[NTLK] Serial Cable for New Newton 2000

[Michael Grossman]

On Wed, 18 Aug 2010, Woody Smith wrote:

>
>> I just purchased a Newton 2000, I am also new to the newtontalk net.
>>
>> So here is my question.
>>
>> I will obviously need to connect my newton to my Macbook.  So here
>> is my
>> question.
>>
>> Would I better to buy a serial connector for a PC with a dongle and
>> use
>> that to connection to Keyspan  USB to serial since it has the pc
>> serial
>> connector on it?
>
> This is a good combination for what you need to physically connect to
> your Mac or PC.
> If you hope to use a Newton keyboard there are adapters but these are
> hard to find.
>

It might be more fun to get an old mac that has the serial port but is new 
enough to run Classilla & OS9. Probably one of the powerbooks newer than 
than the Duos but older than the Lombard/Pismo can be had cheaply on eBay. 
A Wallstreet would do the job. Newton Comm. Utils works with a serial 
cable, but if your serial port fails you can also use an irda package 
installer for OS9 Macs. Also, there is the option to learn about Newton 
Development software which you can get free from unna.org. I don't know 
what I'm doing, but I have been able to use the debugger to run bits of 
Newton Script over a serial connection. So for a little less than $100 you 
can get a new old mac and have: 1. IRDA option if serial fails, or your 
dog eats the cable 2. NTK dev tools to play with, 3. a serial connection. 
A serial-USB dongle just does one thing and is a rip-off at over $30.