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This is a non exhaustive list of useful information about the Newton MessagePads (including bug-reports, problem-fixes, suggestions for improvement and a list of available software).
I try to update this list every month. The version number indicates the month of release: the digit after the dot is the month (i.e. 5 = May).
Information contained here come mainly from my own experience and from Usenet (comp.sys.newton.misc), with some material from NANUG and Paul R. Potts FAQs.
Many thanks to Ashley Barnard Armstrong (AMUG) for her help with the diffusion of this document and with the feedback. Thanks also to all the contributors.
Note that opinions expressed in this document (mine or those of quoted people) are personal opinions, not those of anybody employer.
I very much welcome comments and suggestions about this list.
IMPORTANT:
Help me to keep up to date: if you post a question on a BBS,please send me a sumary of the answers (with the question). There is now so much traffic on comp.sys.newton.misc that I can't keep up. If nobody send me "digested" stuff the content of this document will end up reflecting my own interests only.
The original MessagePad (also called MP "classic") will be referred here as OMP. MP will be used as a generic term referring to any model of MessagePad. OMP100 will be used to specify an OMP with the ROM upgrade.
The second part of this document is a list of available freeware, shareware & other software with comments, tips, known incompatibilities, bugs and a (highly personal) indicative rating. Obviously, not everybody will agree with my judgement. The best mark is 5.
I've used David A. Rarick "Newton Archive Abstracts 0394" as a backbone.
NOTE: This is the last version of the FAQ to includes this software list. The info about software are going to be integrated into Ashley Barnard Newton software database. This is necessary to reduce the size of this document. I will only retain the latest stuff and and a few favourites of mine.
By the way, I'm not a native English speaker so don't be surprised if you find some strange English !!! (any correction is very very welcome).
Legal stuff: No material from this list may be used in a commercial way without authorisation (mine or from quoted people, as applicable). I don't guaranty the accuracy of anything contained in this document, I'm doing my best but am not omniscient (and I've got a job to attend to, sometimes).
Please read carefully the MessagePad Handbook. A lot of questions I've seen on the BBS are already answered there.
Sorry, haven't had the time to write this subject yet.
----------
*** 3.2 Should I buy a MP ? (pros & cons of the Newton MP).
Here are a few comments to help you decide if you need a MessagePad.
Those comments reflect my own opinions, but from what I've seen on the Net I think that most MP owners will agree.
First, bear in mind that the MP has many minor flaws in all aspects of its workings. It is, after all, the first product of its kind. The Macintosh system software took many years to reach "adulthood". Microsoft Word graduated from "good" to "great" only with version 4.0 (some might even say with version 5.0). Same story with Aldus FileMaker Pro 2.0 and many others.
So, remember that even in MP's features that perform well, there are little quirks, often mildly annoying, that the most exigent people will find unacceptable. For example, the Address Book does its job very well, but birthday dates recorded there don't appear automatically in the Calendar (diary).
The MP is very good as an address book (although addresses are always presented in the US format) and as a diary / calendar.
It is also quite adequate if you need to maintain a small ToDo list.
If you need to manage several projects via ToDo lists the MP is no good as such. But you can easily add non-expensive software (like NotePak) that will do the job if you're not too demanding.
The big question mark with Newton technology is the handwriting recognition.
You will probably get as many answers to this than there are MP users. The bottom line is that it works relatively well for most people (even left handed ones) but not all. You will have to be patient at the beginning to find the settings that best suit your handwriting and to give the MP time to learn (some users say 20-30 hours of training). You might also have to slightly adapt the way you write.
For a few people, it will never work, their handwriting is just too atypical.
Now, the MP will always make some mistakes and, more importantly, there will always be words that are not in the MP dictionary (no possible word recognition then). You can add to the dictionary, but you can't do that with all the words you use that are not in the MP dictionary, except if your vocabulary is singularly limited. :-)
Switching to character recognition is only useful in a few specific cases (like when you're about to write down a list of e-mail addresses).
All this means that the MP is NOT suitable for fast note-taking (i.e. lectures/conferences notes). There's no way you can listen well to a speaker and at the same time correct MP mistakes or switch to character recognition when you expect a lot of words not in the dictionary.
If you have the MP110 or MP100 upgrade, you could use deferred recognition, but this is no substitute. If you're gonna take a lot of notes, you don't want to spend hours going back to those notes to interpret them (you will still need to correct the recognition mistakes).
Even if you're not in a hurry, Newton is not suitable for entering long text. Firstly because of the recognition problem. Secondly because you'll have to break down text into chunks of about 4000 characters (max. size of a note).
So remember: THE MAJOR LIMITATION OF THE MP = NO LONG OR FAST NOTE TAKING.
If you keep that in mind, you shouldn't be disappointed by your MP.
On the other hand, you CAN store large texts (i.e. reference book) but they must be generated on a computer and transfered to the MP from a Macintosh.
-
I think that Apple made a big mistake in the way they have advertised the Newton. All the emphasis was on the handwriting recognition which is adequate for most tasks, but no substitute for the real thing.
Another point that Apple kept talking about is the Newton "intelligence".
Well, it may be cute, but it's not of much practical use the way it's implemented. Only the "Find" function is really useful.
The important point about the MP is that it is a fully fledged computer and a really portable one (not like a laptop).
This means two things:
- It's great to store any kind of data (text but also graphics & sounds) that you want to have with you all the time. It's the perfect reference tool (on top of its convenient diary / address book / todo functions).
- Software can be developed to add functionality to the MP. You already start with a valuable tool, and from there it gets better all the time thanks to new software (the collection of shareware already available is impressive, not to mention the standard commercial software).
---
To be fair it must be said that several people on the Net have reported very good results with the handwritting recognition, so much that they do take notes on the Newton at lectures. And some people just take notes in digital ink, not using handwritting recognition at all for that (they find that it's useful to have "computerised" notes that can be saved on a computer even if it's only as pictures and not ASCII text).
---
From: jdb@tiac.net (Jim Bailey), 28 May 1994.
Many people have found the MessagePad an invaluable tool and have gotten excellent results.
< Others couldn't make the recognition work to their satisfaction > JC
My general advice is to buy a MessagePad someplace that will give a money back guarantee so that if you are like Gary Hemminger and find it doesn't meet your needs, you can get your money back.
The current Newton technology isn't perfect and whether or not you are successful with it is very personal. My one caution is that the Newton has a pretty steep learning curve, about 2 weeks of everyday use before I found that it did what I wanted. If this sounds like too much then don't waste your time, you will only get frustrated.
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*** 3.3 General advice to a new MP owner.
Even if you've bought a MP110, you'll need a PCMCIA card. There're so many interesting Newton shareware & freeware packages around (not to mention the NewtonBooks) that you'll need a RAM extension. The Newton Connection Kit is no substitute: you don't want to spend your time loading and removing packages.
Some advice, from Paul R Potts' FAQ, about PCMCIA cards:
If you're using a flash memory card (like Apple's 2Mb card, or a third party flash card), and you want to perform a long operation, such as backing up the Newton, you may want to plug in the AC power adapter. Writes to flash memory use an unusually large amount of power and a lot of them can wipe out an entire battery.
Be careful with 3rd-party PCMCIA memory cards. Some of them are very unreliable with the Newton. You can't just go out and purchase any card labeled Type II and expect it to function correctly with the Newton; especially third-party cards for older machines like the HP 95LX. If you're interested in getting a non-Apple card to use with your Newton, you might want to call 1-800-SOS-APPL to see if the card has been tested with the Newton.
Apple doesn't recommend using PCMCIA memory cards greater than 4Mb in size. So, SunDisk or high-capacity Intel cards may not work; even if they work, the MessagePad hasn't necessarily been tested with these cards, and you may suffer severe performance problems.
End of Paul advice.
>>>From: Brian Excarnate <aslakson@cs.umn.edu>, 30 Aug 1994.
Apple does NOT keep a list of cards tested with the Newton, nor do they test cards. It's like with hard drives on a Macintosh, if Brand X hard drive doesn't work on the Mac, but Apple's does, Apple doesn't want to hear it. Call Brand X.
I also asked about >4MB cards, they don't recommend, but neither do they recommend against. As long as you understand heap space (every entry takes up some) and that a large card is more likely to have more on it and thus run out of heap space easier, you'll be fine. Again, if it doesn't work, call the manufacturer, not Apple.
End of Brian comment.
Once you've got a card, you'll stuff it with packages, guaranteed. Here comes the important WARNINGS from a veteran:
- You've got to be very choosy. The Newton in plagued by system memory (heap) problems. The less packages you keep on your MP the less problems you'll get. This has nothing to do with the available RAM (cf. subjects 5.2 & 9.18). It can't be avoided but with care it is manageable. Remember the following rules:
--- Keep only the packages you really REALLY need. For example, OnSet is a nice package to display an alternative picture on startup. Forget it, memory wise you can't afford it (no matter how small it is). If you really want another startup screen, use the "hidden" ones (cf. subject 12.6). If you're an INIT freak on Macintosh you're in for a bad time !
--- Always seek the package that, by itself, can do the job of two other packages. For example, Bullet & Inker can be advantageously replaced by StatusBar Buttons 2.0. RemoveIt 2.2 can nearly do the job of StewPot and it's also good at deinstalling quickly several packages.
NewtCase 1.2 is very useful and in most cases will take away the need for the otherwise indispensable Xtra-Xtras (or ScrollEx).
--- But use the simplest package that do the job you want, extra features are likely to cost you some precious heap space. For example, Keyboard Pro is a great app doing a lot of things, but after testing it a while, I found out that I was using only two of its many features. So I replaced it with two specialised packages which turned out to add up to less heap usage (this is only my particular case, I know that a lot of people find Keyboard Pro to be an indispensable package, no matter what's the heap requirements).
Not so easy isn't it ? Well, you've got to experiment. This document contains a list of Newton software with comments to guide you, but in the end each personal case is different because we all have different priorities. Sometimes an exciting package will turn out to be not very useful (to you), sometimes you'll be surprised by an app that you casually loaded just to have a quick look at it.
PS: Until you're very confident with your MP, be wary of brand new packages, Newton developers are getting better now, but there is still the odd ill conceived package likely to do nasty things to your data. If possible, check out reviews in this list, on comp.sys.newton.misc, in the NANUG newsletter or in the "paper" press.
- A second warning about having loads of packages on a PCMCIA card. It is dangerous when backing up your data to a computer through the NCK. The more packages installed, the more chances of failure at a critical time (like when needing to restore your data ... Murphy's law you know....). NewtCase 1.1 might help with that. Check out also subjects 5.1 & 5.3.
----------
*** 3.4 Handwriting recognition blues.
There is no hard and fast rule to get a good handwriting recognition. It's different for each person. But a few things can help you:
- Watch Apple's video that comes with the MP.
- Pay attention to the advice contained in the MP handbook.
- Give it time, the MP will learn your handwriting, but it takes time.
- At the beginning, set your handwriting style pref. to the minimum of "recognize my handwriting" i.e. "slowly, more accurately".
- When the MP makes a mistake, take the time to double tap the mistaken word and correct it. Otherwise the MP will never learn your handwriting.
------------------------------
Subject: 4. Where can I find Newton software and information ?
----------
*** 4.1 ftp sites.
--- newton.sys.uea.ac.uk (/Newton_Archive)
The best site that I know of at this date (oct.94). It mirrors all the great Newton sites: newton.uiowa.edu (including the /submissions directory), ftp.amug.org, Cornell, Manitoba, Sumex, Umich, Newton_News, ...
It is updated every day at 3 am (UK time).
This ftp server is located in Norwich and gets updated everyday.
--- newton.uiowa.edu
This site has a very complete collection of freeware/shareware.
Look in the directory /pub/newton (and in /submissions for the most recent stuff, but untested) software is found in /pub/newton/software/mac/utils (utilities packages), /pub/newton/software/mac/syst (system updates), /pub/newton/software/mac/books (Newton books), /pub/newton/software/mac/games (game packages), and /pub/newton/software/mac/apps (all other packages).
Two very useful sources of Newton information can be found on this ftp site (/pub/newton/software/mac/books for the Newton book format): Paul R. Potts "Canonical List of Newton MessagePad Questions & Answers" and "Canonical List of Newton MessagePad Bugs, Gripes, and Wishes" version 1.3 (9 March 1994).
I especially recommend the "Questions & Answers" list to people who never read manuals or don't find the MP handbook explanations very good. The "Gripes etc..." list is complementary to this document (slightly different approach) but is getting old.
In Europe, newton.uiowa.edu is mirrored by ftp.uni-erlangen.de (/pub/Newton) and newton.sys.uea.ac.uk (/Newton_Archive).
--- ftp.amug.org
Best site for the latest Nwt stuff (/submissions).
This is the home site of AMUG but also of NANUG (cf. subject 4.2).
--- ftp.apple.com (/dts/Newton)
--- ftp.support.apple.com
--- archive.umich.edu (/newton)
--- sumex-aim.stanford.edu (/info-mac/nwt)
--- ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca (/MacDevelop/Newton)
--- csd4.csd.uwm.edu
From Anthony J Stieber, 23 Feb 94.
Edited by Michael Nowak.
The latest version of pcmcia-devices-list, containing a list of PCMCIA products and manufacturers, is available via anonymous ftp on the Internet as: ftp://csd4.csd.uwm.edu/pub/Portables/pcmcia-devices-list. Archived news articles on this topic are in the file csd4.csd.uwm.edu:/pub/Portables/News/pcmcia-devices-news The portable computing archive in the Portables directory contains software, specifications, contact lists, and archived news articles including reviews on laptop, palmtop, pen, and wrist computers, electronic organizers, personal digital assistants (PDA), wireless links, and even more.
Via gopher://csd4.csd.uwm.edu "UWM Information/ Computing Services Division/ Csd4 Public FTP Archive/ Portables/".
--- Pacific BBS (UK): 430.43.11.45
--- ftp.nordwest.pop.de (Germany) (reported by Frank Simon).
----------
*** 4.2 AMUG and NANUG.
AMUG (the Arizona Mac Users Group) is doing a lot of things for Newton users. AMUG ftp site is packed with shareware and info (cf. 4.1) and AMUG also produces Macintosh CD-ROM disks (called "BBS in a Box") stuffed with Newton shareware (and, mainly, Mac shareware / fonts / graphics).
One administrator of AMUG, Ashley Barnard Armstrong (ashley@amug.org), is compiling an extensive database (FileMakerPro or Excel) on the Newton. This file can be found on the CD-ROM and on the ftp server. Is is called "The totally incomplete list of Newton software". It gives information on about 500 software products for the Newton. This is compilation was started by Steven Nygard.
AMUG are sharing their ftp site with NANUG.
A "must" for news & infos about your MP is "_protoReality", the free Newsletter from the North Atlanta Newton Users Group (NANUG).
It's great.
It is available in Newton Book format (there is also a text version).
All issues can be found on ftp.amug.org.
To join NANUG (free membership, open to any Newton user in the world) contact Mark Underwood (Internet: marku@aix3.ema.com, NewtonMail: MarkU).
----------
*** 4.4 Using Gopher.
Gopher sites are, in my experience, 6 months behind newton.uiowa.edu.
In the UK, a good source of software is the Imperial College Computer Department (it mirrors Stanford).
The University of Glasgow archive all messages from the comp.sys.newton Usenet groups.
In Germany, the University of Stuttgart is pretty good.
In the US: sumex-aim.stanford.edu
----------
*** 4.5 Apple helplines.
Newton Helpline US: 1-800-SOS-APPL (1-800-767-2775).
Fl. Heywood (heywoodfl@aol.com) reports that you can send suggestions and reports to Apple by e-mail: fbnewton@apple.com
Newton Helpline UK:
The newton helpline in the UK is Freephone 0800-639.866 but you can also contact it through E-mail: newton.help@applelink.apple.com.
If you can't access 0800 numbers (say, if your company is based in London and won't allow calls outside 071 & 081 numbers), try 081-899.03.02.
People from the ftp support site can be reached by e-mail at support@ftp.support.apple.com.
----------
*** 4.6 Usenet groups.
comp.binaries.newton
comp.sys.newton.announce
comp.sys.newton.misc
comp.sys.newton.programmer
Send comp.sys.newton.announce inquiries to newton-announce-request@umich.edu.
Send comp.sys.newton.announce submissions to newton-announce@umich.edu.
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*** 4.7 Newton_News.
On comp.sys.newton.misc Steve Holden (sholden@nosc.mil) is posting periodically a collection of recent info about the Newton. It's called "Newton_News". Steve posts the newsletter more or less on a weekly basis. It contains a very useful summary of what has been recently published about Newton in the press, and more. Newton_News is in setext format so it can be viewed in outline form using EasyView or sv setext browser.
Newton_News is also made into a Newton book package by Steven Shannon (steve@cd-rom.com).
You can anonymously FTP the latest and past issues of Newton_News in both text and Macintosh Newton book format from:
ftp.netcom.com
/pub/btorres/Newton_News
This is the official home of Newton_News. It is administered by Bob Torres <btorres@netcom.com>.
You can also find Newton_News, in both Macitosh and Windows Newton Book format, if you anonymous FTP to:
newton.uiowa.edu
/pub/newton/misc/Newton_News or /submissions
There is also a Newton_News mailing list. To subscribe send an e-mail to listserv@netcom.com with the message "subscribe newton_news" in the body of the text (no subject line needed).
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*** 4.8 Newton peripherals list.
Craig Macfarlane (cmac@zork.tiac.net) is maintaining a list of all available Newton peripherals, including Newton Compatible Modems, Newton Compatible PCMCIA cards, Newton Compatible Printers.
Cf section 8.12 for the 17 July 94 update of Craig's list. For more recent updates, look at comp.sys.newton.misc or contact Craig.
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*** 4.9 Commercial networks.
America OnLine: Keyword: PDA
AppleLink: Newton
CompuServe: Go Newton
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*** 4.10 WWW / Mosaic.
NANUG's server is accessible via the WWW.
The present FAQ should be also available on the WWW thanks to Gerald Mesaric <gmesaric@iicm.tu-graz.ac.at>.
Other Newton Mosaic sites
http:09/14/94www.uth.tmc.edu/Newton
www.info.apple.com
http://www.uth.tmc.edu/newton_info (reported by Jay Luerly)
http://www.global.net:8210/newton (reported by Jay Luerly)
http//med-amsa.bu.edu/newton.medical (reported by Nader Yaghoubi)
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*** 4.11 Newton mailing lists.
--- From: David A. Wright, 19 Aug 94.
BCS has a newton list, but traffic is very low (probably because not many people know about it). So, here's the info (from memory, so it might be wrong):
Send mail to majordomo@sunshine.mit.edu with the command SUBSCRIBE BCS- NEWTON. Sending the command SUBSCRIBE NPC will add you to the Newton Programmer's Collective mailing list.
--- From: Mike Nowak, 21 Aug 1994.
You can subscribe to the mailing list for comp.sys.newton.announce by sending:
subscribe newton-announce
to newton-announce-request@umich.edu.
--- Newton_News mailing list: cf. subject 4.7.
--- From Gerald Mesaric & Heinz Wolter:
You can subscribe to the GNUton (newton hackers group):
Send a mail to "listserv@tnt.microimages.com" WITHOUT SUBJECT:
In the first and only line, you write the following:
SUB GNUton YourName
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*** 4.12 Magazines.
- Intelligent Newton Magazine.
IN.MAGAZINE@appleLink.apple.com
Internet: inmagazine1@eworld.com
NewtonMail/eWorld: INMagazine1
Applelink: IN.MAGAZINE
Voice: 415.433.2755
Fax: 415.421.8430
Subscriptions are $34.95 (Intl.) or $24.95 (in the USA).
A year subscription includes 6 bi-monthly issues. All orders can be sent via eMail.
- PIE Developer.
Contact: Steve Mann at 415.621.4252, 415.621.4922 (fax) or cds@netcom.com.
*** 5.1 I have installed a lot of packages but I can't see some of them in the "Extras" drawer. How can I use them ?
Syst 1.04, 1.05, 1.10, 1.11 & 1.3
The "Extras" drawer cannot display more than 30 items. So, if you have installed more than 20-21 packages, you won't be able to access the last ones. The scrolling arrows won't work.
This is a well known problem. Many users have been disappointed that this was not fixed in Syst 1.05, 1.11 or 1.3.
The OMP100 (i.e. the OMP upgraded to system 1.3 with new ROMs) is even worse. When there is too many packages in the Extras drawer, all icons shift toward the top of the screen with the awful result of partially hiding the first row (InBox, OutBox, etc...) and leaving a blank line at the bottom. --- cf 5.17 ---
>>>Fix: Many free/shareware packages help to get around this problem.
"Extra-Extras" was the first one that I used. "Keyboard Pro" also solve the problem and has many other useful functions. "PickExtras 1.17" is the best to use if you don't wan't any other function.
After a while I got rid of Extra-Extras and just never loaded more than 20 packages because otherwise you get so many "short of memory" messages that the MP is effectively useless !!! (cf. 5.2).
Now I'm using "NewtCase 1.1". This wonderful package solve at the same time the "short of memory" problem and the 30 items limit problem. (cf. 18).
----------
*** 5.2 "The application does not have enough memory..." error messages.
Installing packages can cause a lot of trouble !
Syst 1.04, 1.05, 1.10, 1.11, 1.3
"The application does not have enough memory right now to do what you asked. Restarting Newton may fix the problem". This error message might be your worst problem with your MP. In certain conditions you get it all the time, preventing any comfortable use of the Newton. It is a pain because you must then restart to "clean up" the memory. If you don't restart, not only will you be unable to do what you wanted, but the chances are that your MP will soon totally "freeze".
What causes those memory problems ?
Each package that you install on the MP (be it in the internal MP RAM or on a PCMCIA card) requires some "system" memory (i.e. not the 160K of user memory). Even when you are not actually using the package. If you have many packages installed ("many" might be as little as 15) you will get a lot of those memory problems.
WARNING: If you install a lot of packages in one go (say 40 pkges) you might suddenly be so short of system memory that you won't even be able to open the "Prefs/Memory" or the "Card", thus you won't be able to remove the packages. To get out of this situation the only two options are to completely erase the MP memory (Hard Reset) or to restore from a computer (that is, if you've got a backup).
