[NTLK] Learning Remote App?

[James Fraser]

Hello,

>While I'd be happy to take $20, it seems that Apple's developer sample >application "IR Remote Sample" already does what you want - it claims to >be compatible with the PowerCD and Sony CD drives - so the only thing I >can do for you is maybe remove the Sony drive functionality to reduce the >package size (though it's only 18.4K uncompressed) or make minor >adjustments, for example change the user interface.

Frankly, I'd be delighted if it worked, full stop.  Yes, a good UI would be nice, but just seeing an OMP being used as a remote for a PowerCD would, for me, really be something. 

(Did I mention that my standards aren't all that high?  Well, they probably aren't.)

I'd also like to read the notes included with the sample app to see whether the name of the author (if it's mentioned) rings any bells.  It would be cool if it turned out that the guy I read about years ago and the author of the app were one and the same. :)

I seem to recall that the guy who did the hack worked for Apple, which is how he had access to a PowerCD unit to play with.  Since the PowerCDs sold for $499, they weren't exactly flying off the shelves (although CD players in general were still relatively expensive in 1993).

>This version of the IR Remote Sample + the platforms file in NTK 1.0.1 >does not work with >MP100 upgrade units (ROM version 1.3 or higher). Stay >tuned for more info when we have a >platforms file that handles this case >as well.

The NOS 1.3 cutoff shouldn't be a problem.  Though I haven't seen/played with my early 1.x Newtons for some time (I'm afraid the AAA-powered Newts ate batteries like mad, which didn't help recommend them),  the ubiquitous "Newton Table" says that the OMP could only be upgraded to NOS 1.11. 

Now if I can just remember whether the couple-three 1.x Newtons I have somewhere are OMPs or MP100s (which -do- suffer from the possibility of having NOS 1.3 installed). : /

>I don't know whether this applies to the OMP or not and I don't know >whether later platform files (these files contain OS version-specific data >that the Newton Toolkit uses when >compiling packages), but I do know that >the communication architecture in OS 1.x is really >messy and different >platform files have different bugs on different devices. And I don't have >an OMP or a MP100 to test with.

I probably have a serviceable OMP or MP100 and I'd like to give it a go, certainly, but there are two things:

1) I need some time to get to my OMPs/MP100s (or whatever it is I've got). I haven't seen them in a while, and they're not exactly convenient to get to right now. 

However, I -do- want to test this out before the end of the year, if only because I've learned the hard way that if I carry a project over to the new year, the chances of it getting done approach nil.  And this is something I'd like to see to fruition.

2) Where the -heck- did you find NTK 1.0.1?  :)  Is that something you've had on hand for a while? 

I ask because I didn't think my Google-fu was quite *that* bad, but I couldn't seem to turn up a single trace of it online anywhere.  UNNA only seems to have 1.6.4 (Macintosh) or 1.6.1 (WIndows) and I can scarcely find so much as a mention of 1.0.1 elsewhere.  Is NTK 1.0.1 something you acquired locally? 

(I'm hoping the answer is "yes," because I'm having visions of incipient senility after not being able to find it online.)  :-[


Best,

James Fraser