From: John Hay (OceanCity_at_mac.com)
Date: Thu Aug 18 2005 - 05:23:12 PDT
Question about best way to approach transferring data from desktop to
Newton 2100:
As I mentioned a few threads back, I'm Newton user from the late
'90's, one of the original members of the New York Newton Users Group
and now kicking myself for bailing out when all the pretty little
PDA's hit the market, which to this day never came close to my
Newton. In any event I am now "back", am assembling my Newton(s) and
hardware from eBay and other sources to try to end up with a good
hardware stock to build on.
In approaching the issue of how best to configure a connection(s)
from my 2100(s) to a desktop I am having to reacquaint myself with
all I have forgotten from the past. There's only so much "ram" in my
tiny brain and it's LIFO (Last in, First out) so the further back in
time the less I can recall.
My PRIMARY need is to get new packages INTO my Newton. My Secondary
need would be to enable sufficient and orderly backups, but I believe
I can eliminate this need entirely for the purpose of this question
by simply plugging in cards to the Newton to make copies, then
unplugging and storing the cards. It would also be "nice" to perhaps
get some data flowing from my Newton to my desktop, but again for the
purpose of this question I am just asking about installing packages
to my Newton from my desktop.
MY OPTIONS for choosing which host desktop and which topology are as
follows:
0) Newton 2100 with Bronze Turbo and 3com 3c589D-TP cards available,
and serial cable
1) Mac dual G5 Desktop with USB, firewire, RJ-45, RJ-15, airport, and
optical ports
2) Mac dual G4 Desktop with USB, firewire, RJ-45, RJ-15 ports, airport
3) Mac PowerBook G4, with USB, firewire, RJ-45, RJ-15 ports, airport
4) Mac PowerBook G4, with USB, firewire, RJ-45, RJ-15 ports,
airport, S-Video, and PCMCIA card slot
5) Mac iBook, with USB, firewire, RJ-45, RJ-15 ports, airport
6) IBM ThinkPad T21 running XP, with USB, RJ-45, RJ-15, Serial,
Parallel port, and 2 PCMCIA card slots
7) IBM ThinkPad 560X running Win98, with USB, RJ-45, RJ-15, Serial,
Parallel port, and 2 PCMCIA card slots
8) Tiger
9) Panther
10) Jaguar
11) Classic
12) Hardwired ethernet
13) Wireless ethernet via Airport Extreme and/or Express Base Stations
I don't want to change the PC operating systems.
I CAN install a fresh install of #8,9,10,or 11 onto an older Apple
laptop above such as #4, or #5 and DEDICATE the laptop for the sole
purpose of most efficiently and reliable connecting to my Newton #0.
My first inclination is to grab one of my IBM <aarrrggghhh!> Laptops
#6 or #7 simply because they each have serial ports and just use the
standard serial cable to the Newton, but I hate PC's.
My next inclination is to maybe install Classic onto my oldest laptop
which is the iBook #5 above, then I'd at least have a Mac-based host,
but then there's no serial port.
My ideal solution would be to use my primary production machine that
I do most of my work on [graphics, video, etc.] which is the dual G5
desktop #5 above but it'll always be running the most recent build of
Tiger, does not have Classic installed [but I can install Classic if
this would cinch the deal], and again has no serial port [but could I
reliably do a USB to Serial dongle converter connection here] to my
Newton?
So, that's my deal.
I need advice, big time here, please.
ANY and all suggestion will be greatly appreciated and no good deed
will go unrewarded !
A million thanks in advance from a re-energized lifelong Newton re-
Newbie,
John
www.JohnHay.com
p.s. I will help anyone who needs help. At the moment however I am in
the reversed position of needed a helping hand.
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