Newton users

[5300cs]

Hello all,

I'm wondering, how many people on this board are Newton users? I know it's not just me, here.

To those people still using Newtons: what do you use them for? Writing? Games? What kind of cool apps, games, etc. do you have on your Newt? Which model do you have?

(Yes I know about NewtonTalk.net, no need to point it out to me :) )

[t300]

Hello all,

I'm wondering, how many people on this board are Newton users? I know it's not just me, here.

To those people still using Newtons: what do you use them for? Writing? Games? What kind of cool apps, games, etc. do you have on your Newt? Which model do you have?

(Yes I know about NewtonTalk.net, no need to point it out to me :) )


Newton fo life, playa.

Notes, games, contacts, and more is what I use mine for.

[SilentPanda]

I have two eMate 300's... but I just got them a month or so ago and am slowly bringing them up to usable speed... my cable to transfer data onto it should be here in a few days. I already have my UNNA archive DVD... so hopefully I'll be using it here shortly... battery pack is new, power adapters are good to go, stylus exists, screen is good, and hinges have washers (eMate 300 users will know what I'm talking about and if you don't find out!)... and I have an Ethernet card that's compatible with the Newts....

So I suppose I'll see at some point what I'll use it for....

[slooksterPSV]

God I'd trade my Pocket PC for an Apple Newton.

[5300cs]

...(eMate 300 users will know what I'm talking about and if you don't find out!)...

Yeah, no joke. I have an eMate too, but the hinges seem to be okay so far. They were really stiff when I first got it, so I was sweating everytime I opened it.

I have a MP2100, 130, 110 and OMP, too. I have a Tungsten C also, which is cool, and an iPaq 5450 which is really cool, but nothing beats the Newt yet :cool:

[slooksterPSV]

Yeah, no joke. I have an eMate too, but the hinges seem to be okay so far. They were really stiff when I first got it, so I was sweating everytime I opened it.

I have a MP2100, 130, 110 and OMP, too. I have a Tungsten C also, which is cool, and an iPaq 5450 which is really cool, but nothing beats the Newt yet :cool:

Hey you should sell me your PowerMac B&W. Just kidding, but that is a lot of macs that you have.

[cubist]

I have a Newton 2100 which I use as a daily organizer, and an MP120 for backup. It works fine. I use NiMH AA cells in it which I swap with recharged ones every couple of weeks. With a Newton, you never worry about lost data because it uses flash memory. Furthermore, the screen is big enough to see. My writing is terrible, so I use Graffiti.

It's kind of strange, IMHO, that all the subsequent PDAs have copied the Palm screen size, which IMHO is too small for any serious amount of data to be displayed, and the battery- or capacitor-backed RAM approach, which is a little scary.

[Merf]

Mostly I use mine as a paperweight. I only have a 130 so its not to powerfull.

Merf

[Aaon]

I use a MP 110. Its definitely not the most powerful of the Newton models out there, but it is still pretty cool. I just use it for a to-do list mainly. A large, book-sized, weighty to-do list :p

Aaron

[Hemingray]

I've got a 2100 and a 130, but I hardly ever use either of them. :(

[5300cs]

Has anyone here seen this site (http://dev.newtontalk.net/~martinw/Newtonlust/)? I almost fell over when I saw all the things you could do :D

I would sell my B&W, but a) I'm in Japan b) I've always wanted one c) it's kinda busted right now :(

[Macs R Us]

Well, I have over 100 Newtons from Prototypes to 2100's... I gusse I just have a thing for the Newton... Just can't stop! I use one on a day to day bassis...

[5300cs]

Well, I have over 100 Newtons from Prototypes to 2100's... I gusse I just have a thing for the Newton... Just can't stop! I use one on a day to day bassis...

Woo, is that you? :D

[Sly]

One of mine (the 130) gets daily use as a TV remote.

[SilentPanda]

Well if anybody has a 2100 in good condition for a reasonable price I might be interested...

