NewTablet won't replace a $3000 digitizing tablet. At least, not yet.
NewTablet can be used as a mouse replacement for the majority of day-to-day mouse activities. It's really handy when giving lectures, controlling a presentation application on a Mac (you don't have to keep running over to the Mac to click the mouse button or to gesture to something on the screen). It's great for drawing-type applications where using the mouse is like "writing with a brick." It's a quick way to enter a note or two onto your Mac or Newton without going through the entire Newton Connection synchronization routine. And if you suffer from a repetitive strain injury, you probably find the pen (or even your fingernail) more comfortable to use than a mouse.
ABOUT THE SOFTWARE
==================
NewTablet consists of two components: Mac Server & Newton Client.
It requires the Serial Tool communications toolbox tool.
The Mac server is an application which performs the actual hardware simulation. It controls the mouse and keyboard based on instructions coming from the Newton client.
The Newton client is a Newton Package which turns the Newton into a tablet. It takes over the entire screen, including the silk-screened buttons, and sends position data to the Mac server as the user taps and drags.
INSTALLATION
============
Connect your Newton to your Mac using a null-modem cable (eg. the cable that comes with Newton Connection). Hardware handshake lines are not required. Using Newton Connection, or the Newton Package Downloader, download one of the NewTablet packages using the serial (non-AppleTalk) connection option. This will also test your serial cable to see if it will work with NewTablet.
Copy the NewTablet Macintosh Server application to your hard drive. Be sure the Serial Tool communications toolbox tool is in your Extensions folder. Double-click NewTablet to launch. You will be prompted to choose a serial communications toolbox tool and configure its serial parameters, which are recorded for subsequent launches. Once configured, choose Connect from the Newton menu.
Open the NewTablet Newton Application by taping on its icon in the Extras drawer. NewTablet will create a tiny preferences soup on your internal store the first time it's opened. Tap the scroll up button to connect to the Mac.
That's it!
FEATURES
========
Most of NewTablet's features are fairly self-explanatory, but nevertheless a brief description of NewTablet's operation is in order. Some features differ from other tablets, while other features are completely unique, so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the specifics.
The Tablet Area
---------------
Tap-hold and drag to move the Mac cursor. Tap twice to single-click the Mac mouse button. Tap three times for a double-click, four times for a triple-click, et cetera. The initial tap tells NewTablet you are about to perform an action which involves the mouse button, not just mouse movement. With a little practice, you should be able to perform multi-tap-drags as easily as a mouse.
If your "Auto Lock Delay" preference is set to "Never" the Mac mouse button will lock when you tap-hold AND drag. Otherwise the Mac mouse button will lock when you tap-hold and do NOT drag for "Auto Lock Delay" ticks (a tick is 1/60th of a second). Tap once to unlock the Mac mouse button.
The Button Palette
------------------
Overview
Quit the Newton app.
ScrollUp
Connect to the Mac server.
ScrollDown
Disconnect from the Mac server.
Assist
Mouse button. Works exactly the same way.
Find
A locking mouse button. First tap locks, second tap unlocks.
Undo
Same as Command-Z from the Mac keyboard. In fact, that's how it's implemented.
Extras
Preferences, additional features.
Dates
Recognition area. Lets you write text to send to the Mac.
Names
Keyboard. Works like your Mac keyboard, even multi-key accented characters.
The Modifiers Palette
---------------------
Caps Lock, Shift, Control, Option, and Command work exactly like the Mac's versions, however, they lock when you tap to allow you to perform combination behaviors such as shift-clicking a group of icons in the finder, or option-shift-draging a circle from center in a drawing program.
When the modifiers palette is active on the Newton, it overrides (or merges with) your Mac keyboard's normal modifiers keys, depending on the setting of "Modifiers Master" in preferences.
