Re: [NTLK] Help and advice for a sort of newbie please

David

I can't answer all your questions but I'll give some a go. My answers in CAPS
below:

Cheers

Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net
[mailto:newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net]On Behalf Of David Foley
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 9:14 AM
To: newtontalk@newtontalk.net
Subject: [NTLK] Help and advice for a sort of newbie please

Hi everyone - I'm relatively new to the list and have enjoyed looking round
the FAQ and other interesting pages - I'd be really grateful for some real
world advice and experience please.
I bought and still have one of the 110s but this suffered with power
problems pretty much from the outset.

It has lain dormant for many years but a few days ago my interest was
rekindled so I reinstalled some batteries and - after several false starts -
it powered up again. Fairly frequent turning of it on and off has not lead
to any power difficulties now though.

Because my kids' schools both use Windows to the exclusion of everything
else I have to run a Windows machine as my main machine here at home. So,
is it worth me getting a 2000 or 2100 to run with a Windows machine and
would someone with my fairly limited knowledge be able to get it working on
a wireless network here at home.

I USE A WIN2K SETUP AND WIRELESS WORKS FINE. HOWEVER MODERN MACHINES ARE
USUALLY TOO QUICK AND NEED (SOMETIMES MULTIPLE INSTANCES OF) DOWNLOADABLE
FREEWARE UTILITIES SUCH AS "SLOWDOWN" TO ALLOW RELIABLE SERIAL COMMUNICATIONS.
I'VE FOUND THAT NEWTON CONNECTION UTILITIES WILL LET ME TRANSFER SMALL PKGS AND
TEXT FILES WITHOUT SLOWDOWN.

I USE NOTES2NOTES WHICH RELIES ON ANOTHER COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM "SLOUP" TO
TRANSFER NOTES INTO MS OUTLOOK. THAT SEEMS TO WORK WITHOUT USING SLOWDOWN AT
ALL. SOMETIMES BECAUSE SLOUP WORKS SO RELIABLY I HAVE WONDERED WHY NO ONE HAS
BUILT A PIM SYNCH USING IT.

MATT HOWE IS WORKING ON A WINDOWS SYNCH UTILITY CALLED LADLE SO THERE IS HOPE
FOR US PC USERS ON THE HORIZON.

SETTING UP WIRELESS WASN'T TOO HARD BUT YOU SHOULD USE A MP2100 OR UMP2000 AS
THE INTERNET PKGS USE A LOT OF MEMORY. CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE
WIKI (LINK IS ALWAYS AUTOMATICALLY APPENDED TO THE BOTTOM OF NEWTONTALK
MESSAGES).

SURFING ON THE WEB IS SLOW SO I USE A TEXT-ONLY BROWSER CALLED COURIER BUT
BATTERY DRAIN IS HIGH. HAVING AN AC ADAPTER IN THE LOUNGE BY THE COUCH SOLVED
THAT PROBLEM; STILL FINDING A FIX FOR GETTING A HARD TIME FOR NOT JOINING IN
CONVERSATIONS [WINK]. LOTS OF PDA FRIENDLY IE TEXT ONLY WEBSITES AVAILABLE.

Also, is the HWR better on the 2000/2100 than the 110? What percentage
accuracy do you get?

I HAVE SEEN MANY ANECDOTES ON THE LIST SAYING THAT THE HWR ON 2X00 MACHINES IS
WAY BETTER THAN A 110.

My major use of the Newton would be note-taking which I would then tidy up
on the desktop I guess. I've looked at the Nokia N800 but it doesn't seem
to offer what I would want although wireless connectivity would be pretty
straightforward I guess. Or should I just wait for a real Apple slate (or a
linux slate???)

NOTE TAKING ON THE FLY SEEMS BEST DONE (AT LEAST FOR ME) IN DIGITAL INK WITH HWR
SUBSEQUENTLY APPLIED; DOING IT THE OTHER WAY, IE HAVING IT TRANSLATE DURING A
MEETING, I FOUND THAT I WOULD GET DISTRACTED CHECKING IF THE HWR HAD TRANSLATED
MY WRITING CORRECTLY AND THEN GET TEMPTED TO EDIT THE MISTRANSLATION. MOST OF
MY ERRORS ARE DUE TO INAPPROPRIATE CAPITALISATION; FOR A FEEL ON HWR ACCURACY
THERE WAS A TEST RUN DONE ON A STD PIECE OF TEXT JUST OVER THE LAST TWO WEEKS.
CHECK THE ARCHIVES.

Am enjoying reading all the mails even though I don't understand all of
them!! Thank you for taking the time to read this.

YOU'RE WELCOME. THE NEWTON FAQ WHICH IS ALSO AUTOMATICALLY APPENDED TO LIST
MESSAGES HELPED ME TO PICK UP THE NEWTON WORLD JARGON. CERTAINLY WORTH PRINTING
OUT AND HAVING A READ. FOR ME, TRICKIEST CONCEPT TO PICK UP IS THE IDEA OF
SOUPS, SLOTS ETC VS DATABASE FILES, RECORDS AND FIELDS. SOUPS ARE DATABASES.
THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT NEWTON ALLOWS ALL APPS TO ACCESS EACH OTHER'S DATABASES.
NOT QUITE CLEAR ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RECORDS AND FIELDS VS SLOTS. HAD A
PROBLEM A WHILE AGO WITH STRANGELY RECURRING WEEKLY TO-DOS WHICH WOULDN'T GO
AWAY DESPITE BEING DELETED; A WEEK LATER THEY WOULD RE-APPEAR! DABBLED WITH SBM
BUT LOST IN THE SOUP JARGON. TO-DO CLEANER FIXED IT BUT ONLY AFTER I DELETED
EVERY RECURRING APPOINTMENT/EVENT AND TASK.

HTH

Best Wishes from the UK
David

WARM REGARDS

TONY KAN

CHRISTCHURCH
NEW ZEALAND

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