[NTLK] [OT] *Lifesign (Was: Re: N Project?)

> Subject: Re: [NTLK] N Project?
> Date: 2007-07-07 23:51:48

>> Just thought I would let you know that I had a strange visitation
>> this week from one Mr. Volkasko. Apparently he has family in this
>> area (Seattle) and was spending some time with his Aunt (she's ill)
>> and thought he would pop by for a visit.

Yup, we had a TANUG (Trans-Atlantic Newton Users Group) meeting at
Marty's regular haunt in the Emerald City.

'T was good to see you, Marty, what with you being the kind host of
the Temporary Newton Library thing over at http://www.stillnewt.org/
library and all. ;=] I'm glad that meeting worked out somehow.
    I guess I'll be back to the Northwest within the next couple
years, perchance spending more time in your town (there's still a
couple yarn shops and some second hand vinyl
mongers we haven't been to this time... Plus the grave of Bruce
Lee...), if they manage to drag me off the water (gonna be much more
water involved on my next trip: Nooksack, Skagit, the San
Juans,... ;=] ).

> Thanks for the update on Mr V. I was wondering what had happened
> to him.

Well, his TiBook died and then he went to get himself a nice recent
PB G4 AlBook with Apple Care, only every single one he'd bought
(about four or so, on or off eBay) had flaws that were not in the
article description and became apparent only after the purchase
(cracked case, dead pixels, dented case, buggy optical drive,...).
Then the whole cycle of returning PB, begging for refund and general
disgust started. After going through enough of these, the disgust
factor became so strong he'd decided to do w/o and just live off
charity ("Mind me borrow some CPU cycles off yer box, mate?").

Yes, one might wonder--why that moron not use his Newt eev he dat
hot, eh? Weeell... I *had* everything set up and konfiggered, only to
end up with a balking storage card after a while... Inserting the
card slip pops up, but
Extras doesn't browse it. On ejecting, the Newton claims to still
need the card, and after reinsertion, I never get the "You may remove
the card now" popup anymore. Duh.
    Then I'd decided to reinstall everything on another card, but by
that time had misplaced the 3Com network card which a kind act of
Newton love placed in my mittens a few years ago. Still looking for
it... Gotta be around somewhere...--So there. Got a new toy provided
recently, however, so I'm gonner try somethin' else and see how that
works out.

>> Anyhow, we thought of you and had a beer on you behalf. He
>> doesn't have a working computer (still!) . Perhaps someday he
>> will...

As there'll be some projects coming my way, I'll have to sort that
out somehow. I've become kinda jaded, tho--the G4 line of PBs let me
down a couple times, and it is hard to get a very good (= undented,
no dead pixels, no ripoff) PB G4 12'' or 15'' with at least a year
Apple Care left on it.
    Also I still don't trust the Intel-MacBook Pro thingies wid deir
dratted weird Trusted Platform Module chip (Jobs is so wide open to
the Studios, even the old TiBooks already had REGIONCODE dongled
optical drives...! Who knows what he'll do next, since he's now
Disney's biggest share holder... TPM and massive DRM come to mind...
Just look at the iPhone: No third-party software allowed, did I get
that right?). But then I'd love to stay with OSX, so a nice IBM
notebook with Ubuntu doesn't do it for me, either. Arrrgh!

> Tell him we miss his enthusiasm.

Aww, thx Tony! Miss you guys, too!

As soon as I have my own box again, I'll close ranks again with
Marty, Matt and all the other good folks, and pick up my life as
active and contributing Newtonian once more.

Hmh, wonder if any of my software wishes http://tools.unna.org/
wikiwikinewt/index.php/SoftwareWishlist had come true during my
hibernation cycle. Anybody come up with a Karaoke Player (I've
discussed this a couple years ago with, uh, Daniel Padilla, I
think... Somebody else, too...)? Or a Tide Calculator? A LAN Sniffer
Suite? Or a Newton SDK for LEGO Mindstorms? Or new tricks for GPS Map
(import + export of navpoints and routes, etc.)? A Newton ScummVM?
Did the Newton MAME project ever get anywhere? What became of the
Newton Press recreation for OSX I'd read about half a year ago? Is
Eckhardt now working on Blunt 4? Which hot new developers have popped
up, which new apps and tricks did the Newton learn in the last 18
months? Did Digital Dan et al. ever solve the riddle of multi-format
Newton eBooks?
    And what about hardware--during my hiatus I'd tried to procure
some new kind of AA cells to be tested, did that ever reach NTLK? Did
anybody take up our beloved Mr. PCBMan's Gearshift project? Any news
on the clear lid-front? What about phone cards, new adapters, massive
storage, etc.? What about the 2x00 case blueprint, did that ever turn
up again? Has the FAQ ever been updated (last update was announce for
Fall... that would have been Fall 2003, IRRC...)? How did Grant's
Newtie Awards turn out?
   Question over questions. Well, if you got some answers, I'll bring
some readin'. ;=}

'Pollergies about the longish posting, nothing to see here, move on,
read you guys whenever I have some personal computing going on again
and finally reestablish full onlineity.

Keep the green, sez yer ole pal

'Kasko

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