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About Me
John Boyce (a.k.a. JB)
Programming is just a hobby for me and I have been doing it on a Psion since the
days of the Organiser II computers (the first machines capable of being
programmed).
I originally started off playing with programs on a
BBC Micro Model B in the early '80s and never looked back - I found that, if a computer
wouldn't do what you wanted it to, you could more often than not make it do so. Nothing I
wrote at that time was ever officially released although a ROM I wrote for the BBC Micro
got some third-party usage and it was only when the Series 3 came out that I started
officially distributing my programs, initially on CompuServe and then later on CIX and
occasionally on the Internet.
The only PC program that is out there is a DOS file manager
(a sort of daddy of JBTree) called TreeDOS which I wrote for a friend and which seems
to have been copied all around Sussex schools.
All my programs have been released free of charge - I have often been asked why -
here are the reasons.
- I would need my employers permission to run a business and, as the company
I work for is very
large and there are no local personnel, it isn't worth the effort to pursue the matter
(they were also, at one time, involved peripherally with Psion programming so this could
possibly cause an additional problem).
- It makes things much more simple for my tax return.
- It saves having to keep records on who has got what and how much they paid and when.
- If, at some point, I wish to give up supporting a program, there is no impediment to
me doing so - that having been said, I've not given up on any of my released programs to
date.
My hobbies (apart from Computing) are Hi-Fi and Photography. I also enjoy seeing
ancient 'rubble' and my favourite country to visit is Egypt (I've been there three times to date).
Site-seeing whilst on holiday is a must for me as I dislike sitting on a beach doing nothing.
For paid employment I work as a supervisor in a Master Control Room dealing with
transmissions for a major television news organisation. The work could take me on travels
abroad but, for health reasons, I try and avoid that if at all possible (there are plenty of other volunteers
<g>). My work schedule involves shift working which means that I am at home at odd
times - this is one reason I don't publish my telephone number.
I don't publish my address because it costs real money (as opposed to a phone call)
to reply by letter and I don't have a fax machine which means that e-mail is the only way
to contact me. The other nice thing about e-mail correspondence is that I can select when
I gather the mail and when I reply to it - with telephones and fax this option is in the
hands of others.
I hang around
the Psion and Palm Conferences on CiX although rarely
contribute to them.
Series 5
People keep asking if there will be a JBData for the Series 5 - now that
Psion have pulled out of the market there seems little point. To write something like this would require a lot of time and effort and
it would have to be somewhat different from the Series 3 version with enhancements in
different areas. I am happy with the built-in Data application so am not
encouraged to start.
For a while I used a SonyEricsson P910i phone which uses an updated
version of the Series 5 OS. There are some things I dislike about the phone but
it gave me all I really needed in one package. Yet again though Symbian don't
make new versions compatible with the old and the latest P990 phone would need
me to buy around 1,000 pounds worth of software to bring it up to the position
the P910i is at. I am not intending to go there! Instead I've moved over to the
Palm Treo 680 and I'm very happy with it.
Personal links (not Psion related)
Links for PsiMail Internet (the
normal ones don't work)
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