Updating from Syst 1.04 to Syst 1.05 will help a little because Syst 1.05 is "stealing" about 32K of user memory to give it back to the system.
>>>Fix: Optimize your usage of packages: keep only the ones you absolutely need, don't use packages that are "hungry" in system memory (heap). You can check how much "heap" memory is available with packages like "NewtCase", "RemoveIt" or "HeapIt". The last one allows you to reclaim some of this memory (by removing Install Scripts). You can use "NewtCase" to store rarelly used packges in a form that is not using any system memory.
----------
*** 5.3 Synchronisation with the Newton Connection Kit 1.0 for Mac
Syst. 1.04 & 1.05
Quite often, the synchronisation fails at the very end. The MP has already disconnected, but the Mac is still doing something (updating files).
BEWARE, although everything might seem OK with your data, this could cause a loss of data much later, even after a, then successful sync. This is because the Mac files have been subtly corrupted. This type of problem might also occur when updating from Syst. 1.04 to 1.05.
>>>Fix: ALWAYS make a duplicate of the Mac files after a successful synchronisation. If anything goes wrong, if you get any error message, delete the last Mac files involved, make another copy of your "safety" files and start again.
----------
*** 5.4 Everything the MP has learned about your handwriting may be lost.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
There is a potential misunderstanding of the MP Handbook explanations that could lead to the loss of everything the MP has learned about your handwriting.
When you tick the "guest" box of Handwriting Style (Prefs), this means that the MP will not use future handwritings to improve its recognition. The MP will resume learning when the "guest" box is no longer ticked. But beware. When you tick it, the MP use a "default" setting for purpose of recognising guest writing. If you change anything in the settings of "Handwriting Styles" or of "Letter Styles" the default setting + your last modification will be recorded as your new handwriting style / letter style, even though the "guest" box is ticked. It happened to me.
It might only be a display bug, read the following:
From: cgw@unt.edu (Christopher Williams) 7 Feb 94
I got my MP last Wednesday, and in letting friends play with it, I would always go to Prefs and check the 'Configure for guest user' box, so that the MP wouldn't think it was me using it. Mysteriously, when I would get it back, my handwriting preferences (in 'Letter Styles') would be back to their defaults! I didn't connect this with the 'guest user' box until late this weekend.
To double-check, I set my MP to 'Printed Only', and adjusted the sliders to my preference. Then I went to 'Letter Styles', and set the last two a's to 'Rarely'. Then I went back up and checked the 'guest user' box. As you'd expect, it changed the sliders to the 'guest user' defaults, and switched to 'Mixed Cursive & Printed'. It also changed the last two a's in 'Letter Styles' to 'Sometimes'. Then I unchecked the 'guest user' box, and the sliders came back to my preferences, but 'Mixed Cursive & Printed' stayed selected, and the last two a's in 'Letter Styles' were back to 'Sometimes'!!!
From: cgw@unt.edu (Christopher Williams) 8 Feb 94
Aha! I called 800-SOS-APPL, and talked with them, and this is not nearly as serious as it seems.
It's just a screen-refresh bug -- the information on your Letter Style preferences _is_ saved, it's just not displayed properly. If you do a reset, everything is back to normal.
----------
*** 5.5 Unreliable alarms.
Syst 1.04
From: ddmckay@gimli.bio.purdue.edu (Dwight D. McKay) 12 Feb 1994
Steve Mitchell wrote:
I've missed a couple of meetings recently because my newton failed to remind me of them. :( I've grown to trust it quite a bit, scheduling meetings while on the phone with people, then forgetting all about it and having newton wake me up a few minutes before it's time...
I'm running 1.04
Get the 1.05 update, Steve. I had this problem routinely under 1.04. The 1.05 update fixes this problem. All my alarms work now.
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*** 5.6 Slow flash cards.
Syst 1.05 (or 1.04) + 2Mb Flash card
The presence of a 2Mb storage flash card slows down intolerably the MP with respect to certain tasks like going from one folder to another.
For example, going from "Unfilled" to my "Banking" folder takes 6 sec., while going back to "Unfilled" takes 11 sec. It was even worse under Syst 1.04 .
The same operations, without the card, takes 2 sec.
Curiously, going from "Unfilled" to my "Computers" folder takes only 2 sec. (and 6 sec. back) although there are over 30 notes in "Computers" (RAM and Card) while only 5 in "Banking" (RAM only).
This is not due to any package (I have tested this w/o any pkg installed).
I found that I can bear waiting up to 5-6 sec. for the MP to carry out an action, but longer is very irritating. No more than 3 sec. would be perfect.
----------
*** 5.7 Can't back-up to my PCMCIA Card (error -48016).
Syst 1.04 & 1.05 + 2Mb Flash card
During a backup to a PCMCIA card an error message appears (Can't backup to card, error -48016) and the backup is stopped.
This is due to the way the MP checks that everything is going well during the backup: the MP checks that for every package soup in memory there is a corresponding package installed. But when you remove some "unclean" packages (like TermLimit 1.0) they leave their soup behind. So the MP, detecting the soup but not the package, thinks that something has gone wrong during the backup and stops it.
>>>Fix: Remove the undesirable soups with a soup manager (KeyboardPro, StewPot, RemoveIt, etc...) and reset your MP. The backup should now proceed w/o any trouble.
----------
*** 5.8 Security issue (password).
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
* There is no password protection to access the data saved on a MAC / PC with the Newton Connection Kit 1.0. No fix.
* It is possible to access data on a PCMCIA card w/o the password (using another Newton).
>>>Fix: The package "SafeGuard 1.0" (install it on the card and each time you insert the card it will lock the MP and ask for the password). Drawback: SafeGuard interferes with a Reset if you are also using the MP password protection. You must remove your card before a Reset or disable temporarily the MP password protection.
* If you don't set a password for your MP, anybody else can do it thus preventing you to access your data (there are mischievous characters around !). But having a password set at all times is quite a pain.
>>>Fix: A freeware package called "Password" that allows you to toggle on/off the password by a tap in the Extras drawer.
I've used it for a long time and got no trouble (as long as you install it in the MP RAM).
* If your screen is not clean, one might see your password "imprinted" there. It's very unlikely, but possible. Keep your screen clean !!!
----------
*** 5.9 Dialling from the MP speaker.
Syst 1.04, 1.05, 1.11 & 1.3
Dialling with the MP speaker seems to be impossible for some people while OK for others. It depends very much on the brand of your phone set and on the network. I don't know any definitive answers. Holding the phone at a 90 degree angle seemed to help me. Also try various distances between your MP speaker and the phone handset.
Note that Newton doesn't understand well phone numbers with parenthesis (as it is the usage in the UK for area codes).
The german MP110 dialing through the speaker has been disabled because of telecom (Telekom) regulations.
----------
*** 5.10 Bug in Repeat Meetings.
From: daver@cs.iastate.edu (Dave Royer), 14 Mar 94 on comp.sys.newton.misc.
Today (Monday March 14th) is the 2nd Monday in March, but it's the Monday of the *third week* in March, since March 1 was a Tuesday. I entered
a meeting for today and tapped the "frequency" button, then the "week in month" button, expecting it to set the repeat to the 2nd Monday of each month.
However, the check box came up set to repeat on the *3rd* Monday of each month! I thought "Uh, oh!" If the Nth Xday in month feature actually is implemented as the Xday of the Nth week, the feature is unusable, since that's not how people schedule such events. Bogus.
I called 800-SOS-APPL and we worked through the problem. It turns out that the Newton *does* know that the 2nd Monday in March is the 2nd Monday in March, so the "week in month" feature is usable. The only problem is the default week-in-month checkbox is filled in incorrectly. Whew!
The friendly Apple person said he'd pass on the bug report to the developers.
In summary: when setting a "week-in-month" repeat meeting in a month whose 1st wasn't Sunday or Monday, you'll need to change the default checkbox to make sure your meeting repeats the way you want.
--
I have a class I'll be taking in September, so I set up a repeating meeting with an alarm set (so I won't oversleep). Imagine my surprise when I the alarm went off this morning -- six months early!
A little experimenting confirmed the bug. It occurs with repeating meetings, but not regular meetings and calendar notes. I called 800-SOS-APPL and they confirmed the bug.
----------
*** 5.11 Shareware-caused problems: soups.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
A lot shareware packages are "untidy", they leave unnecessary "soups" in the MP memory. This might cause you trouble.
Leave soups behind:
- Convert 2.0 (leaves soup in the MP RAM, even when installed on card).
- Safe Guard.
- Term Limit 1.0, Shopping List, HotButtons (reported by Jared Oberhaus).
- Personal (soup named "secure").
- FilePad 1.1 (soups named "builder" even when you've removed all cabinets)
- StatusBar Buttons 2.0
- CheckList.
- QuickFigure Lite 1.1 (this is designed to prevent loss of data).
And many others.
>>>Fix: Soup manager packages. I have used Mark Underwood's "StewPot v1.0b5" w/o trouble so far. Be careful not to touch the useful soups of your MP. This is like playing with ResEdit on your Mac, you better know what you are doing.
"Souper", "Keyboard Pro" are also soup managers packages. KeyboardPro has the extra safety of not letting you touch the critical basic soups like "System", "Notes", etc... but it doesn't allow soup modification like the two other packages. I prefer StewPot over Keyboard Pro because you can distinguish between soups in internal memory and soups on a card.
"RemoveIt" and "HeapIt" look deeper into your soups, it's very useful but potentially more dangerous if you make a mistake.
If you have a backup on card or PC, the soups will come back if you restore or synchronise. Only solution, new backup after having removed the soups from your MP.
----------
*** 5.13 Printing a note longer than one (printer) page.
From: alex@grafton.dartmouth.edu (Alex Hartov), 10 Feb 94.
... (edited)... Try to print a note that is more than one page long. It simply can't do it.
From: rhca80@axpqa1.sps.mot.com (Henry Melton), 10 Feb 94
I had just tried my first printing minutes before this post showed up. The note in question was a list that I had loaded to the Newton using the method of cutting and pasting on the Mac in the Newton Connection application. This note printed out on two pages, leaving some items unprinted. The page break in the printing occurred between two 'sections'.
-
I haven't had any text disappearing but other weird things happened to me when I try to print more than one page. On one occasion the screen lines were printed along with the text (on the second page only). On another occasion, when I tried to print a long note of digital ink, the first page printed all right but an "out of memory" message prevented the printing of the second page.
----------
*** 5.14 Clipboard problems.
To move text from one note to another you can use the clipboard: you select the text and drag it to a one side of the screen. At this point the text shrinks which means that it is in the clipboard. Then you go to your target note and drag the text from its corner to the note. The text then expands and goes to the target note.
When the text expands, it actually momentarily over-expands: the line spacing is greater than in the original, but goes back to normal once the text is pasted on the note.
But there is a snag.
The MP won't let you paste text larger than a screen-full. So, if you put into the clipboard one screen-full of text, you won't be able to take it out because the over-expansion makes it larger than the screen. This is a sure way of loosing data if what you were moving was not a copy.
----------
*** 5.15 System 1.3 quirks (Assistant / Letter-by-letter & formatting).
NOTE: I haven't checked the first bug described hereafter. I've encountered once the letter-by-letter formatting problem (unfortunately I didn't pay attention to the exact conditions leading to it) but failed to get it on purpose when I tried to induce it as described below. Looks like it is a tricky one with (yet) unknown factors playing a mischievous role.
1. Sometimes the assistant doesn't get it. If I have " Call George" as a task and highlight it and tap assist, the assistant should pick a George and his number in the calling dialog box, right? Well it usually does, but sometimes, and I think it's with the same names, it doesn't make a selection, and puts the last number dialed in the box. However, if I then write the name again (exactly like it was in the highlighted text) in the dialog box, the diamond appears and I pick the name. Has anyone else seen this or know why it happens?
---
From Erik Josowitz <erik_j@capmac.org>:
Yes. Dunno why, but it happens to me too. Only when I try to call my friend Gong in Boston though (I mention this because I only know ONE Gong).
From js12@gte.com (John Schettino):
Try editing the name record for Gong (or George) and then see if it can find it. Sometimes that helps (index problem?)
From: heywoodfl@aol.com (Heywood Fl)
Make sure you do NOT use parenthesis in your phone numbers. According to Apple support, there is a problem with intelligent dialing, and numbers with parenthesis. I've never had that problem, but some of my clients did, and removing the parenthesis sure cured their problems. Weird.
---
2. (1.3 OS only) It's my experience that hitting the "letter-by-letter" button,writing a word, then turning it off causes all "returns" in the note to disappear after a short delay. This is terribly annoying and makes the button worthless in the notepad. I'll have a nice looking, bulleted note, do one word with "letter-by-letter" on, and seconds later have one clumped paragraph. Is this true for everyone, or do I have a defective OS.
---
From: dreaming@netcom.com (Derek L.)
I *HATE* this. I separate my paragraphs as a matter of course, for easier reading, and it bugs me to no end when I have to do it all over again. I consider this a bug, no doubt about it. In general, blank lines / carriage-returns in notes are a pain in the butt. It's often hard to tell when you have a hard return, and when you don't. Changing the "margins" is problematic, too (unless you insert a tab character).
From: mckay@gimli.bio.purdue.edu (Dwight McKay)
This is really annoying when used with Status Bar Buttons and making a bullet list. I had this happend a couple of times before I figured out that it was the letter by letter option that was triggering the problem.
---
2.5 Although it's not nearly as devastating, I also think it's annoying when you use the "letter-by-letter" button that after turning it off, it inquires about every word in the note (not just the one you wrote with letter-by-letter recognition) that doesn't match the dictionary.
---
From: friedman@netcom.com (Greg Friedman), 5 May 1994.
Dave Brennan (brennan@hal.com) wrote:
I ran across something which seems like a bug. This happens on an MP110. Start by writing text in the notebook that looks something like:
line of text
line of text
more text
The text doesn't matter, just the positioning.
Next, Pop up the letter-by-letter recognizer and write a nonsense word near the left margin. As soon as the word is recognized all the preceeding text is compressed into one or two lines. You may have to close the letter-by-letter box and repeat a few for this to happen. It looks like undo doesn't fix the lost formatting either...
-
This is, indeed, a bug. As you surmised, it has to do with the letter-by-letter recognizer.
----------
*** 5.16 Newton fax problem.
Shaun_Wheeler@lamg.com writes:
I tried faxing a 4 page document (note pages) on my Newton 110 with a P card fax modem to my PB 180 with a GV Gold modem it would only fax one or two pages then quit, anyone else having this problem?
Yes. It does it consistently. I mentioned this 2 months ago. It's a bug. The same thing happens if you try to print something with more than one or two pages.
----------
*** 5.17 OMP100 Extras drawer bug.
From: Brad Holt, 29 Apr 1994.
I thought I would inform the net in a bug which appears to be present in the MessagePads with the updated ROMs. The problem lies in the Extras drawer. In particular, when you install your 21st item the top row will be pushed half way off the screen and a new "blank" bottom row will be created.
In addition, if you have, for example, 23 additional items on your Newton and delete one, any one, the Extras drawer will behave normally until you reset the Newton, in which case it returns to the buggy behavior.
The real problem with this is that if you add >25 items, you get two blank lines at the bottom of the extra window, the top row is gone (InBox, OutBox, Connection, Sharp, and Card), and the next row is cut in half.
Apple speculates that the problem is related to using the 110 ROMs on the 100 configuration which has 16? more pixels.
----------
*** 5.18 NewtonBooks and Reset.
NewtonBooks are very nice things, but theres one annoying oversight: if you have to reset the MP the NewtonBook loses its information on marked pages and also loses scribblings you might have hadded (like an important bit of text that you might have underlined).
Thanks to Robert Reinfrank for reminding me of this bug.
------------------------------
Subject: 6. Minor problems.
----------
*** 6.1 My MP won't let me remove the PCMCIA card.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
Some people report having trouble to remove their PCMCIA storage card: the MP keeps asking for the card to be put back.
Have you waited a sufficient time (5-10 sec.) w/o doing anything before removing the card ? (cf. manual).
If yes, the problem most likely lies with a badly designed package installed on your card. I've had this problem with "Mr Advisador 1.2" which never turns off properly.
"Extra-Extras" requires also to be in your MP RAM.
>>>Fix: Discard package or put it into the MP RAM (if you can spare the space...)
----------
*** 6.2 Accessing "Styles".
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
Styles are too difficult to access.
>>>Fix: Shareware packages like "Skip", "StatusBar Buttons", "TapStyles" or "Keyboard Pro" (Figgle Utilities). My preference goes to "TapStyles" which place a little dot in the upper right corner of the screen. One tap and the Styles palette is called. And it takes only 3312 bytes.
----------
*** 6.3 User Dictionary.
Syst 1.04
In the User Dictionary ("My word list"), for a given letter, if you have more words than fit in the window, you cannot scroll down through the words when the dictionary has been called from the keyboard. If called from the Recognizers there is no problem.
>>>Fix: Update to Syst. 1.05
----------
*** 6.4 Moving packages from the Internal Memory to a PCMCIA Card.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05 + PCMCIA Card
There is no good way for moving packages from memory to card and back. You have to delete the package first then install it again in the new location.
>>>Fix:
From Erica Sadun (erica@cc.gatech.edu):
Stork, or STORe Keeper, is a utility to place a button at the bottom of the notepad's status bar that lets you switch between internal storage and card storage. Using Stork, you will no longer have to go to the Extras drawer, tap the Card icon, and switch your default storage destination. Simply pressing on Stork switches back and forth with a single tap instead of five.
From: stelios@chios.dorm.Virginia.EDU (Stelios Makrinos), 27 Jan 94.
Is it possible to install Stork while having Bullet, etc.. installed. I wasn't able to do it because any of the other programs placed their icon over the stork icon.
From: Jesse Devine <jester@apple.com>, 28 Jan 94.
What you need is my newest version of StatusBar Buttons (2.0), which is fully compatible with Stork and the newest Keyboard utility from Erica Sadun. Erica, myself, and Greg Christie all tried to coordinate a release that used the same placement methods for the buttons, so this should work for you. All three utilities are available from the ftp site at newton.uiowa.edu.
>>> MagicApp do it too, plus allows you to beam packages.
Another alternative is CopyMachine which can also be used to merge data to a selected store.
----------
*** 6.5 Deleting ToDo items.
Syst 1.04
Frequently it is difficult to erase a TO DO item. when you scrub the vertical bar, the MP tries to interpret as a word.
To free up memory space, you can delete all DATES and TO DOs older than x days without having to go through each of them one by one. To do this, you press the "envelope" button, then tap "Delete": a dialogue window appears, asking you "Delete meetings older than 30 days ?".
If you use that feature, it will not delete the CALENDAR NOTES.
>>>Fix: No good fix. You have to delete the Calendar Notes one by one. The shareware "Date Utility" make this operation a lot easier.
----------
*** 6.7 Note separator "eating" previous note.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
The note separator sometimes overlap the bottom of the previous note. This is annoying.
>>>Fix: None known to me !
----------
*** 6.8 Note separator double trouble.
Syst 1.04 (OMP)
Sometimes it is very difficult to get a note separator. At other times, moving the note separator is also a problem (slow reaction, at best).
>>>Fix: Upgrade to Syst. 1.05, nearly all the problems disappear.
If the MP just draw a line in digital ink when you want to start a new note (or worse, interprets your separator as a word), try to draw your line from right to left, not the other way.
----------
*** 6.9 Non cumulative styles.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
Styles are not cumulative (i.e. it is not possible to get bold AND underline characters). No fix !
----------
*** 6.10 Names overview.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
The overview of names (i.e. when you tap the dot in Names) should include the name of the company when there is no last name, otherwise you have to file the company name in "Last name" when you don't know a specific person in the company.
The company name should then be used for the alphabetical sorting of the names.
This is not the same as using the "View by company".
----------
*** 6.11 Birthday (in Names).
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
When you fill the Birthday field of Names you would expect an automatic scheduling of the birthday in the calendar. But no !!!
>>>Fix: The package "bdays" will collect all the birthday dates and create the relevant entries in the calendar. Another package, "Happy 1.1" will look into your Names and warn you each day of impending birthdays but it can't cope if there is more than 1 incoming birthday at a time and requires a lot of heap space.
The birthday field also does a weird thing: if you enter a birthday date such as xx/yy/99 (I use 99 when I don't know the year) and close the box, the date change to xx/yy/94. If you then open the field again and correct the date, it will stay right when you close the box this time !
>>>Fix: System 1.3 !
----------
*** 6.12 Erasing one occurrence of a repeating event.
Syst 1.04
It is impossible to erase one occurrence of a repeating event in the Calendar. If you erase one occurrence the MP considers that you want to erase all occurrences.
>>>Fix: This bug has been fixed in Syst 1.05 (thanks to Drew J. Asson for spotting my mistake in "FAQ in the making" version 1.3).
----------
*** 6.13 Empty notes don't automatically update the date stamp.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
I found this minor bug quite annoying. I am not alone:
From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (R S Rodgers), 14 Mar 94.
Experimenting with a MP110, I noticed the following:
The MP doesn't automatically give you a "today" note if you just click it on and start writing. This is annoying, say, if you have a note (_empty_) open and ready. First you must draw a line to create a new note, and then delete the old, empty one. Just deleting the note doesn't work-- if, for instance, the current empty is Saturday and today is Sunday, even if you delete the empty Saturday note, the date on the note "beneath" it that it presents to you is still Saturday--not Sunday. Annoying.
----------
*** 6.14 Moving the keyboard.
Syst 1.04, 1.05 & 1.3
You can't move the keyboard (using the grey border) when "Add xxxxx to word list ?" is displayed.
From Matthias Zahn, 31 Aug 94.
I have the german version D1.11 of the OMP and the bug seemed to be the same at my newton.
>>>Fix: Pick the keyboard at the left, bottom or right border and you can move it. Only by picking it at the *upper* border you can't move it.
----------
*** 6.15 Add "xxxx" to word list.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
It would be nice to be able to deactivate the "Add xxxx to word list ?" if you want (i.e. when planing to enter, with the keyboard, several words not in the dictionary). You can always ignore the "Add..." message, but it makes me feel guilty !!!!
