Here is an update on how I've been using my Psion Netbook Pro as my main paper-writer for grad school.
1.
) The USB port issue:
a.
) cheaper and/or older USB thumb drives seem to work better. The largest I have found that works flawlessly is the Dane-Elec 8 GB thumb drive. Unfortunately it has a poor rating on Amazon, but the Duracell version has a perfect rating.
I haven't tried the Duracell version but it seems to be the same design.
b.
) Oddly enough, my old 512 MB Sandisk Ultra II + USB sd card works in the USB port when it is flipped open. Of course, it also works in the SD slot.
c.
) I bought an OTG mini USB A-male to female USB adapter cable several years ago not long after I purchased my Psion Netbook Pro off of eBay. It has a short in it now and I may try getting another one with black cable housing since mine has
transparent cable housing. I don't know if that will make a difference, but I do know that I won't go back to the same seller.
d.
) Besides the short in the cable, I use an older HP optical mouse, which I prefer to using the stylus.
2.
) Docking station:
a.
) I wanted to get one, but as I'm sure many of you know, these are practically non-existent. Plus I'm not sure if it would have the ports I'm looking for: VGA and regular USB.
b.
) More than anything else, I wanted to be able to use a VGA-out port and be able to see my work on a larger monitor. The best solution seems to be a Colorgraphics Voyager VGA adapter cf card CRDVGACFH131. Although they aren't very common,
they do still come up on eBay sometimes -
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/251354504731?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksi...
3.
) Storage cards:
a.
) I have pretty much abandoned the use of USB thumb drives since I don't need much space for doc files and I like to keep my mouse plugged into the USB port. I have no idea if a USB port expander would work, but seeing how finicky the mini-USB
port can be at times, requiring me to do soft-resets from time to time, then I see no reason to multiply the problem by expanding the port.
b.
) I bought a larger SD card in addition to my trusty old 512 MB Sandisk Ultra II + USB SD card. I switched brands and went with a Kingston since www.Pulster.de explicitly advertises that the Kingston cards they sell are faster than Sandisk cards.
The 2GB Kingston card I got off of eBay is, I believe, faster and has not failed to read or write once yet. By the way, does anyone know if micro SD cards with a regular size SD adapter in the Psion NB Pro?
c.
) I haven't got a compact flash card yet but I will soon. I will take any suggestions and would love to read testimonies to any multi-GB cards that work well with the Psion NB Pro.
4.
) Software:
a.
) Textmaker is the best document creating software for the Psion Netbook Pro; worth every penny. In fact, I don't think I would keep my Psion NB Pro without the abilities provided by Textmaker.
b.
) Many people recommended that I run TextMaker from a cf card or sd card and keep the Psion's internal memory free. I'd like to do that with a new cf card, but Textmaker works fine from the internal memory. I haven't tried recently to run
Textmaker from my SD card but that may work fine as well.
5.
) Syncing:
I was thinking of finding a bluetooth adapter, but they're costly even when they do pop up on eBay. With storage cards, I just don't have a real need for syncing with another computer. However, I would like to hear any comments about SD wifi and
bluetooth cards that work well with the Psion NB Pro.
Thanks to everyone for posting comments and helping me to resurrect what is still a valuable tool for students.