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Psion and Apple Macintosh Connectivity
(...and you considered to be impossible)
Last update 11-1-2006
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Did you ever try to connect a Psion Series 5 / MX or Ericsson MC218 (S5) to an Apple Macintosh computer? You then probably will agree with me that this can be a pretty frustrating experience. This page is about how many of the troubles you encounter can be satisfactorily resolved (with some endurance).
At present, Apple supports almost exclusively the PalmOS platform for Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's). I keep wondering why; is it the simple and stable OS (which in many ways resembles Apple's Newton, the first PDA available on the market), or the fact that Palm still is the only serious alternative for WindowsCE driven PDA's? Or is it because Apple until recently believed that palmtop computing mainly involves address and calendar management? Rumour still has it that Apple will one day introduce their own PDA again. Their portable jukebox, the iPod, is a huge success and bears in its latest versions the capacity to read entries from the Address Book and Calender applications in MacOSX--many shareware programmers have develloped tools to stretch these capabilities of the iPod to the limit (see Apple's iPod software download pages). Since the transition of the 'classic' Macintosh operating system (OS9.2 and older) to the UNIX-based OSX (oooh-es-ten) Apple has worked on a solution to make Macs more compatible with personal hardware, like cell phones and PDA's. Their iSync-software enables users of recent Symbian-based hardware (e.g. the very popular Sony-Ericsson P800 and 900, all running on Symbian OS6 or later) to exchange and synchronize between Mac and handheld device relatively easy.
Of course, from a commercial viewpoint support for the Symbian OS5 is a non-issue for Apple, so stubborn S5 users who think that their favorite PDA still is the best around have to come up with their own workarounds. That's not so bad as it seems; it's even fun, because there still are many active Symbian OS5 communities and software developers who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise, often at no charge (e.g. the Dutch Symbian user group at PDA Totaal). It turns out that due the open structure of both Psion's hard- and software their devices remain very popular on the second hand market, because users tend to come up with utilities that can solve communication issues with newer hardware. So here's my advice: if you have an S5, stick to it, and perhaps pass it on once to your technical (grand)son, who will be be very pleased with it.
Anyhow, official documentation about or support by both Psion and Ericsson for communication with the Apple platform is virtually nonexisting. By searching the web for helpful hints and by talking to several experts I found out that both type of machines can work very well together when equipped with the appropriate hard- and software. There are several other personal sources of information on this topic available on the internet (see below). I made this page for my own documentation and for of my friends and colleagues. I hope that this page may be of help to those who want to make optimal use of both their S5 and Mac.
These pages cover my personal experiences with connecting a MC218 to a Macintosh computer running on both system version 9.x ('Classic') and OSX (up to 10.3.x). Sorry, I have no experience with connecting Macs to other Symbian handhelds, such as Psion Series 3, the Nokia 9210, or Sony-Ericssons P800/900, that all use different Symbian operating systems than Symbian EPOC release 5..
The information on this page is provided "as is" without any warranties. While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this article, I will assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damage resulting from the use of this information. However, I am open to constructive critique that may improve the information presented on this page.
Connecting your S5/MC218 to a Mac: general issues
First some essentials about connectors and cabling. Both the Psion Series 5 / 5MX and the Ericsson MC218 have a standard RS-232 port (PCMCIA-connector type) and infrared (IrDA) for serial communication with other computers. Data speeds ("Baud rates") up to 115Kb are supported, depending on the type of connection that is set up. The standard S5/MC218 cable, equipped with a serial DB9-pin plug (female; see picture below), however, can only be used with Wintel-PC's. Until recently Apple used 8-pin MiniDIN connectors for their RS-232 interface. Since the introduction of the iMac and the PowerBook Bronze (1999-2000) Apple has switched to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) as the standard interface for serial communication. Therefore you will need a cable adapter when you want to connect your Psion to any type of Mac.
Fig.1. Serial connector types and cables.
