Perhaps you’ve noticed, but things have been a little slow here at Newton Poetry. Lately I’ve relied on quotes and other bloggers’ posts to fill my quota of three posts or so a week.
I will say that I’ve had a few large, ongoing projects that have filled my time. It’s also worth noting that Newton news, such as it is, has been sparse these past few months – with the exception of the 2010 Patch.
Writing about the Newton has a built-in challenge: there’s not much new to report.
But Newton Poetry has always been as much about Mac projects as Newton ones. In that case, I’ll mention that I’ve been pinching my project pennies to save for a new Macintosh when OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is released. My goal is to buy a pretty, shiny new iMac. As a result, I’ve cut back on my eBay spending. This hobby ain’t cheap.
Many readers have asked me about some sort of post on getting a Newton hooked up to a wireless Network. That has always been a goal of mine, and as soon as it becomes a reality, I’ll post it to this site. Going wifi with a Newton is right up there with connecting it to OS X. If you’re going to use the Newton in the modern world, the thinking goes, it just makes sense to get a wireless connection.
Also on my to-do list is to do more Newton projects in a Windows-based environment. Windows users outnumber Mac users by degrees upon degrees, and certainly there’s an audience out there that would benefit from a few Microsoft-based posts. Just know that I’ll be doing it holding my nose.
Stories on handwriting recognition and the unification of the smartphone/PDA are of interest to the Newton user, if only for history’s sake, so you’ll see that kind of stuff as usual. And I’m always finding Mac tidbits to share and comment on. One subject I find fascinating is the world of backups and archiving, both on the Mac and on the Newton. Look for more posts on those, and other subjects, as time goes on.
When I look at my goals for Newton Poetry, many have been checked off the big to-do list: buying an eMate, connecting with OS X, giving this site a self-hosted domain, and archiving long-lost Newton web sites. I’m proud of each one.
It’s always good to have a few more goals, however, just to keep things fresh. If you have any suggestions or requests other than the ones I have listed, please let me know in the comments.
The on-again, off-again nature of this year’s Worldwide Newton Conference seems to be resolved, as event organizer Ryan Vetter pieces together details of the upcoming Newtonpalooza.
Since then, Vetter has gone on the Retro Maccast to give more details, and has updated the WWNC page with more specifics on available lodging locations in Vancouver.
As it stands, I will be unable to attend. The late notice and lack of specifics was enough to kill the trip for me. For one, I would have wanted to plan my road trip months ago. Two, the cost of a few night’s stay in downtown Vancouver is prohibitive.
I do wish everyone who attends a good and productive conference, and I’ll post updates as I see them. But sadly, because of all the WWNC start and stops, you’ll have to count me out.
Well, besides all the cuss words in the comment section.
By the way, you can follow Newtontalk on Twitter, or head to the only full-powered, highly-specialized e-mail list that discusses all things MessagePad, eMate, handwriting recognition, and poutine.
The gang at Newtontalk have provided me with tons of advice, articles, helpful leads, and loads of laughs. They’re quick to respond when you have a Newton-related issue, and their encyclopedic knowledge of the platform is staggering.
As a relative newcomer, I bow to their collective wisdom.
Browsing through eMate battery and recharging articles, I came across Apple’s Power On Procedure After Extended Storage support post. It goes on to describe how to reset your eMate 300 if the battery fails to show a correct charge, and quotes from the eMate 300 User’s Manual.
It’s amazing to me that Apple still hosts these how-tos from, what, 12 years ago? I’ve found a few Newton-related articles this way, and all of them have been helpful.
None of the articles are updated by Apple anymore, of course. But the fact that Apple still hosts them is a benefit to the Newton community – especially new MessagePad and eMate users who are trying to get the basics down.
Maybe a full linked list, with all the support posts, would be helpful.
“I spend too much time on my MacBook Air—for work and for play—and it’s high time I spent more of it with my girlfriend, dog, a camera, and Newton MessagePad. Exploring. Documenting. Overland.
