From: DJ Vollkasko (DJ_Vollkasko_at_gmx.net)
Date: Thu Dec 09 2004 - 11:27:20 PST
> How about e-books, etc, which could be in newton readable format
> (maybe html?).
Haven't followed this thread back then, Tom, but have you since found
some
Newton eBooks?
If not: There's a bunch of them on UNNA, also on various Newton
websites all
around town. A selection of links is here
http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/index.php/AvailableNewtonLibraries ,
and
then you can always make your own Newton books (see
http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/index.php/MakeNewtonEbooksIndex),
which
actually is fun - creating & sharing stuff thru UNNA or other venues,
giving
something back to the community (hint: bookmaking tools available fro
free
at UNNA ;=] ). Another good way to help is to write manuals of every new
thing you try, and put them up at the Wiki.
This year will even be able to boast the first two exclusively
Newton-only
book releases in a couple years! And then there are all the stuff from
Project Gutenberg and other sources
http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/index.php/EtextSources that are being
Newtonized by the hordes of bookish Newtonians on this list.
Hundreds of Newton ebooks made around 1993 to 1997 (= usually in Classic
format) used to be here
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/mac/amug/files/newton/books, but the
AMUG
archive doesn't seem to be online anymore - does anybody have a mirror?
(UNNA has this
http://mirrors.unna.org/ftp.amug.org/pub/mirrors/info-mac/nwt/, but the
book
section is not as big as I remembered it...). Some of those are up at
UNNA
or http://www.planetnewton.com/download/downloadindex.htm .
Reading eBooks on the Newton - that's what lured me in. All my Newton
investments have paid off within a few months in money saved by not
having
to buy so many hardcopy books.
And then by-and-by you start with adding Names and Dates to your
Newton, rig
it for email on a trip, and slowly expand it's use into more areas of
your
life. At least that's how it worked for me.
> I've been trying to learn newton script so that I can contribute to
> the software base, but it's slow going.
The Wiki has a software wishlist, maybe you'll find some inspiration
there
http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/index.php/NewtonWishLists .
> but the utilities I've found are very very basic and typically barely
useable.
Some stuff for the Newton is very mature, stable and well-concepted.
Nearly
a decade of industrial-grade development paid off in many great apps,
and
quite a bunch of them have been released as freeware (check UNNA).
Some things never made it past beta stage before Newton production was
stopped and haven't improved since. Some things are made by amateurs
with
great enthusiasm and varying decree of success - usually very impressive
stuff that suits precise needs, somethings with not-too-hot interface
design
and a bit short on documentation, though.
Some areas have plenty solutions (e.g. zillions of button-bar apps,
Names
enhancements or backdrop apps), some next to zero (okay, there's a midi
hack, a drum machine demo and a mp3 player - but no sampler,
karaoke-player,
drum machine where you can load different banks of instruments,
synthesizer,
programmeable sound effect filter, etc.).
What amazes me most are the vast numbers of improvements and
enhancements to
the OS and built-in stuff, compared to the much lower (but still
impressive)
number of applications.
Cheers,
DJV.
-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
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