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REX 6000 Help Page News Archive

August 16 - 31, 2001

August 31, 2001

Today is the last day for REX.NET sync and the REX.NET web site.

Aug 31 will be the last day for the REX.NET sync and the REX.NET site. If you enjoy the current web content, don't forget to get your last REX.NET web sync today! (And if you don't enjoy REX.NET content, don't forget to sync tomorrow (Sept. 1) to remove all REX.NET web content from your REX. Aside from initializing your REX, this is currently the only way to remove the web content!)

All REX web support will be provided via the Xircom site. Once your on Xircom.com, click on "Support" and then select "Downloads" or "Technical" to go to product listings where you will find the REX (3000, 5000, and 6000) listed. The same FAQs, files, and other stuff that is on the REX.NET site is available on the Xircom site.

The way the developers are working we may only have a short gap between the loss of REX.NET and a new web sync capability.

Happy ending to sync difficulties - Xircom tech support saves the day! (From Herb)

Herb had a strange problem - everything sync'd properly from Outlook to REX except his Notes. The solution turned out to be deceptively simple - just let the Intellisync software self-configure.

"I purchased my Rex about six days ago, and I was just about ready to return it . . . Each time after initializing, I went thru each option (Contacts, Notes, etc) and selected "Options," then, "Browse," to select my default folder by double-clicking the folder (then the grey box popped up to confirm the selection of the default folder).

I called Xircom tech support, and Rick confirmed that I already ruled out the basics. This time after the initialization, we simply ensured that Outlook was the PIM (without doing anything else), and the synch performed flawlessly. I had given up on that strategy many initializations ago.

I actually started considering a Palm Pilot, but my friends that use them never seem to have them around when needed. I'm relieved and grateful that my Rex is up and running."

August 30, 2001

Rexcade add-in updated (already!). (From Bertus)

"Updated Rexcade to v0.6(beta). New are : square ball-bitmap for better overview, end of game detection works, highscore screenshot shows complete original playing field."

Find Rexcade here.

Web sync ideas and actions. (From Chris M.)

"As far as I know, the only way to get actual [web] content is either to pay for it or to 'scrape' it off of other sites. . . There is a third way, however. This is to build a proxy for AvantGo, which translates AvantGo content to r6k content. By then end of this week, I should have a site where you can create an account, get customized content directly from Yahoo News and possibly link your AvantGo account."

A potential content source - with diversity!. (From Peter R.)

"Have you looked at MobiPocket? Their web companion offers choices from ZDnet, Newsweek, FoxNews, Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Register. Each of these sites have checkboxes for content categories. It produces *.prc files for use on various PDAs, but if you look in its data folder, you'll find the original downloaded html files from each of the sites you have checked. You can parse these to produce useable daily content for the Rex. They also have a Macintosh client ...."

New version of Adder released - the must-have add-in for every REX owner!!

Chris has released Adder 1.0, with support for loading more add-ins and other great new features!

"Hi All, I've posted a new version of Adder, which now handles loading up to 17 addins into empty holes in the Rex firmware, providing a total of 24 addins (not 25, since Adder itself must be loaded to access the other 24).

Adder 1.0 is also a bit smarter than the beta version: it is now able to delete and rename the extra addins. Please see the README.TXT for more info. For all users of the beta version: simply rename your "Adder.ini" memo to "ZAdder.ini" before running Adder 1.0. Yes, I know, I could have made the app smart enough to do this, but, like everybody else, I'm tired of "nip-and-tuck", trying to squeeze just a little more code into 8KB. More on this later. Chris http://www.io.com/~harris8/Rexapps.html "

This is a really amazing little program! With over 34 REX add-ins to choose from (and more coming every day) Chris' Adder is highly recommended to get the most out of your REX.

A cry for (content) diversity! (From Jodie)

"Whilst we're on the subject of Content to replace Rex.Net, can we please try and think a bit beyond the shores of the good ole US of A. As we can see from Dana's stats on www.rex6000.org the Rex users community is truly a global one and having only US content is very limited. I for one want the Sydney Morning Herald's news headlines and the Sydney TV Guide on my Rex content."

Jodie's point is a good one. Fortunately, flexible content selection is a factor that the web sync developers are considering in their designs!

August 29, 2001

Bertus releases sixth add-in!!

"Rexcade is the Rex version of Cascade, a puzzlegame which objective is to remove balls from a playing field in a strategic way. Sounds dull? Find out, and compare scores with Psion Revo players. Take a screenshot as proof of your highscore! Read the readme.txt for instructions and an URL for score-comparison. Thanks to Jon Read for the idea, he is the author of the Revo version."

Bertus is the most prolific add-in developer, with the most REX add-ins released to date! Find his add-in here.

New version (1.2) of VREX.Net released. (From Victor C.)

