Once the Jape page is loaded, you should see an image of the Psion Organiser II (LZ model) on the left of the screen. If it does not appear, then you may need to try a more up-to-date browser.
You can press the Psion's keys using a mouse click or via touchscreen, but you can also just type on your computer's keyboard, and the keys are mapped as much as possible to the Psion's keyboard. You can combine them, for example by holding down shift on your computer and clicking a Psion key if you want to enter a symbolic character. The key mappings are:
| PC | Psion |
|---|---|
| Escape | ON/Clear |
| F1 | MODE |
| Enter | EXE |
| Shift | Shift |
| Backspace | Del |
| Delete | Del |
| Arrows | Arrows |
Note that when typing letters, the upper/lower case is controlled by the Caps mode on the Psion, not by whether you type a lower or upper case letter on your computer's keyboard. The Caps mode on the Psion can be changed by pressing Shift-Up.
By default the LZ (32K) model is selected. You can select a different model from a drop down list in the first box of controls. The models CM and XP have a 2×16 display, the LZ and LZ64 have a 4×20 display. Click the Select button to start using the selected model. The model you are currently using is displayed above the controls.
For models there are several ROM versions available. By default the most recent English-language version is chosen, but you can select a different one if you wish. Don't forget to press the Select button to start using your chosen ROM.
For completeness some POS models are also available, which are models that were intended for business and industry, and which automatically run a program from a memory pack named BOOT. If no pack with such a program is present, the POS model switches off again.
Click the Pause button to stop the emulator. This will stop all javascript activity, pausing the Psion immediately. Pressing the Continue button will start the emulator running again, continuing where it left off.
When the Psion first boots, its clock will be set to 1 January 1986 or 1989. The Set Clock button offers a quick way to set the Psion's clock to the current date and time without needing to go through its TIME menu option. Whenever the Jape web page is not visible, your browser may pause or slow down the emulator causing the clock to run slow. Pressing the Set Clock button will then update the clock again. Note that the CM and XP models are not able to correctly handle years after 2000, on those models a year from the previous century is chosen with the same weekdays as the current year.
Packs are memory modules for the Psion Organiser. The Psion has 2 slots for these packs, named slot B: and slot C: (the internal Ram is called A:), so at most two packs can be inserted into the Psion at any one time. Commercial software was supplied on such packs, and images of many packs are included here.
There are three sections to the Pack controls, which allow you to do the following:
1. To use a pack, choose the pack from the dropdown list. Then click the Slot B: button or the Slot C: button, and this will remove it from the list and insert it into the Psion. If any pack was already present in the chosen slot, that pack will be removed and added back to the list. The Save button allows you to save the contents of the selected pack to a local file.
2. If you click the Select OPK File button, a dialog opens that allows you to select a local file. The file should contain a pack image (usually it has an .OPK file extension). To the right of that button is a text field, and here you can type the name you want to give the pack. When you then click the Create button, the file is loaded, and it is added to the list as a new pack with the name you provided. If instead you click Cancel, the file selection and the pack name are cleared.
3. To create a new empty pack, you need to select the type of pack you want from the dropdown list. It can be a standard datapack (which were based on EPROM chips), a rampack (based on battery-backed RAM chips), or a flashpack (based on EEPROM chips). Then select the memory size from the second dropdown list. Lastly, in the text field enter the name you want the pack to have. Clicking on the Create button creates the empty pack and adds it with the chosen name into the list of available packs. If instead you click Cancel, the input is cleared.
Snapshots are copies of the internal state of the Psion Organiser, excluding any packs. You can take a snapshot of the emulated Psion Organiser at any time, so that you can later reset the emulator to that state and continue from that point. The list of snapshots has been populated with copies of most of the games I wrote for the Psion.
There are two sections to the snapshot controls, which allow you to do the following:
1. To use a snapshot, choose it from the dropdown list. It may take a moment for the snapshot to be retrieved from the server, and you can then click Run to apply it to the currently running emulator. Be aware that it will overwrite the current state so you will lose any unsaved data. Note that a snapshot on one model cannot be applied to a different model, and if you try you will get a popup error message. You can save the selected snapshot file by clicking the Save button.
2a. If you click the Select SNA File button, a dialog opens that allows you to select a local file. The file should contain a snapshot (usually it has a .SNA file extension). To the right of that button is a text field, and here you can type the name you want to give the snapshot. When you then click the Import button, the file is loaded, and it is added to the list as a new snapshot with the name you provided. If instead you click Cancel, the file selection and the snapshot name are cleared.
2b. To create a snapshot of the currently running Psion, first type the name you want the snapshot to have in the text box. When you then click the Snap! button, the snapshot is taken and added to the list with the name you provided.
If you have comments or suggestions, you can contact me (Jaap Scherphuis) at psion a t jaapsch d o t net.
© Copyright 2017, Jaap Scherphuis.