Re: [NTLK] Newton Knowledgebase Launched

Hello Ryan,

An excellent initiative. I say this as one who used his MessagePads a
lot several years ago. Then I built up a collection of useful URLs,
all saved in my bookmarks. Now, some five years later, about half of
those URLs no longer exist. I also applaud the initiative as one who
has tried to re-establish WiFi internet connection with my MessagePads
through a snow Airport Base Station and failed miserably. I would put
this down almost entirely to personal ignorance, were it not that I
managed just that all those years ago by following a single web page
of clearly written and well illustrated instructions. Sadly, that page
no longer exists and its archive is out of date, no longer matching
current MacOS X (or even the previous version of MacOS X) settings.

My own experience is too limited to allow me to contribute, but I
would urge those who can contribute to do so in a way that is not
filled with technical jargon, and which is amply illustrated. Remember
that your situation is not that of everyone else, so explain the setup
(hardware and software environment) for which you are writing and
consider, even if only by mentioning their possibility, variations and
consequences. I was recently reading a page which described in
excellent detail how to set up something -- I think it was Mail V, or
a WiFi card, but I'm not sure any more (and it certainly wasn't an
"official" page, but a sort of fan site): it went through everything
from the initial installation of NIE packages, the installation of the
driver, and so on, ending up with "and that's all there is to it" (or
words to that effect). But that wasn't "all there is to it," for no
mention had been made of the Internet Setup. For a regular Newton
user, no problem, of course, but new user would be utterly stumped.

I really hope your initiative takes off and becomes a great success.
And that it stays active!

David

On 26 Feb 2009, at 11:09, Ryan Vetter wrote:

> Hi:
>
> I have been talking about this for about a year. I thought I would
> put this out there, and get some feedback from you all. I launched
> a new Newton Wiki to help people get along with their Newton in
> today's world. I do appreciate all of the other sites, and their
> are very useful, but as time goes on, they become more dated and
> broken.
>
> So this site is something that you can contribute to. Over the past
> 2 years, I have documented many problems and solutions from this
> list, where the solutions, in some cases, where not really available
> on the web other than searching the NTLK archives which can be hit
> or miss in terms of finding what you are looking for (but I suspect
> the information is there, just hard to find at times).
>
> Some really good knowledge on this list. So hopefully some of you
> feel like you want to contribute. With all of the information I
> have extracted from NTLK, and other sites, I should be able to put
> up about twenty support articles myself, which I will be slowly
> doing. So this is my way of giving back: all the questions you have
> answered for me, as well as problems and solutions extracted from
> the NTLK archive.
>
> The whole purpose of the site is to allow new users of the Newton to
> get going quickly, and to give experienced users a repository of
> useful information that may have been forgotten with time.
>
> I certainly am no Newton expert, although I have learned a lot about
> the device over the past few years.
>
> I and am bested by many of you when it comes to the Newton, though,
> so I hope people feel like contributing.
>
> Linky:
>
> http://www.thisoldmac.ca/newtonknowledge/index.php?title=Main_Page
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ryan

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Received on Thu Feb 26 08:04:59 2009