"New and improved! 1.2 adds:

There were 83 people that downloaded v1.0 from my FTPserver, and 19 that downloaded 1.1. This means that either more people have downloaded from the mirrors [thanks Larry & Victor R.] or you have lost all faith in the program after seeing version 1.0. :) I urge those people to reconsider because that was a pretty lame version only usefull for test purposes. This version however could actually be handy. :)"

You can download VREX.Net from Larry's site, or from:

ftp://ftp.victorclaessen.nl/pub/vrexnet1.2.zip (Netherlands)
http://www.victorclaessen.nl/files/rex6000/vrexnet1.2.zip (Netherlands)
http://www.mercurio.com.mx/victor/vrexnet1.2.zip (USA)
http://www.gadgetland.net/rex6000/vrexnet1.2.zip (USA)

REX Web content generator "alpha" is up. (From Joseph)

"The first version of my rex web content generator it is up, but I have not had a chance to test if the files it generates are going to work. The files my page creates have the correct start and end format for the rex, but the actual wml conntent is still "Standard" wml content, NOT Rex wml :(. I need to now work on converting the standard wml into Rex wml (a smaller subset of the wml tags) but it does generate the conntent from 4 servers on the internet and adding new sites is really easy. So once i get everything converting to "REX wml" we can get content for the rex from any html based website easly WOOOOHOO! if you are brave take a look http://24.12.161.129:2400/rex.html I will be testing the content generated when i get home tonight..."

Wow!! Majek already has a preliminary version of a REX.NET replacement site up!!

"Vramirez (and others waiting for rex.net replacement): This few scripts are hard work. Now I almost finished web part of this (all mayor things works) and in two/three days (i think) i will finish cgi sctipt whitch synchronize choosen content to rex. If anybody wants to see what is done (no sync yet - this is not easy compile custom personalized content) just go to http://rex.mamy.to/rexnet/start.php"

Summary of potential web sync options (to replace REX.NET) in non-technical terms.

Several users have asked for a less technical summary of what's going on with web sync development. Below is an attempt to summarize where we might end up. The development process is very fluid and active, with a lot of creativity (note story above this one!). If anyone has any additional information, updates, or corrections to the summary below, let me know! (Thanks to Larry for helping to summarize the current options being pursued.)

Option 1: Allow users to select a range of content and sync it to their REX in web format.

A key step towards this capability was building a communications proxy (completed by Victor with his Virtual REX.NET utility - see our Web Sync page for more info and links to Victor's work). Victor's VREX.NET provides the ability to point the Intellisync web sync process at content files on your local hard drive.

Developers are considering a simple utility that would allow REX users to grab whatever content they wanted, automatically format it in the REX's WML (web markup language) format, and store it in a file (or files) on their hard drive. During web sync, VREX.NET tells the Intellisync web sync process to use that local content instead of REX.NET.

In this case the content that is sync'd to the REX could potentially come from a variety of sources - emails, text files, HTML files, web site pages, etc. The range of the content sources that can be used will depend on the capabilities our developers can put into the content grabbing/conversion utility.

Option 2: Replace the REX.NET web server with an alternate web server (or servers!?) to provide web content.

In this case sync with REX.NET would be replaced by sync with different web server. One challenge for this option is providing a server with sufficient bandwidth to handle the number of REX users that may want to use the service, populating that server with desired content, and setting up a user registration/content selection capability. The web sync process could still take place via Intellisync.

One option that might fit in this are could be extending VREX.NET to choose which server to get content from.

Theoretically, we could get content from any provider as long as they can serve up HTML that can be converted to WML format that the REX can handle. This might require development of some templates to assist with that conversion.

Development update: replacing REX.NET web sync.

Things are still "in development" (i.e., nothing ready to roll out to the user community). We have some very smart folks volunteering some big chunks of time to work on this. Thanks very much to our dedicated (fanatical? <g>) group of developers, and to Henrik for providing the developer's mailing list to facilitate their collaboration. Here are some tidbits:

". . . I'm looking for easy feeds at the momment, and email -> wml is really easy (actually, it's more like email -> db -> wml). A neat side effect of doing it this way is that I can update content by sending an email to the system, which in turn would make it possible for people to sync their own content by sending an email...

. . . by the end of this week I'm hoping to have an interface that allows people with Rex's to login and sync content they choose from a list... (Don't hold your breath, it could be late...) If you have pretty structured data, I could easily dump it into a db... (From Chris M.)"

". . . I now understand enough of the program and how wml cards work to make the web info for uploading to the rex with the same structure if not better then currently used on rex. I have the part that creates all of the wml ready, now I just need to write a nice front end to the wml so that you could choose what you want and potiential how you would like it organised on the rex." (From Joseph D.)

". . . I also did find some good utilities to convert BMP and JPEG's to WBMP's. This way when we figure out the image format, we should be able to code something up to create proper REX images. . . . The WBMP converter is here: http://www.checkit.cz/ and is called WAP-Pictus. You have to register but otherwise it is free and defintely worth it." (From Larry)

"Hi there, When I was going through the registry, I found out that in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\XIRCOM\REXnet key, there is a RexNetURL thing:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\XIRCOM\REXnet] "RexNetURL"="http://sync.rex.net/portal/requestfilter"

I haven't tested it, but i'm quite sure that if you change this to another url, rexsync will use that value instead of the sync.rex.net." (From Tom V.d.Z)"

August 28, 2001

Do you wonder which add-in to download? A picture is worth a thousand words! (From Myles)

"I've just uploaded amended pages. These include the icons that appear on the extras tab for each addin. I've also done a bit of a back capture exercise on addins that I didn't pickup the first time through. I think I'm still just a few short of a full set, but there are already a total of 34 addins which is testament to how much activity there has been."