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Connecting your S5/MC218 to a pre-2000 Mac with a serial MiniDIN 8-pin port
The Psion cables that came with the MacConnect software are not manufactured anymore. These cables were fitted with a "Honda" PCMCIA-card connector at one end and a MiniDIN 8-pin plug on the other. Adapter cables for the original Psion cable, equipped with a serial DB9-pin plug (male) and a MiniDIN8, are available from several suppliers (e.g. Serial Leads, UK). I used the wiring scheme below for making my own 3 Euro adapter cable, and it works perfectly, even at maximum speed (115 Kbps). Note that this is no standard modem or printer cable layout: make sure that you connect leads 4 and 6 on the DB9. You can click on it to enlarge the picture.
Fig.2. Wiring scheme of Psion - Macintosh serial adapter cable.
Connecting your S5/MC218 to a USB-type Mac
Modern Macs (iMac's and later) are equipped with USB ports instead of serial ports with a MiniDIN 8-pin outlet. A solution is to purchase a serial bridge that relays the serial RS-232 signal to the USB port. A Keyspan USB PDA adapter did the trick for me. However, the throughput is limited to 57.6 Kbps, which unfortunately is half of the technical maximum. A competing product of Belkin performs at twice this speed (but I did not try this myself), but this adapter does not come with OSX drivers. In all, a USB-bridge is a good solution, although you have to drag an extra accessory with you.
Connecting your S5/MC218 to a Mac using infrared (IrDA)
Communication 'with no strings attached' is of course the nicest option. Bluetooth (or even better: WiFi) would have been ideal for Psions, of course. Several sources claimed however that problems with the implementation of Bluetooth has been one of the reasons why Psion could not keep up with the extreme competition on the PDA market. Third best is the infrared interface, which is available on the S5/MC218. At least theoretically, it should be possible to establish an infrared connection between a S5/MC218 and a Mac with infrared. The S5 uses the IrDA protocol for wireless communication. Older iMacs (Revisions A and B), PowerBook 2400, 3400 and all PowerBook G3/G4 models are 'IrDA compliant' [see AppleCare Knowledge Base article #20928]. Apple's latest models reach infrared speeds up to 4 Mbps, so the maximum throughput of the Psion RS-232 port of 115 Kbps would be the bottleneck. When you open the Infrared control panel (using Mac OS9 and Infrared v.1-1.2), switch the 'Remote Link' option on the S5 to 'Infrared', and put it near the infrared sensor of your Mac, you can see that the Mac is 'aware' of your PDA: it recognizes the 'EPOC device' or 'MC218', depending on the EPOC software (Symbian/EPOC = the S5 operating system) and model that you use. However, there are no reports on the internet about ways to exchange information between both computers (but read the technical remarks of Rohin Hattiangadi on the support pages of Simon Williams). This makes it even more weird that I actually did succeed once to communicate between the two machines using the MacConnect software... (I even made a full backup!). Thereafter: never again, even though I used exactly the same settings. I am sure that there must be a work-around for this, so if anyone has a clue, please let me know. A utility called plBeam that extends the S5 capabilities to communicate with other platforms (including Palm and Windows) does not resolve this: I expect that Apple for some reason did not fully implement the IrOBEX industry standard.
Get your S5/MC218 directly on the internet using a serial connection and Apple Remote Access (pre-2000 Mac with OS9)
It is possible to use the serial link between your S5/MC218 and the Mac to link your handheld directly to the internet--at least when you have MacOS9 -or higher- installed on the Mac and an open internet connection (e.g. ADSL, or cable). MacOS9 comes with Apple Remote Access (ARA) Server Edition: you can configure this software as your one-client internet provider on the Mac. Thus, you can communicate using a 'null modem' with the Mac via an IP-connection, and share the IP-services that are available to the hosting Mac. It requires that you make a configuration file on the S5 that contains the necessary info to dial-in' to the Mac, log-on to it, and get an IP-address that is not used by other clients on the network. On the Mac you need to make the computer accessible for the S5 (I hope I have translated all the Mac terms right, as I work with a Dutch MacOS):
It may be convenient to enable switching between your regular Modem and Remote Access settings and those you need for the S5 by adding a configuration setting in the 'Location Manager' control panel. Then you should store each new configuration of these control panels under a new name, e.g. EPOC. In the new configuration file of Location manager you then can indicate which control panels need to be switched in order to start a S5 internet session.
