[NTLK] Just bought a Newton and need directions?

You have a MessagePad or an eMate

when you turn it on, you are illuminated by a green soul,
you can touch it, it will answer to your touches
and will start learning from you

but you have an infinite stock of features between your hands
and really would love to know how to activate them?

Come on, we will help you:

All the Newton features have been deeply described on the Newton
Wikipedia,
where a guide for newbies is always online, and often updated here:
http://tinyurl.com/g6b3k

Now you could leave this forum and find your own way through the wiki,
or you can read the following message, where i am going to tell you a
bit shortly
about how things work when having the "Green Experience".

Usually one would connect the MessagePad to the computer to transfer
notes,
install packages, download/send mails, navigate internet and make
backups
of the internal memory and external memory cards
and you can get connected using:

1. serial
2. 802.11b (wifi)
3. bluetooth
4. ethernet

Here we get some details:

1. SERIAL

Using a serial cable, interconnect dongle and an usb adapter
you will be able to connect to any desktop computer
and do most of the things mentioned above.

The interconnect dongle is very much needed in order to get the
serial port
out of the multifunction connector present on your MP2x00 series,
but it's a bit hard to find and/or really expensive.

- Here's a link to wikipedia's docs: http://tinyurl.com/px6qv

2. WIFI (802.11b)

In order to use WiFi on Newton you will need a Newton compatible
802.11b pcmcia,
and the wonderful NewtWave driver wrote by Hiroshi: http://
tinyurl.com/cdasy

Using WiFi you will get the same features of serial connectivity,
but also DHCP, webserver, plus something more
thanks to the "LPR driver": http://tinyurl.com/zpqb8

The cons is that WiFi setup can become really tricky,
if you are not experienced on both the Newton OS platform and wifi
connectivity.

Then consider that you can get same features of wifi, just using an
ethernet card.

- Here's a link to wikipedia's docs: http://tinyurl.com/lpwaw

3. ETHERNET

So, using Ethernet you will get all features mentioned above,
in two words "internet connectivity".

You will only need the original drivers which Apple built for your
Newton
and a Newton compatible ethernet card, which can be found for less
than 20.00usd
on eBay.

When you will have your internet setup properly configured,
you'll have the chance to get connected to any computer
using simply cross-over ethernet cable.

- Here's a link to wikipedia's docs: http://tinyurl.com/rdwmq

4. BLUETOOTH

Using a bluetooth card you will be able install packages,
transfer notes wirelessly, also estabilish connection with your
bluetooth phone
and use its modem to navigate the internet and get mail messages,
but you won't be able to do a backup.

Bluetooth will work nicely thanks to "Blunt" drivers,
donated by Eckhart Köppen to the Newton community.

Blunt drivers works with Pico Pcmcia out-of-the-box,
and Newton compatible Bluetooth cards are really a few, and hard to
find.

- Here's a link to a page where you'll find showed a Pico Pcmcia "in
action":
http://tinyurl.com/h86be
[Thanks goes to Andreas Nijenhuis for his kinda gentle support]

- Here's the Blunt drivers webpage:
http://40hz.org/Blunt/

[Blunt rocks!!! What Blunt2 will be?!!]

- Blunt2 work-in-progress on the nice Eckhart's blog:
http://40hz.org/mottek/

- Here's a link to wikipedia's docs: http://tinyurl.com/npkqq

Additional notes:
Pico Pcmcias were made here in Europe by Sphinx,
and are reare in the U.S. or just more expensive than here,
so i started the "Bluetooth for newbies" initiative.

The initiative thread starts here: http://tinyurl.com/m9r9l

It's a no-profit solution i am offering to people out of Europe
to let them buy a Pico Pcmcia at 35.72usd shipping included.

Consider that an interconnect dongle can cost 35-40usd alone,
then you will have to buy a serial cable and the usb adapter...

Kind regards,

Adriano Angelillis

'Green is better'
http://www.homepage.mac.com/adriano.angelillis/--
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/
Received on Tue Mar 14 10:17:59 2006