The Preferences Palette (Extras Button)
---------------------------------------
Cursor Tracking
Same as Mouse Tracking in the Mac Mouse Control Panel. There are 8 acceleration tables, 0 to 7. See Advanced Topics for more information on modifying these tables.
Multi Tap Radius
Maximum number of pixels away from previous tap for multi-tap sequences.
Multi Tap Delay
Maximum time between taps for multi-tap sequences.
Auto Lock Delay
How long to wait when the user taps and holds without dragging in the tablet area before locking the Mac mouse button down. 0 = always lock, 59 = wait one second, and "Never" means the button will lock only during a multi-tap-hold and drag.
Newton Volume
This functions as a master volume control, overriding the volume chosen in the Extras drawer.
Server Volume
This sets the volume of sounds played on the NewTablet Server, relative to the Server’s master volume setting.
Modifier Keys
Enable/disable the on-screen modifiers keys palette.
Modifiers Master
Enable/disable the Newton as master of all modifier keys. When checked, the modifiers of all attached keyboards are ignored. When not checked, they are merged with NewTablet’s modifiers.
Button Labels
Enable/disable the on-screen silk-screen button guide.
Micro Navigate
Enable/disable the on-screen micro navigation palette. This provides extremely precise pixel-by-pixel positioning of the mouse.
Temporary Ink
Enable/disable the display of temporary ink on the tablet surface. This is sometimes useful when in a drawing program and you wish to watch the Newton screen rather than the Mac screen as you carefully draw or trace a shape. Tablet performance is generally better when this option is enabled.
Auto Connect
Enable/disable the ability to automatically connect to the Mac server when the application is opened. Useful if you find yourself using NewTablet often.
Auto Launch
Enable/disable the ability to automatically open the NewTablet application whenever you reset the Newton. Most useful for vertical market users who have dedicated a Newton for use with NewTablet.
Orientation
Landscape mode requires you physically turn the Newton 90 degrees counter-clockwise and is best suited to the majority of monitor configurations. If you have a portrait monitor, however, or find yourself using the recognition slip often, then Portrait mode may be more comfortable for you (this is the normal operating position for your Newton).
Tablet Mode
Specifies the mode of operation of the tablet.
Absolute = The tablet is "mapped" directly to the Mac screen, so tapping and dragging moves the cursor to those exact positions on the Mac screen.
Relative = Only drag data is used to move the Mac cursor. This allows you to pick up the stylus and perform another stroke without reorienting the cursor. It's the mode you'll generally use to control cursor movement.
A-Tap R-Drag = First tap of a stroke positions the Mac cursor absolutely, while the button-locked drag portion of the stroke uses acceleration as in Relative mode. This mode is also referred to as "AbsRel" mode because it combines both systems.
Info Button
Takes you to the About Box, Help, and other app-specific features.
Battery Indicator
Handy when your NewTableting on-the-road with a PowerBook and can't plug your Newton into a convenient power outlet.
The Recognition Palette (Dates Button)
--------------------------------------
Auto Send
When checked, text entered in the input area is immediately sent to the Server, then the input area is cleared. Unchecked, the input area functions normally, and the Send button is used to transmit the input data.
Dash = Space
This is used in Auto Send mode when entering text via handwriting recognition. Note: Grafitti users can disable this feature. Ordinarily the Newton takes care of knowing when to insert spaces between words as you write, however, because each word is sent to the Server as it is recognized, it is not possible for the Newton to perform this handy operation. So it is up to you to write a dash to type a space on the Server.
Delete
Types a delete keystroke on the Server. This is needed because, on the Newton, the delete key/stroke does nothing in an empty input area. Grafitti users may find this especially annoying, but there's nothing I can do about it.
Symbols
A handy palette of commonly used symbols that have generally poor handwriting recognition (like the period). This palette can be moved about the screen to a location most convenient for you.