Myles' updated site is quite nice for sizing up and selecting which add-ins you'd like to have on your REX.

REX.NET FAQ on Xircom site updated. (From Gerd)

Just in case you missed it (Gerd didn't!) Xircom updated their REX.NET FAQ on 8/24. Includes some interesting questions and answers. The Q&A includes an answer to a question some have been wondering about:

Q. Will you release the source code to the REX development community?

A. We cannot legally release source code to the development community because of contractual agreements. Much of the source code is co-owned by development partners so it is not ours to provide.

Got REX? With Intel ending production it might be time to stock up for those who want to keep REXing . . .

Buy.com was clearing out their supply of Rex's this morning for $40 each ... they are already sold out. A quick search came up with some other options for the REX 5001:

And the REX 6000:

All of these sites claimed to have the REX in stock. It would be smart to actually call the retailers to make sure that they actually have the unit in stock before you order.

August 27, 2001

Oh man, things are popping in Web sync development!!

It's not possible to really keep up, things are moving so fast on REX web sync development in the REX Developers' Mailing List. Since this content may be of limited interest to those a bit less technical, we won't hash all the details out here in the News. If you do want the details, look here for what's up with web sync . If you're interested in helping, or following along more closely, join the REX Developer's mailing list - instructions on our Internet Resources page.. Note that this stuff is still mostly for developers and other web hackers - us mortals will need to wait a bit for something for the masses to use.

Mailing lists that can help you replace content lost w/REX.NET. (From Greg)

"Seeing the coming demise of rex.net coming, I found a few mailing lists to replace *all* of the rex.net channels that I had subscribed to. Using Maillosaurus REX with Outlook, this works very well. Details at my web site:

http://gregsearle.tripod.com/rex_net.html

If you know of other good mailing lists that are text-only or formatted for wireless devices and PDA's, please let me know and I'll add them to the page."

Antmelnat pointed out this use of Maillosaurus REX some time ago. (See here on our Add-ins and Other REX Programs page for more on the technique.) Greg has done a great job of finding a range of providers with interesting content. This option allows you to sync email content from Outlook to your REX as memos. Until our developer community has something better in place [and it looks like they will soon - as you saw above! :-)] this may be an option to consider for the interim.

More interesting developments for Linux and the REX Developer community. (From Matthias)

"I've owned my REX for 6 weeks now, and couldn't get any help from Xircom (I only have linux on my laptop, so I couldn't really use the Rex, except with Wine).

With the effords of Gerd Krahmann, I started to write a communication library for the REX6000 for linux. I know there is another guy who wrote something similar, but in pascal, which isn't really usable for me (the Xbasic-code from Gerd Krahmann isn't better).So I played around a lot the last weeks with the parameters and wrote the complete communication down in C (Ansi C), so it should run at least under every UN*X, and under windows I believe.

The code I have finished is straight forward so far: functions for establishing and closing connection with the REX, reading and writing the time, reading the firmware version and the single database records. The toolbox contains useful codes for the communication, as well as the checksum routines and convert functions.Nothing useful for someone who wants to synchronize his contents now, but interessting for developers.

I plan to build several synchronize functions for the available linux tools, as well as the possibility to backup the whole content of the REX and uploading the available extensions.

The sourcecode (with a linux binary included) can be downloaded here:

ftp://wspse.de/linux/wspse/rex6000/WSPse-Rex-0.01.tar.gz

There is no homepage yet, since I put all my time in programming the REX now, instead of writting some HTML-things :-) I guess my code should be able to compile under any platform providing a C compiler (makefile is included). When run the executable it outputs the firmware version and the first 256 database records. It could be easily changed to read/write the time, or really useful things. I tested the code with linux and it worked without problems in the PCMCIA-slot, as well as with the serial cradle. I would like to get in contact with other developers, so maybe we can make the REX what it really should be :-)"

Time to welcome a few new countries to the REX community.

