Hear hear! I whole-heartedly agree! Such a thing would be great.
-James
>On Wednesday, November 28, 2001, at 12:05 , rkadowns_at_mac.com wrote:
>
>>
>> Possible, yes. Whether or not David has the time or the equipment to
>> program Firmware is another story. Design it to identify itself on the
>> USB chain as a USB Palm Connect device and walla, you have pre-written
>> drivers. Do the same for the Keyspan USB to serial adapter and you have
>> OSX drivers.
>>
>> Easier said than done, I know.
>
>Of course.
>
>But anyway, if this is feasible, there may be a way. How many people are
>on this mailing list ? How many active Newton MP2K users are out there ?
>How many of those don't want to go Palm and rather keep their Newton up
>to date with current technology upgrades, like for example, WiFi and
>USB, perhaps Bluetooth ?
>
>If -say- 250 Newtonians were willing to spend 100 USD on a USB port incl
>of drivers, then that would make a budget of 25000 USD to develop it,
>make a batch of 250 and ship them.
>
>Perhaps this isn't enough, perhaps there isn't that much demand for it.
>I don't know, but would it not be worthwhile to find out ?
>
>Any opinions on this ?
>
>Oh, BTW, there is a nice anecdote to tell. When the holding of Rolls
>Royce was to put up their car business for sale, there was a consortium
>put together made up of Rolls Royce owners in order to place a bid and
>save the Rolls Royce brand from foreign car makers. The bid was quite an
>essential sum, but the holding company didn't believe that passion for
>the brand was a solid base to ensure the future of Rolls Royce cars and
>so they sold to BMW instead. However, this might be an inspiration to us
>who love to continue to use a Newton to consider to become more active
>in ensuring that Newtons wont fade away when Apple stops repairing them
>eventually, at least not before a worthy successor turns up.
>
>I know an Austrian guy here in Tokyo who used to run a second hand Leica
>camera business. (For those who don't know, the Leica, made by Leitz in
>Germany is the Rolls Royce of 35mm cameras). Anyway, the Japanese are
>eager collectors of old fashioned cameras in particular the Leicas and
>this chap ended up sending old cameras to Germany for repair. Eventually
>he was faced with Leitz closing this repair business and throwing out
>the machinery the parts were made on. He jetted to Germany to visit
>Leitz and he bought the whole "junk" machine park. Now he is running
>several Camera clinics here in Tokyo where he manufactures spare parts
>on the original machines the parts were made in the first place and
>restores old Leicas beautifully. Leitz in Germany now send old cameras
>to him for restauration and repair.
>
>I think most of the readers on this list will agree if I say that the
>Newton is the Rolls Royce of PDAs. If I read about Apple presumably not
>fixing Newtons for much longer and starting to run out of spare parts, I
>think this may be reason to worry and it may be time to do something
>about it. Maybe it is possible to obtain a license to the Newton designs
>under the premise that any production can only apply to existing units
>i.e. no new units may be sold for any other purpose than to replace an
>old unit.
>
>Yup, it is probably going to become more expensive at some point to
>have/maintain/upgrade a Newton, but until there is another user friendly
>and capable PDA coming out, which I don't anticipate any time soon, what
>choice do we have ? There is also reason for concern about installed
>base. The fewer Newtons there are in use, the less likely it will be
>that new shareware will be developed or upgraded. An intiative to keep
>the number of Newtons alive and well would do us all a good service.
>
>regards
>BK
The James Elliott Newton Site NUG Page
http://www.geocities.com/rootbeeraddict/nugs.html
Your source for Newton User Group info
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