RecPop
Normal recognition controls. Note that the shape recognizer is "disabled" -- this is normal, don't freak -- the text edit area does not accept graphics. [Note: Although a double-tap on the RecPop button will open the recognizer preferences, the universal scroll arrows will continue to function as if the recognizer preferences were not open. The unfortunate side-effect of this behaviour is that the recognizer preferences can not be scrolled. A future version of NewTablet, or the Newton OS, should correct this problem.]
Hide
Shrinks NewTablet into a tiny icon that can be moved about the Newton screen while the application remains active and connected to the Macintosh. It allows you to temporarily suspend NewTablet, for example, to enter data from the Mac into an entry view on the Newton, or to copy text from the paper roll to the clipboard. Clicking on the icon returns you to NewTablet, whereupon the clipboard can be dragged into the text edit area and sent to the Macintosh.
Clear
Super-quick way of clearing your text entry. This action is undoable.
Undo
Does a local-undo of your text modification (because the silk-screened Undo button applies to the Server in NewTablet).
Send
Sends what you have written to the Mac.
The Keyboard (Names Button)
---------------------------
Basically this is an Apple Extended Keyboard without the keypad. Because this actually represents a Mac keyboard, and the key-to-character mapping is performed by the Server application, this keyboard doesn't (currently) behave exactly like the standard Newton keyboards, which show you the different character sets based on the modifier keys. But hey, you're controlling a Mac. If you're that curious, open the Key Caps Desk Accessory...
MODIFICATION HISTORY
====================
NewTablet 1.1.0
---------------
Now runs on non-color QuickDraw Macs. Added ability to use the Mac’s keyboard to enter data on the Newton. Paste text to Newton support. Improved support for Grafitti users. Increased size of text input area. Better compatability with non-English systems, as well as unusual serial configurations. Added audible tap and drag feedback to Mac. Smoothed out tap-tap-drag glitch. Removed extraneous mouse bitmaps to reduce size of the app. Tightened memory footprint. Added patch support for future bug fixes and other specialized enhancements.
New features, greater compatability, better stability, improved performance... basically this version sucks less. It was written on a PowerBook Duo 210 and a PowerBook 540c using Newton Toolkit 1.0.1, Newton Toolkit 1.5, Newton Book Maker 1.0.1, Think Object Pascal 4.0.2, ResEdit 2.1.3, Resourcerer 1.2.5, and ClarisWorks 3.0.
NewTablet 1.0.1
---------------
Repackaged release to correct a self-extracting archive problem which corrupted the Newton packages when unpacked.
NewTablet 1.0.0
---------------
Complete rewrite of both Newton and Macintosh components. Now supports Macs without the Cursor Device Manager. Added an interface to the Mac component. Switched to the Serial Tool rather than the Apple Modem Tool for improved performance and increased cross-platform communications ability. Changed orientation of the Newton app to make the serial cable connection more convenient. Changed all the silk-screen button functions. Added gobs of new features. Removed the "undo a mouse movement" feature. Added a couple Easter eggs... This version doesn't suck too badly. It was written entirely on a PowerBook Duo 210 using Newton Toolkit 1.0.1 and Think Object Pascal 4.0.2.
NewTablet 0.0.1d2
-----------------
Post-MacHack release. Minor bug-fix to prevent crashing on Macs without the Cursor Device Manager in ROM. Adjusted application memory requirements to more reasonable values. Stable enough for the curious to explore. This version still sucks.
NewTablet 0.0.1d1
-----------------
Original MacHack release. 20 hours from concept to design to construction to release. Third place winner in the coveted "best hack" contest, possibly due to the use of duct tape in affixing the Newton over the trackball area of a PowerBook Duo to create the "Ultimate PowerBook TouchPad." This version really sucks rhino, but it works.
PLANNED ENHANCEMENTS
====================
In no particular order, some thoughts are to:
• Improve the sample-send rate of the tablet. This will result in smoother, more natural cursor tracking(!)
• Improve acceleration algorithm by implementing an accumulating delta subpixel coroutine. "Yea... whatever."
