* Brian Braunschweiger <brianbraun_at_earthlink.net> [021101 19:44]:
> (1) HAND WRITING RECOGNITION
> I have been using a Palm IIIxe for about 2 years now and am fairly
> proficient in Grafitti. I am not impressed with the Newton's
> recognition thus far but recognize the problem may be mine. I have
> set it to recognize my hand writing and did a quick run through the
> settings where I can tell it which shapes I often make, which seldom
> and which never. What should I be doing to help the process along?
> Does the word practice train the Newton or just me?
Are you using printed or cursive recognition? If printed handwriting
feels comfortable for you, you might want to use that instead, as it
tends to have higher recognition accuracy. I get much better accuracy
on the Newton than with Grafitti on the Palm.
> (2) APPLICATIONS
> I can't yet install any packages due to the not having a dongle. (See
> my other post). Again, having used a Palm that synchs with Now
> contact and Up to Date and has some other apps on it,
Once you have gotten your machine into a state where it can communicate
with your desktop through serial, ethernet, or WiFi, then you have many
options for synchronizing your Newton with your desktop, including
Newton Connection Utilities (Claris Organizer & Palm Desktop), Now
Synchronize (New Up-to-Date and Now Contact), and soon NewtSync (OS X
AddressBook and iCal).
> I am not very
> impressed with the default apps on the Newton. Again, I realize I may
> need to install stuff. In the mean time, what can I actually do with
> my Newton. Note taking is the only thing I can think of and I am not
> sure how much I have a need for that.
The built-in applications include a calendar and addressbook. Are those
not useful to you? I find these programs much friendlier and easier to
use than their PalmOS counterparts. If you haven't done so already,
download and read the user manuals from Unna.
As for what do with your Newton, you need to answer the question of what
you want to do with it. Once you have connectivity, you should browse
the archives at http://www.unna.org/. Some of the things you can do
with Newton: email, browse the web, read electronic books, listen to
MP3s, keep track of gas milage, use it as a timer or alarm clock, play
games, and much more.
> (3) CHANGING BATTERY CAGES
> Will I lose everything not in ROM if I swap out battery cages? If
> not, is there a time limit like the Palm?
The Newton 2x00 uses Flash RAM for internal storage. That means that
the contents of memory persist, even without power. There is no time
limit like the Palm.
> (4) SCREEN CONDITION
> The screen seems to be good quality and the backlight works fine. The
> only downside is that there seems to be some slight "etching" on the
> screen where it was wrote on often. If oriented vertically, it is
> about 1/3 of the way down from the top. Any idea why that area would
You may want to consider getting a screen protector to minimize any
future damage to the screen.
-Scott
--
Scott Atwood
atwood_at_cs.stanford.edu
PGP key fingerprint: 2852 FAE0 B0BB FE52 7002 1019 4D48 78B3 6FF0 A89F
"The Palm is the right size when you're *not* using it,
but the Newton is the right size when you *are*."
--
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