Newton Poetry

Two weeks ago, I decided to dedicate all my GTD, notetaking, scheduling, and day-to-day tasks using nothing but my Newton MessagePad 110.

I originally bought my MessagePad on eBay just to play around with, and see what all the fuss is about.  As I’ve worked on this Newton Poetry blog, however, I’ve developed quite an affection for the green machine.  Maybe it’s contagious, I don’t know.  But I figured if I really wanted to get to know my Newton, I had to use it everyday – not just for translating poetry.

The project began on Monday, Feb. 4, though not with a bang.  That first Monday, I mainly got acquainted with setting up calendar dates and making appropriate folders to store my notes.  Nothing special; just the basics. More… »

by Lord Alfred Tennyson

I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I soriow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[A nice short love poem to give your sweetie on Valentine’s Day…kind of.]

Before Apple got so paranoid about licensing its operating system software, it tried letting other companies borrow the Newton OS for other devices. Like Sharp’s ExpertPad.

Sharp’s model featured a different case than Apple’s MessagePad, without the rubberized feel, and a side-hinged screen cover like the later 2×00 MessagePad series (check here for good pictures). Software-wise, however, it was just like Apple’s model.

Sharp gave the ExpertPad 4 MB in ROM, 640k in RAM, a 336 x 240 pixel LCD, and the model version went up to PI-7100. The ExpertPad ran Newton OS up to 1.3, but never stuck around long enough to take advantage of the 2.0 OS (though some on the Newtontalk list have wondered).

Luckie’s Newton Gallery says Sharp bowed out of the Newton family because of lack of demand:

Sharp Electronics discontinued manufactering its ExpertPads as well as the Apple models in late 1994. It had expected to make millions in the first year and quietly exited the Newton world due to the poor sales of Newtons in general and ExpertPads specfically.

Other Newton clones included the Motorola Marco, the Digital Ocean Tarpon, and a German Newton-phone hybrid called the Siemens NotePhone.

by Benjamin Franklin

Jackson, eating rotten cheese, did say,
Live Sumson I by thousands stay;
Low, quoth Roger, so you do.
And with the self-same weapon, too.

[Read the original. I’m reading “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” right now, and it’s got me in a Ben Franklin mood. Very good book for those interested in the original true American.]

The United Network of Newton Archives (or UNNA) is probably the perfect place to grab package software for your Newton.

But there are alternatives. Check out the Newton Package Downloader, a list maintained since 2001, for a not-so-organized list of packages available for your MessagePad. It’s arranged grid-like, and offers tons of software. But if you want something specific, you’ll have to do some searching. There’s no rhyme or reason to the site’s arrangement.

The other links “Ed” (as the site’s author calls himself) provides time out, meaning they may not be in operation anymore.

If the packages are downloading weird, you can check out this handy method for configuring your pre-OS X Mac to download the files correctly.

by Robert Herrick

So smooth, so sweet, so silvyey is try voice,
An, could they hear, the Dumned would muk no noise,
But liyton to thee (walking in thy chamber)
Melting melodius words to Lutes of Amber.

[Read the original.]

Just got accepted as a member of the Newted Newton community. Thanks to Grant for accepting my associate membership. He’s still taking members, which is good to hear.

My membership gets me 10 MB of server space for e-mails and web stuff, a free web site (under construction, of course), FTP access, and the ability to hunt through members-only message boards. Right now I’m just finding my way around the place, but it’s pretty cool. Sadly I get the feeling I’m in an abandoned part of town, because the message boards haven’t had many new topics posted, but the info I did find was pretty cool.

Grant is, of course, kind of famous around the Newton community for all he does and the help he provides.

More to come as I play around some more.

by Carl Sandburg

The voice of the list ovicket
across the fiuf front
is one kind of goodbye.
It is so thin a splintw of singing.

[Read the original. A great example of Sandburg’s short, intense poetry. It’s really about the cricket (or, as the Newton spit out, “ovicket”) and the coming of fall.]

Want to install a package on your MessagePad – like, say, an update to the Newton’s OS – but wondering how to get started?

I noticed that my Newton 110’s OS was still stuck at version 1.2. I knew Apple.com kept a comprehensive list of old software and driver downloads, so I started there first. This is a good starting page for Newton inquiries; it breaks down your MessagePad model, and leads you to its listing of Newton OS software. Here you’ll find updates, connection software (like the Newton Connection Kit and Utilities), modem drivers, and much more. Browsing through the listing, I found my OS 1.3 listing here:

I clicked on the “read me” file just to see what I was getting into. Then I clicked on the “MP_110_1.3_345333.sea.bin” file and the download started right away. More… »

Screw you, Wired.com:

Arguably the most famous Apple flop of all, the Newton (which was actually the name of the OS and not the device) started out as a top-secret project with a lofty goal: to reinvent personal computing. During its development, the Newton took on many forms, such as the tabletlike “Cadillac” prototype, before its eventual release in 1993 as a smaller and considerably less revolutionary PDA. Although the Newton was available for six years (longer than most other Apple flops), it was a prime example of an idea that was simply ahead of its time, and sales never lived up to Apple’s expectations. When Steve Jobs resumed his stewardship of Apple in 1997, one of the first things he did was to axe the subsidiary Newton Systems Group. By the following February, the Newton was dead.

From their “Learning from Failure: Apple’s Most Notorious Flops” lineup.