Join me.”
– Morgan Aldridge, on his new travel/adventure blog rikuwoiku (or “to travel overland”).
If you are the sort of person who would just as soon have your Newton pried from your cold, dead hand, Köppen’s solution should keep your trusty device in operating condition at least until you or your Newton biodegrades—whichever comes first.
Matt Howe, part-time Newton developer and full-time Santa look-alike, uses a combination of Google Maps, U.S. Geological Survey topographical maps, MS MapPoint, a dash of Google Earth, and Paint Shop Pro to make hiking and driving maps for his Newton.
Howe gives the nitty-gritty on his Santa Matt’s Ramblings blog, including how to use GPSMap Lite and the Newton Toolkit to make his maps digestible to his MessagePad.
Howe even developed his own app that translates latitude and longitude into decimal degrees.
The instructions are great if you’re a hard-core Newton user with a knack for tinkering and creating your own maps. Howe’s instructions lend a bit of DIY cred to the whole process. These days I’ve become spoiled with the iPhone 3G in my pocket.
Here’s Apple co-founder (and dancer extraordinaire) Steve Wozniak demonstrating software called Quickscript, a handwriting recognition package based on MyScript. His tool? One of those fancy Modbooks.
Woz praises the Newton MessagePad several times during the video.
Here at Newton Poetry, there is One Supreme Operating system, and therefore most posts relate to the Newton interacting with the Mac environment.
I realize, however, that there are other operating systems out there. And, while I’m not a user, I respect that Newton fans can be Windows and Linux users. With Windows, there are tons of tips and how-tos on how to make connections and upload packages and whatnot. Sadly, we don’t hear as much from the Linux side.
Let’s put our operating system differences aside and help Newton users be better Newton users, shall we?
To start, I found the Newton and Linux mini-HOWTO, a site filled with questions and answers (like “How to upload a Newton package to Linux” and “Which Linux software is available”).
Some of the info seems to be dated. For instance, the author talks about Windows-emulating WINE to be a project slated in the future tense. Plus a few of the links are dead. But the basics are all there.
To get connected, there’s Newtonlink. There are a few more Linux applications for the Newton over at TuxMobil.
Then again, you can always replace Linux on your PDA with the Newton OS. I’m just sayin’.
Any Linux users out there that have successfully paired their Ubuntu with a MessagePad or eMate? Let me know in the comments.
Yesterday, the Unofficial Apple Weblog announced that 2010 would be a dire year for Newton users. Some strange Year 2010 bug was bound to make MessagePad fans drown in tears of obsolete sorrow.
It’s too bad TUAW’s Steven Sande jumped the gun, because – as of a few weeks ago – Eckhart Köppen released a patch fixing the Y2010 bug. A quick browse through the Newtontalk list or, shucks, even this modest blog, would’ve brought Köppen’s patch to light.
Sande later fixed his oversight, but attempted to cover his tracks by making fun of Newton users.
“Frankly, considering the caveats listed on the update page, I think it would be a much better idea just to get an iPhone, guys!” he wrote.
Frankly, Steve, we’re doing just fine, thankyouverymuch – even if we don’t qualify as “mainstream consumers.”
What’s weird is that TUAW, at least twice in the last year or so, has reported on this exact same story, offering incremental updates on the situation. Both articles (along with the other Newton articles TUAW has posted, which help to keep the Newton in the public’s eye) are easily found using the blog’s Newton tag.
Do they not discuss Newton matters at the TUAW office before posting on them?
I appreciate that Sande gave an update on his error, but the little dig at the end is what got me.
Also, I can’t help but feel “Newtapocalypse” – as TUAW’s headline reads – sounds clunky. The “a” stuck in the middle adds an unnecessary syllable to the phrase. I much prefer “Newtpocalypse,” if only because it sounds more like the original “apocalypse.”