Several new countries have joined the REX community recently, as the REX continues it's march around the world. Here's a list of where we come from, by frequency of visits. It's quite a list:

UNITED STATES SPAIN (.ES) BRUNEI DARUSSALAM (.BN)
NETHERLANDS (.NL) CROATIA (.HR) COSTA RICA (.CR)
GERMANY (.DE) ISRAEL (.IL) TURKEY (.TR)
Educational (.EDU) ARGENTINA (.AR) COLOMBIA (.CO)
CANADA (.CA) MEXICO (.MX) VENEZUELA (.VE)
United Kingdom (.UK) UNITED STATES (.US) NIUE (.NU) (Population 2100!!!)
BELGIUM (.BE) SAUDI ARABIA (.SA) PHILIPPINES (.PH)
SINGAPORE (.SG) FINLAND (.FI) UKRAINE (.UA)
AUSTRALIA (.AU) HUNGARY (.HU) CHILE (.CL)
ITALY (.IT) SOUTH AFRICA (.ZA) INDIA (.IN)
AUSTRIA (.AT) IRELAND (.IE) ROMANIA (.RO)
JAPAN (.JP) INDONESIA (.ID) TONGA (.TO)
FRANCE (.FR) NEW ZEALAND (.NZ) GUATEMALA (.GT)
SWITZERLAND (.CH) HONG KONG (.HK) JORDAN (.JO)
SWEDEN (.SE) BRAZIL (.BR) PERU (.PE)
POLAND (.PL) MALAYSIA (.MY) LITHUANIA (.LT)
RUSSIAN FEDERATION (.RU) LUXEMBOURG (.LU) ESTONIA (.EE)
DENMARK (.DK) SLOVAKIA (Slovak Republic) (.SK) CAYMAN ISLANDS (.KY)
GREECE (.GR) Int. Organizations (.INT) CYPRUS (.CY)
Organizations (.ORG) THAILAND (.TH) MAURITIUS (.MU)
US Dept of Defense (.MIL) URUGUAY (.UY) DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (.DO)
CZECH REPUBLIC (.CZ) SLOVENIA (.SI) NAMIBIA (.NA)
US Government (.GOV) TAIWAN (.TW) LATVIA (.LV)
PORTUGAL (.PT) ECUADOR (.EC) LEBANON (.LB)
NORWAY (.NO) CHINA (.CN) ICELAND (.IS)

Did you know you could write and read Outlook email on your REX 6000?

REX users are aware of all the great REX add-ins, but many haven't noticed that are two programs available to provide email support on the REX 6000! They are:

Each program provides the ability to read emails received in Outlook on the REX, and to write emails written on the REX as memos that are moved to Outlook for sending. You can even add attachments! Check them out - your REX can do a lot more than you realized! See these programs on our Add-ins and Other REX Programs page. If you have any requests or comments for the developers take the time to drop the developers' an email - written on your REX.

August 26, 2001

New version of Asteroids! (From Daniel)

"Hi, A new version of Asteroids is available at http://www.geocities.com/dmps82. The game has grown to a size of three addins, but it is, hopefully, a lot more fun to play. I'm always happy getting some feedback and suggestions for future versions."

Site for REX web sync development activity to be updated. (From Larry)

"I'll be putting up a more official web page tomorrow and trying some of my own web content with the program. It is amazing how fast you people worked through this! http://www.gadgetland.net/rex6000/."

As Larry notes, web sync development is moving quickly. If you'd like to get involved, or just want to see what's happening, take at look at the Web Sync section on our Programming/SDK page, check out Larry's site, and consider joining the REX Developer's mailing list - subscribing information on our Internet Resources page.

An interesting rant/discussion of Xircom/Intel's abandonment of the REX. (From Sfoman)

"I am of the opinion that this whole Intel-Xircom kill the king thing is corporate business as usual. Intel wanted to expand its wireless networking and bought Xircom to raid the company of its talent (i.e. engineers, designers). You see it over and over again as example when Microsoft could not make their Access DB go, MS then bought out Foxpro, again for the engineers.

Unfortunately Mr. Andrew Grove just didn't look closely enough at the REX 6000. It is what a Palm should have been instead of going head to head with the MS Pocket PC. A battle they well eventually lose since MS is driving the market and application direction. If Mr. Grove had looked more closely he would see the trend is to smaller thinner notebooks (actually I'm sure he knows this since Intel is driving the cpu market direction). And the REX 6000 is the perfect compliment in size and interface for the notebook. I mean every one needs a address book, task list, reminder etc. that can slip into the space of a shirt pocket without being obtrusive. But no one needs the nerdy bulk of a Handspring or Palm for those functions. As it is MS has the the pocket pc market cornered since now almost all WIN2K,98 apps can be ported directly to the pocket pc. And with notebooks becoming smaller, lighter, more powerful, and maybe in the future a pull out rolled up display (new organic low temp LCD scrn) eventually the pocket pc will meet head on with the notebook (lets face the real world Intel-MS marriage for the 64 is for any chip and software in the future).

So there goes Handspring and Palm their basic premise of being a pda now a bloated pig unable to compete with MS and losing sight of its original mission of being a PDA. But the Rex it is what the Palm should have been. All that is missing is a bluetooth component to complete it and opening up the sdk for apps to be developed. I bought the Rex because of its design is truly perfect and very functional. Alas the king is dead, long live the king."

August 25, 2001

Bertus releases more source code!

"I've had a number of requests for the Rexchange sourcecode. It's available now for download on my site. Please note that the source is essentially the same as Citizen's Xchangelator addin. I did only minor adjustments, just enough to make it work on the Rex 6000. Feel free to enhance it."