----------
*** 6.16 Some package names have overlapping in the "Extras" drawer.
Apple recommend names no longer than 8 characters, but developers don't always follow Apple recommendations.
FIX>>> ScrollEx lets you rename packages (NB: I haven't tried ScrollEx yet).
----------
*** 6.17 More calendar bugs.
In the Calendar (Dates) there's no way of knowing if an appointment is stored in the MP internal RAM or on the PCMCIA card (except by removing the card and checking if the appointment disappears). The "envelope" menu doesn't give you any choice for moving items to/from card. This is midly annoying because sometimes one forgets to uncheck the "store new items on card" box (i.e. after loading packages there).
From: wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich), 21 Mar 94
Found a few inconsistencies, and at least one bug, although they may all be old ones. If you write a 'todo' item and use 'assist' to interpret it, it does the right thing, but when you end up in the 'calendar', with the view set to 'todo', the button at the bottom reads 'todo' when it should read 'calendar'. If you press it, naturally you stay where you are, and the button changes to 'calendar'.
Another calendar oddity is that you cannot change the style of 'day' appointments (the ones in the upper left, whatever Apple calls them). This is especially irritating, since this section has much less horizontal space than the 'normal' schedule items, and it would be real nice to have them be in 9 point type.
----------
*** 6.18 Black line in the upper left corner of Dates.
This is not a problem but a (useless ?) feature.
cf. 9.13
----------
*** 6.19 French / Canada (French locale) numbers.
In France and in the french-speaking part of Canada, decimals are noted by a "comma" (as opposed to the "point" of english-speaking countries). The recognizer for numbers seems to have trouble with this. If you write something like ú30,36 the MP will often recognize ú30,366. It nearly always add a third decimal digit.
FIX>>> This bug has been very puzzling to me since the (very helpful) guys of Newton Assist Helpline UK couldn't reproduce it. The trick is that this only happens after a reset (when "Canada, French locale" is already selected in the Prefs). Somehow, the numbers recognizer fails to notice the French Canada locale after a reset. So, after each reset, you've got to go back to your Prefs / Locale, select "US" then select "Canada, French locale" again. This time the numbers recognizer will notice the change !
----------
*** 6.20 Out Box out of memory.
When you're printing, if a message "Note enough memory now to do what you asked" appear in the Out Box, it won't go away if you try again to print, with success this time. Thus, the message telling you that the printing is in progress will be on top of the "Out of memory" message. Very messy !
----------
*** 6.21 Undo-ing a "delete".
If you delete by mistake an item (i.e. a Name record) which is on a PCMCIA card and then use "Undo", the item will come back but in the MP internal memory, not on the card.
----------
*** 6.22 User interface improvements.
From brennan@hal.com (Dave Brennan), 11 May 1994.
One problem is that there is no way to tell if a button is going to activate a function or bring up a menu for all but the most common buttons. Many applications place buttons in the button bar that do one or the other, but as a user I can't tell which is which. Is there any compelling reason as to why these two different types of buttons are not visually distinct?
The second problem is somewhat related. Some views that appear on the screen can be moved by the user (like to keyboard), but others (like many "slips") are in a fixed position. Again, there is no visual indication that distinguishes movable views from fixed views. If a view is movable, when I attempt to move it there is no visual or audible indication that the move operation has commenced. I have to tap the window and move the pen, hoping that I correctly tapped on the very narrow view border.
From: friedman@netcom.com (Greg Friedman), 12 May 1994.
Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines dictate that menu items that bring up additional dialogs should contain an ellipses. In other words, "Open" becomes "Open..." when its behavior is to bring up an additional dialog. I've seen some Newton software implemented this way.
From: engber@apple.com (Mike Engber), 12 May 1994.
> ... no way to tell if a button is going to activate a function or ...
Use the popup diamond character to prefix the text if the button brings up a menu. I know there are place in ROM where we don't (e.g. show button in the card file). But you should (and we may fix our stuff eventually).
----------
*** 6.23 "About Newton" bug.
From: car@zork.tiac.net (Christopher Ramos), 29 May 1994.
The other day I was going thru the To Do list checking who I needed to return calls to, I highlighted the text
"Call Steve about Newton course"
And tapped "Assist". Instead of looking up all the Steve's in the Name File and popping up the dialing dialog, Newt figured what I really wanted to see "About Newton" credits.
Somehow the "about Newton" feature seems a lot less cute now... :-)
<cf. subject 10.2>
----------
*** 6.24 Dictionary bug (Syst. 1.3 only).
John Brewer writes:
In version 1.3 (MP100), You can't add alphanumeric words (like 'C++' or 'w/') to the dictionary.
From Michael B. Ayers, 17 Aug 1994.
I can confirm that for the MP110 as well. With my OMP, I used "w/" quite often with no problem. On my MP110, when I add it to my dictionary, it gets perverted to just "w", and every time I actually write "w/", it recognizes it as "w)".
----------
*** 6.25 Mad clock.
From Doug C. Jamieson, 12 Sep 94:
I have a Newton whose clock went totally bonkers after a friend used it overnight. The clock went haywire, gaining eleven years every day (give or take 100%). I called 1-800-SOS-APPL and they recognized the problem immediately and gave me a quick fix. I had to verify that I had a good location and push the reset button. I already had an appropriate location set (Dallas) -- the reset fixed it. Apple didn't say what caused it, but called the phenomena "Shipping mode".
----------
*** 6.26 Fields too small in Names.
E-mail addresses can be quite long sometimes. The field for e-mail addresses in Names is not big enough to see long addresses, and you can't change the font to a smaller one. It would be nice in these conditions to be able to scroll to the right with the arrows of the keyboard.
This is also true for the two "address" field because sometimes you need to enter there long stuff.
>>>Fix: The only way to see all the content of the field is to select what you can see and drag it to a note. The unseen part goes with it.
------------------------------
Subject: 7. Wish list.
----------
*** 7.1 Calendar.
When you open the Calendar, the screen is positioned at the time you last used it. It would be much more useful if it would open centred around the present time so as to be able to check your appointments quickly (displaying the overview is so slow...).
>>>Fix: A freeware package called "OpenTime" is fixing this problem.
----------
*** 7.2 Filing calendar items or ToDo items.
It is currently impossible to file calendar items or ToDo items. It could be useful.
----------
*** 7.3 Note scrolling.
Scrolling through notes should be possible 1/2 page per 1/2 page in order to allow easy movement of objects inside the same note (when the note is more than one page long).
Alternatively, if you move something to the top of a note (or to the bottom), the note should scroll (like a Macintosh System 7 Finder window). In this case, the cut/paste would only be possible on the right & left sides of the MP.
I seen many complains about that (like from Dave Hundley).
----------
*** 7.4 Loading long text files and pictures.
An easy way of loading a lot of text in the MP from a computer (i.e. not the Connection Kit 1.0) and cheap too (i.e. not the Newton Tool Kit BookMaker application). Being able to also load scanned pictures would be nice too.
There are rumours of a cheaper, cut down, version of the NTK, with the BookMaker applications. God knows if it's true and when it will be available.
>>> Partial fix: There is a freeware app called PaperBack that is very good for loading a lot of text into your MP. But it's only for text (not pictures), and it has also a few shortcomings (cf. subject 15).
There is also a package called Typomanica (Figgle Utilities) that let you enter text in your MP with your computer keyboard (via the computer serial port).
----------
*** 7.5 21th century feature: abbreviations recognition !
A special feature allowing the MP to recognise abbreviations and replace them by the full word. Maybe a small specialised dictionary.
So if you write "pkg", the MP looks into the main dictionary, doesn't find anything, looks in the specialised dictionary, finds "pkg=package", then write "package".
----------
*** 7.6 A better Assist 'Remember' and 'Schedule'.
When using "Remember", the MP should store the information without going to the "ToDo" screen this is just wasting time at the present MP speed.
----------
*** 7.7 Keyboard input in Names.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
In "Names", a lot of the words you use are not in the dictionary (street names, last names, towns, ...). Thus, the input calls for a frequent use of the keyboard. It is more convenient to call the keyboard once and fill all the fields from it. But selecting a new field doesn't put the cursor in it, you have to tap a second time (except for the "postal code" and "E-mail").
----------
*** 7.8 Digital ink.
The way Newton doesn't use a lot of memory is by compressing what you save. For drawings (when you use digital ink) that means that curves are transformed in a mathematical representation. This saves a lot of space (compared to a bitmap), but it also means that what you get is not quite exactly what you drew in the first place (except if it is possible to describe it perfectly in a mathematical way, i.e. a circle).
Usually it is not a problem but there is one exception: when you are writing very small and in digital ink. Then watch your perfectly readable tiny scribblings (at the smaller ink size) being distorted to meaningless curves. !!!
>>>Fix: None, you've got to live with it ! (But I wish there was a possibility to save bitmaps, without the NTK that is).
----------
*** 7.9 MP permanent buttons design.
The design of the arrow buttons and of the "dot" overview button is no good. The boundaries are not clear: it is too easy to tap one when you want to tap another (especially annoying if you tap "overview" by mistake because then you are stuck for a non negligible number of seconds ....).
There is now a patch to the 1.3 ROMs thatpartially solve this problem with slightly larger "sensitive areas" for the arrows. Unfortunately I don't know the numbers of the patches where this is implemented (the patch number is the 6 digits number between brackets after the ROM number 1.3).
----------
*** 7.10 Guide-lines on a blank screen.
It would be nice to be able to toggle on / off those lines. I find them quite irritating sometime (it impedes reading notes in some circumstances).
----------
*** 7.11 Characters templates.
From: mpa@london.sbi.com (Paul Andrews), 19 May 1994.
My f's don't look anything like the ones the Newt knows about. Surely they aren't that uncommon though. Nearly all my recognizer problems come down to this, but how else can one write a 'joined up' f?:
/\
| |
\/__
__/|
||
\/
Kind of like an '8' with a lead-in and lead-out stroke in the middle but going below the base-line.
Who chooses the styles of letter that the Newt recognizes anyhow? I've heard similar comments made about the '&' which is drawn in the reverse direction of how I (and apparently some others) do it.
From j.bousson@ic.ac.uk.
I second that, I've got both problems. I've more or less solved the "f" problem by not choosing any template and letting the MP do the work. My MP ended up giving the same "weight" to both existing f templates.
But generally speaking, the MP definitively needs more templates for some characters.
----------
*** 7.12 Accents.
Some sort of limited accent recognition is needed for the US/UK version of the MP. At the moment you can enter accentuated letters with the keyboard (using the option key) but if you enter an accentuated word in the user dictionary the accents vanish.
You're going to say that I'm biased because I'm French. You're right but ... in this world of international computer networks & highly mobile people, you've got more and more chances to meet foreigners with accents in their name & address. Well, the Names of the US/UK version of the MP can't cope with that. What's the point of having sophisticated international telephone number management if you can't even enter properly the name of your foreign business partners (and believe me, this is important from the foreigner point of vu, it's a matter of national identity pride !!! ;-)
------------------------------
Subject: 8. Technical information.
----------
*** 8.1 OMP / MP100 / MP110.
MP110 (Syst 1.3/ROM 1.2)
4 x AA╩batteries
28 hours (alkaline batt.)
14 hours (NiCd batt.)
Flip-open cover
1024K total RAM
480K user RAM
540K system RAM
240 x 320 pixel screen
Round telescopic stylus
8" x 4" x 1.25"
1.28 lbs (incl. batt.)
IR: up to 38.4 kbps
MP100 (Syst 1.3/ROM 1.2)
OMP (Syst1.05/ROM 1.0)
OMP (Syst1.11/ROM 1.1)
4 x AAA batteries
14 hours (alkaline batt.)
4 hours (NiCd batt.)
Carrying case
640K total RAM
158K user RAM
482K system RAM
240 x 336 pixel screen
Flat stylus
7.5" x 4.5" x 0.75"
185mm x 114mm x 19mm
1 lb (incl. batt.)
up to 9600 baud
OMP (Syst1.04/ROM 1.0)
OMP (Syst1.10/ROM 1.1)
4 x AAA batteries
14 hours (alkaline batt.)
4 hours (NiCd batt.)
Carrying case
640K total RAM
192K user RAM
448K system RAM
240 x 336 pixel screen
Flat stylus
7.5" x 4.5" x 0.75"
1 lb (incl. batt.)
up to 9600 baud
>>>Newton MP110 (previously code named "Lindy")
For a detailed look into the MP110, read "_protoReality 1.3".
New industrial design:
- Slightly longer and narrower than the OMP.
- Flip-top cover that folds out of the way when in use.
Many people have reported that the lock (used to secure the cover when closed) is of poor quality.
- New, round, telescopic stylus (stored in the MP110, at the top).
- Screen 16 pixels shorter (but retain the same width as the OMP).
Software titles which were written to adjust to variable screen sizes should not experience any trouble when used on the MessagePad 110. Titles which do not adjust to variable screen sizes may not work properly with the MessagePad 110.
Many people report that the MP110 screen is slightly worse than the OMP/MP100 screen (which is not very good) with regard to glare/light reflection.
- Contrast wheel on the side.
- Speaker at the bottom edge instead of on the front.
- PCMCIA card slot on the top right side.
Memory:
1MB RAM (480K user memory).
That is about 600 recognised notes, 750 names, 1500 appointments and 100 notes in digital ink.
Batteries:
4 x AA type batteries (up to 50 hours of use when using alkaline batteries and up to 28 hours when using NiCd batteries).
The recharger (recharge a battery pack in about 2 hours) is optional.
Improved recognition capabilities:
- Character-by-character recognition allowing the MP to recognise words that are not in Newton's dictionary.
- Deferred recognition allowing users to take notes in digital ink and return to the note and recognise them later.
- Option of adding to Newton╒s dictionary the names, street names, and cities entered in the Names application.
Other features:
- Faster IR transfers.
- Faster decompression (or so Apple in claiming).
Compatibility:
The MessagePad 110 can share data with any other device based on Newton
Intelligence, including the original MessagePad.
Upgrades:
There are no upgrades from OMP or MP100 to the MP110.
>>> Newton MP100
The MessagePad 100 features the same industrial design as the original MessagePad, but incorporates the software improvements of the MessagePad 110.
Improved recognition capabilities:
- Character-by-character recognition allowing the MP to recognise words that are not in Newton's dictionary.
- Deferred recognition allowing users to take notes in digital ink and return to the note and recognise them later.
- Option of adding to Newton╒s dictionary the names, street names, and cities entered in the Names application.
Compatibility:
The MessagePad 100 can share data with any other device based on Newton Intelligence, including the original MessagePad.
Upgrades:
OMP owners can upgrade to MP100. The upgrade gives OMP owners the same software functionality as the MP100 and 110.
----------
*** 8.2 Details on OMP -> MP100 Upgrade (in the US).
Call 1-800-SOS-APPL to get more details. The price of the upgrade has been reduced to $69.95 but you no longer get any software with the upgrade.
From Mark Underwood (NANUG), 15 Mar 94.
Because the ROM upgrade process wipes out the internal RAM, it essential that you back up your Newton first, using the connection kit. For that reason, Apple recommends one of the two choices should be NCK for your appropriate PC.
The upgrade will make your OMP into a MP100, with the exception of main memory available which has been increased in the MP100 to 1 Mb (instead of the 640K the "original" MP has). For the list of new features the upgrade provides, please read the March issue of _protoReality.
----------
*** 8.3 Details on OMP -> MP 100 Upgrade (in the UK).
The upgrade has started in the UK since mid-June, at a price of ú74.95 (ú45+VAT+shipping).
This does NOT include any software. Apple UK says that this is because they want to make the upgrade as cheap as possible. Either this is total bullshit or people paying for the upgrade in the US are also paying for the software !!!
All information stored in your OMP will be lost if you upgrade (including handwritting recognition info), so don't forget to backup.
To upgrade you will receive a letter explaining how to proceed and giving you a phone number for faster payment by credit card.
A few days latter you will receive a well-padded box to ship your OMP and details about contacting Securicor, the firm who will send you a courier to collect the box containing your OMP. In my case the courier didn't show up on the agreed date and I had to contact Securicor again. The upgraded MP is returned to you within 5 working days.
You get the deferred recognition, the letter-by-letter recognizer better access, a modified Prefs/Recognizers, and an ugly font used in the writing windows of Names. There is also a new button in the "Personal Word List" to add names, street names and cities (from "Names") to the personal dictionary.
NB: You will have to reset the clock after restoring your data.
First impressions after the upgrade: The deferred recognition is good but very slow, I don't think that it will be very useful for taking notes, but it's handy. I find the letter-by-letter recognition quite good and very useful when the word recognition didn't get it and you double tap a word (in the pop-up list you've got a button to try letter-by-letter recognition on the problem word).
After upgrading I had problems to power-up my MP when using batteries (NiCd or alkaline). Most of the time, when I switched on the upgraded OMP it would switch off by itself.
I phoned Assist and they gave me instructions to get ParcelForce to collect my MP. It was collected the same day, a friday, and came back (fixed) on tuesday. Pretty good I should think. (Actually, they sent me a new OMP100).
Note: The UK upgrade offer should have ended on the 31st of August.
----------
*** 8.4 "Assist", the Official Newton User Group in the UK.
In version 1.x of this list I was very sarcastic about Assist, calling it "plain robbery". Several other Assist subscribers have been complaining too (on the net).
Since then things have improved a little, but not much.
Joining Assist, the Official Newton User Group in the UK, cost ú35.
What you get:
- A preferential access to the Newton Helpline (which in my experience is quite good, the people there are always nice and patient and solve most problems).
- A quarterly newsletter.
The first issue was in fact a 40cm x 40cm promotional sheet of paper with hints like "to save power, use AC adaptator whenever possible & turn off your MP when you're not using it".
The second issue was nearly decent. It was 16 pages long and included reports on Newton use in the real world (BT, BritishRail), several special offers, commercial software announcements, a lot of propaganda and Hints&Tips (mostly obvious).
Issue 3 is 8 pages long but in the A4 format. It promises to be published bi-monthly from now on (we'll see...). Contains several Nwt software reviews, a few tips (not very useful, as usual, except the one on batteries reprinted from IN Magazine), and a few more things.
Issue 4 is also 8 pages and not very interesting.
Not very exciting. Read "_protoReality" instead !!!
- 2 free packages. One is a game (pretty crap in my opinion), the other requires that you already own a communication software for the Mac.
- A power cord for a car cigarette lighter.
- Special offers, like:
SoftW: The Economist World in Figures ú59.96 instead of ú74.99
SoftW: Columbo's Mystery Capers ú47.99 instead of ú59.99
Book: Defying gravity, the making of the Nwt ú18.28 instead of ú21.50
HardW: Synthetic carrying case + Fax/Modem ú99.99 instead of 199.98
HardW: 1Mb card ú69.99 instead of 99.99
Sell a Nwt to a friend and get one free (or other Nwt products).
The upgrade OMP -> MP100 was offered first to Assist members.
----------
*** 8.5 Newton Connection Kit 2.0
Newton Connection Kit 2.0 for Macintosh is available in the US (since March) and in the UK (since mid-May).
The Windows version is expected to be available (US) in late spring 1994.
Newton Connection 2.0 enables users to exchange and share their MessagePad information --notes, letters, name-cards, to-do lists, and appointments-- with common desktop personal information management (PIM), word-processing, spreadsheet and database applications.
Direct Export And Import from Macintosh applications.
Users have the option of importing and exporting native files directly from many commonly supported Macintosh applications to Newton's address book, calendar and notepad via DataViz Inc.╒s MacLinkPlus file translation library.
Supported Macintosh applications include: Portfolio Software╒s Dynodex; Symantec's Act!; Now Software's Now-Upto-Date; Aldus' DateBookPro; PowerUp's Addressbook Plus; Microsoft's Excel, Word and Works; Lotus 1-2-3; WordPerfect; Nisus; and WriteNow.
Other applications can share data with the Newton Connection kit via delimited text files: you can choose the characters delimiting fields and records (i.e. your not forced to use tabs and returns respectively).
Usage requirements:
Newton Connection Kit 2.0 for Macintosh requires 2,000K RAM╩minimum and, 2,500K preferred. The Windows version requires at least a 386SX with 4MB╩RAM and Windows 3.1 or later.
Compatibility:
Backup files created with Newton Connection Kit 1.0 are not compatible with version 2.0. Customers are advised to backup with version 1.0, then with version 2.0 before erasing any backup files.
Customers who own Newton Connection Kit 1.0 are entitled to a free upgrade to version 2.0.
----------
*** 8.6 "Newton Solution Packs".
Mobile Sales Manager Solution Pack.
Provides sales professional with tools to easily access quotas, price lists, travel expenses, customer information and other data. The pack includes "Money Magazine Business Forms", which provides 13 commonly-used business formats including expense reports, sales invoice/order quotations and planning guides and schedules, that the user can easily fill out while in a meeting or on the road, and "GeoAssist" for referencing toll free numbers, plus local telephone access numbers, air and auto information and travel information for more than 1,000 cities. The pack also includes Notion and Jigsaw Strategy Game.
Professional Idea Manager Solution Pack (UK ú130).
Designed for consultants, accountants, lawyers, small business owners and other professionals who routinely calculate, process and record data. This package includes "Dyno NotePad", an outlining tool which captures and organizes thoughts and personal information in a variety of outline-formats and hierarchies. Also included is "Mobile Math," which integrates math functions into Newton's Intelligent Assistance with more than 80 formulas. The application "floats" and can be accessed easily from other applications. The pack also includes Notion and Jigsaw Strategy Game.
Ideal for Newton users who make presentations on a regular basis and want to call-up text and notes during their speaking engagements. The pack includes "PresenterPad", an application that aids speakers by teleprompting information, pacing presentations and cueing slides. The second application in the pack is "Economist World in Figures", which gives users a wide range of detailed facts and figures, including economies, exports/import, populations and trade, on approximately 60 countries. The pack also includes Notion and Jigsaw Strategy Game.
Apple suggested price:
The four applications in each Solution Pack are pre-loaded on a 2MB flash card. The cards have 800K of additional storage space. The Newton Solution Packs are expected to be available at an Apple Price of $199.
----------
*** 8.7 The Newton ToolKit price in the UK.
ú499+VAT (MicroWarehouse 081-447.11.42).
Latest version is 1.0.1 .