On this page I have summarized the Internet control panel settings (screen shots) on the S5 that worked for me. As I mentioned, the settings on my Mac are in Dutch, but I still decided to include them: the layout of all the Apple system software is the same in different languages, so it may be easy to figure out what it means. ---> Go to page with S5 /Mac settings explained in screen shots.
Connection software: general issues
Before you established a serial connection you probably have thought about the kind of operations that you need it for in the first place. The most obvious use is for backing up the files on your EPOC-machine, or restoring an old backup (e.g. in case of a double battery failure...) but also for installing new programs. In addition, you may want to get on the internet directly - a brilliant but hardly documented possibility: how about synchronizing your mail, surf the internet and use FTP at ISDN speed (up to app. 115 kbpm)? Read more about this in the paragraph above. There are now several connection tools available for connecting the S5 to a Mac running OSX (JPL, 2Connectu, or Traffic): these are all discussed below.
Psion S5/mx and the Ericsson MC218 come (or better: came) with PC communication software in the box. Macintosh users were accommodated to some extent when Atelier Software released MacConnect for the EPOC-platform: this product included a 1.44 inch floppy and a direct Mac-8pin serial cable, which was not for sale separately). It was brilliant in its simplicity and fully supported the Mac software design specifications. It mounts the S5 as a disk on the desktop, and you can browse through folders, drag-and-drop to other folders etc. However, it brings 'only' the features file backup/restore, software installation, and file compression of files on the S5; no Agenda or Contacts synchronization, and no file conversion capability. On the other hand, if you do not really need these options, and are still able to run OS9 on your Mac, MacConnect may be interesting for you. MacConnect does not work under MacOSX in 'classic' mode: you need to restart your Mac with OS9 to be able to establish a connection, which is possible only with a 'dual boot' Mac. Alas, Macs produced after January 2003 are not able to boot in classic MacOS, so for those owners MacConnect has become obsolete. It is is not for sale anymore, but Martin Guthrie's website Pscience5 now distributes it at no charge; see the Lost-and-Found pages, and make sure you also download the available updates for version 1.0 (latest is 1.1.4).
Using PsiWin / Ericsson Connect software
The S5 PC-connectivity software has several additional features when compared to the limited functions in MacConnect. EPOC-files (Word, Sheet, Sketch, Jotter) can be converted to nearly all popular Office and graphical file formats, and vice versa; you may synchronize (i.e. update in both directions) your Agenda, ToDo-lists, and Contacts information with Microsoft Outlook. Great for all PC-owners out there... but how about us Mac users? Well, some of us do have the guts to use Windows emulation software, such as Virtual PC, in order to stay in touch with 'the other' platform. You may use Virtual PC to install the S5 PC-software and still enjoy the pleasure of all these nice features (but probably at substantial lower speeds, due to the emulation process). However, for Agenda and Contacts synchronization you need to have Outlook Exchange installed in your PC enviromnent. Outlook Exchange is the Microsoft email client that archives all mail and information about contacts on a dedicated server. (Outlook Express, the standard Windows95/98/ME email client does not support synchronization or use of Contacts or Agenda on an Exchange Server.) Outlook Exchange is an optional part of the Office97 (or higher) software bundle. In the end, it was possible to make it work, but you don't want to hear about the kind of nonsense that passes your screen during the several installation (and de-installation!) attempts that it took me; this was unbelievable. If you synchronize regularly you can use an Outlook Exchange for Macintosh client (or Outlook Web Access - if your provider supports this service) to consult or even edit your agenda / contacts on your Mac more quickly than under emulation. Seems a bit weird though, as in my opinion even the most recenty edition of Outlook Exchange for Mac is still inferior to Microsoft's own Entourage. Entourage is the email client that comes with OfficeMac98/2001/X/2004, which works seamless with both POP and IMAP (=exchange) mail servers, and in addition offers several other attractive features. Since the Office-X version Entourage is as able to open the Exchange agenda and contacts information on the IMAP server, but your provider has to support this service (and use a recent version of Outlook Exchange Server).
