Re: [NTLK] newtontalk Digest V1 #103

From: Mark Rollins (mark_at_mrollins.com)
Date: Thu Aug 02 2001 - 08:03:52 EDT


Subject: Re: [NTLK] RIM Wireless Modem for Sale Newton Compatible
From: Millicent Gompertz <mgomper2_at_earthlink.net>

>Are you sure that you have to use Wyndmail?
>It is my understanding that you can set up a
>go america account and surf the web. Please explain. Thanks.

Only WyndMail will recognize the RIM/AllPoints card in the Newton. No
other app (Eudora, SimplleMail NewtsCape, NetHopper) will recognize the
card, as these apps use NIE 1 or 2. WyndMail is a e-mail app only, not
a Web browser.

The IP address for Wynd.com's Wyndmail server is hard-coded into
WyndMail. You cannot change it. I (and others) tried. Wynd.com's
Wyndmail server is not available, nor does Wynd offer (as oxymoronic as
this sounds) a WyndMail service.

WyndMail and the RIM/AllPoints card bypass NIE 1 and 2 on the Newton.
The Mobitex network converts IP addresses to MAC numbers to communicate
with the network.

Wynd, the Developer of WyndMail, and GoAmerica are of no help. Wynd
doesn't remember the Newton, the developer of WyndMail (they also did
PowerPrint and the Newton printer drivers!!) was bought out and the new
owners don't even know where the source code for WyndMail is. They were
very helpful, but to no avail.

(Soapbox here - has anyone noticed how software with sourcecode seems to
disappear, with mergers and platform changes? I mean, shouldn't there be
a section of the Library of Congress (US anyway, maybe something global
in Geneva?) where developers could send a CD-ROM, to be filed away? I
mean, on the Newton alone we've lost apps from VEA, apps from the
developers of Tibet, things like FormIt, the legendary Dragon SPEECH to
TEXT(!) that will never be available.)

Believe me, I tried it! I tried I tried I tried!!! Do a Deja.comsearch
on comp.sys.newton.misc for the whole sordid story. I kept my GoAmerica
account, and went to a Novatel Merlin modem.
http://www.mrollins.com/newtmerlin.html (kind of like John Ritter on
the Comedy Central "TV Funhouse" episode when he was going to shoot the
rabbit terrorist - "I've been waitng for this moment since the day I was born").

The RIM/AllPoints card is still usable on Macs, PCs and HP OmniGos (due
to each platforms WyndMail software's configurability).

I suppose one of the vastly talented Newton programmers (SimpleMail, ATA
driver, Newt'sCape, etc.) could write a patch or app to change the
WyndMail IP address, but I don't know why. The Mobitex network is more
limited, and v-e-r-y s-l-o-w for data, such as Web browsing.

-- 
Mark Rollins, CIH, CSP
mark_at_mrollins.com
www.mrollins.com

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