Bertus is the author of six cool add-ins, including Rexchange, Rexpense, Tennis, etc. See our Add-ins and other REX Programs page for more on Bertus' contributions. Bertus site is here.

For those who've been waiting for Space Invaders . . . (From Shai)

"I just posted a new add-in "Space Inveaders" game in my site.

It seams the auto shut off doesnt work when the game is on."

Shai's game can be found at www.geocities.com/shai_seger

Virtual REX.NET also in process. (From Victor)

"Vitural Rex.Net v1.0 is ready. I'll send it to Larry so he can host it (my site still has trouble). It works pretty o.k. but there is (always) room for improvement. With this, we can really start to understand WML. for further information read the readme.txt included [ as if anyone ever does :-)

It seems that I have at least got my ftp server up, so in the meantime you can attempt to download it from ftp://ftp.victorclaessen.nl/pub/vrexnet1.0.zip my webserver doesn't quite seem to work for everybody but I hear there has been some success so this would also be an option for some people:

http://www.victorclaessen.nl/files/rex6000/vrexnet1.0.zip good luck :)Victor Claessen, [email protected]"

Web sync w/REX 6000 prototype completed! (From Majek)

"I have full success with syncing rex6k with my own web content! Now i'm writing scripts to share user contents.

Maybe some information providers will be interested in providing news to rex community?? With this features, new 'rex.net' will be better than original:-) Hmmm... and ebooks will be better to read via web interface than memo... More news/technical data coming soon..."

Would this solve our sync problems? (From RMiller)

"Someone, please find a way to write a truesync accessor for the 6000. Intellisync is just junk. I have no real need or want to mess with Outlook and Lotus Notes is far beyond anything I am likely to do on the REX. I was quite happy with Truesync, granted it had limitations, but it worked."

Second Tetris add-in available - Tetrex! (From Vasily)

Myles has a second Tetris add-in on his add-in quick download page. Tetrex joins Tetris (from Roo) to give you two, yes two! ways to drain your batteries with that famous game. (Thanks to Daniel for letting me know Tetrex had been released.)

You can find it on Myles site, in the add-in list section.

Notes sync support added to DS2 Sync software! (From Big Blue)

Yup, once again DS2 owners have it better than us poor Rexies.

"Rex6000 and Lotus Notes users, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. On the japanese web site for the DS2 there is an updated software (1.1.0) available that adds Notes R5 support (in this case: Notes support at all) to IntelliSync for Rex. Take a look at: http://dataslim.angel.co.jp/ds2/whatsnew.html

My japanese is quite poor but I can read the first line anyway. And of course I can download the update.

Unfortunately I was not able to integrate these updated files into the Rex6000 IntelliSync installation. The dssync.exe file (which is the counterpart of Rexsync.exe) does not run, it asks for a progv5.dll which I don't have and can't find. So I did some overwriting and renaming with these new files (f.i. you probably have to rename all llds2*.* files to llr6k*.* and ds2*.* to rex*.*). Now my rexsync.exe crashes when clicking the sync options button. Which means that my file replacing could have been succesful but the rexsync.exe doesn't like the new files. Maybe some else will have a bit more success..."

An interesting discovery for Notes users, to be sure. We already know that installing Intellisync for Yahoo on a system w/Intellisync for REX on it adds Lotus Organizer sync to Intellisync for REX. So, could getting the DS2 program to install to a DS2 directory on a PC with Intellisync for REX grant Notes sync capability as well? Might be worth looking into. . .

See our Sync Options page for current work-arounds for syncing Notes and the REX 6000.

REX.NET adds "goodbye" warning to content. (From Antmelnat)

"Just did a web sync with rex.net. They have added a new category of sorts "rex.net" with the message they emailed to everyone about the demise of the R6K and rex.net. Apparently more than 8 web sync categories can be added to the web section in the R6K. Wonder if this has any implications for our developers? Check it out and see."

Interesting way to find this out, eh?

August 24, 2001

Cool upgrade to rexdk for REX developers!! (From Daniel)

"Hi all, After 3 days of work, I finally put together a rex emulator. The emulator is now working with the rex firmware. Unfortunately, I could not get the user database in the emulator yet.

If you start the emulator, it will start the rex firmware as usual. The emulator will restart if you click on one of the "buttons" on the main screen, because the database stuff doesn't work yet. Only the calculator and the world clock (without cities) will work. If you tab the Extras button the addin will start.

Using the rex firmware has some advantages over the ds2 firmware:

You can find information on the rexdk and links to Daniel's site on our Programmer/SDK page.

Tetris addiction leads to new battery wisdom. (From Rod)

"Just a quick note: Some fool came up with Tetris for the R6k and now I'm replenishing batteries almost daily. I've found that the R6k drops out at the first sign of a low battery but actually leaves a fair bit of capacity behind. I've numbered my battery slots and only renew #1, putting #1 battery in the #2 slot. Next time I'll do the same thing, etc, etc. This way The #2 battery is totally depleted when I discard it. I renew a little more often but only one battery at a time. Tetris for the Rex - who'd a thought!!"