Java Psion Link (JPL) is made by John Montgomery, an enthousiastic PDA programmer. The program is intended to be a cross-platform solution for transferring files between Psion EPOC PDAs (netBook, series 7, 5MX, Revo) and any computer with a serial port and the ability to run Java, a program intended to run applications independent of the platform. The software is available for MacOS classic, OSX, Linux and Windows and is distributed free of charge. If you have Java running on your Mac (and all Macs do so by default) you can use it to swap files between PDA and Mac. I tested this software succesfully: it works very fast and easy. For simple file exchange it may be just what you need.
In May 2001 the Slovakian firm 2KSystems introduced their 1.0 version of 2Connectu, multiplatform software for EPOC-devices. The older Psion Series 5 is not supported, only 5mx/MC218 (and other more recent models such as the Revo and Netbook). Their demo gives a good impression how this works - but be prepared to study the installation manual carefully. You first need to install the .SIS program on your S5, using your serial connection (!). This cuts your RAM 2Mb down, because of the heavy demands of the file conversion software and the Mobile Micro Server Technology software that is installed on your S5. Next, you can set up an IP-connection with your Mac, after changes are made in several control panels (Modem --> null modem with appropriate speed, TCP/IP set to a local IP-address). A small utility is provided that should make these changes for you, but I kept getting an error message that my modem settings could not be changed so I changed the setting manually in the end. (More seriously, the automatic procedure corrupted my TCP/IP preferences file, which is quite nasty when you happen to use several IP-configurations that you then have to re-enter again). Communication control is implemented with HTML/XML screen output using a standard browser. You then may open, browse and edit your agenda, contacts, make backups or restore operations, execute standard file conversions. Indeed the interface is efficient and intuitive, but there were some drawbacks. First it made no sense to me why you are cut of from the internet, as you need to configure the TCP/IP control panel to a local IP-number - working in an office environment often requires an open internet connection, so, for example, you cannot consult your S5 info and use email at the same time. Next, why should you bother using a Mac to work with data that are on your S5 that's only a few inches away? The program and the install utility were not bug free - e.g. in calendar mode I sometimes missed the first week of a month.
Development of the program has been discontinued, but Pscience5 distributes the 2Connectu archive at no cost on their website, in the 'Lost-and-found' directory..
Using S5 Traffic (Philippe Galmel)
S5 Traffic, made by the French programmer Philippe Galmel, provides basic file transfer functions in a nice and intuitive graphical interface. The shareware program works perfectly under both OS9 and OSX. It consists of a .SIS support file that should be installed on the S5, and two MacOS versions of the actual application. The program comes in different languages (Fr-Uk-De). You can try the fully functional demo for 2 weeks and need to register the shareware thereafter.