[Macs R Us]

Well if anybody has a 2100 in good condition for a reasonable price I might be interested...

Well, I have a lot of "like new" MP 2100's there from my site or eBay store (mine)... Just a plug for my self :rolleyes: ... I found the 2100 to be great for there age, and I use one everyday...

[5300cs]

Newtons are expensive in Japan :( A 2000 or 2100 will easily run at $300 on auction. Forget about finding one in a store, the only one I found was a 2100 in Akihabara, Tokyo. Box and manuals, everything for $900 :eek: :eek: (wasn't that the original price when it was released??)

I was lucky and got my MP 130 cheap from a guy who didn't know what it was, and my 2100 from a guy who needed cash quickly :D

Nothing beats HWR on the Newton. Nothing.

[Mechcozmo]

I would love a 2100, but I do not exactly have a helluva of a lot of money. :) But maybe, in a few years, I can get a nice 2100...use a wi-fi card in it, now that would be cool.

[xnu]

Funny, a couple of days ago I found my 130 in a drawer in the desk at my office. Someone in my office threw a couple of AA in and walaa... It works perfectly. I hadn't used it in years. I had to get a new back up battery, so I went to Radio Shack, the guy at the counter asked what it was, I explained it to him and he thought it was awesome. I took it back to the office and let a few people play with it and they were amazed, everyone was on Ebay trying to find one. It is a shame Apple won't make something comparible, it had a great screen size, the handwriting recognition work really well, everyone in my office thought it was the coolest piece of technology they had seen (and we have alot of Apple Stuff). Tommorrow I will break out my old Apple digital camera and impress my coworkers.

[blakespot]

This thread hit me at about the right time.

I got into the Newton in '97 when I purchased a MessagePad 2000 (http://www.blakespot.com/list/images/mp20002.jpg). I had been using a Palm Pilot Personal and then a Philips Velo prior. Arn (who runs this site) had a 2000 and I was quite taken with it, so I laid down the $1100. While I had it, Arn gave me an MP100 (http://www.blakespot.com/list/images/mp100_4.jpg) in perfect condition. I had various other odd PDA's I was collecting. Some pics and specs of them are here (http://www.blakespot.com/nino/html/pdas.html) on an OLD page of mine as well as pics of the combined PDA collections of Arn and myself, in all their piled up glory (http://www.blakespot.com/nino/images/lotsapdas2.jpg).

Well, I sold the MP2000 (http://www.blakespot.com/list/images/newtonspread.jpg) (by then upgraded to a 2100) for a Psion Series 5, amazingly. Hard to comprehend. (The Psion is long gone, now.) And that was it for a few years.

Then in about 2000 I was playing with my MP110 and it got me all Newton-happy, so I found and grabbed, on eBay, a new-in-box MP130. It has basically the same, excellent HWR as the MP2x00. I tried to use it day to day, but what I was doing at work then did not really require such a device, and so my interest waned. Put it on the shelf (http://www.blakespot.com/list/images/pdas.jpg). Shortly thereafter I picked up a a new-in-box eMate 300 (http://www.blakespot.com/list/images/emate.jpg), but sold it (as you can guess by that clearly-eBay-ready pic) soon after as I did not put it to much use and wanted the $$ to build an Amiga 1200 tower. Heh - all over the place.

So...I posted a story about the Newton, just a few weeks ago, on one of my sites, ByteCellar (http://www.bytecellar.com/archives/000029.php), and was pleased to help spread the legend. Well doing the research for all the links there, it got me all nostalgic for my Newtons. So I batteried up my MP130 and messed with it for a few hours. Then I hit eBay. It was an MP2100 I was after. And I found one. But as I was scanning eBay a few hours before auction end on the 2100 I spotted a new-in-box eMate 300 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5724063003&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOAB:US:6) again. Too good to pass up! Auction ended in like 30 mins, so I waited and pounced. After having gotten it, I threw down the winning bid, at 3am, on the MP2100 auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5724088198).