You can find this great add-in on our Add-ins and Other REX Programs page in the REX 6000 Add-ins section.

REX.NET/Intellisync traffic captured. (From Peter)

Peter has helped before with REX communication captures (see our Programming/SDK page). Now he's working on the REX.NET/Intellisync communication.

"I captured the traffic bewteen Intellisync and www.rex.net. I'll post the results later as there is a lot of cut'n'paste to do bewteen the sniffer's log and a text editor. The rex(intellisync) client posts the username, password, rex serial no. amd its all done in plain text, thus exposing your password to any traffic sniffer. A session cookie is obtained and the session is closed. A second session is opened using the new cookie and data about the software version of the rex and intellisync is sent along with the language, country (from worldclock) etc. There's a request for ads (empty) and a request for content. But I'm not going to bore you further. Hopefully I'll post a complete session similar to following sample later this evening for those willing to torture themselves."

For a sample of Peter's see the REX Web Sync communication section on the Programming/SDK page.

For his results in a zip file, look here.

Web sync developments - things are popping! (From Victor)

"As you may or may not know I've been looking into the process of web synchronizing. I didn't have much success in the past and have had very little time to pursue the investigation since, but now that I've been led to believe we
have a problem and time is of the essence, I decided to devote some time to it again.

I've made a 'proxy' for Intellisync to connect to that logs everything that Intellisync & Rex.Net communicate to each other, and I finally got it to work. I have a session log for anyone who wants it [about 50k zipped]. I finally figured out how to make Intellisync accept the answers. After the last character of each response send 0A 0A and wait 200 ms before closing the connection.

The language used by the viewer seems to be pretty standard WML [Wireless Markup Language]. There are some tutorials here: http://www.wapstation.com.au/developers/tutorials.html

The next two steps are obviously first to "playback" a recorded session so that Rex.Net is no longer nessesary and then to understand WML better and get Intellisync to accept other content.

I am currently working on the playback program, and it seems as though it is going to work, but this is all in a very early stage...so who knows."

See Larry's site at: http://www.gadgetland.net/rex6000/ for the captures that Victor created!

We're back in the saddle again.

Apologies to all for our recent down-time over the past couple of days. Our new site/hosting hasn't been as stable as it should be - rest assured that we are working with the network provider to to make sure things are solid going in the future!

August 23, 2001

Is the future of the REX bound up with the Japanese DS2?

When the REX 6000 was released, the REX community were initially dependent upon Japanese DS2 developers for add-in development tools and information, and DS2 add-ins. Will we swing full-circle back towards reliance on the DS2 for hardware or firmware? Some ideas that have been discussed (though no clear answers are available yet) regarding the intersection of the soon-to-be dearly-departed REX 6000 and the Japanese Dataslim2 (DS2):

As far as we know right now the REX 6000 and DS2 are physically identical. So there are some possibilities that could be fun (for those with the appropriate skill set and interests) to look into.

New web sync tools for the REX? (From Larry)

Many are asking about a replacement for the REX.NET web content that will go away on September 1. Some hope may be found in Larry's response:

"Dana, I joined the [REX Developers] list this morning. I started reading all the info I could - I figure I have a week or two of reading and research to do before I start delving into programming. I've also started a wish list of functions a Web page/sync utility would do. At first I think I'm just going to focus on replacing the functionality that REX.net provided and then move on to enhancements later. I'll try to get a webpage up this weekend as a starting point."

Hopefully Larry can find the time and necessary information to carry this forward!

REX Tools for Linux! Yes - you heard that right!! (From Majek)

"First alpha version of RexTools for Linux is out! Now there are three programs:

  1. rexdate - get/set date
  2. rexdefrag - defragmenting rex
  3. rexdbdump - dumping database from rex with format compatible with RexToolsBeta

It don't work on 50% computers which i tested on, and there is why this is alpha, not beta release.

You can dowload this from: http://rex.mamy.to/rextoolslinux.tgz"

Great work, Majek! You gotta love how REX users are extending the capabilities of this great little PDA even in the face of Xircom and Intel abandoning it.

August 22, 2001 (Note: Somehow we got a day ahead on our news posts - dates have been corrected this AM. Sorry!)

Mac support: Will the REX work with Virtual PC and Windows 2000? (from Paul)

Have we hit a stopping point with MAC compatibility at Windows 2000?

"I did in fact find out that the PCMCIA slot is NOT supported with VPC. I did try to get it to work with the USB cradle and VPC 2000 but had NO LUCK, so it may be something about how the 2000 version installs hardware and drivers. Anyway, It works just fine on my WIN 2000 machine at work so this is how I am using it with the lack of mobility."

The MAC/Virtual PC combo has been confirmed to work with Windows 98 with the USB cradle. If anyone has any updates on this issue, let me know.

People out there are willing to help! (From Victor)

"Just read the article about the resources needed to get web content on the rex. I have a internet server with some space on it, and would be happy to help the REX community if you want, I dont know anything about programming, but my server runs on Linux if that helps."

