Original review published on Steve Litchfield's 3-Lib.

I'm completely torn by this product.

On the one hand it really does give you a complete 'XT' class IBM-compatible PC in the palm of your hand (well, in your Series 5 to be more precise), complete with standard DOS and CGA graphics support, all running as a standard EPOC application and with access to your Series 5's internal disk.

On the other, it's only when you start XTM up for the first time that you realise just how basic and how slow the old XT class PC was, way-back in the early 1980s. Of course, the Series 5 has a fairly fast 18MHz ARM processor, but then it takes a lot of horsepower to be able to run the emulator, knocking back the real-world speed to a fraction of that of the IBM original. In terms of doing real work, I'll give you an example: zipping 600k of files on my 200MHz Pentium took 3 seconds. Using PKZIP under XTM, the same task took over ten minutes, making the apparent machine speed about 200 hundred times slower.

Let's look on the bright side, though. Companies with legacy applications, left over from 1980's programming activities, will appreciate the fact that their DOS programs can now be run on the ultra-modern Series 5, side by side with their executive's PIM and office data, running under EPOC. DOS enthusiasts, too, will love the novelty factor, as they really can now go back to their roots.

Apart from the odd key combination problem, I was enormously impressed by what NB Information Limited have accomplished with XTM. As you'll see from the screen shot, the PC function keys are all sensibly mapped onto tappable buttons and there's even a custom mouse driver so that you can use the Series 5 stylus and touch-screen.

Installation of the system was speeded up for me by the provision of an original DOS image disk by email - users normally have to root out their old floppies and then spend a happy quarter-hour disk-swapping in order to achieve the same. I wonder whether NB Information could supply others with a suitable image disk via their web site, or by packaging with XTM? There might well be licensing issues to sort out, but it would certainly be much more convenient.

You either need XTM or you don't. 99% of readers of this review will fall into the latter category, but for the remaining 1% XTM does what it claims to do extremely well indeed.

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