----------
*** 8.8 What can be stored in 1MB of Newton RAM (card) ?
From Apple: 1250 name cards, 1000 notes (50 char. long), 2500 calendar appointments (20 char.), 400 screens of uninterpreted text & drawings.
----------
*** 8.9 Newton Fax/Modem specifications (from an Apple technical sheet).
2400 bps data / 9600 bps fax (send only).
Modem:
CCITT V.22bis & V.22
Bell 212A & 103
CCITT V.42bis data compression
Fax:
CCITT V.29, V.27ter & V.21
MNP class 2 & 4 error correction
MNP class 5 data compression
----------
*** 8.10 French MP110.
A french version of the MP110 has been launched on the 10th of June 94.
Price: 5490 FF.
JC Sakdavong told me that it is essentially a MP110 + 2Mb Flash Card containing FilePad & Notion. The french MP110 recognizes accentuated words.
In September a guide of Paris should be available on a PCMCIA card (with simplified map, hotel, restaurants & museums info).
One of the most frequently asked questions about the Newton is "how can I use it to get online and connect with Internet/ Compuserve/ MCI Mail/ my corporate email system/whatever?"
The short answer is that there are two solutions:
- a freeware application called TermLimit (which is available on most online systems),
- a commercial program called PocketCall.
This FAQ (excerpted from the documentation that will accompany the forthcoming PocketCall demo version) provides most of the answers about PocketCall.
PocketCall 1.0 will run on any Newton device, including OMP, MP100, MP110 and the Sharp ExpertPad 2000.
PocketCall will allow you to use any Hayes compatible modem (including both external and PCMCIA-internal devices) to dial into any text-based online system.
PocketCall allows you to set up multiple 'service' files, storing communications settings, logon sequences and scripts for each one. TTY terminal emulation with a virtual 80 column screen lets you function with your Newton in the same way as you would with a desktop terminal or communications program, and support for built-in Newton functions allows you to exchange data with the notepad, print and fax data and use Newton intelligence with other applications.
Ex Machina, Inc.: (800) 238-4738 toll free, (718) 965-0309 voice, (718) 832-5465 fax, online EXMAC.INFO (AppleLink) or 76004,3427 (CompuServe). or exmac.info@applelink.apple.com (Internet).
Ex Machina maintains support forums on Compuserve in the Newton Forum (Section 13 - SPOTLITE:PocketCall), the Macintosh A Vendor Forum (Section 11 - ExMachina) and on Applelink under the Mobile Systems/Hardware & Software icon.
---
FAQ
---
HOW MUCH MEMORY DOES IT TAKE UP?
PocketCall 1.0 comes in two separate parts, so that it can work even with PCMCIA modems on an original Newton Message Pad --the tightest possible memory configuration. Additional memory, however, (such as on an MP110) will make life much easier. To install the main PocketCall application you will need 110K of available RAM. This can be in internal memory or on a PCMCIA RAM card. To install both PocketCall and the Services Setup application at the same time, you will need 165K free.
WILL POCKETCALL WORK WITH MY EXTERNAL MODEM?
Almost certainly. Unlike the built-in communications applications on the Newton, PocketCall is not limited to certain modems. We have yet to find a single Hayes-compatible external modem with which PocketCall will not work. As part of both PocketCall's basic settings you have the ability to enter custom setup strings for your particular modem, if necessary.
HOW ABOUT MY PCMCIA MODEM CARD?
Yes, if your PCMCIA modem is Newton-compatible. That is, if your Newton can recognize the modem as a communications card, then PocketCall will work with it. A simple test is to send a fax with your modem card; if it works for that, it should work with PocketCall. The program has been tested extensively with the PCMCIA FaxModem card from Apple.
HOW DO I GET POCKETCALL INTO MY NEWTON?
PocketCall ships in a package with 3.5" disks for both the Macintosh and MS Windows versions of the Newton Connection Kit. You will use one of these, together with a Mac or PC, to download PocketCall into your PDA. If you have neither computer and no way to get access to one, you may send ExMachina a flash RAM card (call for authorization first) and for a small handling charge we will download PocketCall onto your card for you, and then return it to you along with the standard disks for backup. PocketCall will be released on PCMCIA cards later this year.
WILL POCKETCALL BE ABLE TO CALL INTO MY TEXT-BASED SERVICE?
Yes. PocketCall can be used just like any other TTY terminal or communications program. It can call into any of the thousands of services that use plain text to send and receive information. Some of these include Compuserve, GEnie, Delphi, MCI Mail, Dialog, Lexis/Nexis and virtually all local bulletin board systems.
WILL POCKETCALL BE ABLE TO CALL INTO PROPRIETARY SERVICES?
No. PocketCall cannot be used to call into services that use private binary data protocols for access. These include America OnLine, Applelink, Prodigy, and eWorld. Each of these systems requires special proprietary software. As of May, 1994, none of the above services has released Newton access software.
HOW ABOUT ACCESSING THE INTERNET?
Yes, through any of the many Internet providers (including Delphi) who offer text-based dial-up access. PocketCall 1.0 does not, however, provide direct TCP/IP access to Unix-based services.
WHAT KIND OF TERMINAL EMULATION DOES POCKETCALL PROVIDE?
PocketCall emulates a basic TTY (teletypewriter) terminal but not (yet) VT100 and other terminal emulations.
AT WHAT BAUD RATES CAN POCKETCALL OPERATE?
PocketCall is limited only by the speed and power of the underlying device on which it is being run. Although you can connect to a remote system at any speed you like (including 9600 or 14.4K bps), effective throughput is limited by the hardware of the first and second generation Newton devices. We have found that PocketCall on an original Newton Message Pad can keep up with text scrolling at about 2400 bps. An MP110 will run PocketCall about 10-20% faster.
WHAT IS THE BUILT-IN SCRIPTING LIKE?
PocketCall comes with an easy-to-use built-in scripting capability to automate logons to all your services, carry out frequently used command sequences, and save you time typing standard text. You may set up an unlimited number of Services (dependent only on the amount of storage space your Newton has available) and for each service you may create up to sixteen separate scripts. Scripts are assembled by simply tapping choices on the Newton's screen. Each script can have an unlimited number of commands, and each command consists of two optional parts: Wait and Type. You may Wait for a specified period of time to pass, or for certain text to arrive from the system to which you are connected. You may then Type specified text, certain pre-stored variables (including your User ID and Password) or end the script.
Thus, a typical logon script for Compuserve might have the following four entries:
WAIT for 2 seconds TYPE ^C
WAIT for "ID:" TYPE UserID <CR>
WAIT for "Password:" TYPE Password <CR>
WAIT for "!" TYPE "Go Newton" <CR>
CAN I SET POCKETCALL TO AUTOMATICALLY CONNECT AT A CERTAIN TIME?
Yes, using a really nifty commercial Newton utility program called "Chron 1.1" by Greg Christie, from theObject Partnership. (Telephone: 203-567- 4547; Compuserve: 73311,2366; Applelink: G.Christie) Chron automates a wide range of actions from all the applications on your Newton, including PocketCall, using Newton intelligence. It will let you set up a script to be automatically run at a later date and time, so that (for example) you can wake up to a Newton containing your morning's mail. Neat!
WHAT ARE POCKETPACKS?
PocketCall by itself lets you access the vast power of the online world. By adding specialized PocketPacks from Ex Machina you will be able to have completely customized, easy-to-use interfaces to specific host systems. PocketPacks, which will be available later in 1994, are software modules which drop into PocketCall to provide specialized front ends for offline access to popular systems. These PocketPacks will be available for both commercial services (such as Compuserve, MCI Mail and Lexis/Nexis) as well as for LAN-based email systems and current and forthcoming wireless messaging systems.
WHERE CAN I ACTUALLY GET POCKETCALL?
PocketCall is distributed worldwide by the Star Core division of Apple Computer. As such, it is available virtually all authorized retailers who carry Newtons, and is also available through most of the major mail order catalogs including MacWarehouse, MacConnection, MacZone, APS, J&R, NewtonSource and others.
HOW MUCH DOES POCKETCALL COST?
The suggested retail price for PocketCall is $149. You may order it for that price directly from Ex Machina.
----------
*** 8.11bis How Is PocketCall?
From: nikolaus@tiac.net (Nikolaus J. Sucher), 28 Apr 1994.
I am using PocketCall to dial into the Vax at work. The fact that there is no VT100 emulation is annoying since instead of screen "graphics" and formatting you get all sorts of nonsense characters. Nonetheless, I can read my e-mail that I get sent to my e-mail address at work.
PocketCall works really great with Delphi. I set the screen witdh at Delphi to 40 characters and 12 lines. That gives me a nice display on my Newton, and I can have the keybord open at all times without hiding any part of the receiving screen, one line between the terminal window and the keybord is for the display of text that I type in. For some commands, I just use hadwriting which works quite well. Since Delphi has an entirely command line based interface it is very easy to use with PockeCall and Newton. You can even check usenet newsgroups etc. I also used the Delphi connection to telnet into my work account. The further advantage of Delphi is, that you can dial in via SprintNet, i.e. by local call from almost everywhere, even from abroad.
PocketCall and Newton make quite a versatile communication device. I really like the scripting capabillity of PocketCall: logon etc. is entirely "automatic". At home, I use a SupraFax V32bis modem, on the road, the PCMCIA modem by apple. The SupraFax saves definitely a lot of battery power, since it has its own powersupply. With Delphi, the transfer speed is quite acceptable. I am quite happy with what I got, but I think there is definitely room for improvement and it can only get better.
----------
*** 8.12 Newton Peripherals List 1.7 (updated: 13 July 94)
Compiled by Craig Macfarlane <cmacfarl@world.std.com>.
Newton Modem Chart
------------------
Comp/Model Price Data Fax Type Chipset Fx Ml Upd Notes
+ Apple NewtModem $ 95 24 96 S8 R224ATF Y Y Y
Apple Data Modem $ 24 - S8 . N N N
Codex 3261 $ 288 - S8 . N . N powertrouble?
DoveFax LE $ 24 96 S8 R? . . . Dove said yes
GVC pocket modm $ 24 96 S8 . N . N too slow
+ Macronics MaxLite$ 144 144 S8 R Y Y Y Very small!
Maestro 144FM $ 144 . . R Y . . Austrailian modem
Megahertz Pocket $ 96 96 S8 . . . .
Megahertz Pocket $ 144 144 S8 . . . .
MultitechMT1432M $ 144 144 S8 . N . Y big pocket modem
Okidata Okitel96 $ 96 - . R - Y . Not a fax modem
Practical Pocket $ 144 144 S8 . . . .
+ PSI ComStation $ 144 144 S8 R Y Y Y models III - V
+ Supra v.32bis $165 144 144 S8 R? Y . N? (use the code F1)
TCI LineLink144e $ 99 144 144 S8 Sierra Y? Y .
Twincom 144DF $250 144 144 S25 RC144DP Y . .
USR Sportster $130 144 144 S25 . N . .
USR Worldport2496$200 24 96 . . . . .
USR Worldport144 $250 144 96 . N? . .
+ Zoom VFX $150 144 144 S8 R Y Y Y Use &D3
+ Apple NwtFaxModem$180 24 96 PCM R Y Y Y
BOCA M144PA $200 144 144 PCM . . . .
+ DataRace 144/96 $180 144 . PCM R Y Y Y
+ DataRace 144 $270 144 144 PCM R Y Y Y
Epson 144 PCM $190 144 144 PCM . . . .
Gateway Teleport $ 144 144 PCM R Y . . Not separateprod?
Hayes PCMCIA $280 144 144 PCM . N N N Doesn't register
+ Megahertz PCMCIA $199 144 144 PCM . Y Y Y Power drain?
USR Worldport PCM$200 144 144 PCM . . . .
Zoom PCMCIA $190 144 144 PCM . . . .
Notes:
The ╘+╒ prefix indicates compatibility from two separate sources.
Type=Connection port Type: Serial 8 pin, 25 pin, or PCMCIA card Chip=Chipset (Apple is expecting a modem w/Rockwell 224ATF) The '.' means I don't know. Fx=NewtFax, Ml=NewtMail, Upd=Newton System Updates via 800#.
The Newton expects to see a class 1 fax modem that can accept commands at 19.2kbps. The Newton also checks a few registers for the 'correct' type of modem. Any modifiers can be inserted by using the Prefix Code field begin with a ; and finish with DT and the phone number.
-
From Ron Lussier
Note that new Megahertz 14.4 modems won't work with the Newt. Megahertz tech support claims that they've been changed and new modems will no longer work. (New models have two gold metal strips on the edges of the modem, whereas older ones have black plastic edges).
cf. subject 9.7
-
PCMCIA Chart
------------
Comp/Model $Street Type Comp? Notes
Apple 1MB $ 95 SRAM Yes
Apple 2MB $180 Flash Yes
Apple 4MB $280 Flash Yes
Epson 2MB $ SRAM Yes
EXP 2MB $ SRAM Yes
Fujitsu256k $ SRAM Yes Why does the 256k work,
Fujistu512k $ SRAM No but the 512k doesn't?
HP 512K $ SRAM Yes
HP 5MB $360 Flash . (F1012A)
HP 10MB $550 Flash . (F1013A)
Intel 4MB $ Flash Yes
Intel 10MB $ Flash Yes
Intel 20MB $ Flash .
Lifetime2MB $ SRAM .
MELCARD 2MB $209 SRAM Yes Manufactured by Mitsubishi
SunDisks $ Flash No They need a different driver
Notes:
For memory cards SRAM (faster,uses a battery) Flash (slower, no battery) Apple doesn't reccomment anything larger than a 4MB card. Has anyone tried anything other than a memory or modem card?
Printers
--------
Comp/Model Comp? PS Notes
Apple StyleWriter Yes -
Apple PortStyleWriter No . Requires a special driver
Apple Personal LW LS Yes .
Apple LaserWriters Yes 2 All Appletalk PS lasers work
Apple LaserWriterIISC No .
Apple LaserWriter 300 No . These two LWs have special-case circuitry
Apple LaserWriter 310 No . that the Newton doesn't understand
Compaq Pagemarq15 No 2 It work for Macs, but not Newtons
DECLaser 1152 No 2 It work for Macs, but not Newtons
HP LaserJet 4M Yes . It appears as Laser Jet 4
HP LaserJet 4MP Yes .
MicroTek Truelaser Yes .
MobilewriterPS Yes . An 8lb PS-clone that emulates a LW IINT
NEC Silentwriter 95 Yes .
QMS 860 PS Yes? . Somewhat intermitent (every other time?)
T-script (emulator) Yes . This PS emulator runs on the Mac.
Parallel printers using Apple's Print Pack interface ($95):
Cannon BubbleJet Yes -
Epson FX Yes -
Epson LQ Yes -
HP DeskJet Yes -
HP LaserJet Yes -
Notes:
PS is the Adobe PostScript level. The Print Pack drivers seem limited to 300dpi even if the printer is capable of higher resolution. For a detailed list of Print Pack compatible printers refer to Bill Fickas╒s FAQ or contact him at <billf@eworld.com>.
----------
*** 8.13 Serial Port Hardware Specs.
From John Schettino, 16 Aug 1994.
The Newton serial port is an EIA standard RS-422 port with the following pinout (as viewed looking at the female Mini-DIN-8 socket on the side of the Newton):
8 7 6
5 4 3
2 1
Pin 1 HSKo /DTR
Pin 2 HSKi /CTS
Pin 3 TxD- /TD
Pin 4 GND Signal ground connected to both logic and chassis ground.
Pin 5 RxD- /RD Pin 6 TxD+ (see below)
Pin 7 GPi General purpose input received at SCC's DCD pin.
Pin 8 RxD+ (see below)
All inputs are: Vih = 0.2V Vil = -0.2V Ri = 12k ohms
Pins 3 & 6 tri-state when SCC's /RTS is not asserted.
The EIA RS-422 standard modulates its data signal against an inverted (negative) copy of the same signal on another wire (twisted pairs 3/6 & 5/8 above). This differential signal is compatable with older RS-232 standards by converting to EIA standard RS-423, which involves grounding the positive side of the RS-422 receiver, and leaving the positive side of the RS-422 transmitter unconnected. Doing so, however, limits the usable cable distance to approximately 50 feet, and is somewhat less reliable.
----------
*** 8.14 MP120 / ROM 1.3 in Germany.
From Thomas Diessel, 27 Sep 1994.
The MP120 looks like a MP110 but it contains 2 MB RAM and the German system software version 1.3. Apple expects a street price of 1400 DM (about $900). The street price for the original German MP is now 800 DM (about $500).
The MP120 will come with:
ARM 610 prozessor at 20 MHz
320 x 240 pixel display
4 MB ROM
2 MB RAM (608 KB system RAM and 1404 KB Flash RAM)
1 PCMCIA socket type II
prepared for wireless data communication (Modacom and GSM)
4 AA (Mignon) batteries
Software: Notion, FilePad
The update for the German MP to system software version 1.3 will be available from 11/94 for 300 DM (about $200). The Newton Connection for Mac 2.0 update is available now (free!). The Newton Connection for Windows 2.0 update will be available from 11/94 (free!).
------------------------------
Subject: 9. Various FAQs.
----------
*** 9.1 Can I add a new time zone and city ?
From geneherz@kean.ucs.mun.ca (Gene Herzberg) 27 Jan 94:
Is there any way to add additional cities to the time zones function. I live in St. John's Newfoundland Canada which is 1 1/2 hours ahead of eastern standard time. I would like to set this as "home" city. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
>>>Answer: Don't know but both "Commuter 1.0" (Ben Sharpe) and "Place- settings" allow you to add city names to the TimeZone list thus allowing quick change of your location in the world clock (Time Zones) application.
----------
*** 9.2 Can I add countries to the popup list in the Names file.
>>>Answer: "Add Country" is a shareware package that do just that.
----------
*** 9.3 Connection Kit 1.0 for Macintosh: Hardware limitations.
From: babineau@bmerhae6.bnr.ca (Michael Babineau), 21 Feb 94.
I just tried to install the Connection Kit Software on a MAC SE (has a SuperDrive) and the installer informed me that the Connection Kit requires a Mac with at least a 68020. So for all of you who have wondered whether the connection kit would run on an SE, Plus, Classic etc.. now you know .. it doesn't!
----------
*** 9.4 How can I move items from card to internal memory ?
From flui@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (Godwin Lui) 15 Feb 94.
I know only two ways of doing it, and I think both are not very efficient. One is doing it item by item. Another is by using the Find function and look for dates before certain dates. For example I no longer need the stuff in January (appointments and notes), I just find everything before February 1, 1994 and select the envelope to move to Card or from Card. Unfortunately, the Names cannot be moved this way.
----------
*** 9.5 NiCd batteries.
From: darrylo@sr.hp.com (Darryl Okahata) 21 Feb 94.
Here are some (edited) messages that appeared in comp.sys.laptops last year.
* From: "James A. Zaun" <jim@zaun.infoserv.com> 30 Nov 93.
> Does anyone know if/how the newer NiHM[sic] batteries are affected by memory effects?
This memory effect thing is mostly an urban myth (IMHO). Memory only affects one very specific kind of battery: sintered-plate nickel-cadmium designs. Pocket-plate nickel-cadmium batteries are free of the effect, as- well-as, all nickel metal-hydride designs. Nickel metal-hydride batteries share the same positive nickel electrode as its older cousin, but the negative electrode is made from hydrogen-storing metal alloys, such as the lanthanum-based alloys (developed by Philips).
> So how does it affect the battery life, if one frequently takes the notebook off the AC strip, uses it for a short while off the AC, and then plugs it back in (where of course it is being recharged)?
This has less to do with the battery and more to do with the "smartness" of the charging system. If your charging system forgets that the battery is already charged, and thus overcharges the battery until it detects that the battery is already at full capacity, you will "dry" out the battery.
Overcharging causes the electrolyte to disassociate into hydrogen gas at the negative plate and oxygen gas at the positive plate. These gases, especially hydrogen, do not diffuse back through electrolyte separator very easily and can build up enough internal pressure to cause the battery to vent. Many of the newer charging systems maintain a charge/discharge history on the battery and are smart enough to not even attempt to recharge until the battery has been discharged more than 10% or 20%. If your computer employs one of these newer systems you have nothing to worry about. Famous last words.
* From: "James A. Zaun" <jim@zaun.infoserv.com> 4 dec 93
Long-term continuous overcharging produces an artificially induced drop in capacity that resembles memory. It can also decrease the overall life of the cell. A deep discharge/charge cycle will recover much of the cell's life but long-term damage is very likely. This is not "true" memory because the cell is not subjected to repeated charge/discharge cycles that the cell eventually remembers. It's simply a decrease in capacity due to overcharging, and yes, it is mostly reversible. It is also not memory because the point at which the cell capacity drops out varies with the rate of discharge. The capacity loss due to long-term continuous overcharging is caused by loss of contact of the cadmium hydroxide particles with the negative plate. Electron microscope pictures show that overcharging causes the particles to grow larger, especially at higher temperatures. This reduces the surface contact with the pores of the negative plate. A deep discharge/charge cycle restores the hydroxide particles to their normally smaller size -- increasing surface contact. Overcharging on the negative plate occurs when all the cadmium hydroxide is converted to cadmium metal. Once that occurs, only hydrogen gas and heat are produced (Oxygen gas is produced at the positive plate at the point that it becomes overcharged.) These gases, especially hydrogen, will eventually vent from the cell if overcharging continues, thus reducing the effectiveness of the electrolyte.
The real meaning of memory effect comes from precisely repeated charge/ discharges (without overcharging) of sintered-plate nickel-cadmium cells where the cell seems to remember the point of discharge depth. The effect is exceedingly difficult to reproduce, especially in lower ampere-hour cells. In one particular test program -- especially designed to induce memory -- no effect was found after more than 700 precisely-controlled charge/discharge cycles. In the program, spirally- wound one-ampere-hour cells were used. In a follow-up program, 20-ampere-hour aerospace-type cells were used on a similar test regime. Memory effects showed up after a few hundred cycles. [Test program conducted by Pensabene and Gould at GE, I believe.] This kind of memory appears to be related to the "efficiency" of the positive plate. It seems that repeated precise charge cycles affects the ability of the cell's active chemicals to charge fully, after which the positive plate begins to produce oxygen (as if being overcharged). Hence, it is possible for both gases and uncharged particles to exist simultaneously. Strangely, if the cell is carried out into overcharge the memory effect largely disappears. Hence, overcharging actually reverses the "true" memory effect.
