Anyone else still using a Psion Series 3/5/7 daily?

[oktology]

I'm loving my Series 5 as a writing and organization machine. The keyboard strikes the balance between touch-typable and thumb-typable for me, and I find I write more because the size makes it easier to carry with my everywhere.

I also find the Year view in Agenda to be incredibly helpful, and unmatched in any other portable device I've used--largely because the wide-screen format lends itself better to this kind of information display, and allows for months to be aligned to weeks, which helps me visualize remaining time before deadlines better.

Anyone else still using one of these weird little machines?

 

[dorje]

I loved my Series 3 and then Series 5. The OPL language is a beast to write small but capable apps.
I've used the Series 5 for years to write my activity reports, take notes, and for the Agenda.
With Macro5 by Pascal Nicolas, you could extend the system with macros written in OPL.
It quicky peeled but this gave it the look of some heavily used tool, which it was after all.
The point of failure was the screen ribbon. I had it replaced, but it broke again. The series 5 is still in a box, waiting for me to repair it.
Since then I've acquired a Series 5 Mx but hardly ever use it, for fear of its screen ribbon to fail one day.
I miss using that tool, even if its screen is ... well, you know how it is ;-)

 

[AlexC]

I'm currently sitting in a cafe writing notes on an Ericsson MC218, a Psion 5mx clone. I started with a 3a in 1994 and ran my professional life off it, then 3mx and 5mx. I must have owned dozens of the things. Sold my collection before leaving the UK, bought a load back six years later, sold them again in 2022... and bought more this year. I still love them for writing, especially outdoors. With luck I'm wise enough not to ever sell the current collection. Even with screen cable failures taken into account I reckon the ones I have should last me a decade or so.

I can repair/replace the 3-series screen cables and hinges myself, but not the 5mx. So I bought several machines and just accept that they will fail one day. It's not a reason to not use them; there's nothing quite like them for specific-situation productivity.

 

[Pernod]

There's a vibrant Discord server dedicated to Psion users, a link to join can be found at https://psion.info/

I'd be interested in hearing which models and software are currently in your collection as there are ongoing efforts to document all known country variants.

 

[AlexC]

Currently:

UK 3mx
German 3mx
UK 3a
German 3a
UK/international Ericsson MC218
UK (possibly international?) 5mx
Serial cables, printer cables, a 3a fax-modem, maybe a few other bits and pieces.

Plenty of software but nothing that's not already archived online.

 

[Rob G5RMP]

I’m part of an amateur radio discord server group (OARC) and there’s a member in Scotland who uses his 3 (I think) for QSO logging when working /P. Think he developed the software himself.

 

[Pernod]

I'm interested in seeing your German 3a/3mx ROMs dumped as these haven't yet been archived. It's very easy to do if you have a working serial connection to a PC.

Is any of your software on SSD? These are also now very easy to image using a serial connection.