Re: [NTLK] 2010 fix

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 6:15 AM, Bob Carls Dudney <kosmicdollop@saber.net> wrote:

>>several people have tested it..extensively

Actually, I'm not aware of anybody purposely testing it besides
myself--though I keep encouraging _somebody_ to test it! :-)

> As I recall the thread, one of the two people who were reported as
> having tested it was Jon Glass, who then wrote in to say his testing
> wasn't definitive.

And I'm not willing to call it definitive, because I'm one person,
with one Newton. (actually, I have a few, but they belong to my kids,
and they aren't too keen on the experiment, and didn't want me to try
it on theirs. ;-)

As to the quality of the fix, I would say that it probably won't blow
up your Newton, or do horrible things to it, but it may cause problems
with some dates, or some programs that deal with dates. Avi was pretty
sure at the time that his fix would work, but he also was very
reluctant to claim any more than "alpha" status simply because of how
little testing that could be done.

Here. I'll quote a post I wrote here a few days ago to give some idea
of what's necessary:

----------------------------
Ah, but who is willing to move their clock forward a couple years or
so, and keep it there for several days... I don't know how far the fix
has been stressed. My playing was, in a sense, artificial. I added and
removed a bunch of dates, and changed the years quite a few into the
future, but beyond that, I didn't do much. I think I also forgot to
stress-test the Assistant, and other, third-party apps (MoreInfo,
etc.) Also, since I probably did this on my 130, I am sure I didn't
use NIE or the internet, and I doubt I tried to send and receive
email. Nor did I try a syncing to the desktop--an other area for
potential failure (try syncing dates, for instance).

I would say that the fix2010 probably works for just keeping the
Newton from crashing, but I wouldn't guarantee it for anything more.
We may just have to wait until 2010 before we know anything for sure,
but I would presume, as I said, that at least we won't be going down
in flames!

I'm still amazed that it is looking like I will still be using my
Newton in 2010!
==========================

Maybe we will get somebody "incentivalized" here (gotta love jargon)
to try to stress-test this on their own Newton.

Here's all you need to do:

Before you do anything below, make sure you've installed Avi's 2010fix software.

1. If you have a card to back up onto, do a complete backup onto your card.
2. Backup onto your computer--again, do not do an incremental backup,
but a full backup.
3. Make a second full backup, not an incremental, first renaming your
first backup so as to not overwrite it, and to make sure you have
redundancy on your computer.
4. Make sure you have good, solid backups.
5. Making sure you have good, solid backups ;-) reset the clock to
sometime _after_ January, 2010 (why after? Because the zero date, I
think, is some date other than January 1, but I don't remember the
date) It would be simplest to just change the year, keeping the month
and time the same. Use the Setup program to do this, as it's the
easiest way.
6. Add some new dates after January 2010. Best would be to add dates
for each month, including repeating dates.
7. Use the Assistant to add dates.
8. Use MoreInfo, TimeTrax, and othe software to add dates.
9. Delete a few dates, and modify others.
10. Play around with the Notepad, phone app, etc.
11. Add a birthday to the Address Book.
12. Move the clock forward to 2011, repeat steps 6-11.
13. Move the clock forward a few years, and repeat steps 6-11
14. Probably worth moving the clock back to 2010, and letting it work
in this state for a couple days. One thing I forgot was to add todos,
and let them roll over, to see what happens.

There are, I'm sure, other things to check. For instance, the moon and
other astronomy software, database programs, HyperNewt, Alarm clock,
etc. Lots of software to check that depends on the calendar. Check it
all.

When done, if you bonked your Newton, do a brain wipe, and restore. If
not, then delete all your new dates, and reset your clock back to the
present. Whatever you do, please report here! :-)

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass@usa.net>
"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus
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