“I don’t need a phone. What I need is a mobile communications device that can also manage my contact, calendar, and run some useful apps. That’s how I started down my path of indispensable electronic do-dads with the Apple MessagePad 130, aka the Newton 130.”
Mark Johnson shared a new collection of Newton photos, straight from his collection, from his site Newton Collection.
Johnson shares a bunch of photos of other Newton-powered PDAs, as well, such as the Sony Magic Link and Motorola Marco.
“I started collecting Newtons as they are easier to store than Macs,” he told me. “Space is a premium!”
Before the iPad? The iBook tablet mod.
That was Jeff Paradiso’s idea:
Paradiso, a graphic designer from Boston, took a touch-screen iBook (an after-market modification from Troll Touch), disassembled it, cut a screen-sized hole in its lid, and flipped the screen around so that it faces outwards instead of towards the keyboard. Paradiso changed the desktop icons to large buttons and uses the operating system’s built-in, on-screen keyboard to get around.
After the Web Pad’s construction, Paradiso posted pictures of the iBook’s progress from weird, sturdy notebook to practical tablet.
It’s all a bit like Axiotron’s Modbook idea, except built in true DIY fashion. And it was from several years ago, when an iBook G3 was still a capable web-surfing, video-watching Mac. Today you’d have to do it with a Macbook.
Roger Enrico, former head of Pepsi, escapes to his favorite beach resort with a book, a soda pop, and a Macintosh.
I wish my current iMac was so portable.
[Courtesy of Vintage Ad Browser.]
Patrick Rhone at Minimal Mac:
That shiny new phone you want you don’t want bad enough yet. That system that is getting “a little slow” is not yet slow enough. Even if it is too slow for you it is more than most of the world could ever dream of having. Seriously, use your technology until it hurts – bad. Because the pain all of this consumption is bringing to a world that is just beyond yours is immeasurable.
Amen, brother. It’s something I’m fond of saying, and often repeat (and practice): just because it’s a few years old doesn’t mean it’s not worth using or tinkering with.
Rhone points to Free Geek, a larger, more organized version of my One Used Mac Per Child brainstorm a few years back.
But there’s a larger issue here than just taking old computers and fixing them up. The materials inside them, when shipped overseas, become hazardous beyond belief. We sit here in modern comfort, tossing out our old cell phones (I once saw a guy throw his phone out his truck window, smashing it on the street) or “recycling” our old Macs, never knowing where they end up.
I do my part, but I’m only one person. I do know many others that care about this stuff, and care about geeking out with old Newtons and Macs and keeping that stuff out of landfills and smelting pots. Kudos to Rhone at Minimal Mac for spreading the word.
Rik Myslewski at The Register takes a look back at the Newton MessagePad 120 in his “Before the iPad there was Newton” article:
The 120 was also the first MessagePad to be upgraded to Newton OS 2.0 (up from 1.3), in late 1995. This significant improvement over the first OS’s iterations was sadly ignored by most of the gadget-buying populace, whose minds had already been made up by the media Scheiße-storm over the shortcomings of the original Newton OS.
Myslewski takes the MP120 apart, exposing all its hard-wired innards, and explaining how the IRD, recharging station, and flash memory cards work.
It’s a good look-back at a turning point in the MessagePad hardware line, though – as Newtontalk wondered – Myslewski offers some arm-chair criticism at the eMate: “The less said about that Giger-inspired oddity, the better.”
Right. Well, thanks for the pictures at least.
It’s finally here: episode 11 of The hello Show, with David Kendal, me, and special guest Damian Ward.
Damian is a classic Mac collector in the truest sense. We talk about collecting old Macintoshes, why people do such crazy things, and a bit about recent Apple news.
Side note: when it comes to Mario Kart Wii racing, David and I are dead-even. Balloon and coin matches however? That’s another story…
What’s fun is that, with David in Northern England and me here in Michigan, we played a great series of Mario Kart races – even an ocean away.
Thomas Brand at Egg Freckles:
Despite its technological advances the iPad can never replace the Newton. No modern computer can. Today’s operating systems are modal, tasks are divided between applications. To begin a task you must first select an application. You must stop what you are doing, stop what you are thinking, and take the time to tell the computer the proper mode from which to proceed. On the Newton there are no modes. You turn it on, and you start writing, drawing, or recording. On the Newton your productivity comes first.
The Newton remembers the last place you were in a document. When you turn it on the last thing you created is the first thing you see. On the iPad and other modern computers the first thing you see is a vast selection of choices on how to proceed. Colorful icons try to show you the way. Signposts, advertising arduous pathways you must follow only to return to where you previously stood.
The difference between the Newton and any other modern computer is that the Newton stands with you, the others force you to catch up.
It’s a fun thought experiment, wondering what if the Newton’s standards for doing things – drawing a line to start a new note, its method of copy and paste – had become the new standards. The difference was the Newton’s operations were all stylus-based. Now we have touched-based standards.
Still, Brand is right: modeless data entry is great, and the always-on saving behavior can’t be beat.
This after today’s show toot:
Episode 11 is on its way. We’re being particularly lazy right now, and it’s all @davelawrence8’s fault.
What’s this “we” crap, David?
Stay tuned for the long-delayed episode 11. And have fun with Panic’s Coda Notes.
UPDATE: David and I are settling this Wild West style – with a Mario Kart Wii battle for the ages. Let us know if you want to trade Wii/Mario Kart user numbers to play online. Maybe a The hello Show tournament?
“What? No ‘Magic Stylus’ for my Newton? Lame.”
– Grant Hutchinson, from Twitter, on the new Magic Trackpad. I’m excited about this, just because the trackpad on MacBook Pros are outstanding. The Magic Trackpad takes the Magic Mouse idea and flattens it, and that leaves all kinds of openings for new input methods on the Mac. We can’t touch our iMac screens yet, but this comes darn close.