The eMate, as expected, was in perfect mind condition. The MP2100 was in excellent condition (http://www.blakespot.com/list/images/mp2100.jpg) as well - no scratches. I've opened the eMate's flip up screen once and am waiting for time to do the hinge fix (http://www.pda-soft.de/emate_disassemble.html) before closing it. (Though Arn was over here last weekend and annoyingly opened it and closed it a few times...) So now I've got an MP110, MP130, MP2100, and eMate 300. A pic of the lot is here (http://www.blakespot.com/list/images/newtons.jpg).

I've become inspired by it all and have setup (http://www.blakespot.com/images/newt_dev_spread.jpg) with the Newton Toolkit for Mac and have written a few "hello world" apps using NewtonScript and am midway through my first "real" app with a second, actually useful app waiting to be written. It's good fun, and as Arn had always indicated to me, it's quite an amazingly easy language, NewtonScript. (Arn has written quite a few apps for the Newton back in the day.)

So there it is. I carry the MP2100 all over the place now. Will add WiFi soon, but holding out to try and find a card w/ a retractible antenna that will work with the Newt - might not have luck there... I mean to attend an upcoming DC area Newton user group (http://newton.meetup.com/3/boards/) meeting to see what other folks are doing with them. It's interesting - I went to a lecture at the Smithsonian 3 years ago and the presentor gave the whole, long, color presentation from his MP2100, using the color PCMCIA video card (http://dev.newtontalk.net/~martinw/Newtonlust/point.html) linked from the Newton Lust page. The guy was so charged up - saying he was writing apps for it, etc. I guess now I've got the bug again, and can relate. :-)

My ultimate plans? I am searching out a new-in-box MP2100. It will certainly be costly, but to relive the exprience of unpacking a virgin MP2100. Well, I've only done it once, and it's pretty hard to convey. :-)





blakespot

[5300cs]

This thread hit me at about the right time...
...So now I've got an MP110, MP130, MP2100, and eMate 300...
...I guess now I've got the bug again, and can relate. :-) ...

I know the bug. It's funny how it comes and goes. I have the same Newtons myself. I like my MP2100 the best, but use my MP130 as an alarm clock. I use Alarm Clock (http://tow.com/software/newton.shtml) by Adam Tow. I got an almost-new eMate in the original box and everything, but it sits quietly unused. (No, I'm not going to sell it.)

I've got a Palm too, actually 3, plus a CLIE and an iPaq. Right now I use the iPaq the most (PocketVCS & Pocket Nester are amazing, plus Virtual Pool Mobile :cool: ) I always come back to the Newton though, especiall when I'm feeling nostalgic.

Nice work on bytecellar.com by the way. It looks as though we share the same interests :D

[Macs R Us]

Well like it says in my sig... But honestly the Newton is a GREAT thing for many uses... I have one I use as a "note pad" only (MP 110)... Then one of my 2100s, I use all the time... And then my eMate 300 and Prototype 600, both with a great disgin just like an iBook :D ... I'm nearing 200 Newtons in my collection... Not thats not a typo... :D :cool:

[stevep]

and I have an Ethernet card that's compatible with the Newts....

SilentPanda -an ethernet card for an eMate? What sort is it? I have a windows laptop which has a pcmcia card + adaptor lead for an rj45 network cable - is that the sort of thing? ...and does it have to be a particular sort to work? Tell us more please.

Stevep

[StarbucksSam]

I've had a Newton 130 for a while, I just sold it off yesterday.

[martinws]

Stevep - There's a web site discussing Ethernet cards for the Newton.

http://www.chuma.org/newton/ethernet/

I have one for my Newton 2000, it's been useful for syncing with my address book on my Powerbook.

There's also supposed to be a driver for some WiFi cards which will be of much more use. (Can't remember the website at the moment).

