EPOC Emulators and SDKs

Symbian supply SDKs, which contain WINS emulators to allow development in a PC environment. For a full installation of the SDK, allow around 80MB. The ER5 SDK was developed for Windows NT, but will run on Windows 95/98/ME/XP. We've also been told that the ER5 SDK works on Linux using the Wine Windows emulator.
SDKs are available for developers using the C++, Java or OPL programming languages.

ER5 SDK screenshot

ER5 SDK, from Symbian

Where do I get the EPOC SDKs?

Using existing data on the ER5 and Revo emulators

If you have existing files or applications from a Psion, you need to move these to the appropriate folder on the PC, so that the emulator can find them. You'll need to copy these files into the Wins\C folder (e.g. C:\Epoc32\Wins\C) or the folders below this, such as the Documents folder. Then, when you start the emulator, the files will be recognised.
Note that the Contacts file resides in the C:\Epoc32\Wins\C\System\Data on the emulator, with a filename of contacts.cdb

Installing the Psion Revo SDK:

Firstly, you need to install the ER5 emulator. Refer to the readme.txt file supplied with the ER5 SDK. Files will be installed to the c:\epoc32\ directory
Open the Revo SDK Zip file.
Refer to the readme.txt file supplied with the Revo SDK, as it contains some useful information.
Unzip the contents into the c:\epoc32\ directory, overwriting any files that are already in that directory. Ensure that the unzip program's "Path information" or "Use folders" option is checked, so that the files get copied into the correct subdirectories.
There are some changes that need to be made to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Again, see the Revo SDK readme.txt file for details.

Note: If you want to use both the ER5 and the Revo SDKs on your machine, you will need to install the ER5 SDK twice, to different drive letters (see SUBST above). You will then need to copy the Revo SDK files over the top of one of the ER5 SDK installations.

Using more than one SDK:

Note that the SDK uses the \epoc32\ root directory and it is not possible for two SDKs to reside in that directory. Accordingly, you may want to create a logical drive for the second SDK. This is best achieved using the DOS SUBST command, which can be used to tell your PC that a folder, say c:\revosdk is a drive letter, such as H: To do this, try the following:

Note: To start the emulator, you normally run the file e32-sys.bat from the \epoc32\Tools directory. If there are two installations, you will normally need to run the SUBST command each time you start the emulator that is not located in the c:\epoc32\ drive. You may wish to add the line 'SUBST H: C:\revosdk' (Where 'revosdk' is the name of the directory that the SDK was installed to) to the top of the batch file.

Older emulators

If you're looking for older SIBO / OPL16 emulators, such as the Series 3, Series 3a, Workabout and Siena emulators, here are a few resources:

Other useful information

The executable for the emulator is EPOC.EXE
The emulator settings are in a file called epoc.ini, usually in \EPOC32\Data. Full details of the options available are in the HTML documentation supplied with the SDK
The emulator build is known as WINS (a Single process Windows platform). It differs from the MARM build found in EPOC devices with the ARM processor, such as the 5mx and Revo. For this reason, some files and components will only run on either the MARM or a WINS platform, and not both. A "Not found" error is likely if attempting to access a file built for the wrong platform.
Additional information can be found in the SDK help files, which are in HTML format and can be found in the \sysdoc\emul folder.
Support for the ER5 SDK should be sought from Symbian via www.symbian.com/developer. Symbian cannot help with Revo SDK issues. These should be addressed to Psion via revosdkhelp@psion.com.
If you make regular use of the EPOC emulator, AlarmPlus helps you retain your system settings.

Want a Psion replacement? Consider the Asus Eee. This is a little bigger than a Psion 5mx, and half the size of an average laptop. It has wi-fi, 3 USB ports, and is pretty powerful... it's easy to use, and it's also less than £200!
We also have an audio review available. More on our Asus Eee PC Page

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