Psion Series 7
The Psion Series 7 of 2000 is the consumer face of the Psion netBook: the same StrongARM clamshell, the same 7.7-inch colour VGA touchscreen and the same keyboard, in a blue leather-covered case with the operating system built in. It is the first and last Psion with a full-colour screen.[1]
 | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Psion PLC (Psion Digital Solutions) |
| Manufacturer | Psion PLC |
| Type | Clamshell sub-notebook |
| Released | 2000 |
| Discontinued | 2003 |
| CPU | Intel StrongARM SA-1100, clocked at 132.71 MHz |
| Memory | 16 MB RAM, expandable to 32 MB |
| Storage | CompactFlash Type II (including IBM Microdrive), PC Card Type I/II |
| Display | 7.7 in 640 × 480 backlit colour STN touchscreen, 256 colours |
| Sound | 12-bit audio, built-in speaker and microphone |
| OS / Firmware | EPOC32 (ER5), builds 754 and 756 |
| Predecessor | Psion Series 5mx |
| Successor | Psion netBook Pro |
| Model no. | Consumer version of the Psion netBook |
For anyone repairing one, the important fact is that the Series 7 and the netBook are the same machine. Psion sold the reduced-capacity Series 7 in response to consumer demand, replacing 16 MB of the netBook's 32 MB of RAM with a 16 MB ROM chip. Reading the operating system out of that ROM required slowing the processor down, which produced the long-standing but false belief that the two machines use different processors or different boards.[1]
Hardware
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel StrongARM SA-1100. Reported as running at 132.71 MHz — see below |
| RAM | 16 MB, upgradeable to 32 MB with a 16 MB module. About 1.6 MB is taken by the OS before anything is opened, leaving 14756 KB shared between running applications and the internal disk |
| ROM | 16 MB, on a removable card. The card carries Flash devices rather than mask ROM |
| Display | 7.7 in 640 × 480 backlit colour STN touchscreen, 256 colours, nine brightness levels |
| Storage | CompactFlash Type I/II (IBM Microdrive supported); one PC Card Type I/II slot |
| Serial | RS-232 to 115200 baud; SIR infrared |
| Main power | 11.1 V, 1500 mAh Li-ion pack of three 18650 cells |
| Backup power | CR2032 lithium coin cell |
| External power | 15.5 V, 1.5 A, 100–240 V 50/60 Hz adapter with a ferrite core (one source gives 15 V) |
| Keyboard | 84 keys, QWERTY, legends applied as white transfers rather than hot-stamped or laser-etched |
| Case | Leather-covered clamshell |
Why the Series 7 is slower, and what happens if you change that
The Series 7 and netBook are believed to use the same 190 MHz SA-1100 part, because fitting one chip to both machines was cheaper than stocking two — the slower speed is imposed by software on the Series 7 ROM card.[2]
Owners who fitted a netBook ROM board to a Series 7 reported the machine booting as a netBook, with 191.692 MHz shown in place of 132.71 MHz and software running notably faster. The reported ROM size drops from 16 MB to 13 MB and RAM rises to 19 MB, because the netBook card carries an extra 16 MB of RAM and 13 MB is then consumed by the loaded OS image. All batteries must be out before the swap.[2]
Two cautions are worth stating plainly:
- The safe direction is netBook down to Series 7. Upgrading the other way "may not work, as some Series 7 failed the test for being able to work reliably at the higher speed" — the parts were binned.[3]
- The Series 7 still cannot supply as much current to the PC Card slot as a netBook, and that does not change when the ROM board does.[2]
Only 16, 32 and 64 MB memory configurations are accepted; 48 MB does not work, and a Series 7 memory upgrade will not work in a netBook.[3]
Boards
At least two interchangeable PCBs were used across the product's life, the later one supplying more current to the PC Card slot.[1] Revision 10 began in week 35 of 2002, replacing revision 7. The date of manufacture is encoded in the serial number on a paper slip inside the CompactFlash slot: after the four letters, the first digit is the year (8 = 2000, 0 = 2002, 1 = 2003) and the next two digits are the week.[3]
The board carries two unfitted DRAM sockets and an apparently unfitted Flash ROM site. At least one owner populated them with Hitachi HM5165165LTT-6 devices to make a 32 MB motherboard, stressing that low-power parts are essential because the DRAM is powered continuously on a Psion.[3]
ROM builds
Two EPOC builds are commonly seen. Build 754 shipped first and suffers a documented fault in which the machine gradually slows until it is soft reset, and a touchscreen that drifts out of calibration and cannot be corrected from the control panel. Build 756, from early 2000, fixes both.[4]
Because the Series 7's operating system is in the machine and Psion never released an update for it, Series 7 owners could not fix the touchscreen bug in software — netBook owners simply loaded a newer OS image. The ROM board does contain Flash devices, so an update was technically possible; Psion made clear it would never happen.[4]
The leather
The lid and base are covered in leather rather than painted plastic, and it has worn better than the rubberised finishes Psion used elsewhere. Contemporary assessment: "The leather covering is very well adhered to the casing and the exposed plastic areas have a lightly textured finish so there is no coating that can peel off."[2] An owner writing in 2018, eighteen years on, described it as having "gained a patina over time".[5]
There is one point where the leather is tightly folded if the screen is pushed fully back.[2] Compare the Psion Series 3c, whose rubberised coating degrades into something like glue, and the Psion netBook Pro, whose rubberised covering was reported unsticking on new machines.
General maintenance
Troubleshooting
Battery service
See also
- Psion netBook — the corporate original; the same machine with a different personality module
- Psion netBook Pro · Psion Series 5mx
- Battery Refurbishment · Recommended Tools
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Psion Series 7", Wikipedia. Source for the release date, the leather clamshell, the RAM-for-ROM substitution, the clock explanation, the two interchangeable PCBs and the OPL/C++/Java development options.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Psion Series 7 FAQ: General & hardware information", oocities.org/epoc_32 (February 2000). Source for the RAM figures and OS overhead, the screen description and colour depth, the keyboard legends, the leather assessment, the reset procedures, the microphone location, the Notify button, the CompactFlash advice and the ROM-board swap results.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Eric Lindsay, "Psion 7 and NetBook Portable Computers", mirrored at ericlindsay.com. Source for the display size and brightness levels, the motherboard revisions and serial-number date coding, the memory-size restrictions, the netBook-to-Series 7 downgrade caveat and the microphone press-fit fault. Includes material posted to comp.sys.psion by Ralph Barrett.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Psion Series 7 FAQ: Known issues & bugs", oocities.org/epoc_32. Source for the build 754 slowdown, the touchscreen calibration bug and its fix in build 756, the battery-catch microswitch fault, the CompactFlash drawer play, the PC Card modem current problem and the Add/Remove control panel crash.
- ↑ Adam Richardson, "Psion Series 7", Mass Made Soul, 2018. Source for the long-term condition of the leather covering and the assessment of the hinge.