Let me know if you'd like to contact Victor.

Some REX users are disappointed about the news, but sticking with the REX! (From Tom)

"Well we bought 3x REX6000 units for a small business 2 weeks ago. We are quite happy with them so far, and are now going through the time consuming process of typing up our addresses into Outlook.

We were not going to be using the REX.NET services anyway and this site at www.rex6000.org has been more useful than the official pages anyway.

I hope the Rex community continues to exist in it's present form."

While others are moving on unhappily to bigger (but not necessarily better) things. (From Pieter)

"Hi Dana, I just sold my Rex 6000 for DFl. 325,-- (like $125.--) to an another happy Rex user and I bought a Palm M105.

But, I loved my Rex, and maybe, when somebody, like you, comes with an another PDA like Rex, I will buy it. Thanks for your Rex support, your page is great, I visited it every day, reading the news, downloading the newest add-ins, etc. etc... I 'was' a happy Rex user, now it's palm for me :) Met vriendelijke groet, Pieter."

Developers are rallying to fill the web sync void!

"I got the message this morning from Xircom saying they were dropping all support for Web Syncing for the REX.NET. This really doesn't set well with me. I use to do a lot of work with serial communications protocol and I'm familar with XML. So... I'm now on a mission to breakdown the communications and understand how the Rex sends its data and how we can replace the service Xircom provided . . ." (From Larry)

"I have a lot of expierence with grabbing internet news and content and redistribute this to my own pages. Would it not be a great idea to redistribute it to the webcontent-table of the Rex!? I can write the webextraction code and the portal on the internet, but I need some input/resources/manpower to do the sync. with Rex. I hope you can help me out... think about the idea and spread it around?" (From Jeroen) If you are interested in getting in touch w/Jeroen, let me know.

If you are interested in developing for the REX, you don't have to strike out on your own! The REX Developer Mailing List is a great place to share information, ideas, and work through issues with other REX developers - currently there are over 100 members! Information and instructions for subscribing can be found on our Internet Resources page. Developer information and links to REX development tools and other technical REX sites can be found on the Programming/SDK page.

August 21, 2001

And you thought you had a bad day . . . (From REX Newbie)

"So I just got my REX 6000 yesterday, programed it last night, and learned it was discontinued today. Well, hopefully the price will drop and I can use AmEx's price protection to get some money back.

All kidding aside, my thanks to the REX community for providing the resources that helped me make my PDA decision. Even with this news I don't regret a thing. My only hope is that even though Intel has given up on REX, the users won't."

You gotta love the sense of humor and optimism !

Intel retires the REX 6000. (Story from CNET, thanks to REX User for posting this to RRC)

Well, the other shoe seems to have finally fallen. When Intel purchased Xircom earlier this year, the REX was put on hold while the chip giant digested Xircom. Now it appears that a decision has been made, and it is not the decision that REX users had hoped for:

"Intel tells Rex to play dead
By Ian Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 21, 2001, 1:45 p.m. PT

update Intel has decided to put Rex to sleep.

After several months of evaluating whether to continue the credit card-size handheld organizer, Intel decided the product did not fit with its plans, CNET News.com has learned. Intel acquired Rex as part of its acquisition of Xircom, which was completed in March.

Intel now plans to focus the former Xircom unit on making networking accessories for desktop PCs, laptops and other handhelds, including Palm's products, Intel spokesman Scott McLaughlin said Tuesday.

As part of the move, Intel also plans at the end of the month to discontinue the Rex.net service that kicked off last year in conjunction with the launch of the Rex 6000. . ."

A message on the REX.NET site confirms that the site will close as of September 1, 2001. (Thanks to Tubalips for that info.)

For the complete story, see the CNET News web site. The story also notes that Intel was unable to "reach an acceptable deal" with other companies to sell the REX. Sheesh - how hard can it be to sell something you don't want anymore!?

This looks pretty darn real, folks. If you want a back-up REX, now might be a good time to go looking for one . . .

Modified REX emulator for developers with limited screen space. (From Peter)

"I found out I was having problem figuring out how to run the emulator because I could not see the buttons on the bottom area because my laptop's screen resolution is 1024x768. I found a solution to the problem over the weekend. Please find a modified version of it that will fit well on a 1024x768. It might even be usable on a 800x600 display.

The new version can be found on: http://www.geocities.com/unitfive/index.html. Please give me feedback. The screen arrangement might not make much sense since I don't know Z80 asm and I do not own a Rex 6000 yet."

Amazingly, for a person who doesn't even own a REX (yet?)! Kudos to Peter for his initiative!

August 20, 2001

Battery source in Australia. (From Ben)

"Batteries here cost as much as A$7 (US$12) each, but I've found them for A$1.87 each plus p&p, with no minimum order, at http://batteryallsorts.com. The online form is not secure - best to ring. They have outlets in most states."

The CR2016 aren't actually listed on their web site - Ben got the information via an email quote. Power on, mate.

