Re: [NTLK] Motorola Marco Exposed

From: Paul Braun (splendor_at_ctgonline.org)
Date: Mon Jul 21 2003 - 08:25:21 PDT


On 20 Jul 2003 at 12:30, Rick Ludwig wrote:

> Pretty sweet. I wonder how hard it would be to reconfigure for
> WiFi.... Given that the drivers have already been written for some
> WiFi Cards, you could probably open it up, remove the radio, and use
> the PC/MCIA slot as the connector for an internal WiFi (or just put
> the WiFi card in the PC/MCIA slot, either way....).
>
According to a friend of mine who was on the Marco/Envoy team
(and would prefer to remain anonymous):

>>>I think we needed OS 2 to support WiFi. I'm pretty sure, but not
certain anymore, that OS 1.x never supported those types of pcmcia
cards. At the time I was hoping to use our pcmcia wireless modem
on a standard Newton and that's where the hangup occurred.

> If that was thinner, and was based on the Newt 2x00, then that would
> be one kick-sweet machine! (since it's motorola, I wonder if they
> ever considered making it REALLY easy to connect a StarTac to the
> Macro (i.e. a dock on the device where you just slide in your
> phone...).
>

Again, from the same guy:

>>>That was never considered at the time, but the Envoy did have a
built in modem/phone connection for interfacing with standard land
lines. It would have been easy enough to interface with a cell phone
had it been allowed to live and grow.

> Another cool product lost...

Yup. And a lot of them were destroyed. Employees weren't even
allowed to take them (unless you snuck one out). They also
destroyed pallets of batteries, brand-new in the box, rather than
dump them into the dealer channel to support the units that had
already been sold. It's that kind of clear, concise, forward-thinking
decision-making that has brought Motorola to the toilet it's in now.

Paul Braun WD9GCO
2102 Yorktowne Dr
Valparaiso, IN 46383
splendor_at_ctgonline.org

"A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog
without a bunch of bricks tied to its head."

Quote from Microsoft Programmers' Guide: "If it ain't broke,
it needs more 'features'."

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