If you’re looking to…gulp…replace your Newton, Nokia’s N800 may just be the portable PC you’re looking for.
This according to a review/comparison over here that gets pretty in-depth into the features of the N800, a modern internet tablet that runs about $200.
The modern Linux interface of the N800, however, is not without its drawbacks:
I like the N800. That’s why I bought it. But as great as the N800 is, and as much of an advance it represents technologically over my 10-year-old MessagePad, I am surprised at how much more sophisticated the MessagePad is than the N800 in terms of user experience.
The handwriting recognition, printing and faxing, and battery life (themes we’ve all heard before) are superior on the MessagePad 2100, according to the author.
Check out the full review for another great fight between a modern tablet and our good friend, the Newton.
* This morning (October 12, 1996) I started up my Newton MP130, instead of the normal lightbulb screen appearing, a lunar eclipse the screen very slowly, casting a shadow on my name. This is a known egg that occurs whenever there is a partial or total eclipse.
* Write “EGG FRECKLES” highlight it and tap on assist.
* Write “neat bong” highlight it and tap on assist.
* Write “about Newton” highlight it and tap assist.
* Go to the time map. Select AREA 51 or Groom Lake or what ever strange name you find near Las Vegas. Then check your dates again.
* Reset the newton, then turn it on and tap on “undo”. Then tap on the overview button, now select the first error, there tap on the little info symbol. Now its just the question what happened on that date and why it is supposed to be an error?
* In the Notepad, using the printed (Rosetta) recognizer, write… Rosetta! Rosetta! Rosetta!
On the MP 110 and earlier there should be some other eggs:
* Tap on the little clock symbol and hold the pen down. first you will see the time and the battery power, after a while it will also display the temperature in the battery compartment.
* Write “find elvis” then tap on assist.
* Change your country to “Graceland”. (personal info) (then there will be a problem when autodialing)
Roads 90 ever ever an, Over rock and under free, By caves there neve sun has shone, By streams thut newr fu the seas.
Roads go ewer ever on, Uncle cloud and uncle stir, Yet cut trut wundering have gone Turn at last to home afar.
[Read the original – at the bottom of the page. I can’t believe I haven’t done Tolkien yet. I’ve been thinking about picking up the “Lord of the Rings” series again. This one fits my upcoming trip, too. Find out why this poem is misspelled.]
Gizmodo is hosting a wallpaper image to use as your iPhone backdrop, a roundabout way to relive Newton glory days.
Gizmodo is pretty harsh on us Newton users:
However, the fact is that the iPhone, while simpler than Newton, it’s an extremely powerful device. Much more than the Newton ever was. Its software is more accessible to normal users than the Newton’s; it runs an extremely fast operating system and, most importantly, it has a phone and built-in Wi-Fi, which is reason enough to make it a better communicator than the Newton. A product for the masses, rather than a niche wonder.
Whatever, Gizmodo. But we do appreciate the iPhone wallpaper. Click the above image to get your own copy.
Leander Kahney’s profile on Bill Atkinson, the original designer of Apple’s super-cool program HyperCard, has some folks feeling nostalgic for easy programming and cards arranged in stacks.
Which is cool. Stories about companies keeping inventory and invoicing duties on HyperCard – still to this day – remind us that old-school Apple is still usable and practical.
lets you put text, drawings, pictures and sound into a stack of smart cards. Add buttons to navigate, fields to collect data and scripts to bring your project alive with the tap of a pen. NewtCard is a Hypercard-like environment for Newton devices.
I’ve only played around with HyperCard on my Mac SE, but it seems HyperCard was an earlier version of HTML forms. In fact, Atkinson laments that his hyper-creation didn’t involve networking, or else it could’ve become the first (hyper)Web.
“Support is definitely limited,” George Henne of NS Basic says. “Still making NewtCard available makes absolutely no sense commercially, but it’s one of our favorite products of all time.”
A hundred bucks seems like a steep price for something to play around with on your Newt, but what the hey – HyperCard still has paying fans. Why not for MessagePad users?
Even better? NS Basic is offering a package deal: NewtCard AND NS Basic/CE for $99.95. Order it here.
“Please understand that it’s been years since we looked at the code,” Henne told the Newtontalk list. “We’ll do the best we can to help with support, but our memories are limited.”
I like how the creator uses the Newton to speak with the audience. Also a cool demo of the wifi capabilities of the MessagePad 2000 – complete with Apple sticker.
I’ll tackle the wifi project when I nab a 2100 sometime this summer, but in the meantime you can learn how to send a fax with your Newton.
This time, our green friend made Wired.com’s “Lamest Fetish Items” list. Gear lust gone bad? Says Wired: “Most misunderstood gadget ever? Or biggest flop? Both.”
Flop this. Newton seems to appear on every list ever made by a technology-based site, for good or ill.
Enough’s enough already, folks. We know the MessagePad was both cool for the time and a big commercial flop. We get it.
Boy, that first guy, Stewart, reall is grumpy, isn’t he? By this time, PDA (or “palmtop” as the reporter says) technology was in the “Model T” stage, as Tim the Analyst says in the video.
Neat to see the Windows 3.1 desktop there, as well as real, live people actually working with the Newton. Talk about retro.
Nothing lasts forever. The Buddha taught us that. So what happens when, someday down the road, all the Newtons currently in operation cease to work?
It’s bound to happen. MY MessagePad 110 is now about 15 years old; that lifespan is probably way longer than Apple ever intended. Consider that versus most iPods, which last a few years at best. They’re made to be replaceable.
How will MessagePads operate 10 years from now, or 20? Will there even be a point in owning one that far down the road?
It’s not like Apple is going to make any more Newtons. All that exist at this moment in time are all that will ever be. What we have is it. Sure, someone may discover a lost hoard of MessagePads locked in some corporate vault someday. But eventually, even those will stop working.
Is this discussion even worth having? Will we care if there are working Newtons in operation 20 years from now? Will our kids? Will their kids even know what a Newton is/was?
Deep thoughts on this night. Perhaps too deep for rational thought, but worth bringing up if only because rumors of a new Apple tablet are still floating around. The Newton is probably being replaced, philosophically, by the iPhone and iPod Touch. What comes after that? Will there ever be a Newton 2.0? What will the Newtontalk list discuss in 2018?