Another reason memory effect is a myth since all the consumer charger's I've seen actually overcharge until there is a slight voltage drop (due to an increase in resistance from the formation of larger cadmium hydroxide particles that cause contact loss). It's because consumer chargers actually overcharge that you have to give the battery a deep discharge from time to time. It has nothing to do with memory.
And just in case you are wondering what a sintered-plate is, the plate is constructed by sintering [welding without melting] a fine nickel powder with a surface area of about one square meter per gram. This produces a honeycombed structure that is about 80% open pores. The negative plate is then impregnated with cadmium hydroxide. The positive plate is impregnated with nickelous hydroxide (which converts to nickelic hydroxide when charged).
----------
*** 9.5 bis NiCd Batteries, AC adaptator and the MP.
> Why is the MP110 handbook saying not to use nicads in the newton? Do they just want to sell you the battery pack or will they cause damage to the MP ?
1.) To assure the weak-hearted users buy the Apple-NiCds and contribute to the bottom line. :-)
2.) Because Apple's NiCd packs are of higher capacity than most commercially available NiCads.
3.) Because Apple's battery-pack can be recharged in the Newton, while 'normal' NiCds won't (unless you modify your Newt).
4.) Because if your kludged NiCds leak, Apple won't fix it under warranty.
It is very unlikely that other NiCds will actually damage your Newton, though it is relatively unpractical to use Nicads for several reasons. First of all, while alkalines can last up to 2 weeks, standard NiCds last less than 2 days in an actively used Newton. While the Apple NiCd pack will recharge while IN the Newton, having to take other NiCds out to rechare them is a drag. In conclusion, Apple probably found it easier (with a lesser liability to boot), by simply discouraging the use of the other brands, and pushing their product.
Therefore, while standard NiCds will most likely not damage your Newton, I discourage their use, and recommend either going with standard Alkalines, or, better yet, with Ray-o-Vac's rechargeable alkalines. (a tip, though, make sure that you do not wait until your alkalines are perfectly drained before recharging them - recharge them when they are about 1/2 or 3/4 empty.)
---
Kwan-Seng Low, kwan@versant.com writes:
Why is the MP110 handbook says I can't use the individual NiCd rechargeable battries? What's the deal behind this? What happen if I use the regular NiCd batteries?
John Brewer <jbrewer@wri.com> writes:
Based on my MessagePad classic experience, my guess is that:
1. You'd get a misleading reading from the battery level display.
2. The batteries wouldn't charge themselves while in the Newton.
This is because the Newton doesn't have any way to know that you are using rechargables rather than standard alkaline cells. The NiCad pack has a little notch that hits a switch in the battery pack, signalling that NiCads are installed.
From: js12@gte.com (John Schettino), 27 Apr 1994.
I use them (Panasonic rechargabe AA Nicads) in my 110, and have for the last month. When fully charged, battery level is at 70%, when almost empty, battery level is at 30%. Only sometimes do I get a warning before low power shutdown. I just swap at 30% and no problems! I get 2-3 days per charge, depending on use (usually 20 hours of "power-on" time). Since I use AC power at my desk I have not made a hardware hack to press in the nicad detector switch. I would not want the Newt to try and charge my non-apple nicads!
I see no reason to not use them.
----------
*** 9.6 PCMCIA Cards FAQ: Flash vs. Static Ram.
John Hoford (hoford@tumtum.image.chop.edu) writes:
What exactly is the difference between the flash and static ram?
From what I can tell
- Flash uses more power (at least for writes).
- sram is more expensive.
Are their any other differences?
Is one faster than the other in the newton?
How does flash ram work?
From: jsilvia@nyx.cs.du.edu (John Silvia), 7 Jan 94.
STATIC RAM
This type of ram is very fast, usually used by computers as the main memory because of its speed. Ram that is similar in function, but not in design include Dynamic Ram and ECL Ram. Static ram chips, as long as power is available, will maintain their contents. Dynamic Ram or DRAM needs a special "refresh pulse" which maintains the contents. ECL is called Emitter Coupled Logic, and is *very* rare, usually runs similar to static ram, but it uses current instead of voltage and it's the fastest ram design available. ECL requires shielding to be used because of the interference that it puts out.
FLASH RAM
This type of ram is not meant to be used as main memory in a computer, but instead as ROM. ROM - meaning Read Only Memory is good only for storing info that never changes. There are lots of different kinds of ROM's including Roms which are masked with data at the factory, Proms which you can write once and they will remember forever, eroms which are erasable with a UV light (takes 30 minutes) and then eeproms which can be erased electrically. Eeproms take a bit of current to write, and they are slow. Flash Ram is very similar to eeproms with a main difference - eeproms have a lifetime of about 100 erase/write cycles or so - like eproms - flash ram has a lifetime of some millions of erase/write cycles. In addition, you don't have to erase ALL of flash ram to re-write a few k or so, just the areas that need changing. Eeproms might work this way too, but I'm not sure. Flash ram does not need a "refresh" cycle, and it requires no batteries to maintain its contents like static ram does. Also flash ram is faster than roms, but not has fast as rams. Generally flash ram is faster reading than writing, because the write cycles do take longer.
Given the choice of the two types of ram cards out there, you have to decide what you plan on doing with the newt. Do you intend to change the contents of the card daily or only backup once in a while. If you think that you'll be waiting for the newton more because of heavy read and write access to the card, then I'd go with static and not flash. On the other hand, if you intend to use the flash ram as kind of a storage card to be used only when needed, and left out of the machine during most normal use, then the flash ram would be a more suitable way to go.
One last item, I forgot to mention, flash ram doesn't need a special circuit to write into it like an eeprom does - most eeproms can not or are not written to in their own circuit - usually they are written and then installed. A flash ram chip has a little of extra circuits to handle the read/write business, but nothing near as elaborate that would change the way a normal computer would read/write the chip.
I think I got everything right - I'm open to corrections though - I haven't played enough with the flash ram to know all the interfacing differences between it and non-flash ram.
----------
*** 9.6bis other PCMCIA cards questions.
David Dunham (ddunham@radiomail.net), 3 Jun 1994, reports having no trouble using his Intel 10Mb flash card on OMP or MP110.
---
Phil Kaaret writes:
I have two PCMCIA sram cards from a Poqet PC, a 512k and a 2MB card. Does anyone know if these will work in a Newton? I called Apple SOS but they were not helpful.
From: js12@gte.com (John Schettino), 6 Jun 1994.
I'm using a GRID 1mb sram card in my 110 Newton w/o problems I think the rule is:
sram: anybody's works fine PCMCIA (Type I or II)
flash: only apple/intel works
I'd stick 'em in and try. If you open the extras, prefs and then insert the card Newt will try to erase it and prep it for newton use. Make sure you don't need anything on the card first!
---
From: albert@bga.com (Albert Nurick), 6 Jun 1994.
Here's the scoop on Newton memory cards:
On a Newton, anyone's PCMCIA SRAM card should work.
Flash cards must conform to the memory-mapped spec popularized by Intel and others. Apple's cards do this, of course.
"ATA" flash cards, which emulate IDE disk drives and were popularized by Sundisk and Hewlett-Packard, do not work; most that I've seen say "ATA" somewhere on the card. So, if the card works in a HP100LX without additional drivers, it won't work in a Newton.
From: anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber), 7 Jun 1994.
As usual, Apple goofed around again with a standard: many PCMCIA SRAM cards don't work in the Newton MessagePads. I think MessagePad SRAM cards require attribute memory, but I'm not sure. Whatever the reason, some cards work unreliably, some lose data, and some just don't work at all.
"ATA" flash cards don't emulate IDE disk drives, they *are* IDE disk drives, but without the disk. They also use a PCMCIA interface, just like most of the PCMCIA hard drives.
Another way to tell (it's ATA) is that every single Intel style memory- mapped card I've heard of is Type I (3.3 mm thick), while every single SunDisk style ATA card I've seen is Type II (5 mm thick). Note that Intel is now reselling SunDisk ATA cards.
----------
*** 9.7 Modem questions (incl. PCMCIA modems).
Can I use my (Brand X) modem with my Newton ?
Note that the MP can't send data faster than 2400bps and faxes faster than 9600 bps. But a faster modem is still useful if you want to use it not only with your MP, but also with your desktop computer. And who knows what will be the com speed of the next Newton device.
The MP communication software (in ROM) is only compatible with a few modems that contain one of the only four compatible Rockwell chipsets.
Modems compatible with the Newton:
- Apple external modem for newton (2400bps data / 9600bps fax).
- Apple PCMCIA modem for Newton (NB: designed by Megahertz).
- SupraFax modem v32bis (14400bps data & fax) OK for fax (first mentionned by Paul R. Potts).
- Megahertz old XJ1144 (Xjack) 14.4 PCMCIA modem (black plastic edges) when
using AC adapter, without one it causes power faults (Richard Kaapke).
- IBM Easy Options PCMCIA 14.4 fax/modem is OK for fax (according to Scott Frazer & Johnathan Spectre).
- Zoom v.32bis (first mentionned by Richard Kaapke).
- Viva 9642e (according to Richard Kaapke).
- 14.4/96 PCMCIA Data Race RediCARD Modem/Fax (according to sean <ENRLG@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>).
Modems incompatible with the Newton:
- Global Village Gold (14400bps).
- PowerFax7.
- Apple Djinn (2400bps data / 9600bps fax).
- Olitec Performance Pocket (14400bps).
- Megahertz new (made after May 94) XJ1144 PCMCIA 14.4 fax/modem (two gold metal strips on the edges).
- Megahertz XJ2144 PCMCIA modem.
Might be compatible:
- US Robotics Mac & Fax (14400bps).
- Intel 14.4k PCMCIA modem (Thomas Farrell & Brad Sandman say it's compatible, E.J. Draper says it isn't).
Thanks for the contributions of Jon Conradt, Paul R Potts, T Nishino, Steve Morris, Coty Smith, Richard Kaapke, Scott Frazer, Ron Lussier & others.
---
If you use third party software instead of the MP built-in communication capabilities, you'll be able to use other modems. For exemple, PocketCall claims to be compatible with any Hayes compliant modem.
---
Shaun_Wheeler@lamg.com writes:
I tried faxing a 4 page document (note pages) on my Newton 110 with a PCMCIA card fax modem to my PB 180 with a GV Gold modem it would only fax one or two pages then quit, anyone else having this problem ?
Yes. It does it consistently. I mentioned this 2 months ago. It's a bug. The same thing happens if you try to print something with more than one or two pages.
---
From: ktodd@walrus.mvhs.edu (Ken Todd), 4 Jun 1994.
Rockwell chipset C29 contains the 16450 UART
Rockwell chipset C39 contains the 16550 UART w/16k buffer
Rockwell chipset C40 contains the 16550 UART w/16k buffer
The Megahertz 14.4 PCMCIA modem model XJ2144 uses the C39 chipset as indicated by the FCC ID suffix which unfortunately is not indicated on the outside of the packaging.
The Megahertz 14.4 PCMCIA modem model XJ1144 uses the C29 chipset and is most compatible with the Newton Message Pad.
---
Gene Baxter writes:
I just tried my XJ1144 in my MP 110 and it says 'No card is inserted'.
From: rogerc@infinet.com (Roger Collins), 12 Aug 1994.
Strange, when I hook up my XJ1144, Newton recognizes the card as being there (says a comm card has been inserted upon powerup) and the fax and modem try to connect, but nothing ever happens. Stranger yet is that when I don't have a phone line connected to the modem, the modem reports "No dial tone" whenever I try to dial...
From: csmith@tad.eds.com (Coty Smith), 12 Aug 1994.
I have used the XJ1144 several times without the AC adapter. It does drain the batteries fairly quickly but it works. (45 mins online). I just inserted the modem to give it a try on battery and it all worked fine. It responded with "A communications card has been inserted." I have 70% power on regular rechargable AA batteries.
---
Gary Lang (garylang@netcom.com) wrote:
I've seen a guy use a regular Newton PCMCIA FAX modem and a small converter jack to plug the RJ11 into his cel. Works great.
Allister Clisham (allister@tor.hookup.net) wrote:
Can you use a Newton (MP110), the fax/modem card, and a cellular phone? Is there a kit and/or cellular fax modem PCMCIA card? Any experiences with this set-up?
From: jcarroll@panix.com (Jim Carroll), 5 Jun 1994.
The celluar phone device you are referring to is offered by Motorola. It will convert the data port on a Motorola phone (I'm not sure if it will work on others), into a standard RJ-11 adaptor.
---
Newton_News reports about MacWeek 08.08.94:
Don Crabb reports on page 25 in his weekly column that he was able to get Motorola's PCMCIA CELLect fax modem to successfully transmit using Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) with a Newton. The desktop cellular modem needs to be able to support V.32/V42bis or the cellular protocols like Motorola's EC-2, Microcom Corp's MNP-10, or the AT&T/Paradyne protocols.
----------
*** 9.8 Cleaning the MP screen.
People on the net suggest special cloth used for cleaning glasses.
Alternatively:
From: moofie@apple.com (Steve Klingsporn), 6 Feb 94.
"Meridrew Enterprises" in Danville, CA sells a product called "klear screen/klear cloth," billed as "Laptop Computer Screen Cleaner." You can get it as a bottle of liquid and the cloths, or as cloths pre-treated with the liquid, and dry ones too. I have tried both, and they work well on cleaning the Newton's screen.
You can find them in the Apple store in Cupertino, or at:
Meridrew Enterprises, P.O. Box 113, Danville, CA 94526, (510) 838-8774
From JC Bousson:
To be sure that no particles on the screen will be caught by the stylus tip and thus scratch the screen, I simply wipe it frequently with the side of my hand (if it is reasonably clean). Other netizens have reported doing the same.
Some people use an acetate sheet to protect the screen from scratches.
cf. subject 10.4.
----------
*** 9.9 MP transport.
- From Tom White in NANUG's newsletter.
Bags designed for cameras transport. Specifically, the Tarmac "Two way stretch traveller" (model 221) is supposed to provide a nice fit for the OMP and has another pocket for accessories.
- From Robert.Connaghan.
There is a Star Trek Belt-Clip Style case available for the Newton (OMP). It holds the OMP (still in its slip-on pouch) and 2 PCMCIA cards. A large Flip Over top and a large metal belt clip. It's from International Datawares, 408-262-6660.
They publish a catalogue called the Diskette Gazette, Mac products, sw. Part# NSOP, Newt Slip-On Case.
The good news is that it is hand crafted leather, the bad news is $95.00 each.
The other bad news is it is just too damn large, to wear it on your belt is beyond nerd. It measures 8" Long, 5 1/2" wide and 2 1/4" thick.
- From David Dunham, 5 Mar 94.
Well, there are belt pouches. I got the "Organiser bag" from Tough Traveller in Schenectady, NY for around $15. It holds a Messagepad in the slipcase, and would presumably hold a 110 as well. I added a cloth lining so I didn't have to use the slipcase. Its advantage is that the belt loop has snaps, so you don't have to get undressed just to take the pouch off.
- From Greg Friedman.
I bought a 110 case made by Calise. It's got space for pens/pencils, a mounting contraption for the Newton, and external cell phone and change pockets. I purchased it through MacMall for about $70. I'm pretty pleased.
- From Penelope Theodore, 9 May 1994.
In case anyone is looking for a better way to carry their Newton... at L.L. Bean this weekend I found nylon Eagle Creek "camaera" bag that works really well. The main pocket where Newt goes is padded on front, back and bottom, and it has 2 outer pockets that hold the modem and the power supply. It can be worn on a belt, as a fanny pack, or over the shoulder. It was $26. It comes in teal, black or blue.
- From jared@opticslab1.uncc.edu, 2 Sep 1994.
The least expensive and practical case for daily use IMHO is the "Fifth Avenue" by JanSport. You can find it at virtually any local sporting good or camping store for about $13. It's a lightweight nylon fanny back with a main compartment that is perfectly sized for a 110, and a smaller external compartment that can store my PCMCIA wallet, extra batteries, phone/serial cords, etc. I wanted something that would allow me to have the newt around at all times, keep my hands free, not be obtrusive, and it works on all counts.
Mine is a stealthy black for business purposes, but a wide range of colors are available.
- From: William Koperwhats, 22 Sep 1994.
I found a zippered leather carrying case made for the Sharp Wizard at Fry's Electronics for under 20 bucks. It has a velcro pad that when I added a couple of self stick fuzzy strips to the back of my MP100 holds it securely in place and is still easily removed. the opposite side has three small pockets for holding credit cards, business cards or PCMCIA cards and it can hold a pen or two in the hinge. It measures about 8 1/4 X 5 1/2 X 1" closed and holds my MP100 perfectly with about 3/8 inch of room top and bottom. I'm not sure if it will hold the 110. It won't hold much more than the Newton and some cards, but at $19.95 it beats Apple's case by a longshot.
PS. One of those goofy Newton stickers works great to cover up the Sharp Wizard imprint.
----------
*** 9.10 Software showing screen irregularities on MP 110.
From: ezra@netcom.com (Ezra Shapiro), 10 Mar 94.
List-It 2.2
TermLimit 1.1 (as reported elsewhere)
Shopping List 1.3
Souper 1.1 (usable, but info box nearly covers close button)
StewPot (minor screen uglies at bottom)
Snake 1.0
BillyDraw
All above seem functional; and I could find a way to exit without a reset.
Software showing *no* problems:
Poker 1.0
Moon 1.0d3
Remove-It! (well, there's a teeny overlap)
Software needing investigation
StatusBar Buttons v2.0 (Fits on screen fine, but looks tight and might preclude use of StorK 1.1. And I'm curious about the interaction between SBB's word/letter switch and Newton's word/letter switch.)
----------
*** 9.11 Can I fax notes from a PCMCIA card using a PCMCIA fax/modem?
Yes you can because it gets stored in internal memory (Out Box).
-> Info from Scott Leapman in "_protoReality 1.3"
----------
*** 9.12 Can the MP be used as a remote control ?
Yes. Check out packages called SonyRemote and TVControl if you want proof.
From Paul Potts (potts@pharos-tech.com) in PIE Developper 2.3 (April 94).
On February Apple began distributing a preliminary draft of a new toolkit and API which allows Newton applications to control the Newton╒s infrared LED. [stuff deleted] With the introduction of NTK 1.0.1 the IR Toolkit functions are built into the Platforms file.
<stuff deleted>
PIE has said that they aren╒t planning to provide codes for every vendor╒s devices. Instead, they have tried to give developers a chance to share information by setting up an Internet mailing list for IR hackers, NewtonIR@blammo.apple.com.
>>NB: From Craig Richmond, 31 Aug 1994:
>>This list is now defunct.
Support on AppleLink is also available in the PIE Developer Talk board; DTS suggests you include ╥IR╙ in the message subject.
<stuff deleted>
One thing to keep in mind: before you get too excited about turning the Newton into a universal programmable remote control, please note that while the MessagePad can beam infrared radiation at the proper frequencies, it can╒t receive it. According to PIE DTS, a filter designed to improve beaming using the Sharp protocol only allows a narrow band of IR to be received.
From Craig Richmond:
Check out ftp//ftp.apple.com/pie/newton/samples/IR-Remote-Sample.sea.hqx
----------
*** 9.13 MP110 <-> OMP IR beaming.
From: Zack_Vaughan@onenet-bbs.org (Zack Vaughan), 20 Mar 94.
I got a MP 110 and still have my MP classic. I can beam from my Classic to 110 but not 110 to Classic. It says there is no newton on the other end.
From: friedman@netcom.com (Greg Friedman), 21 Mar 94.
I have successfully beamed from a MP110 to an MP and in the other direction.
If the 110 were hard-wired to beam at 38.4 bps, I wouldn't be able to go in either direction. I don't know the specs on the ir transceiver, but it would be silly for it to not negotiate a transmission speed the way autobaud modems do.
From: sleapman@vnet.ibm.com, 21 Mar 94.
For a week I had both my old "Classic" and the new 110, and was able to beam back and forth without any difficulties. You might want to check the settings in the Beam page of the preferences, and make sure that they are both aimed at each other and in range. BTW, I returned the 110 and will upgrade the "classic" instead.
There're many more reports of successful beaming from MP110 to OMP, thus the faster IR beamer of the MP100 is not a problem.
----------
*** 9.14 Black line in the upper left corner of Dates.
This black line is a CAPS LOCK indicator, visible in the Calendar and in the ToDo. <Mike Cohen - isis@netcom.com>
----------
*** 9.15 Upgrade OMP or buy MP110 ?
Question: Should I upgrade my OMP for $99.00 from Apple, or should I try to sell it and buy a MP110 ?
The only advantage I can see between an upgraded OMP and a MP110 is the longer battery life in the MP110. Are there any other major benefits ?
From: Scott Leapman, 18 Apr 1994.
I faced the same question about a month ago. I bought a MP110, tried it for a week, and then returned it in favor of upgrading my original MP.
Anyway, below are my opinions on the MP110 versus the MP100 (aka the upgraded original MP).
MP110 Pros:
(all mentions of the MP100 apply to the upgraded OMP as well)
* more internal RAM than MP100
* longer battery life than MP100
MP110 Cons:
* heavier design
* quieter speaker
* unneccesary and damage-prone flip cover
* awkward PCMCIA slot and release mechanism
* cheaper overall feel
* slightly worse screen (more glare and wierd scratchy feel)
As for the MP110 Pros, I can deal with not having as much internal RAM, and I don't mind charging the nicd's each night. I prefer the MP100's case design, so I'm going with the upgrade. I think the choice is purely personal preference. Buy the MP110 at a store with a liberal 30-day MBG. Return it if you don't like it, otherwise keep it and try to find a buyer for your original MP.
-
Jim Bailey adds: The MP110 is narrower than the OMP/MP100, so some people might actually find the MP110 easier to hold despite the increased weight.
----------
*** 9.16 Syst 1.3 & hard reset / total power failure.
cowart@tpcs1.tpc (Larry Cowart) writes:
In the submissions directory on the uiowa.edu board there is a post 1.3_update submission. Looks like a system update. When downloaded to my mac get info shows copyright apple computer and has that number you see at the bottom of the screen when in the prefs area.
