From: RADAR9999_at_aol.com
Date: Wed Feb 12 2003 - 11:08:39 PST
Greetings Newts!
Just to give a quick run down on something I'm trying to cobble together.
For a long time I have been wanting to get wireless internet access for my
newton. This is a summary of what I've found out so far.
Newton 2100 w/ Novatel Merlin wireless modem card (Type 2 pcmcia).
Advertised baud rate is 19.6 under ideal conditions but sources say it' more
like 15 or 12 kbps. Card supports CDPD data standard. I have found that that
standard is being superceded in most markets by the GPRS and/or the new CDMA
standards, both which support wireless access up 56kbps or so. Similar to the
old Ricochet standard that went belly up last year and is trying to recover.
Had to jump around to find a vendor that still supports (CDPD) it in
southern california area. AT&T & GoAmerica still have it but are not
accepting new customers. The local Verizon Offices looked at me like I was
crazy. GoAmerica has switched over to GPRS. I called the Verizon #
1-800-308-3282 on the following URL;
http://www.novatelwireless.com/support/CDPD%20Tech.html
and reached a human that knew what to do and how to get it done. As I need
access in the Santa Barbara and San Diego Area's I decided to wait until
about a week before my trip to SD to activate my service, just about a week
from now. That will give me about 15 days to test the access for my area and
to see if I will incur any roaming $/KB access charge.
Verizon's current offer is $25.00 /mo for an IP address, w/ a $45.00
setup for one yr and $25 setup for two yrs. There are roaming charges for
$/KB if outside home area and Verizon says that only San Francisco/San Jose/
Fresno really support CDPD. However they did say that because their signal is
so strong near the coast that I might be able to get Non-roaming access in SD
and SB areas.
Fellow Newts, this is probably the last chance we're going to have to get
cheap access before they cut it off future enrollments. The new GPRS/CDMA
standards are currently being marketed at nearly $100/mo depending on your
vendor($99-verizon, $90-AT&T + GoAmerica).
Many thanks to Mark Rollins for publishing his Newton/Merlin setup page
http://www.mrollins.com/newtmerlin.html
without which I would not have the courage to do it.
I have 3 q's to ask the community.
1) I need a good Newton terminal emulator to be able to program the
Merlin card following the directions at Mark Rollins site. Something that I
can access the modem and give it AT commands to config it.
2) Has anyone experimented with the newer GPRS(or CDMA) standard cards
with a newton to see if access was possible using the newer standard(s)
3) Some time back (3-4yrs) the USMC ran an exercise in the Northern Ca
area using Newtons as messageing devices to call for fire, request resupply,
and generally transmit intel data back to agencies requiring it. The thrust
of the exercise was to see how small, highly mobile tactical units could
utilize state of the art technologies as combined arms force multipiers. IE
small unit locates enemy any calls in Arty and CAS to ruin his whole day w/o
getting tangled up in a bear hug. Note this concept originated in 'Nam as
part of Sting-ray and LRRP's patrols. The general consensus of the exercise
was that while the technology worked well when it worked there were some
ruggedness issues (With Marines?, say it ain't so). Does any one in the
community have 1st hand knowledge of this. I want access to the software they
used to see how they did it. I am a Gunnery Sgt (Reserve).
Ed Johnson
"The Mission of the Marine Corps Rifle Squad is to seek out, close with, and
destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or to repel the Enemy's assault by
fire and close combat".
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