[NTLK] Linear cards specification

[Frank Gruendel]

> These are linear cardsn ot ATA?
> What are you looking to get for them?
> I'd be interested in a single 20MB one, maybe two if the price is right....

Please get your favourite beverage, lean back, relax and read the following FAQ from top to bottom
if you are even remotely interested in a 20MB memory card...
Sorry to those who already know all this.

Q: What size in Megabytes are the cards?

A: They are 20MB cards.

...........................................

Q: Are they new?

A: No. They are used. Of course I have asked my source where they come from, and he assured me they
were not used in routers. They were used in medical instruments. He mentioned cardiac pacemakers.
One of the stickers he forgot to remove confirms this. Given that flash cards have a limited number
of
write cycles, this information is important. Routers like the old Cisco routers can write to such a
card every couple of seconds and make it
unreliable within a couple of days. The cards we are talking about here have probably not seen more
than one write cycle.

...........................................

Q: How much are they?

A: If you promise they won't end up at eBay or be sold elsewhere for a huge profit, they are 12
Euros apiece. Otherwise they are 30 Euros apiece. If I see them end up at eBay nonetheless, I will
start appearing in your dreams. The unanimous opinion of all in whose dreams I am currently
appearing is that this is something you do not want.

...........................................

Q: Will you ship to where I live?

A: Yes. I ship worldwide. Three of these cards once reached Brazil after starting their trip in
Germany :-)

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Q: How can I pay?

A: PayPal or wire transfer. If you use PayPal, you will need to add 3.9% plus EUR 0.35 to the total
price because this is what PayPal will charge me. Another form of payment that a brilliant list
member from Russia brought to my mind is sending an Amazon gift certificate. It seems that PayPal
refuses to create accounts for people from certain countries even if said people do have a valid
credit card. For sending an Amazon gift certificate, a credit card is all you'll need. I can't
redeem gift certificates not purchased from Amazon.de, so if you are planning on paying that way,
please get in touch with me first.

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Q: Is there a warranty?

A: Yes. I have been using the cards without a problem for quite some time now, so I don't really
think a warranty will be required. But since the cards are used, I offer a one month
money-back-no-questions-asked warranty.

...........................................

Q: Is there a legal backing for the warranty you offer?

A: No. I am not a company. But I don't think you need to consider legal issues when dealing with me.
Vain as I am, I think most of you have noticed by now that dealing with me is fairly risk-free.

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Q: Talking of shipping: How much is it?

A: Only what I pay at the post office. The following prices assume a purchase of one card. Prices
will be slightly (but not much) higher if you buy more than one. 

Germany:
-------

0.90 Euros (no insurance, your risk)
6.00 Euros (insured)

Europe (air mail):
-------

1,25 Euros (no insurance, your risk)
6,35 Euros (insured, not possible to all countries)

World (air mail):
-----------------

2,20 Euros (no insurance, your risk)
7.30 Euros (insured, not possible to all countries)

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Q: Are you interested in a trade?

A: Well, why not make an offer?

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Q: Will the card work in my eMate?

A: Yes, but you will not be able to write to it. The eMate will mount it read-only.

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Q: Will the card work in my Newton?

A: Yes. I will test every card in the Newton model(s) of your choice before I send them. I have
almost every Newton model there is. The test will include formatting the card, loading a 2MB package
(OS 2.x models) or a 180kB package (OS 1.x models) onto it and ensuring that said package can be
opened. Please be fair and make me test the cards only in models they will be used in. Testing a
card in all Newton models there are would take a very long time.

...........................................

Q: Can you install packages on the card before you send it?

A: I will install additional packages on the card, provided they are freeware, shareware or from the
public domain. It'll be your job to prove this for every package you want me to install.  Don't
waste your time asking for software that doesn't meet these requirements. I will definitely NOT put
it on your card. It'll also be your job to send me a link from where I can download the package.
Please be fair and have me install only packages that you really need. Package installation takes
time, and both family and the job that pays the rent have higher priority. 

...........................................

Q: I do not have a dongle, and I'd rather not buy one since they aren't exactly cheap. Can you
install Ethernet drivers and solve my 
bootstrap problem?

A: Yes, no problem.

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Q: Speaking of bootstrap problems: Can you install BlueTooth drivers, too?

A: Yes, no problem.

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Q: Will you install the WLAN (WiFi) driver?

A: Yes, no problem.

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Q: If I buy a card, how long will it take until I have it?

A: This depends on the shipping type you choose. I'm not a mailing house, and everything that has
the word "Newton" in it isn't part of the job that pays the rent and hence has lower priority. If I
am swamped with offers, which I don't really expect, I will process orders as quickly as I'm able,
but list members are asked to be patient. Testing each card in the Newton model(s) of your choice,
packing and sending them, installing packages etc. will require a little time.

Shipping stuff inside Europe usually takes between a day and 10 days. For worldwide shipping it
depends on where you live. The shortest I had for air mail so far was two days to the USA. The
longest I had for surface mail was about three months to Australia (unfortunately that was a
Christmas present, it arrived around Easter...)

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Q: May I answer this post by replying to the list?

A: Sure. Provided you don't mind hard objects moving at an alarming speed towards body parts you'd
rather keep intact.

If you are interested, please reply off-list. If you just want to comment or praise or condemn or
whatever, by all means post to the list, but please oh please delete text passages you aren't
referring to before you click on the "Send" button. Be aware that even today some NewtonTalkers read
this list on their Newtons. Scrolling heaps of quoted text on such a machine isn't exactly fun.

Cheers

Frank

-- Newton software and hardware at http://www.pda-soft.de