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REX 6000 Help Page News Archive
March 16-31, 2002
New CalPlanner beta released - faster and better! (From Myles)
"New CalPlanner beta released
Available for download from betas at www.rexextras.net
I'm not aware of any problems. I think it is about twice as fast as previous versions and addresses issues raised in feedback to initial version.
Let me know how it performs and any ideas for improvement. After any polishing off and problems with this version I intend to publish source and call this finished."
This is one of the "must-have" add-ins that everyone should look into.
Enhancements to MailtoNotes macro released (By Greg)
"I've enhanced Mihail's "MailToNotes()" macro for Outlook 2000 and posted it on my site. I'm working with Mihail on a common distribution point (much like other open-source projects), but until then, it's available on my site.
I've added many capabilities. First is a "Preferences" section which allows you to modify its functionality easily without digging into the code. The code has been hardened and optimized, so it's faster and handles error conditions better. It also multitasks nicely, so you can keep using Outlook while it works. The auto-remove option now handles two different lifespans for notes, so you can split your notes into "daily" and "weekly" items.
Read the comments in the source for more information. To install it, download the zip file and load the included bas file into Outlook's VB editor. You will need to modify some of the constants in the Preferences section to fit your configuration. The most important is the folder name in which it will look for new mail to transfer."
New 3D Cobra add-in released. (From Bertus!)
"Hi Dana,
It's been some time since I last mailed you! I got nostalgic and made a generally useless but nice addin: Cobra 3D.
Cobra 3D is an interactive 3D showoff kinda addin. You can rotate a 3D spaceship (not just any spaceship: it's the Cobra Mk iii!) on the screen of your Rex. Although this will not contribute anything to world peace or any other greater goal, it might be nice to watch or show to someone.
I'm not planning on converting the complete Elite game (see 'Background' in the readme), I just wanted to see if I could make a 3D addin."
They all work together in harmony! (From Mags)
"Hi Chris:
Use my dockpatched rex in a USB cradle. Works fine. Have also loaded calpatch, adder and rexkeys.
Thanks for all your great addins and firmware updates!"
Not A Spreadsheet add-in - major updates! (From John)
"RE: !NOT a SpreadSheet. I have made some significant progress. It is still not user-configurable, but that will come quickly if there is enough interest.
The main thing is that it now uses an "ADDIN LIBRAY" of math functions. This means all the code for sin, cos, log, atof, ftoa has been moved into a seperate addin. This frees up lots of room in the main addin. However you need to put both addins on your rex.
The math library also can be used by any other addin too. (on my site is source and include file for the library)
I've included 9 sample sets of calculations in the new release. Basically it is a 12 cell spreadsheet.
Again, if I get enough feedback (email direct to me or post on my sites BB) I will forge ahead and get it to read a user text file."
And even more good news on Dockpatch - works w/USB cradle! (From QC)
"hi Chris, DockPatch works in the USB cradle perfectly. thank you very much for all your high quality add-ins. i hope that your difficult time will be over soon and your family is well."
Dockpatch updated - "Mr. REX" does it again... (From Chris)
Chris always makes us go "Oh wow - I want it!!" when he releases one of his REX enhancements. This time he's updated Dockpatch so that it can be loaded via an add-in, rather than via a firmware update. Easier, safer, and cooler, too! Dockpatch allows you to use your REX while inserted in the serial cradle - turning the serial cradle into a kind of external battery pack for the REX. Great for playing battery hungry games, or if you want to keep your REX on your desk during the day. You can still use your cradle for syncing when you need to.
"Hi all, I saw David Elsing's post and website http://david.student.utwente.nl/Rex6000/powerpack/index.php about removing the serial cable from the docking station, brought back memories of my first Rex (the battery-hungry kind), and painfully reminded me that DockPatch was long overdue some updating, so:
DockPatch 1.0 is essentially the same as the original DockPatch except it is now installed via an addin, instead of via a patched Rex.bin. Just load the DockPatch addin on your Rex (BUT NOT IN ADDER), run it once, and you're all set. Also, if you execute it again, it uninstalls DockPatch - which may help if there is ever a concern that DockPatch may be causing problems on your Rex, although I'm not aware of any.
I have also shortened the timeout: when you insert your Rex in the cradle and it displays DockPatch, you now have only about 2 seconds to press a key to abort the Rex "Ready" prompt - you gotta be quick! I did this to address the problem where DockPatch slows down initiation of the sync process during the (previous) 5 second DockPatch delay.
Oh yeah - if anybody is successfully using DockPatch in the USB cradle, please let me know! In the past, I have told quite a few folks that it works only in the serial cradle without any evidence to the contrary."
Qibla add-in updated to 2.1 - bug fixes. (From Waleed)
"Hi REXers,
DK found a bug in the Qibla add in & it's fixed now. Qibla 2.1 is already uploaded to my web site:
Sorry for that :) [Ed. note: Waleed - there is no need to apologize!! :-)]
Waleed
New email tools developed for the REX. (From Mihail)
"I have written a couple of macros to transfer e-mails to REX. As I hope I will do something else sometime, I have made also a special web page - www.rex6000.narod.ru, where you can find them. It may become also a Russian Rex 6000 web page (as I could not find any existing), but usually I am so lazy..."
Mihail must not be as lazy as he says, given his new page and macros! <g>
New things on the way for web sync. (From GPF)
"I'm developing a web-based program that works with rex.mamy.to to provide complex web information, like graphical weather report, finance/stock market information, etc. I figured by generating graphics on the fly, I can have precise control over rex screen. It may be possible to squeeze 1 week's weather report into one screen, or display stock prices/charts/headlines on rex.
It's a rather complex project, and I need other REXers' help. Currently I'm looking for a conversion function that can convert bmp to rex web format(base64 encoded text). My program is done in C#, but I have no difficulty to translate C++ code to C#.