Regards,

Martin

[Mechcozmo]

I've had a Newton 130 for a while, I just sold it off yesterday.

I've watned a Newton for a while, I just bought one yesterday. :p Same Newton in case all of ya wanna know... :D

Any helpful hints on what to do/what not to do?

Its a MP130, and I have a Lucent wireless card and some Ethernet card from laptops around the house. Is there a way to connect it to my Mac? What about a PC running Basilisk II? Methinks you get the idea... "Newton Newbie Wants to Learn about what she can do with it"

[mkjj]

I have a good collection of Newton items, 100,110,120,130, 2000, 2001, eMate, Sharp Expert Pad but only use them from time to time which is sad but I think they are superb and would love to have the time to experiment more! one day maybe...

www.mac-collection.co.uk

[Mechcozmo]

www.mac-collection.co.uk

Where might we see your collection? There are no links there...

[mkjj]

Hi

You can view at:
www.mac-collection.co.uk

Click on any of the links (the text below the icons) this takes you to me DotMac account which hosts the pics for now until I can sort out the main site! or direct at:

http://homepage.mac.com/markjjohnson/MacStuff/PhotoAlbum4.html

Enjoy!

PS I have bought domian www.retro-mac.com with the thought of doing something with, like people send pics of collections or newly aquired kit.
Anybody got any thoughts on what else I can do?

[mrgreen4242]

I'm not savvy with the Newtons, but I am really intrigued by them... anyways, this may be a really stupid question, but seeing as the NewtonOS runs on the StrongARM CPU has there been any attempts to use it on a modern ARM machine, like a pocketpc? I know alot of people like the Newton because of it's larger screen, etc, but alot also like it because of the NewtonOS.

Anyways, I'd love to try a Newt, but currently saving for an iMac, so I can't spare any cash... is there an emulator or something? I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron, anyone want to part with a fixer upper? :)

Rob

[5300cs]

There is a NewtonOS emulator, but it's not at all functional at this point. It's for UNIX and the website is here: http://gnuton.sourceforge.net/

The OS is not Open Source and Apple still retains the rights to it and all that, so for the time being it cannot be ported I believe.

Newtons can be had cheap on eBay I think, have you considered that?

[EJBasile]

I'm not savvy with the Newtons, but I am really intrigued by them... anyways, this may be a really stupid question, but seeing as the NewtonOS runs on the StrongARM CPU has there been any attempts to use it on a modern ARM machine, like a pocketpc? I know alot of people like the Newton because of it's larger screen, etc, but alot also like it because of the NewtonOS.

Anyways, I'd love to try a Newt, but currently saving for an iMac, so I can't spare any cash... is there an emulator or something? I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron, anyone want to part with a fixer upper? :)

Rob

I have one for sale if you want it. Its a message pad 120.

[mrgreen4242]

There is a NewtonOS emulator, but it's not at all functional at this point. It's for UNIX and the website is here: http://gnuton.sourceforge.net/

The OS is not Open Source and Apple still retains the rights to it and all that, so for the time being it cannot be ported I believe.

Newtons can be had cheap on eBay I think, have you considered that?

I know that the Newton OS is not opensource, and Apple still owns it, etc. I think that the way I would 'port' the NewtonOS to a modern handheld is to emulate the Newton hardware on a modern PDA that uses a CPU that is backward compatible with the StrongARM chips used in the actual Newton. An abstraction layer if you will...

writing a program that runs on a PDA that then loads the Newton ROM and 'intercepts' Newton hardware calls, translating them into something the host machine understands, and then translating the results. This is basically how WINE (a Windows "emulator" for Linux works), and has proven to be a very fast and effective method.

Personally, I'm probably not anywhere near up to the challenge, but maybe someday I will be, or this idea will occur to someone who is!

Rob

PS I use a Linux machine ATM, so I will check out GNUton, thanks for the link!