On 01/02/02 12:02, "David Young" <goathens_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I've found a messaagepad H1000 in a box at a garage
> sale. I got it for 10$. It came with the messagepad
> itself, an ac adapter, stylus, a slip-case, and a card
> that says "newton getting started". It also came with
> a battery compartment full of acid, which caused the
> thing to not work (i believe that caused the cheap
> price). I tried to power it up using the AC adapter,
> it would display the start screen, but then nothing
> happened. So I went online and found out how to
> perform various resets- i had to go all the way to
> cold boot, thus clearing all memory. Anyways, the
> thing functions properly under AC power. unfortunately
> the card, when inserted, is said to be "unreadable" by
> the newton, which then tries to erase it. Also, the
> handwriting recognition seems to be off by about 10
> miles (i'm used to using palm). Also, shortly after
> purchase, i noticed that somebody in my house had
> removed the corroded battery pack and presumably
> thrown it away.
>
> I would like to know what a newton can do in this
> state (can it function to the level of a palm or
> handspring).
> I would also know how to go about fixing the battery
> problem, because i cannot make any arrangement of
> batteries fit into the battery pit.
> Also, what was on the getting started card? can it be
> restored? if i erase it, can it become some sort of
> removable storage device?
> ANY help would be much appreciated, for i have had no
> prior experience with macs and their inner-workings.
>
First of all, the Newton has nothing to do with the Macintosh
inner-workings. Even if you're from the Windows world, you shouldn't have
any problem using it.
That being said, if you're unable to make it work with the battery pack,
that will severely harm its usefulness. Maybe you could look on eBay, in the
Newton category to see if some battery packs are available.
Other than that, you have an Original MessagePad. You could check the FAQ
<http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/> to see if you have the latest system
update. To calibrate the thing to your liking, you would have to go to the
preferences. If the Newton still can't hold the calibration, that would mean
that there is a hardware problem with the sensitive touch screen, although
I've never heard about OMP losing their calibration.
This unit is probably good to keep an address book and an agenda. Some light
note taking. But the handwriting recognition was far from perfect.
I think the "Getting Started" card is read-only. You won't be able to use it
for writing. You might be able to find cheap linear flash RAM cards for it
on eBay. Don't buy anything larger than 4 MB (check the FAQ on this), as the
Newton won't be able to access it if it's larger. It is so severely limited
by its heap that you wouldn't be able to keep more than a few applications
on that card anyway.
Please, consult the FAQ as I am sure that you will find answers to a lot of
questions you have and may not have yet.
Hopefully, this unit will introduce you to the wonderful world of Newton and
will encourage you to buy a much powerful unit!
Welcome!
-Laurent.
-- ===================================================================== Laurent Daudelin Developer, Multifamily, ESO, Fannie Mae mailto:Laurent_Daudelin_at_fanniemae.com Washington, DC, USA ********************** Usual disclaimers apply ********************** featurectomy /fee`ch*r-ek't*-mee/ n.: The act of removing a feature from a program. Featurectomies come in two flavors, the `righteous' and the `reluctant'. Righteous featurectomies are performed because the remover believes the program would be more elegant without the feature, or there is already an equivalent and better way to achieve the same end. (Doing so is not quite the same thing as removing a misfeature.) Reluctant featurectomies are performed to satisfy some external constraint such as code size or execution speed.-- This is the Newtontalk mailinglist - http://www.newtontalk.net To unsubscribe or manage: visit the above link or mailto:newtontalk-request_at_newtontalk.net?Subject=unsubscribe
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