Another issue is I don't have the bandwidth to host this program. When it's done, is there a REX user can kindly take over this program?
A early screen shot can be found here:
Cradle surgery + Dockpatch = REX power supply. (From David)
Others have mentioned doing this, but no one has documented it so completely - for those REX gamers who are tired of burning up CR2016s:
"Hi! I'm new around here, but a had some inspiration to make a power battery pack out of my craddle. I used my first set of batteries in 10 days, so this can be a bit of relief.
I hope it's helpfull."
DS2 case post-mortem (From Rick)
"Was my new DS2 Case the first to bite the dust? I think I've been using it exclusively since February 28th -- and now it's a goner. One of the plastic tabs covering the home button broke off and has disappeared. No explanation as to how it was lost. The discussion of using the Rex w/ out that button aside, it's not worth the pain level."
Updated Memocat add-in released. (From John)
"Final Release of MemoCat Addin.
It is Done!! A maybe useful addin for browsing all your memos based on categories. It is similar to Cmemo by Chris Harris, but MemoCat does NOT have bookmark or search features. (in fact it uses some of Chris Harris's code that is badly mangled by me!)
Hopefully MemoCat gets wiped out by Chris Harris's future upgrade to CMemo, but in the meantime this is a quick way to show off all the memos on you Rex.
Features:
- Note that when you go to "Full Screen" Mode the underlying buttons still work even though you can't see them!!
- Tapping the areas where the invisible "Show Memo" is will return you to the "Standard Screen" mode.
- Tapping the Left/Right arrows will perform the following:
- Top arrows: pgup/pgdn 100 lines
- Second row arrows: pgup/pgdn 30 lines
- Bottom row Arrows: pgup/pgdn 10 lines
Also the HARDWARE BUTTONS:
- UP ARROW: go to First Line
- Down Arrow: go to END OF FILE
Have Fun and if you download something, say Thankx to my wife onthe JDF site bulletin board. As always with memocat, SOURCE is also available at the site."
Quick fix on Qibla add-in with enhancements on the way. (From Waleed)
"I've got an email from DK telling me that the Qibla direction AddIn is not functioning! Actualy it's functioning but the compiled version (included in the ZIP file in my web page) is the emulator version (no memo i/o) sorry for that...
Anyway, I've re-compiled & uploaded it again I'll upload version 2.0 (using the extended world clock table) maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow. Sorry again :)"
eBook options found in newsgroup. (From Stevie)
"E-book rex fans should check-out the alt.binaries.e-book newsgroups. They have a list of more than 10.000 books that were scanned and ocr-ed. txt, rtf and HTML formats of most books available."
Bertus returns for a quick commentary from India! (From Bertus)
Bertus was one of the early (and most prolific!) REX developers. He created seven very useful add-ins (see more here) but has not been heard from for a while. Bertus dropped in to RRC recently to let us know where he's been and share a couple of tips for using Rexpense...
"Hi everyone,
It's been a long time since I posted here. Nice to see Dana still maintaining his site, adding news almost daily and some core developers still producing new addins and, even more importantly, developing developers tools.
I've moved my household from The Neterlands to the south of India, and have been busy with lots of other things than my Rex. The little device still is on my desk all the time, but for a daily organiser I'm cheating my Rex with another PDA. Still the Rex keeps fascinating me as it is such a 'smart' little thing. The addins available are nice and sometimes even usefull, but until now they were often limited to 8kb in size. I read up on the Rexdk stuff, and saw that there's a very nice farcall mechanism now to use more than 8 kb. I'm surprised that no one seems to be using this opportunity for writing bigger and more sophisticated addins. A spreadsheet should now be possible, or an enhanced agenda app, or...
I more or less abandoned Rex development because of my move to a new country, but also because of the llack of reactions I received. It seemed that too many people only knew how to find me when they had a problem or request. ("I REALLY need 8 Rexpense lists instead of 5", I send them a custom addin, never hear from them again, until after 3 months: "8 lists is OK, but I REALLY need 10 lists"). Or someone asks if guitarchords can be extended with new chords, I email simple instructions on how to write a textfile with chords and I will include them. Never heard of again. Anyway, not always very satisfying. Thanks to everyone who did write, even simple oneliner emails, you made my day writing from all around the world.
My Rex 6000 webpage is still online, (more than 18000 hits), although it hasn't been updated for long. If anyone want to extend Rexpense just take the source from my site and use it. I originally 'borrowed' it from Citizen.
Maybe I'll get itchy and start writing some addin again. Just like John del Ferro when he made unitconverter, my wife is out of town for a week. :)
John> As far as the functionality of Rexpense goes: Rexpense items can already be exported to Excel, and using the Tasklean addin the items can be deleted as well.
Spaco> You might enter the starting balance as a Rexpense item, then after that enter withdrawals as negative numbers. This way you can see your remaining balance using the stats button. Unfortunately no decimals, unless you multiply everything by 100, and imagine the decimal dot yourself."
REX World Clock and Qibla Direction add-ins released. (From Waleed)
"I finaly got a partial web page working:
There is an AddIn to manage & extend the world clock (city) table! (it has a simple nice graphic menu system - check it out).
Also there is Muslim Qibla Direction AddIn. I've a new version of Qibla Direction using the extended city table maybe next week. (It has memo i/o routines & simple string parsing functions).
I've discovered a nice feature in the emulator (don't work everytime though!), when you change a table (in my example the world clock table) you can save the changes permanantly by pressing the emulator [SAVE] button! it saves rom1.dat image to disk! So by using utilities like DavRex memo editor/creator we can have permanent memos - now I've a nice english city listing in my emulator :)
(BTW, all sorce code are included ;) )"