If you want to communicate and exchange files with other Mac or PC-owners it is important that your can use the appropriate file format. Mac text saved in Rich Text Format (RTF) can be imported in Psion Word, but the layout is lost for the most part. Atelier Software, the makers of MacConnect (see above) untill recently provided the MacFive Text Extras, free tools for Macintosh to Series 5 plain text conversion. Plain text files do not contain any style information. On the Mac they can be created by the plain text editor Simpletext, or by any word processor by saving the current document as "text only". Their file type must be 'TEXT'. On the Series 5, plain text file are exported from the Psion Word application using the "Export as text file..." option. So much for plain text, how about other file formats, such as spreadsheet or graphical images? Of course, you can use PsiWin under emulation, but there are several shareware programs that may fit your needs. Check out for example nConvert from Neuon, a very active software developer for the S5. The program is small, has a slick ergonomy and is fully integrated with email/Message, so popular file formats such as Word and Excel, and graphical formats like GIF or JPEG are automatically recognized and converted to their Psion counterparts on the spot. If you want to send an email with a Psion file attach, you can choose for conversion first, then ZIP the attach to reduce its size and after that you may choose to open your mail application and send it off. The speed of this program is absolutely amazing. Cool. For a full description, see Neuons website. 2Connectu (see above) also offers file conversion capabilities, but these are more basic (fewer conversion plug-ins) and are executed much, much slower.
Address Book and Agenda synchronization
But how about quick ways to convert address and agenda files that can be read on a Mac, or vice versa, without using a PC as a translator? In the S5 Contacts program you can export your contacts (all together, or one at a time) to a file in the .vcf (virtual card) format. This file type can be imported by Address Book on a Mac with OSX, with no loss of field information -- the reverse should also be possible, but I did not check this out.
For Agenda files you may try the shareware program vCal, written by Malcolm Bryant, on your S5. This utility converts agenda files to the .vcs (virtual calendar) format. A vcs-file can be read by iCal, the Agenda program of OSX. Unfortunately, due to some unresolvable programming difficulties it is not possible to convert repeating appointments, copy alarms/reminders or anniversaries between applications, or synchronize your agenda's on both machines. A clever programmer from Japan, Noriyuki Mihashi, may have solved this problem. He wrote the Psion application aSync, which can synchronize the Agenda file on your Psion with the iCalendar(.ics) file. Read carefully the installation instructions, and be sure to install the OPX library MD5 OPX, that was made by another Japanese developer, before you start synchronizing. I did not try this utility myself, but he whole procedure requires some back and forth file swapping and syncing steps: if you need to sync both calendars on a daily basis this may be a bit of a hassle. Still, another user was quite satisfied with this little program (thanks for this tip, Nicolas Law).
Of course, the ultimate solution would be an OSX iSync-like program (or extension), that automatically connects with the S5 with a serial connection, reads the Contacts or Agenda database, syncs the contents with Address Book and iCal and then closes the connection again. Hey, Mac programmers; isn't there a Psionist amoung you who may be willing to work on such a program?
Both the Psion 5mx and Ericsson MC218 come with standard email and browser (Java-based) facilities. The MC218 is even equipped with a WAP-browser for those who want to use an infrared cell phone connection to get on the internet. If you own a Series 5 (8Mb) you may upgrade your software with the free Message Suite that was made available by Psion. This package adds email, send & receive fax, and a full html 3.2 web browser to your machine. The only web option that I missed was a FTP-client. Several shareware developers have filled this gap, with products such as nFTP, again from Neuon. nFTP is an interactive FTP (File Transfer Protocol) tool, that allows you to transfer files to and from a remote connection, using the standard FTP format. Providing a sleek desktop-like FTP interface, nFTP adheres to the look and feel of the standard "built-in" EPOC applications, nFTP is simple, fast, and requires only 110k of compact flash space. Another nice shareware package is RMR-FTP, brought by RMR Software; it has comparable features as nFTP, but is about twice as big when installed (220k). You can try-before-you-buy both packages.
