Migrate from Psion 5mx

[johnelinger]

I have been a 5mx user for several years but now need to change for several reasons: (1)screen is broken, (2)cannot view multipage excel spreadsheets and (3)need access to a drug reference on my unit (available for Palm and Windows but not PSIon). Further it is clear that new software will only be written for the Palm and Psion in the US because that is where the market is. My question is does anyone know a way to migrate one's information directly from PSION to either the Palm or Windows CE. The major issue is migrating my database information since neither the Palm or the Psion come with a database program. Further I have used the embedded funtion to embed wordprocessing documents in my database information. The idea of having to enter all this by hand would be daunting. any help would be appreciated.

[diem]

To migrate your information, you would be advised to go via a machine-independent format. I say this because in order to move data from one PDA platform to another, you have two problems; physically moving the file from one device to the other, and converting that file's format.

PDAs tend to come with a reliable method for doing both these tasks with a PC. I would take advantage of such software and do the translation via a PC.

Regarding databases, presumably you meant to say that neither Palm nor PocketPC come with a database program? Well, they are inferior platforms after all ;) You'll just have to bite the bullet, and find a 3rd party offering that can import from CSV or similar device-independent format.

For your embedded documents, I'm afraid that Psiwin's converters will ignore these embeds, so you will need to convert them individually. Since once again neither platform you intend to move to supports OLE, this is not such a big problem I guess.

Sorry you're planning to move platform - I can see that the unavailability of the drug reference is a real stopper for you, but what format is it supplied in? Is there no scope for converting it to Palm's ebook reader format (PRC or PDB)? If there is, there is reader software for such formats available for Psion...

[WolfUK]

John,

To add to Yan's reply, I have no experience of Pocket PC but I did use Palms for a couple of years. There are some good databases for the Palm and I would recommend either ThinkDB or HanDBase. Both will support memo fields but if you Word documents that are embedded in your database contain special formatting (or are anything more that plain text) they you are going to have to compromise. As Yan said, you will have to manually convert these files and I would recommend doing the following (if you can) ...

1. Convert your database to an Access database using PsiWin.
2. Go through your database opening each inserted Word document and copy and paste the text into new documents (or one mega one) and then paste the data into your Access database in a new memo field. You could also open the Access database on your desktop and use Copy Anywhere (if it works for you) to open each document and paste the contents straight into your Access database).
3. Use the Palm's HotSync to convert your Access database into the database format that you have chosen. I think that Access converters are extras for these database programmes so you could always export from Access as a CSV and then load this data into the databases (which should work).

However, here's an alternative solution which is a bit decadent but might work ... Get your Psion repaired (or buy a new one) and keep your Psion-based data and buy a Palm m105 for the drug reference database only.

[markdeppe]

johnelinger: To ad to Yan and Si suggestion to keep you with epoc, maybe a solution would be to use PDF as there are now programs fo rpsion which read and search PDF and also print standard psion file to a PDF file.

[flapsi]

try
http://www.neuon.com/apps/nconvert/
nConvert (http://www.neuon.com/apps/nconvert/) converts anything Psion into almost anything else, including, I believe, embedded graphics. This might be what you are looking for.

best,

flapsi