800-sos-appl says this is to be used if you somehow completely lose power on the 110. There is a patch already installed that takes you from 1.2 to 1.3. The only reason to use this patch is to restore what already exists on the 110 currently shipping.
----------
*** 9.17 OMP ROM upgrade: will I get 32K RAM back ?
System 1.05 "stole" 32K of RAM from the user to allocate it to the system memory (in order to prevent the occurence of the dreaded "out of memory, reset the MP").
The ROM upgrade for the OMP will change nothing, your RAM will still be about 148K.
----------
*** 9.18 System memory, heap, store, RAM, ROM: what is what ?
From: Paul R. Potts, 28 Apr 1994.
Let me elaborate briefly on the Newton memory architecture.
I'm writing this as a Newton programmer, but not as one of the system architects. NewtonScript programmers only know so much about the system architecture; the rest of it is hidden from view. So, I've pieced this together out of discussions with PIE people. But I'm not a PIE person, so this may not be gospel-truth. Take only as directed.
MessagePad memory is broken up into a number of areas. There's the persistent object store, which is where soups, packages, and patches are kept. As far as I understand it, soups and packages are what reduces the Memory that you see in Preferences/Memory. Everything you interact with normally as an end-user and consider as "data" goes here; ink, text, addresses, names, data from other applications. Packages in the extras drawer go here.
Patches are part of the persistent object store, but they appear to have their own little area set aside in it that doesn't count in the Memory display.
There's a package cache, but we'll ignore that for now, since it isn't an end-user concept.
There's the system heap, which is where the stuff below the surface does its thing. That means the recognizers use it for processing your writing, the system uses it for drawing objects on the screen, the communications endpoints use it for storing data going in and out. We don't know much about what goes on here, as it is very sparsely documented.
Then there's the NewtonScript heap, which is part of the system heap, set to a fixed size. This is the memory that NewtonScript programmers have to work with for building frames, arrays, views, etc.
There are probably other specialized areas of memory that Apple isn't talking about.
Now, difficulties arise in figuring out exactly what goes where. Functions can take up space in ROM, the patch space, the system heap, and the NewtonScript heap. For each system version, consider that you've got a base machine, with a given number of things in ROM, plus a set of patches. Right now there's the 1.0 ROMS with patches .02 through .05. Then there's the 1.1 ROMs with patch .01. Then, there's the MessagePad 110, which has 1 meg of RAM v. 640K. This meg is partitioned differently. The 110 has 1.2 in ROM, with a patch to 1.3. The MP 100 will have 640K RAM, perhaps with 1.3 in ROM, maybe with 1.2 in ROM, and might ship with some patches of its own. I don't know, not having seen one yet.
Consider that for each of these configurations, the actual SRAM can be partitioned into slightly different-sized pieces. The persistent object store hasn't changed much except for the reduction in 1.05, but the other areas may have had subtle changes made with each revision. With each ROM revision, things that were formerly in patches can be moved into ROM, making room for new patches.
- Will the Newton MP 100 have a bigger system heap than the Classic running 1.05? No, I don't think so. In 1.05, the system heap grew to improve recognition, by borrowing memory from the persistent object store. Note that the system heap is not an end-user concept; there's no way to see how big it is, except by subtraction. If it were bigger in the 100, they'd have to borrow even more memory from somewhere else, perhaps the persistent object store.
- Will the Newton MP 100 have a bigger NewtonScript heap than the Classic running 1.05? No, I don't think so. To make it bigger they'd have to borrow memory from somewhere else. If they made it smaller, some existing apps might have trouble running.
- Will the Newton MP 100 have a smaller persistent object store than the Classic running 1.05? No, I don't think so. Users are already upset about giving up some of this for 1.05; I don't think Apple would have them give up more of it.
----------
*** 9.19 Where can I find this book (about Nwt programming) which includes a cut down version of the NTK ?
From: jyork@iastate.edu (Justin York), 6 May 94.
I ordered mine through the University's Book Store. You may be able to find the book at larger Waldenbooks or B.Dalton's. If you'd rather order it directly, here are the details:
Title: "Programming for the Newton: Software Development with NewtonScript"
Author: Julie McKeehan and Neil Rhodes
Price: $29.95 (paperback, 352 pp)
ISBN: 0-12-484800-1
Publisher: AP Professional
Contact: (800) 321-5068 US
(800) 336-7377 Fax
(407) 345-2525 Intl
app@acad.com E-mail
From jyork@iastate.edu (Justin York), 8 May 94.
You cannot change the App name or signature, which means that you can install only 1 thing you write with it in any Newton. It doesn't allow you to change the preferences, and it displays a box that says "This application was built with NTK Demo. It is not packaged for resale." when the installscript runs.
It puts up a dialog box that says "Newton Toolkit" which is registered to "Demo" when you launch the NTK, and it waits a while (30 seconds?). I don't know if it's setting things up, or just waiting to remove convenience. It comes on 1 disk, but takes more than 4 megs of memory to run. *shrug* It also needs 32 bit addressing, but they don't tell you that anywhere in the book. It wouldn't work on a Mac Plus with 68030 and 6M (my machine), but it works great on a IIsi.
I haven't tried anything fancy on it yet, but I'd imagine that you'll be anxious to buy the full NTK by the time you finish the book. The book is written very technically, which may confuse inexperienced programmers, but I have to say that it's been fun so far!
From MacUser Vol.10 No16 (05/10/94):
In the UK: about ú25 (Academic Press).
The NewtonBook Maker is not included in the demo version.
PS: This demo version supports the screen-dump feature.
----------
*** 9.20 Bar code reader for Newton ?
From: anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber), 4 Jun 1994.
Here are some companies that sell bar code readers and interfaces for Newton MessagePads.
#serial port bar code scanner for Newton MessagePad maker
TPS Electronics
2495 Old Middlefield Way
Mountain View, CA 94043
USA
+1-800-526-5920
+1-415-988-0141
+1-415-988-0289 fax
BARCODE@applelink.apple.com
#BarCoded bar code reader and software for Newton MessagePad
WillStein Scientific Software Incorporated (WSS)
1723 Elmwood Ave.
Wilmette, IL. 60091
+1-708-256-2895 +1-708-256-5220 fax
willstein@applelink.apple.com
willstein1@aol.com
#ETE Communicator(tm)
#Newton MessagePad
#cellular, packet, GPS, faxmodem battery pack bar code scanner module
ETE, Inc.
12526 High Bluff Drive, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92130-2067 USA +1-800-793-9696
+1-619-793-5400
+1-619-793-6060 fax
----------
*** 9.21 The System 1.3 (xxxxxx) mystrery.
From: Robert Reinfrank, 12 Sep 1994
The number in brackets is indeed the patch revision and yes there are differences. I spoke to Apple support engineers in the US last week. Their latest patches were 1.3(344137) for the MP110 and 1.3(4141??) - well beyond (414052) - for MP100s. The Australian version of 344137 is 344138 and has tone dialing disabled.
The most obvious difference between these new patches and 1.3(344052)/1.11 is the fact that they finally fixed the code governing the up/down/overview button shambles. Remember, you always had to be careful where you tapped on the arrows just in case the overview screen would activate! Well that problem's finally been fixed. The arrows and overview button finally work as you'd expect :-) This is just the first difference you'll notice!
------------------------------
Subject: 10. Tips.
----------
*** 10.1 Automatic power shutdown.
When the MP is powered by the mains, you don't need an automatic shutdown set as early as when you are on batteries. Several shareware packages allow you to set up two durations before shutdown, depending on the power source: SleepAid, SamSensibleSleeper, NoSleep.
----------
*** 10.2 Shareware problems.
Some shareware packages can cause subtle trouble. For example, they might prevent good working of your Connection Kit.
Always install only one package at a time and use your MP for a few days to see if everything still behave normally before installing another pkg.
----------
*** 10.3 Backup to PCMCIA card.
If you do a backup on PCMCIA 2Mb flash card and then erase the backup, you don't recover all the space used. So each time you do a backup, it takes more space than it should. You can reclaim the lost space by wipping out the whole card (but don't do that too often, it shortens the life-span of flash cards).
----------
*** 10.4 Preserving your MP screen.
Be careful to keep your screen free of dirt & sand particles, otherwise you may scratch the screen while writing (if your pen catch the dirt).
Personaly I just wipe the screen with the side of my hand (if it is clean and not sweaty) each time I see some dust particles on the screen.
Some people on the net report the use of acetate sheets cut to the right size and changed regularily (because some dust get trapped between the screen and the acetate).
From: prairie@mcs.com (Eric Diamond), 3 Jun 1994.
I have found that Acetate is not the best solution. If specks of dust get trapped between the Acetate layer and the mylar touchpad on the screen, it will scratch worse.
To prevent scratches, I take two approaches: first, clean and dust the screen regularly. Then, every once in a while apply a thin coat of Armor-All protectant to the screen, by spraying the stuff on an optical quality cloth (available at most opticians and applying to the screen. Next, I buff with a chamois. It makes the screen a little more slick than normal, but it adds a layer of protection.
Next, make sure you have a good pen. There are some bad pens out there, so the guy in this newsgroup who suggested that you take yours to a jeweler to be examined, was right on. I ordered 5 extra pens, and three out of the five were unacceptable (i.e., would have scratched the screen). It is a pain in the ass, but well worth the effort.
---
You can also buy products designed to protect the MP screen (cf. subject 11.2).
----------
*** 10.5 Undo -> Redo.
Syst 1.04 & 1.05
If you have "undone" something and want to "redo" it, call the keyboard, press the Option key and then tap Undo.
This is no longer working with system 1.3 on my OMP100.
----------
*** 10.6 Drawings.
From Robert Stone (stone@phoenix.cs.uga.edu) in "_protoReality 1.2":
If you want to draw a small detailed picture, first draw it as large as possible, and then scale it down (select+drag one corner).
----------
*** 10.7 Access to last 4 Newton "messages".
Tap Undo (when there is nothing to undo, reset if necessary) then tap the overview dot.
----------
*** 10.8 Speed.
It is worth remembering that in Names and in Notes, the Newton reacts much faster if you are in "All names" or "All notes". For exemple, try enlarging a note (by dragging down the separator bar).
I always keep my Names as "All names" and use the overview.
In the case of notes, using "All notes" sort of defeats the purpose of this application (the useful thing in storing notes is to be able to sort them), so I curse Apple and suffer while my MP takes its time to change folder ! Some people bypass this problem by entering keywords in their notes and using the Find function, always staying in "All notes".
---
From Dia Helmy (helmy@bnr.ca):
Newton 1.05 and 1.11 are much faster if *nothing* is filed (i.e. everything is Unfilled). Kinda bogus, but it improves speed significantly.
From Andy Markham (markham@bnr.ca):
Just FYI, I read that the reason it is slow is because Newton re-indexes the Names folders each time you switch between them. Therefore if you use the "All names" view it just has to index it the first time and then doesn't need to any more.
From Todd Safra (iceburg@cellar.org), 22 Feb 94:
This happens because when you change folders the index needs to be dynamically rebuilt- hence the pause. I personally put keywords like business, friends, etc. in the text portion of the name file (card and notes) then use the find to generate a list of possibilities (takes 1 or 2 seconds). You can actually set up people to be in more than one group this way. For exemple, "friends business" could be searched by friends, to get just friends, by business to get just business, or friends business to get people who I work with who I go out socially with.
Try it! Apple tech support liked the idea and it avoids those time consuming index rebuilds!
----------
*** 10.9 The secret 3rd font of the MP.
From the 3rd issue of "Stylus" (08/94):
The MP has a secret font called "Espy". To get it, write "Remember toothpaste", select it, tap Assist and then tap Do. "toothpaste" will be entered in the ToDo list. The font used is the secret font. Select the word and move it to a note (using the clipboard). While it is still selected, type "Espy". Store carefully the note.
When you want to use this font, select some text and move it to the right of "Espy".
NB: Use the size 18 to better see the differences between Espy and the other two fonts (Simple & Fancy).
----------
*** 10.10 Alarms reminders.
Anyone know of an alarm utility that would keep periodically notifying of a past alarm until turned off ?
From Flash Sheridan, 5 Feb 1994.
RemGuard does exactly this.
From Kenneth Luke, 12 May 1994.
In MacWeek 5/9/94, there is an article on page 20 about some products that take care of the problem you mentioned. The product is "TimeToGo", and the company is Extra Lead. Their phone number is (510) 527-6186.
From JC Bousson.
There are other packages worth investigating: SmartAlarms and Alarmist.
----------
*** 10.11 Event spanning several days.
From JonathanC (conradtj@yvax.byu.edu), reported in Newton_News 10/10/94:
Q: How to schedule a week-long vacation in the monthly calendar view (something like just writing "VACATION" across the whole week)."
A: Select the consecutive days you want the note to run. The screen will then divide to show the hourly meetings for each of these days. Then write in the white space left of the calendar. Items written in this white space are DAY events, not hour events. When you write in this area with multiple days selected the event is set to cover all of the days. This also works for selecting all of the Mondays, or the second and third Thursday, etc...
------------------------------
Subject: 11. Newton hardware products.
----------
*** 11.1 Styluses.
There are several alternative to the standard Apple styluses.
WriteWare is manufacturing several types of styluses:
- "SNAP" replaces with a stylus the cartridge of your favourite pen (Cross, MontBlanc Rollerball & BallPoint, Quill, Fisher, Lodis, Parker Rollerball & Ballpoint, Sheaffer Rollerball).
- "Stealth Stylus" is a clever two functions pen: twist to the left you've got a normal pen, twist to the right you've got a stylus. Very convenient.
- "Super Stealth Stylus" adds a third function to the previous product: a 5.0 lead pencil.
- "FlexWrite Stylus" is an inexpensive stylus (for people that always loose their pens).
Prices (Oct.94) start at $8.95 for the SNAP, $17.95 for the Stealth and $25.95 for the Super Stealth (+handling & shipping).
You can download a catalog (Mac file or Nwt pkg) by ftp.
COMMENTS: Personally I'm not a pen-lover. I wouldn't put any money into buying a nice but expensive pen, so SNAP is not for me. On the other hand, if you like gold plated pens, lighters, watches, etc... SNAP could be a useful addition to your favourite pen.
The Stealth & Super Stealth styluses look more interesting to me. You always need a pen around so why not double it with a stylus. But MPs already carry a stylus in a convenient way, so who need a pen/stylus ? The answer is: all the people who complain about the design of Apple styluses (and I've seen a lot of complains about it on the Net). I can't advise anybody on the usefulness of the Stealth Styluses because it's all a question of taste, but here are a few comments:
Personnaly, I quite like Apple OMP stylus (and I've never lost it) so I don't really need anything like the Stealth. But the "feel" of the Stealth is definitively different (I've tried a Stealth Stylus Metal kindly supplied by WriteWare). Its round shape, heavier design and different balance will probably very much appeal to the Newtoneers who dislike the OMP stylus.
The pen point is good and writes fine lines. The stylus point is good too but not revolutionnary.
One thing I like very much is the slim black & golg design (also exists as gold or silver). It's great for the image ! I can't wait to show-off at AplleExpo next week. But some people might prefer "fat" pens.
----------
*** 11.2 Screen protections.
WriteRight Screen Enhancement
Manufacturer: The Concept Kitchen.
WriteRight Screen Enhancement is a specially designed, clear plastic film pre-cut to the exact screen size of the PDA screen. By applying this thin film to the unit's screen, the user will improve the use and operation of the PDA in a number of ways:
1. Eliminates Screen Scratches--
By providing a thin barrier between the pen and the screen, the WriteRight fully protects the Newton or other PDA from screen scratches caused by small dust and dirt particles which can become embedded in the pen tip or on the screen surface.
2. Improved feel--
The surface of the WriteRight Screen Enhancement is designed to provide a slight increase in the drag of the pen on the screen to better simulate the effects of writing on paper.
3. Reduced glare--
The WriteRight screen enhancement is manufactured from a special material designed with minute surface variations. As direct light reflects off these surface variations, the light is diffused, resulting in a screen with softer reflections and less glare.
To simplify application, use and removal, the WriteRight has been designed to cling to the surface of the PDA screen without any adhesive. To apply, the user simply peels the WriteRight film from the protective backing and applies it to the PDA screen. When removal is desired, the user need only peel the plastic film from the screen and the PDA is immediately restored to its original condition without any residual adhesives or other undesirable effects. Each individual screen enhancement has an estimated life of four weeks.
The WriteRight is now available in 4-packs and 8-packs for a number of personal digital assistants including the Apple Newton Message Pad (original, 100 and 110), the Sharp Expert Pad and the Tandy/Casio Zoomer.
WriteRight pricing is $11.95 for the 4-pack and $18.95 for the 8-pack (+ $2.95 shipping and handling per pack).
Contact Information: K. Dale McAdams, The Concept Kitchen
Sir Isaac's Shield(tm) from Sir Isaac Systems is made from a polymer that's impervious to dust, scratches and protects your eyes from glare. This amazing product actually repels dust from your precious PDA's screen. The Sir Isaac's Shield(tm) attaches to your PDA screen in seconds and won't fall off no matter how hard you press.
The Sir Isaac's Shield(tm) is available in a variety of sizes to fit all pen-based PDA's in the marketplace. For OMP or MP110, the Sir Isaac's Shield is $12.95 plus $1.50, shipping and handling, you get 4 Sir Isaac's Shields for a full year of screen protection for your PDA.
Sir Isaac Systems 631 Vasona Court , Los Gatos, CA 95030
AppleLink: MILLIGAN.M
Internet: milligan@netcom.com
----------
*** 11.3 Various
From Newton_News:
SHAREWARE GPS INTERFACE RELEASED
AllPen Software, Inc. is pleased to announce GPSButton 1.0, a shareware package to interface the Apple Newton to Trimble Navigation's ScoutMaster series of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. It can be found at the Internet Newton Archive - newton.uiowa.edu. You can contact AllPen at 408.399.8800 or <allpen@applelink.apple.com>.
FARMERS THINK THE NEWTON IS WAY COOL
Not only that, but they get more cool farming stuff done faster, and easier. This is an indepth article on Monsanto Co.'s vertical applications on the Newton that help farmers do their job better. Called the "Infielder" it is a data collection tool to allow farmers "to keep track of everything they do in the field." Jeff Robinson, an Infielder user, was quoted as saying, "I carry the Newton with me everywhere. Not only is recording data easier, but I also have access to information at my fingertips".
----------
*** 11.4 HOT from London AppleExpo.
There was a large area reserved solely for Newton stuff at last week London AppleExpo (that is, on top of the Newton area on the Apple stand). Here are a few things I saw there (most are for specialised markets).
- UK Internet provider for the Newton:
Imago On-Line Services is launching an Internet provider service for the Newton MP (and for Mac or Windows). From the Newton, using their FirstClass Retriever software (ú65) you can have access to Internet e-mail (off-line reading). Another version of this software will also allow access to Usenet newsgroups and to Imago conferencing.
FirstClass Retriever on Nwt can handle 20 pages (A4) text messages (but no Newton graphics yet).
The service supports up to 28.8kbps speeds.
Subscription is ú40 per year (Nwt) or ú75 (Mac, Windows).
Contact: (01428) 645225 or info@imago.com
- Wright Strategies (619 794 2494 in the US):
"Omniform" a general purpose data collection system (usable, for example, in customer surveys, health & safety audits, sales lead collections, ...).
- SRL Data (071-267 2561):
Consultant for Newton software development, technical support and training services (Nwt, Mac and UNIX).
Developper of market research and merchandising systems.
- KPMG Management (071-236 8000):
Sales force automation, elimination of paper based questionnaires.
- PA Consulting group (071-730 9000):
Clinical trials, workplace assessments, health & safety audits, ...
-AntiGravity Ltd (0494-462454):
Health care, clinical trials, sales automation, opinion polling, civil aviation, audits, remote device control, ...
- Dream soft (081-460 3958):
Portable information systems synchronising with central office databases. Anaconda is DreamSoft highly configurable generic communication client.
- Full Moon Software (0727-844232):
Newton client-client server development.
- LanMarque (0932-222821):
TeamAgenda: a tool to synchronise personal appointment diary with the rest of a team.
------------------------------
Subject: 12. Easter Eggs.
----------
*** 12.1 Write "Find Elvis", select it and tap Assist.
From Matthias Zahn <Matthias.Zahn@ipk.fhg.de>:
For the german MP "Finde Elvis".
----------
*** 12.2 Write "About Newton", select it and tap Assist.
A list of Newton developers appears.
Note from Scott Leapman: In the pre-1.3 ROM, the last thing on the screen (at the end of the list) is a memorial "In Memory of Ko Isono" message, but System 1.3 doesn't have this.
From Matthias Zahn:
For the german MP "[Ue]ber Newton" where [Ue] is U-Umlaut.
----------
*** 12.3 Graceland: Alternative startup screen (OMP only).
Write "Graceland" in Preferences/Personal/Country. Turn off the MP. Then turn it on, et voila !
This works only with the OMP and original ROM (Syst.1.4, 1.5, 1.10 & 1.11). The newt picture has dissapeared from the version 1.2 of the ROM (Syst1.3). Sad, I liked that picture very much !
----------
*** 12.4 Thermometer (OMP & MP100 only).
Press the clock in the Status Bar, you get the time/date. Press longer and you get the temperature in the battery compartment.
----------
*** 12.5 Serial debugger.
Go to Extras, tap the upper left corner of the Extras window, tap the upper right corner of the Extras window. You get access to the built in serial debugger.
----------
*** 12.6 July 20, 1969.
From Paul R. Potts' FAQ Sept 93:
Reset the Newton. After the Newton reboots, tap the Undo button. You will see an error message that says there is nothing to Undo. Tap the overview dot between the two arrows at the bottom of the screen. You should see two errors listed, both as "Newton." Tap on the topmost one - it will say "Welcome to Newton." Hold the stylus down on the little information symbol (i) for more information. The date will be shown as July 20, 1969, 2:35 i.e. human first landing on the moon.
From Matthias Zahn:
For the german MP the date is 9.11.1989 21:00 Uhr.
i.e. the fall of the Berlin Wall.