Better connectivity with flash memory disks
The S5/MC218 has an expansion slot for CompactFlash (CF) cards on the down/left side of the machine. Such card may add up to 1 Giga byte of memory storage capacity to your handheld: this disk space seems not noticably slower than the internal RAM memory and may contain both data and (installed) programs. Several manufacturers have come up with sleek USB CompactFlash card readers to connect to a Mac or PC which mount the memory disks on your desktop. I purchased one from SanDisk for about 90 Euro (supports MacOS 8.6 to X). The package included a USB card reader (so called 'ImageMate', which is powered by the USB link, includes software for both Mac and PC) and a 64Mb disk. File duplication is extremely fast (particularly compared to a 128Kb serial connection between S5 and a Mac) and makes backup procedures fast as lightning. You just copy the C: [Internal] disk to D: [your memory card], and then store the disk somewhere safe. You can also make a backup from the disk on your desktop computer, using the card reader. It seems therefore a perfect solution for both fast backups and swapping large data files. Make sure that you enter the card right in the S5--it seems that I was not the only one that entered the card upside down, which is physically possible, but results in an error message. Note that the ridge on the outside of the card (the one that you get your nails behind to pull the card out of the S5) should be faced down. If you remove the card installed programs disappear from the menu bar, but don't worry; all icons return when you re-enter the card. It's that easy. SanDisk assures that both the 5mx and MC218 support cards up to the maximum capacity (1 Gb).
Hidden files. Some background information first (cited from a reply of Dr. Smoke, author of Troubleshooting MacOSX, 2nd. ed., in a discussion group on Apple's website). "When you copy or save a file from a Mac to a Windows (or Psion)-formatted disk or shared volume, the Mac creates two files: the data fork (xxxx) and the resource fork (._xxxx). This is called Apple Double Format and is normal. The resource fork is meta-data about the file that is exclusive to the Mac. This is new with Mac OS X, as documented in Mac OS X: Apple Double Format Creates File Name With the Prefix '._'. The resource fork files (._xxxx)
- are necessary if you want to copy the file back to the Mac and retain the metadata;
- can be deleted on the Windows disk if and only if you don't care about losing resource fork information should you copy the files back to the Mac;
- cannot be prevented from being created if you copy or save files from the Mac to a Windows share or disk via Finder.
Finder will also create .DS_Store files on the Windows disk. These are related to folders you have copied/created on the Windows disk from the Mac. These files contain information used by Mac OS X's Finder regarding how a folder's window was last displayed, e.g. arrangement of icons in such, etc." Now, these (not very well hidden) files tend to clutter up your view of directory contents in your Psion desktop. They even cause some CF-cards to become unusable in digital camera's, or sometimes cause errors on standard MP3-players that are connected to a Mac with USB. Manually removing these files is a tedious job. There is a nice utility available that strips the ._ files from the content that you copy to a target volume (e.g. a mounted Psion CF-card). It's called KopyMac, it's very easy to use (drag-and-drop) and prevents those unnecessary files to be copied to your Psion disks, USB-disk or MP3-player. Great stuff, thanks to Justin M.
USB-card readers. Recently, I purchased a very small Mistral/Cresta CF-card reader (8x5 cm, with fixed USB-connector) at a bargain price (approximately 20 Euro). The bundled CD included only Win-drivers only (of course). However, the good news is that OSX recognized the hardware immediately: the native USB-drivers enabled mounting of both my CF-cards (64/128Mb). This compact device proves to be quite reliable, and essentially work just like a USB-memory stick.
Note: since I published this page on the web I received mail of several troubled Mac-users who reported unexpected errors, or even data loss or corrupted disks when swapping CF-cards between Psion and Mac. This is due to a typical Mac-problem with MS-DOS file system support , as explained by Mark Day from Apple on the website of OpenDarwin.org. The bottom line is that this problem cannot be fixed in classic MacOS (9.x or lower), but patches for OS-X versions 10.1 and 10.2 were made available by Mark to one of the visitors of this page, Jochen Fahrner, who was so kind to share it with other Psioneers. The problem was solved in OS-X 10.3: no patches are needed. I have not used these patches myself (I work with 10.3 now): usage is at your own risk.
Patch installation:
Other useful resources for Psion S5 / Mac connectivity
Check out other related web resources:
Newsgroups:
That's about it folks. Please keep me posted on interested links related to this topic, so I can regularly update this information for all you Mac-users out there.
Cheers, Martin.