More on vinyl screen protectors for cheap! (From Greg)

"I was just in Wal-Mart yesterday, and found that they sell bulk "medium-weight" clear vinyl sheeting for $0.87 a yard from a 54" roll. This means that you can get a 54" x 36" sheet of vinyl sheeting for 87 cents. If you don't mind the cutting, this is an awful lot of PDA screen-protector material for really cheap!

See http://www.epinions.com/content_1950392452 for more information on the vinyl screen-protector."

August 19, 2001

New release of rexdk supporting add-ins lager than 8K. (From Daniel)

"Hi all, I have released a new version of rexdk which supports "far" calls. It is now possible to call code in other 8K pages."

This is a great enhancement to the rexdk - it allows developers to create add-ins larger than 8K! Daniel's recent release of Asteroids demonstrates this capability. Daniel worked with Chris (of Adder, REXDump, and DockPatch fame) to create this new capability. (You can find Asteroids on Daniels REX site along with the rexdk.) For more information on programming for the REX see our Programming/SDK page.

August 18, 2001

REX 1 MB and 2 MB models - an interesting issue around reporting installed memory. (From Radek)

"In my company, we have 20 REX 6000 (5 x 2MB version viz serial cradle & 15 x 1MB version with USB cradle).

Version 1MB & 2MB is one big mistake. My new REX6000 reported 1MB memory. After flashing firmware from your site, now reported 2MB memory. I mean, REX don't check size of memory, only reported size in the case of firmware version."

Strange - you can double your reported memory by updating your firmware if you have a 1 MB REX! A couple of considerations - there might be two firmware versions (1 MB and 2 MB) and Radek is correct that the memory report is simply hard-coded in the firmware. Other potential situations might include a broken memory read process in the firmware, so it always reports 2 MB, or is it possible that all REX's have 2 MB and the firmware on them controls how much of the memory is accessible?

Can you believe it - first Asteroids, now Tetris! (From Roo)

"Hi! Just thought I'd let people know that I was a bit bored so knocked up a crude Tetris game. There are a few extra bits I need to sort out, but it's fairly playable just now. The possibility of using two add-in slots for bigger programs sounds promising..."

Wish I was as productive when I was bored . . . Roo's Tetris is fun - very playable and polished! It should help you kill a quite few hours (and maybe a few batteries). Very good work! Find Roo's Tetris add-in at: www.fiendishcat.com/rex.html.

August 17, 2001

Extensive updates to the Programming/SDK page.

Over time the content of the Programming/SDK page had become muddled, disorganized, out-of-date, and confusing - pretty much a total mess. Thanks to a lazy Friday afternoon and much help from Daniel, the Programming/SDK page has been torn apart and put back together again! Better, faster, prettier! Gosh, we're proud! :-)

Please let us know if you have any suggestions for additional edits or updates.

New version of Asteroids add-in released! (From Daniel)

"Hi all, I have released a new version of Asteroids. Hopefully this one is more useful. I would really appreciate some feedback. http://www.geocities.com/dmps82."

We don't have all "how" details yet, but Daniel and Chris have broken the 8K add-in limit on the REX, "spanning" this new version of asteroids across two add-ins! Details to follow as soon as we know more!

A screen protection idea. (From Flavio)

"I feel that I have found an almost perfect solution to protecting the Rex 5000 or Rex 6000. I have taken a Minigrip reclosable bag (about the size of a credit card) and cut of the top slider part (used to open / close the bag). Then I put the Rex 5000 in the bag, fold the bag and seal it with a sellotape. This method protects the screen from scratches, prevents dust from entering into the Rex 5000, and makes it water-resistant. Also, you still can slide it into the plastic case. The advantage is that now it does not slip out of the plastic case. I believe the touch screen still can be operated when the Rex 6000 is in such a Minigrip bag. Whilst some 12 screen protector foils (used for PDAs) cost around US$ 20, 10 Minigrip bags just cost US$ 1 !! When needed, you just replace the Minigrip bag with a new one."

Sounds interesting, but what's a "minigrip reclosable bag?"

Some help for Rexchange users! (From Bertus)

"For users of the Rexchange addin looking for exchange rates, check out: http://www.xe.com/ict You can generate a HTML/ASCII table with currencies and rates there. Unfortunately they can not be directly read into the Rex (they can, but not for use with Rexchange), you'll have to calculate Rex rates by hand. Or a clever person could write an Excel sheet or program, which using the above ascii table creates a Rex memo, which can be synced into the Rex. I don't have the time to do that myself. See the readme.txt inside the Rexchange zip for details on the format required. just FYI."

Rexchange is a currency converter add-in that allows you to create your own conversion table in a memo on the REX that the add-in reads. Pretty darn cool! See here on our Add-ins and Other REX Programs page for links and more information on Bertus' add-ins!

August 16, 2001

REX availability in Australia. (From Brett)

For any of you "down under" who are looking for a REX:

"FYI, Just picked up a REX6000 for $269 [Australian dollars!] at "Harris Computing" in Sydney, Australia. Alternately, www.pcauction.com.au does a good line in auctioning (new) ones off, but at the moment Harris was cheaper."

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