----------
*** 12.7 Happy Hour.
From NANUG's newsletter, Tom White (white@cs.uga.edu):
Insert the "Getting Started" card. In the NotePad, write "schedule Happy Hour Fri". Then tap Assist. Apple is notorious for their Friday "bashes".
----------
*** 12.8 Alternative startup screens (Syst 1.3 only).
From Robert E. Bruce, 8 Mar 94.
Add either 2 or 3 spaces to the end of address 1 in the Personal section of the Prefs. Two spaces displays a cat, three spaces displays another picture (difficult to describe ! ).
----------
*** 12.9 Moon phases (ROM/System 1.3 only)
From Kevin Fox, 24 Mar 94.
Go into Dates, then tap in the blank space above where it says the current day (upper left hand corner-ish).
The phase of the moon for that day should appear under the pen.
Remember, this only works with the 1.3 roms, so you OMP users are out of luck until you upgrade...
------------------------------
Subject: 13. A quick best Newton software guide.
----------
*** 13.1 Spreadsheets.
MobileCalc ($80) is reported to be slow. As an alternative there are QuickFigure and NapkinCalc.
NapkinCalc looks very good but is not yet mature (memory problems).
QuickFigure is very stable (at least the Lite version).
There's also a kind of spreadsheet in TapWorks.
Equate is also a spreadsheet.
Check-out the software list (subject 15) for more details.
----------
*** 13.2 List Management Apps.
Paul A. Loeffel writes:
Can someone please provide me with the titles of a some good List Management programs ? I need something with >3 levels of priority and possibly better due date functionality.
From: Mark Holmes, 5 May 1994.
- List-It, Shareware $10, latest version 2.5 (as of 20 April), by Macapa.
Offers several list formats, adds LIST verb to Assistant, includes metaviews (i.e. has matching overview and entry views on Connection Kit). Lots of preferences you can set. Vers. 2.5 offers ability to include a note "underneath" a list item. Has full set of sorting & cleanup options. Lists contain one line per item, with optional Qty and Price fields, or optional comment field. Each line has a checkbox and a handle to let you grab the item and drag. Excellent value for the money !
- NotePak, $49, latest version 1.12 (as of 20 April), by Atomic Software.
Keeps one big list of items which are viewed by powerful, flexible filtering feature. Each item offers: Priority 1-9, a checkbox, choice of 20 categories (five in demo version), Date Due, Percent Complete, and ample room for description (only first line appears in list view). Respects the filing form (your "folder" list). Includes metaviews. Very flexible, but will require some thought to personalize for your own needs -- because there are so many ways to organize items. For example, you could have a "To Do" category, or a "To Do" folder, or a "To Do" filter. Adjusting your configuration later on is very easy with versatile category and filter editor. Installs "NP" button on status bar in Notes and Dates. Adds NOTE verb to Assistant. Another excellent value for the money. Demo version shows off full product nicely, allows just a few categories and named filters.
- Notion, around $70?.
Offers full customized "forms" that are ideal for specialized lists. Demo includes numerous interesting examples of how the product can be used. Lets you name your own fields and field types, arrange their display layout & size. Many interesting features to let you nail down any listable material in just that right format. Very powerful, top-end product.
- Dyno NotePad, around $45, from Starcore.
Hierarchical outline processor -- really more than that, but this is best two-word description I think. Can see/change your system To Do list with some extra capabilities (so can NotePak, I _believe_ -- dunno 'bout the others). In special outline named "To Do" (your system list), there is an interesting capability to change an item's type between "Priority" and "Topic": only Priority items appear in your Dates list. Problems reported of late are being addressed thoroughly by vendor, meantime they're easily avoided and are not dangerous. No demo version available, but well worth a look.
From: Greg Friedman, 5 May 1994.
Doing a synchronize and restore of Dyno NotePad outlines will result in a loss of access to outlines. The data is still present, but there is no way to access it. Dyno Notepad will be a terrific product when this bug and a couple of others are fixed. Until then, I don't plan to use it. This is my experience only, and may not reflect the experiences of other users.
----------
*** 13.3 Various.
----------
*** 13.4 My own top 10 Nwt software.
- Password (Utility)
- TapStyles (Utility)
- NewtCase 1.1 (Utility)
- PaperBack 1.01 (Book making App.)
- StatusBar Buttons 2.0 (Utility)
- Accountable 2.0 (Banking App.)
- StewPot (Utility)
- Convert 2.0 (Utility)
- NANUG newsletters "_protoReality" (NewtonBook)
- TapBoard (Game)
Still testing, but looking good:
- Diner
I also like very much (but don't need):
- QuickFigure Lite (Spreadsheet)
- CheckList (Basic list manager)
- Xtra-Xtra (Utility)
- HeapIt (Utility)
- MagicApp (Utility)
- BooksOff (Utility)
- FilePad (Database)
- RemoveIt 2.2 (Utility)
- PickExtras 1.7 (Utility)
------------------------------
Subject: 14. Not sorted (nor checked), yet.
----------
*** Newton, Newton mail, and standard email.
From: jgs@hadron.merit.edu (John G. Scudder),26 Apr 1994.
< NB: Heavily edited >
This is what I want:
- While I'm at work, I can read my mail on my workstation, as usual.
- When I leave work, if I choose to I can plug my MP into a LocalTalk hose and suck copies of my mail into my MP. Or I can do this via a modem, dialing in to our terminal server (NOT some proprietary mail "service.").
- While I'm away from a desk, I can compose replies or new messages.
- When I get to a phone or LocalTalk hose, I can plug back in and have my MP send my replies out.
The important things here that the Newton does not currently deliver are: (1) I should only have one e-mail address: jgs@merit.edu. This should not require me to get all my mail on my MP. Having my mail forwarded to a NewtonMail acc't while I'm away from my desk is a hopeless kludge, and not acceptable. I should be able to get as much or as little mail on my MP as I want to, at my option. (2) Replies from me should appear to come from jgs@merit.edu, whether or not they are actually routed through merit.edu.
As far as I know, there is no reasonable way to do this with today's MP. The addition of a TCP/IP stack, with PPP, IP/AppleTalk and maybe SLIP link layers and IMAP or POP3 on top, would do the trick. It would be nice if the user agent part understood MIME.
To do this (or a reasonable facimile thereof) with a PowerBook, you need:
(1) MacTCP,
(2) MacPPP,
(3) any one of several mail agents which speak POP3/IMAP.
All of these, except for MacTCP, are available free. MacTCP is cheap. All are pretty easy to install/configure.
Granted this is not a single application. But it doesn't need to be; in fact it would not even make too much sense to put it all in one monolithic app.
From HeywoodFl:
While I agree that the communication features of the MP are not fully developed yet, it serves very well for FAXing, and receiving mail from both eWorld and NewtonMail. In fact, thanks to Apple's integration of NewtonMail into eWorld, getting and sending your eWorld mail is as easy as tapping your in-box now.
From John G. Scudder:
Can we agree that it's reasonable for me not to wish to subscribe to some (non-free) mail service when I already have perfectly good mail service from my employer, which I use most of the time (from multiple hosts)?
From HeywoodFl:
In order to be satisfied by your criteria, a separate app is necessary to provide your kind of connectivity - and I do not believe that at the present level of the game it can be delivered within the confines of the present generation of Newtons.
From John G. Scudder:
If you are saying the software can't be done on a Newton-class processor, you are clearly wrong (the Duo 210 is not a whole lot more powerful than the Newton, esp. with the processor in "power saver" mode, though of course the OSes are rather different). If you mean that Apple has chosen not to support standard mail systems or network protocols in the on-board software, preferring to support a proprietary system, you are correct. If you mean that adding such software would require a lower-level interface to the hardware than current development tools provide, you are again correct (to the best of my understanding). But this was Apple's decision; it could have been otherwise. Yes, I'm kvetching. Isn't that what Usenet is about?
The effort to implement the necessary pieces would be substantial, I agree (though not prohibitive, given development tools). I am not, unfortunately, in any kind of position to do it myself. I am in a position to support, with my purchasing dollars, anyone who does make the effort to do it.
Hey, I like my MP. But (for me) a "communications assistant" it ain't.
----------
*** Keyboards / Sharp Wizard.
David Ciemiewicz writes:
Is anyone out there using a Sharp Wizard as a "portable keyboard" for their MP? Put another way, is anyone using a Sharp Wizard to create keyboard typed notes and then downloading them to their MessagePad? This is the "least expensive" portable keyboard solution I can think of, next to using a laptop or notebook computer.
Ezra Shapiro (ezra@netcom.com) writes:
For a month or so I've been using an old Tandy/Radio Shack Model 100 as a Newton keyboard, hooked up with a null modem cable and Typomatica on the Newt (thanks, Erica). Model 100/102s cost $75-200, depending on condition, accessories, etc. And the form factor is one of the smallest available with a full-size keyboard. Works like a charm!
I cobbled up an old SGI keyboard I got from Wierd Stuff. However, I don't use it. Until some function keys are supported, a keybard is kind of difficult to use. I asked Erica about this, but I've not heard a reply.
It's fine for the paperRoll, but inside of apps, it's a bit clunky. As in, how to you go from field-to-field?
----------
*** Keyboards / Beaming data from Sharp Wizard
From: jonathan@uncvx1.oit.unc.edu, 27 Apr 94.
I have a Sharp Wizard OZ-9600II, which I type things on, and then beam them to the Newt. I would use Typomatica, but it seems to me that the only way to get a Wizard serial cable is to pay over a hundred dollars (at Circuit City) to get a rather-outdated link kit I don't really need. (BTW, Erica, I've used Typomatica with my PB and it's great; your shareware payment will be coming soon!)
There is a problem, however, with beaming Wizard "Notebook" entries to the Newton: When you put them away, the text is split up into individual text-objects (the kind you can drag around) which are each exactly 256 characters in length. The split can, and often does, come in the middle of a word. While this can be very annoying in and of itself, there are some other problem. The entire note which contains the text received from the Wizard is corrupted. You can't simply select one text object and drag it up to the end of the preceding one; you have to create a new note -- below the received text -- and drag each text object, one at a time (because you can't select two at once) down to the new note, and tack it on to the end (deleting a mid-word space character if necessary). As if this weren't enough, you also can't cut or copy the text of a Wizard-received note onto the clipboard of the Macintosh Newton Connection 1.0 (I don't have 2.0 yet), because the software claims the text is "copy-protected." (This could have been implemented as the result of an agreement between Apple and Sharp, so that people wouldn't try to use their Newts as a substitute for the Wizard link package.)
The limitations of Newton's capability to receive beams from Wizards make it very inefficient to try to transfer a document of any considerable length. (I spent nearly a half hour yesterday fixing up a one-page document!) I hope Apple corrects this in their next system patch -- if anyone has the 1.3 ROMS and a Wizard with an IR transceiver, I'd be interested to know of any improvement.
----------
*** NCK 2.0 for Mac bugs ?
From allan@apple.com (Allan Marcus), 11 May 94.
I've notice the following NCK for Mac 2.0 bugs. I'd be interested in compiling a list, so if you've got a reproducible one, send it to me !
-Applications list in create template may show items in wrong order (select item "a" and template dialog for item "b" displays). this happens when there are more than one thrid party app in the list (like NotePak and ListIt!)
-When saving an export, the "file already exists" dialog is sized so that you can not see any of the buttons.
-After importing entries, the current search in the browser is lost and the search button is dimmed even though there is text in the criteria entry area. In fact, the text now becomes the default and cannot be searched on at all!
----------
*** More alarm problems (in repeating meetings this time).
dreaming@netcom.com (Derek L.) writes:
On this topic, I have looked suspiciously upon my Newt on several occasions for "forgetting" an appointment. On pulling up the date in question, I've found that an alarm is not set where I was _sure_ I checkmarked one, and the time reset to the default of 10 minutes (where I almost always change it to five). I have not yet been scientific in tracking this bug, so it's possible my own imperfect wetware is to blame. My opinion is that it's only repeating events that evince this behavior, not one-time or first-time events. I should put one through a battery of tests, including synchronizing with the Mac at home.
scholz@osf.org writes:
I have found this problem as well. Yes, it only occurs when setting repeating appointments. The workaround (for me) is that while filling in the appointment form, enter the title and times normally, THEN set the frequency for repeating, THEN set the alarm. If you set the alarm before the frequency, the alarm gets unset - which is what you're seeing.
From: jdb@tiac.net (Jim Bailey), 20 May 1994.
There seems to be a bug where selecting the checkbox in the alarm dialog isn't recognized when you click on frequency. The scenario is this: click on Alarm, check the alarm on box, click on alarm again or close, everything works fine. Click on Frequency instead and then close from the Frequency dialog and the alarm setting is lost. If you go back to alarm instead of closing the frequency dialog then you can still save the alarm setting by closing. This same problem doesn't happen in reverse, you can go from the frequency straight to the alarm dialog and the frequency settings are saved.
----------
*** Deleting Day Events
In article <carr-020694080405@m41101.esl.com>, you wrote:
I'm having trouble deleting day events on my Netwon MP. These are recurring day events. When I try to delete them, I get -48009 error. If I try to change them, I get not enough memory. How can I kill these things ? I now have several scattered throughout my calendar. They do not show up in the summary lists and Find doesn't see them.
Ken Stevens writes:
If you have the connection kit, you can delete them from the dates overview list. I had the problem of invisible meetings when I erased them using the cross out means of deleting items. I now delete them using the built in delete function and nolonger have problems with invisible meetings and ToDo list items.
Tom@tgma.demon.co.uk (TomAdshead) writes:
I had this problem for the first time yesterday, and what I did was to drag the date over to the middle of the calendar screen, and delete it with four pen strokes then. You would have to do this for each individual recurring meeting, which I realise could be a pain.
From: carr@esl.com (John A. Carr), 3 Jun 1994.
Scrubbing them out didn't work, whether they were day events or dragged to some time slot. I called 1-800-SOS-APPL & they sent me (via Applelink) a Date Fixer package. I installed & ran this & it made the events deletable.
Just a warning for those of you who are getting (or planning to get) WCK 2.0. I got it from Apple the other day (free, very nice! :-), and proceeded to install it. After I had done that, my comm program stopped being able to talk to my modem!!
After 3 hours of pulling my hair out, I found the problem. I have a special COMM driver for my serial ports, and it turned out that the WCK installation program changed the COMM= line in the SYSTEM.INI file back to COMM=COMM.DRV.
So if you run a specialized comm driver, you might want to check the system.ini file after you install WCK 2.0 to make sure it's right.
----------
*** One_button_print WARNING.
From: macia@sinbad.navsses.navy.mil (Harland Macia), 11 Aug 94.
Do not download the file called one_button_print from newton.uiowa.edu. If you install it, it will do very bad things to your newton that you might not be able to recover from. I uploaded it as an example for some newton developers and I should have removed the .pkg file before I did this. I should have also included a ReadMe file, I thought I had already, but I didn't.
If you install it. It will load itself and turn off all of the buttons in the status bar (names,dates,undo...) so you won't be able to do anything except scribble. Because it loads itself you probably won't be able to remove it very easily either.
As soon as I can find the uiowa's moderator's email address I will ask to have it removed.
Sorry all. If anyone does accidently load it, email me and I'll try to help you get it off your newton.
----------
*** ToDo's Newton Bug.
From: John Brewer <jbrewer@wri.com>, 12 Aug 1994.
The "Week listing" format for printing To-Dos truncates the listing at one page. Would that my life were so simple....
------------------------------
Subject: 15. Software: Applications.
----------
*** Accountable 1.03 Demo (actb-ltd)
Demo software.
Author: Nomadic technologies.
RAM: 162704 bytes.
Heap: 2.1kb.
This is a limited version of a bank account manager.
----------
*** Accountable 2.0
Commercial software ($79).
Author: Nomadic technologies.
RAM: 210kb + 112kb + 30kb.
Heap: 2.2kb + 0.8kb + 0.7kb.
Powerfull bank account manager with report and charting abilities.
- Create as many accounts and transactions as you like, limited only by storage.
- Account register viewing, printing, faxing. Print all or a date range.
- Full-function data analysis and report generation. Select transactions from multiple accounts on multiple criteria. Output as printed reports, screen summary, bar/line/pie charts, notepad, or QuickFigure spreadsheet.
- Account reconciliation with interest, service charge and adjustment posting.
- Merchants and payees are automatically captured into pop-up lists for later reuse. Category code association is maintained.
- Cost categories.
- Newton Assist interface that understands, for example, "Charge $25 to Visa at ACME for shirt."
- Newton Find and Find All are fully supported.
- Dragable elevators for fast list scrolling.
- User-controlled currency symbol and decimal format for each account.
- English or German language in the same package.
- Repeat transactions/standing orders.
- One-step fund transfers.
- Password protection with "Off", "On", and "On in Guest Mode" settings.
- User-assigned account icons.
- Full or reduced screen size modes.
- QIF (Quicken(tm) Interchange Format) file importing and exporting via Connection Kit 2.0.
- Transaction entry and editing within Connection Kit 2.0.
- Accountable 2.0 is compatible with all Newton models including the original MessagePad, MP100, MP110, and Sharp ExpertPad.
- Account and transaction data from all earlier versions of Accountable migrate into Accountable 2.0.
- Accountable 2.0 requires 210 KB of storage space plus room for entered data. If Accountable Report and Chart are installed, they require 112 KB and 30 KB of storage, respectively.
- Accountable's Connection Kit features require version 2.0, Macintosh or Windows.
Registered Accountable 1.0 owners who are covered by Nomadic's Upgrade Guarantee will receive an upgrade kit automatically. Others will receive an aggressively-priced upgrade offer.
Accountable 2.0's suggested retail price is US$79 including a manual and software on both Macintosh and DOS formatted diskettes. For a limited time, Nomadic Technologies will accept advanced orders for $59 (plus shipping and handling). Accountable 2.0 is available onPCMCIA cards. Call Nomadic Technologies for pricing.
Nomadic Technologies at 216.331.5771, fax 216.331.5887. In the U.S., orders are accepted at 800.713.6291.
MARK: 5/5
COMMENTS: Very nice and convenient. One of the packages I like most. The makers of Accountable are serious people: good support, very open to suggestions, free upgrades on time, steady stream of improvements & new features, ...
----------
*** Action Names & Agenda
Commercial software ($49.95)
Author: Iambic Software
Address book & calendar enhancement app.
----------
*** Answering-machine-asst
This is a small program to use with your answering machine. Just enter your individual codes and call back the messages, store a new message.
----------
*** Area-codes
The program does just what you'd expect - displays a list of area codes & country/city codes.
----------
*** Assist-calc 3.0
AssistCalc 3.0 is a programmable calculator for the Newton.
- save over 20 formulas that you can define
- simple popup menus to get access to functions such as sin(), cos(), pow() and sqrt()
- choice of either written input (HWR) or tap input via the keypad
- Intelligent Assist supported
- small size only 20k
- small price only $10.00
----------
*** Berlitz 5 langues
Commercial software (590FF TTC, UK ú55)
Provides translation in 5 languages (french, english, spanish, italian & german) for basic travel vocabulary (i.e. hotel reservation, car rental, change, directions, basic goods, numbers, ...).
----------
*** Billy-draw
This simple app allows you to draw whatever you wish on a picture of President Clinton. If you voted for him, you can draw halo's, etc. If you didn't you can draw horns, etc.
----------
*** Check-please
It's just a simple check calculator but it can be handy in real situations.
----------
*** CheckList 1.0
Shareware ($6).
Author: Chris Christensen (chris2x@eWorld.com)
RAM: 37kb.
Heap: 0.8kb? 2kb?.
This application allows you to manage a set of check lists. These might be grocery lists, lists of what to pack for a trip, project milestones, etc. CheckList supports such features as printing, faxing, mailing and beaming lists. It allows you to add, sort, check off items. You can create a list of what you sometimes buy at the grocery store and then check off the items that you want to buy this week. You can then take the checked items and create a new list from them to produce this week╒s shopping list. CheckList also supports folders and filing to aid in keeping a variety of lists.
With Chron you can automate your daily tasks on your Newton device. Chron will send your mail, faxes and print jobs at any time. Chron can also get your mail, and perform any task or tasks for which you would use the assistant. Chron works even while you and your Newton are asleep.
----------
*** Commuter 2.5
Commuter allows you to quickly change your location in the world clock (Time Zones) application.
----------
*** ContactPad
Commercial software
Contacts management.
----------
*** Crypt v1.0b2b
Freeware.
Encryption application.
Crypt uses the IDEA cipher in Cipher Block Chaining mode. This cipher is thought to be extremely strong, and if used carefully, should provide excellent security, even for very sensitive data. IDEA is patented by ETH and Ashcom-Tech.
Input and output are text, and can be moved to and from the Notepad via the clipboard. Currently, only text can be encrypted, but in the future, I hope to add support for full Notepad pages including multiple paragraphs, font styles and drawings.
Encryption keys are 128 bits.
COMMENTS: Crypt encryption uses the 'clipboard'. Thus you can only encrypt as much text as you can select.
Do not confuse this package for a similar one called nCrypt.
----------
*** Diner 1.0.1 (Gary's Guides - Restaurants)
Shareware ($15).
Author: Gary Phipps (SemiSmart Software)
RAM: 99352 bytes.
Heap: 5.1kb.
Diner is a tool for reviewing and selecting restaurants.
There are two parts to the program. The first, called Guide contains popup menus for specifying cities, cuisines, the day, and the meal you want to eat. Sliders communicate to the program your level of interest in the quality of food, service, ambience, convenience and speed. Press the ╥Recommend Restaurants╙ button and the program will evaluate each restaurant in its data base against your criteria, listing the top four restaurants in the box below the button. You can get help at anytime by tapping the ╥?╙ in the upper right corner. A small random factor is thrown into each evaluation to prevent the program from favoring restaurants because of their location in the data base and to add a little variety.
The second part of the program is the Restaurant view. It╒s here that you enter information about your favorite restaurants. The format is similar to the guide view. The restaurant view also allows you to add a fudge factor called preference to capture those intangibles that make some restaurants better than others.
Registered users will receive an enhanced release with support for printing, faxing, and connection kit viewing and editing.
----------
*** DrawPad 1.0
Commercial software
From Ward C. Travis (Ward_Travis@transarc.com), 6 May 1994.