• Send tablet pressure information in addition to x-y data, for painting-type apps which can use the info.
• Add some type of button state display on Mac (part of the status window, or perhaps an icon in the menu bar).
• Add remaining Edit menu functions (Cut/Copy/Clear/SelectAll) as well as user-defineable macro buttons.
• Add LocalTalk network support. [Note: This requires a Newton operating system bug fix; release date unknown.]
• Add better interface for Mac preferences and other customization options (and eliminate all need for ResEdit).
• Send me e-mail! Your comments and suggestions are always welcome, and will influence enhancement priorities!
KNOWN BUGS & OTHER INCOMPATABILITIES
====================================
"AV" model Macs and most PowerMacs process serial port data differently than other models. On these machines, serial data is processed in "waves.". This adversely affects the performance characteristics of NewTablet (the cursor tends to "gush" across the screen after a brief delay). This is a royal pain. I'm working on a solution...
The PowerBook 100 has so little horsepower it can barely keep up with the serial data rate of the Newton. The same may hold true for other model Macs such as the Mac Plus and SE. At times the cursor may seem to "freeze", then the Newton disconnects. You may even have difficulty just establishing a connection. C'est la vie...
ADVANCED TOPICS
===============
WARNING: This section is intended for hackers and advanced users only. Any modification to the NewTablet Mac application using ResEdit, Resourcerer, or any other resource-modification application may be hazardous to your health, as well as the health of your Macintosh, if you don't know what you're doing. Follow extreme care when modifying NewTablet, and only modify the following resources:
NtPs (128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135)
---------------------------------------------
These are acceleration curve sample points. NewTablet implements a natural cubic spline function to interpolate instantaneous accelerations at up to 256 fixed timed delta sample points. Or in plain English, when you move the stylus N points on the Newton, it moves the cursor M points on the Macintosh. Future improvements to the algorithm will include a subpixel mapping system, so for now we simply compute accelerations using a 1:1 pixel-to-pixel mapping system.
A ResEdit template has been included to aid in the editing of the sample points. Each resource requires a minimum of TWO sample points (because two points define a line). The first point MUST be [0,0] so that zero Newton stylus movement results in zero Mac cursor movement. Each additional point, up to [255,32767] will pull the curve through that point, creating more accurate, or more approximate, stylus-cursor mapping. A future version of NewTablet will likely provide an interface to edit these curves.
Be certain to click the "modified" radio button at the top of the resource if you add or modify any of the sample points. Because the spline calculations are rather complex and time-consuming, NewTablet maintains a cache of all pre-computed acceleration curves between launches. Clicking the modified radio button tells NewTablet to throw away the cache and compute new tables using the NtPs samples.
KCHR (128)
----------
This is a copy of the default System 7 key-to-character mapping tables. It is used by NewTablet to map raw key codes to ASCII characters. If you prefer an alternate keyboard mapping system, such as the System 6 mapping tables, simply edit or replace this resource.
LEGAL STUFF
===========
NewTablet is ShareWare. You are free to download, upload, or give it to anyone you wish so long as each release is always distributed in its entirety and without modification. If you use NewTablet, please send your suggestions, bug reports, name, address, e-mail address, and $15 to:
Jim Schram
2082 Calabazas Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95051-1633 USA
schram@newton.apple.com
All information will be kept 100% confidential. Your name and address will not be disclosed to anyone but myself.
Your financial support will help fund additional late night Thai Iced Teas, and therefore further development of NewTablet, as well as get you advanced notice of new features, bug fixes, and Q/A info via e-mail.
Sincerely,
Jim Schram
_________
"Trois Gicquè Studios strives to bring you the highest quality products possible, using only the finest ingredients available. Packages sold by weight, not volume. Some settling may occur. Slight variances in color or texture are a result of the natural materials used and are not considered flaws. Adult supervision required. Use only as directed."
