmtop.
Since I spend much of my time on the road, I need to carry my office and entertainment with me. I use my Palmtop approximately 120-150 hours a month, at various locations and for various purposes. No other pocket portable computer can give me this power.

Bitfax V3.09.05 -- $NA
Fax software. This version may be still be available, bundled with fax/modems.
Contact: Cheyenne Software. Phone: 214-840-6781.

EasyCad 2.72 for DOS -- $199

DOS CAD program that works on the HP Palmtop. Version 2.67,
mentioned in the article, is no longer available.
Contact: Evolution Computing, U.S.A. Phone: 800-874-4028;
Fax: 602-968-4325; On-line: http://com.primenet.com/evcomp/

Micrografx Designer 3.01 -- $NA

3.1 -- $299.95; 4.1 -- $299.95
Windows graphics program.
Contact: Micrografx; Phone: 800-733-3729; Fax: 716-873-0906.

PC Globe 5.0 $ N.A.
Product no longer available.

ThinFax Fax/Modem + Flash Memory -- $varies
PC Card fax/modem with on-board flash memory.
Contact: EXP Computer, Phone: 714-453-1020; Fax: 714-453-1319;
On-line: http://www.expnet.com/

WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS -- $N.A.
Word processor, no longer sold by Corel, new owner of Wordperfect.

Shareware/freeware mentioned in this article

BACKGM.ZIP -- Backgammon for the HP Palmtops. Freeware. Available on the HP Palmtop Paper Best Tips 1996 ON DISK or CompuServe's HPHAND Forum, library 11.

FMS-CLOG.GDB -- Letter/fax archive database described in this article. Freeware. Available on this issue of The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK or CompuServe's HPHAND Forum,
library 11.

KLON95.ZIP -- Solitare game for the Paltmop. Freeware. Available on the HP Palmtop Paper Best Tips 1996 ON DISK or CompuServe's HPHAND Forum, library 7.

LXB.ZIP -- LX Batch 2.0 batch file programming utility. Freeware. Available on the Mar/Apr 96 issue of The HP Palmtop Paper ON DISK or CompuServe's HPHAND Forum, library 11.

PCHESS.ZIP -- Chess game for Palmtops. Shareware. Available on the HP Palmtop Paper Best Tips 1996 ON DISK or CompuServe's HPHAND Forum, library 11.

VR100.ZIP -- Lets you read electronic texts on the Palmtop. Shareware. Available on 1994-95 PowerDisk or from CompuServe's HPHAND Forum, Library 11.

THE HP PALMTOP PAPER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1996

My e-mail address:

Any questions, comments or so- please send me an e-mail!

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This page was last modified on Sunday, 24-Nov-96