When I got my first Newt, a 120 v1.3, I was very happy
with it. Compared to what was available at the time,
this product was lightyears ahead. I have since
upgraded all the up to my current Newton, an UMP2k.
During that time, I have acquired some useful
applications that enhance the value of the Newt...none
of them necessary to allow more than adequete
functioning of the Newton, but they have made some
things easier.
The nice thing is that none of the things I used/use
are payment required.
Some of it is "postcard-ware" some is "beer-ware", I
even have one that the developer said is
"vacation-ware" (he said that if he ever vacations in
my city, I'm to tell him all the cool places to
visit...)
The first thing I installed on my Newt was BackPack. A
backdrop replacement that increased the heap space
tremendously! It proclaims in the info area, "This is
freeware!" No money there.
Next, a freezer activation utility from Hardy
Macia...once activated, I no longer needed the
application. Freeware also!
Trashpak, It's shareware at $5.00, but it is content
on my Newt through three devices.
Person<->Company...Freeware from Standalone
Tapstyles...don't know where it came from, but no
money there either
Therm, also free.
Scrappy...(multiple clipboards) Free...
Powerscroll...no money involved.
Alarm Clock...freeware
Various photography apps...postcard ware
A whole bunch of notes enhancements...free or
beerware.
ASCII (a nice ASCII to HEX or OCT conversion table)
Free
Tipcalc (great for those bar tabs)...free...
Newton Moon (shows moon phases...worked out great for
a Muslim co-worker wondering when Ramadan was supposed
to start this year) Free!
Solitare deluxe. Email gets updates...
Freecell...free!
Waba...Sean Luke beamed it to me and I didn't give him
any money...so, I guess it's free...
TimeStamp (adds a date and time button in the caret
menu) Free...
MacInTalk, Free
Calc++, also free
The only thing on my Newton that REQUIRED payment is
Dashboard! And that was worth it!
I've been a Newton user for a...well, a really long
time...and these applications I collected throughout
the years! As you can see, most of them are
enhancements, but not really necesary to make the
Newton work exceptionally well...better than anything
did or can do even now! In fact, I used a virgin
Newton for 3 years before I found out that people were
actually writing stuff for it! AOL's groups had a very
active newton group that I found by accident one day
and that was that.
So, you see? You don't need to spend a lot of money to
get your Newton to be useful.
In the multitude of years I've owned my Newt, I've
spent:
$100, upgrading my 120V1.3 to v2.0
$119 upgrading my MP2k to an UMP2k
$190 getting my upgraded newt fixed at Apple
$60 for the dongle replacer
$70 for a whole bunch of memory cards
$25 for Network card
$19 new pen (I've still got an unused original...think
I can get $90 for this "titanium" beauty>)
$25 for Dashboard
Total: (hmmm, let me fire up my free Calc++...
That comes up to just over $60/year for All of my
Newting years! Hell, I spend more than that in
magazine subscriptions and none give me more
satisfaction than my Newt.
So, if you're on a strict budget then it may be
tough...but you don't need to spend ANY money to get
your Newt to work the way you want it to! Most of the
things I spend money on (except for the upgrade the
the repair) were not necessary (in fact, usually, in
hind site, I questioned my purchase...like the dongle
killer...it's nice to have, but I don't ever sync or
connect to a computer...I justify it by saying it's
"insurance")
Ed
web/gadget guru
btw, is your tagline s reference to Martha's Mussels?
I make a killer steamed Mussels...
--- Christopher Plummer <plumcakes_at_mac.com> wrote:
>
> This is that kind of negative amaze. I was looking
> at all the shareware
> and commercial software that enhances the Newt. It
> seems to me that you
> need quite a few $15-$30 applications to get the
> newton to work nicely.
> I mean it's OKay out of the box but you really can't
> do much easily. It
> seems that apllications like MoreInfo, Dashboard,
> WordSleuth, Avi's
> Backdrop, Quick Figure Pro, and HWR Works are just a
> few of the
> aftermarket apps. that you need to get the Newt to
> really be a PDA.
> It's too bad Apple did not incorporate these really
> simple enhancements
> into the Newton. In fact those sorts of
> applications should have been
> there in the first place. I just find it impossible
> to spend $250 on a
> UMP 2100 and then $100 more to make it useful.
> That's why it is dead
> weight for me.
>
> Christopher Plummer
> plumcakes_at_mac.com
>
> "Eat up Martha"
=====
Just because you're a genius, doesn't make you a smart guy!
- The Powerpuff Girls -
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