Configuration:
DrawPad 1.0 198,924 bytes (installed)
DrawPad Demo 1.0 69,xxx bytes (installed)
<Stuff deleted>
I had a chance to run DrawPad on an MP100 (with flash RAM) this evening. In a word, it's unfinished.
The packaging for this app calls it a "Technical Drawing Tool".
DrawPad's outer box, its demo, and my big plans for using it all share the same thing: the floor plan of a room. In the case of the artwork on the packaging and of the demo, the room is an office. In my plans, it was a rearrangement of my furniture at home.
The initial impression was, unfortunately, quite revealing. While installing DrawPad, Newton Connection told me to select from two packages on the disk: one called DrawPad2March.pkg, and another called (approximately) DrawPadDemoGM.pkg . Well, I was expecting just 'DrawPad.pkg' or 'DrawPad1.0.pkg'... no way. So I flipped the manual open and read the installation paragraphs. It said to look for "DrawPad.pkg" and "DrawPadDemo.pkg". Hmm. Well, then, what I got was the DrawPad built on March 2. I have no idea what the "GM" suffix on the Demo was meant to say. Yep, a loose end was evident even before I got the app loaded. I loaded the ..2March.pkg and shut down the Mac. I was done loading the app, after all...
<Stuff deleted>
The first thing I wanted to draw was the outline of a room, a rectangular room. Two tries failed to get me a good, solid rectangle.
This is when I noticed the next annoying thing. I did my scrub to remove my shaky-looking boxes, and the scrub 'W' just disappeared. Nothing got removed. I tried several times to scrub that object and failed. I circled the entire thing, waited for the highlight box to appear around it, and scrubbed across the highlight boundary (like I would in a Note). That, too, did nothing. The only way it worked was to deselect everything and slowly use the sideways "W" scrub to get the object to disappear. There were occasions where even this slow approach to cleanup did not work as expected.
OK, so now I wanted to try again to get a solid rectangle. To draw a rectangle, you must have the Drawing Recognizer (way back in Preferences) set up to 'make shapes symmetrical'.
<Stuff deleted>
No, no, it's defensible because there's no way to turn the graphic recognizer on and off from within DrawPad... you must go back through Extras->Prefs->Recognizers->tap->[X]->[X]->[X] to alter the recognizer back to allow you to draw a simple quadrangle. There's no action button (like on the status line, in Notes) that does this for you.
But, still, I thought there would be some grid or gravity to allow me to line up several unrelated objects, or to space them regularly. I immediately started reading the manual. There is no gravity. Good luck.
<Stuff deleted. To sumarize: the user manual is very small.>
So after I got my rectangle onto the screen, nice and neat with the Recognizer forcing the right angles for me, I tried to set the lengths of the sides of this 'room'. I selected one side of it. Nothing happened, I could have sworn that I saw -- in my quick browsing of the manual -- that I need only tap a line once to select it. Tap. Tap. Nothing. Nothing. I learned that after tapping the line, I should count to two before the selection would be highlighted. The mark from the tap gets cleaned up right away, and then one..two.. the highlight appears. That was too slow for me. The Notepad app doesn't have this sort of slow response time... I was expecting more speed.
Anyway, the line was highlighted, and I tapped to scale the line. This went off fine, no surprises. I set that wall to 8 units in length. I selected an adjacent side of the rectangle and set it to 11 units in length. But the rectangle did not resize. I was being FAR too confident about DrawPad. I thought that I could draw a room and tell it, in a longwinded way, to make the room eight by eleven. Well, you can't do it just by setting the lengths of two sides of the room. What I had wound up doing was exactly as the manual said: Each of my two scalings set the scale for the entire page. The rectangle kept the same width/height ratio, and whichever wall I scaled last determined the length of the other walls.
Time for the full read of the manual. After I had sat down and read it, I learned that to make my room have the right dimensions, I should scale one length of it, and then tell DrawPad to display the lengths of the two sides. This is done by selecting each side in turn and tapping Measure. A dialog appears at the top of the screen for each displayed measurement. This is OK, each dialog is narrow and three, maybe four, can be open without losing too much screen to them. Now that both sides are being measured, I can just select the whole rectangle and stretch it -- just like I would in Notes -- and stop when I got the right ratio.
This cannot be done by impatient people such as myself. The drag-and- stretch falls a good three to four seconds behind you. I tried for about twenty seconds. 7.8 -> 8.5 -> (overcorrection!) 12 ... with that sort of negative feedback loop going, you might never luck into the right rectangle. This got me crazy. I spent a while trying to 'teach myself' how to get the right size rectangle, and it just isn't worth it. The smaller the stretch, the longer it takes. Big stretches go pretty quickly. But trying to make a change of less than about 20% of the line's length takes four seconds, and you have to iterate this to get within 1% of your desired length. I apologize for being so frank, but this was discouragingly slow.
Another implication of this scaling technique is that an "L"-shaped room cannot be drawn to scale unless you get the proportions of the L's base's width right relative to the L's stem's length -- follow me? If all you can do is stretch the whole thing, those proportions are going to remain in the same ratio! So if your first try isn't right, 'undo' it and try again, because stretching can't fix that. The killer here is that an L-shaped room is one of the examples (p. 5, p. 17) used in the manual. The artwork on the back of the box depicts an even more deadly-to-draw room, one with eight sides.
<Stuff deleted>
I broke down and loaded the demo. It is NOT interactive -- you may only ask it to move on to the next scene, pause, or X it. It does show live action, however, and maybe people other than myself will really benefit from seeing this movie. The compliments I have for it are that pictures are worth a thousand words and so perhaps this movie will be a GREAT demo to many who watch it.
Having viewed the demo, I still see no way to space unconnected objects at known distances; for example, if you were planning the lot of your house and wanted to include the locations of the fence posts, utility poles, or the free-standing pool, you can only guess or get charged and use temporary objects as measuring lines. So you CAN do it, but this thing calls itself a 'Technical Drawing Tool'... yet there's no way to tap here and tap there and get the measurement of something that isn't an object itself (like the distance between two other objects on any bearing).
Using my one-object image, I tried panning around. This worked as expected -- it was about as fast as the Newtons go. Zooming in and out were acceptable, as well.
<Stuff deleted>
DrawPad does more than just these things. Once you get a plan entered into it, you can ask DrawPad to calculate the area, perimeter, angle, grade, and compass bearings of components of the plan. I haven't entered anything worth testing these out on, and may never. DrawPad offers a graphing capability that will generate bar and pie charts based on table data that your write into its forms. I drained my battery before I got this far, and that'll sum up the review... (in all fairness, maybe the MPs do go slower when the charge gets low... but it doesn't bother me in any other app.) Once you *do* satisfy yourself, the prints it makes are fine, and the package does support a large number of fill-patterns for objects.
<Stuff deleted>
----------
*** Drug-finder 1.01d
Quick, dirty drug reference.
----------
*** Dyno NotePad
Commercial software (372FF incl. tax)
----------
*** EasyBill 1.0
Shareware ($10)
Author: Matt Spolin
EasyBill is a simple application that makes it easy to use the built-in Newton Dates program to keep track of your billable hours.
Just track your time in Dates by creating entries that identify the project and the number of hours to bill. For example, if you worked on a project for ABC Company for eight hours today, you'd create a meeting called "ABC 8 hours" in Dates. Then, when you need a bill for your time, use EasyBill to specify the key word ("ABC"), your billing rate, and a range of dates. EasyBill generates a table that you can quickly route to the Note Pad with the action button.
COMMENTS:
From Matt Spolin:
Because EasyBill uses information in the Dates soup, it supports Newton Connection.
----------
*** Elec-calc
Calculator for use with voltage, amps. etc
----------
*** EnRoute
Commercial software (UK ú79)
Allows your MP to create, send and receive QuickMail messages.
----------
*** Equate
Commercial software (380FF TTC, UK ú59)
Distributed by Starcore
Spreadsheet application.
Can import/export to Excel.
----------
*** EuroTraveller
Commercial software (470FF TTC in France)
Time tables for all large airlines in Europe.
----------
*** ExpensePlus
Commercial software (ú49 in UK)
----------
*** FilePad 1.0
Commercial software (657FF TTC, UK ú79).
Demo available.
Author: HealthCare Communications.
Heap: 7kb?
FilePad is a database similar to the Macintosh / Windows FileMaker (keep in mind the limitations of the MessagePad). It allows you to create the layout of your forms, moving fields around and resizing them with your stylus. You've got a choice of various field types: text field, numeric field, phone number field, popup list field (4 choices only), radio button (2 buttons only), checkbox, drawing field (shape recognizer inactive), calculation field and look-up field (for data from another file).
Data is normally displayed as a card (one record can have a lot of fields spread over several "pages"), but you can also display your records as a list, using any field for sorting. In the list view (mainly designed for browsing) the contents of only two fields can be displayed.
FilePad also has limited charting abilities and is supposed to be able to import/export data to FileMaker (haven't tested this last feature which is not available in the demo).
MARK: 3/5 or more (depending on the exact nature of the database you need).
COMMENTS: FilePad strong point is its template creation. I also liked the ability to write directly on the form unlike Notion which use the same entry system as in Names. But that makes writing more tricky, you might not like it. Notion listing and sorting capabilities are much better: Notion is list-oriented, FilePad card-oriented.
FilePad seemed to be memory hungry and a bit slow, but it's always difficult to tell when you've got other software installed.
Sometimes when you write no ink appear, it is quite annoying, maybe the area where handwriting recognition should be activated hasn't been defined properly.
But the most annoying problem is the awkward scheme used for saving records: you have to tap a "save" button for newly filled forms or a "mod" button for modified records. Failure to do so will result in a loss of your data.
Download the demo, it's definitively worth checking-out !
Edited from: smrosen@fccc.edu (Steve Rosen), 9 Jun 1994.
My wife has her own business as an independant rep of office furniture and lighting. I wanted to allow her to carry around her price lists, samples inventory, fabric specifications and product specifications around with her. Her business is built on handling lots of details for clients so to have it all at her fingertips would be a big win. This will take some time, but I believe is "do-able" with FilePad. For example, she has one line of fabrics that has about 300-400 patterns. She gives a design firm a box of all these samples (3" square each) that they can remove as needed for projects. Eventually she goes back in 3-6 months and has to figure out which samples are missing from the box and need to be individually updated or to remove discontinued fabrics. This is a very time consuming and tedious chore. Each 3" sample would have a barcode label on it.
Hence, being able to sit down and with a barcode reader build a list of what's available and then go home and send via mail the missing fabric samples based on the list built would save her hours. Just the thought of being able to do this really gets her going... Also keeping track of many samples as they fly around between clients would be useful. So I bought FileMaker Pro - a wonderful product for the $99 it cost me - to build a database on the Mac which would be downloaded to the Newton.
FilePad comes with FilePad itself, a few tutorial cabinets and FilePad Link which handles the transfer of data to and from the Newton. They give you windows and Mac versions/disks together, this is nice.
(1) Documentation
Documentation for FilePad is really, really poor. Nothing like documentation that is supposed to tell you how to use a product, get going with it fast and really does nothing more than enumerate its features. I had to read the documentation over 20 times for somethings and I still don't understand some features. Sitting down and just playing with the software helped alot.
(2) User Interface
The creation of the screens on FilePad is OK, but it could easily be improved. The creation screen has a palate of objects at the bottom that you select from and draw on the screen. Once you save a cabinet with objects you can not delete those objects, but you can change them.
They allow 9 screens of input. This is good. RadioButtons only allow 2 inputs and Popups allow only 4. This is stupid, but they did it (I think) to make it easier to design their user interface. The popups will still accept other input. Handwriting recognition was strange. I had to get used to writing smaller than normal because the text input fields were kind of small. If I wrote too big, it stopped recognizing after writing the 'Ca' of the word 'Cat' for example. This was annoying. Only static text fields can have it size changed, this is too limiting, it should apply to all possible fields.
Cabinets are created directly on the Newton. There is no way to upload the cabinets to the Mac as they are accessed directly from the FilePad application.
The connection kit may solve this problem, but I haven't used it enough to be sure. I called the company and they acknowledge that at this time there is no way to backup the cabinet definitions (you can upload the data itself - see below). So you can spend alot of time defining a really neat interface, then somehow trash things and have no recourse. You can, of course do Newton backups on a RAM card, etc, but I not 100% reliant on this since the card could get damaged, etc.
(3) Lookup
FilePad supports looking up automatically values in certain fields when other ones are filled in with certain values in other cabinets. This actually worked very well and was reasonably flexible and easy to define the lookup process.
(4) Formulas
The application supports formulas but only the standard '+', '-', '/', '*'.
(5) Database Linking
The FilePad Link package sits on the Newton and communicates with the Mac (or PC). It uploads and downloads data to and from flatfiles as tab delimited text or applications via AppleEvents. There is no flexibility on the format of the files (in terms of delimeters or <CR> as record terminator). This is a great feature and I am just getting into this via FileMaker and will be trying it out this weekend. So in FileMaker, I write a script which sends AppleEvents to FilePad Link on the Mac and data get's automatically loaded to the Newton.
FilePad documentation has an example of doing this in FileMaker, but no explaination of what events it handles and what they mean. Fortunately FileMakers documentation was better. I've really just started to do this and how well this works remains to be seen. One person said the downloading is very slow which I believe.
The biggest problem I have with this stupid thing is that it only supports Printer and Modem connections - not LocalTalk, AHHHHHHHH! This drives me nuts. I went to all of this trouble connecting and extending my network to tie in the Newton to the Macs and the printer and I can't use it for what I really need it for.
There's no plans at this time to implement LocalTalk.
FilePad has field types for drawing pictures, signatures, etc. It would be nice if you could upload these to the Mac as PICT files or something, but FilePad only supports text for now.
(6) Bar Coding
The application allows you to read/scan barcodes into selected fields and then automatically save the data as a record or save on tapping 'save'. You can turn barcoding on or off from the input view which must just active the I/O port or shut it off. This is nice, and gives the Newton a new twish. It seems to be what I want, but until I'm more comfortable with the FilePad and what it can or cannot do, I won't spring for the bar code reader for $399. They have a couple of models. The best one seems to be a stand along want that is fully integrated and reads most standard barcodes including UPC, etc. It gets power from the Newton - hmmm, better bring a few extra sets of batteries with...
(7) Data viewing/printing, etc
Printing is weak (more like yukky). You can get a direct representation of all 9 screens of input and it looks ugly when it prints, but that's relative.
Printing lists is possible too, which has a very fixed format that they augment like:
Record 1:
name address phone
Record 2:
name address phone
etc...
Pretty stupid, I can count guys! You can change the fields that print, but can't remove the 'Record #' part. You can also view and sort on different fields which works well, but you can only view 2 fields at a time on list/overview mode. Of course you can beam and fax these fields as well. I believe you may be able to beam a whole cabinet - yea, that'll work, sure.
There is also no way to check for or remove duplicate records or prevent insert for unique key fields - seems this wouldn't be too hard to implement. This would be useful if you were barcoding along and wanted to ignore the fact that you may have scanned in something more than once to be sure it got read.
I'll post more info as I gain more experience with the product. Despite it's weaknesses, I plan to continue to use the product until something better comes along.
----------
*** FlashData
Commercial software
Demo available (ftp: netcom.com /pub/isis)
Data entry & connectivity application. The current demo includes a set of 4D externals & a demo database.
----------
*** FormPad
Commercial software
----------
*** GestComptes
Commercial software (391FF TTC)
French software to manage bank & expense accounts.
----------
*** GoFigure
Commercial software (465FF TTC in France)
Many alternative calculators (incl. math/science, architect, statistics).
COMMENTS: cf. review in _protoReality 1.4 (the NANUG newsletter). Major critic: you can't discard unwanted calculators.
----------
*** GR 1.01a4
Mathematical graphing app.
----------
*** GSTcalc
GSTcalc is a simple tool for calculating the Canadian Goods & Services tax, as well as the provincial sales tax for the different provinces (products only in Quebec, not services yet).
----------
*** Guide Michelin Paris & Environs
Commercial software (490FF incl. tax)
Guide to Paris restaurants, hotels, museums, etc...
Includes data from the Red Michelin Guide and some of the Green Guide.
This package contains simplified maps of Paris (4 level of zoom) with the name of the main avenues and all underground stations. But there is no indexing of the streets (i.e. you can't "Find Champs ElysÄes").
This is actually a NewtonBook, with some clever programming. Similar to The Time-Out Guide to London.
----------
*** Guitar-tuner
Provides tones for tuning your guitar.
----------
*** Guru
This is a joke demo package that purports to search your Newton for something called "The Guru Bit." However, it really plays an outrageous and funny sampled movie sound.
----------
*** Gut-buster
Program to assist anyone on an exchange-based weight loss program.
----------
*** Happy 1.2.1 (The Birthday reminder)
RAM: 24kb.
Heap: 2.9kb? 3.7kb?.
Happy is a small Newton application that will remind you of upcoming birthdays every time you turn on your communication assistant.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: cf. "Birthday Updater 1.1" in the Utilities section.
----------
*** Hippocrates-dent-demo / hippocrates-med-demo
Hippocrates helps you manage your practice and your patients. Hippocrates replaces many of the paper forms and quick notes used in hospitals, health care offices, nursing homes, home health care and other health care environments.
----------
*** Holidayer
This package and its accompanying README are in German.
----------
*** Kidscard
This is a simple Newton application that does a bit of view animation and uses downloaded sounds.
----------
*** List-it 27
What does one do with List-It? Well, create lists, of course! These lists can consist of anything you wish. Some people use them as lists of things to purchase, others prefer to use them as a To Do replacement.
List-it 2.7 includes intelligent assistance.
New with List-It 2.7:
- Slightly better memory management for large lists.
- New option to let user de-install NCK data used to let users edit lists in NCK.
- New Send to Notepad command.
- Users can now install a button (it's a seperate application) that lets them start up List-It from anywhere.
----------
*** MacsHex
MacsHex is a four-function, 32-bit hex calculator.
----------
*** Medicalc 1.00a
Medicalc calculates values pertinent to patient care using recognized algorithms.
----------
*** Metro
MetroRail (Washington D.C.) train schedule.
----------
*** Micro-timer
MicroTimer is a small, floating stopwatch for your Newton.
----------
*** Mobil-calc-demo
Demonstration of MobilCalc spreadsheet.
----------
*** Moon 1.0d3
This is a simple program to graphically display the phase of the moon for any date you choose.
----------
*** Mort-calc-10
MortCalc is not an amortisation program, but rather a tool similar to those lenders use to qualify people for mortgages.
----------
*** Mr-advisador 1.42
Mr. Advisador is a PDA. Personal Digital Advisor. If you are having troubles in your life and just don't know where to turn, ask Mr. Advisador and he will gladly offer advice.
COMMENTS: If you install this package on a pcmcia card, the package will not allow you to remove the card even when the app. is turned off. Fun package but wears out quickly.
----------
*** My-calculator
MyCalculator (brilliant name, huh?) is intended as a relatively simple postfix (i.e. reverse-polish notation or RPN) calculator for the Newton MessagePad.
----------
*** NapkinCalc 1.0
Commercial software
Spreadsheet package.
COMMENTS: Nicer features than QuickFigures (i.e. "dragable" cell boundaries, formula keyboard, button to specify to the recognizer that you are entering numbers, ...).
Unfortunately, NapkinCalc behaved very badly on my MP. Very often I had memory problems, the cell selection wouldn't work properly, the display would dim a lot, etc. The package has also a problem with respect to moving floating windows (like the one to Set Attributes): most of the time the window behaves as if "transparent". Everything runs quite slowly too.
Latest version is 1.1
----------
*** nCrypt
Authors: Reginald Braithwaite-Lee & Charles Vollum
nCrypt directly encrypts notes, names, and many other Newton objects. In addition to encrypting text, nCrypt can directly encrypt objects, thus it can capture styles, drawings, and other information.
Encryption keys are limited to 40 bits until you register (provided you are a US or Canadian resident). SHA-based hashing is used for passphrases.
COMMENTS: Do not confuse this package for a similar one called Crypt.
----------
*** NewTel
Commercial software (470FF TTC)
French software to emulate a Minitel terminal (V.23).
----------
*** Newtonboy
It doesn't do much but play a couple of sounds.
----------
*** Newton Data Viewer
Commercial software
Tool for making lists & tables, and to import/export them from/to a desktop computer.
----------
*** Newton-demo
A Macromind Director loop put out by Apple.
----------
*** NewtonRTFM
Author: Creative Digital Systems.
Edited from cds@netcom.com (Steve Mann), 24 May 1994.
NewtRTFM is a comprehensive and versatile Newton programming reference containing more than 750 topics. NewtRTFM is a Newton-resident program giving a concise electronic summary of the NTK 1.0.1 documentation.
NewtRTFM lets a programmer browse its database by category, topic, partial string match, or sequentially. For each detailed topic the program includes a summary, an explanation of each function's arguments and return value where appropriate, a sample program, and customized developer notes which are integrated with the Newton's NotePad application and can be stored in user-designated folders. Many of the samples are live NewtonScript examples that can be executed. In addition, a developer can easily send the sample code to either ViewFrame or the NTK's Inspector window for further examination or experimentation.
NewtRTFM is available from Creative Digital Systems on both Windows and Macintosh-formatted disks beginning May 16. Its retail price is $90, $80 for PIE Developers subscribers. A demonstration version of the program is available on AppleLink, American Online, CompuServe, and on the ftp site at newton.uiowa.edu, or from Creative Digital Systems.
Creative Digital Systems
415.621.4252
415.621.4922 (fax)
cds@netcom.com
cdssem@aol.com
72722.3225@compuserve.com
cds.sem@applelink.apple.com
----------
*** Newt 2.3
Shareware ($35)
Author: Steve Weyer
Newt 2.3 is a native development environment for simple applications using NewtonScript (and for creating turtle-like graphics using gestures, buttons, and NS).
Newt is shareware ($35) -- registered users receive a 46 page manual describing Newt features and NewtonScript syntax and functions, along with a floppy of source examples and other packages.
Changes in version 2.3 [9/3/94]:
- adds new syntax/mechanism for defining objects and building apps
- supports embedded help books and standalone Newton books
- provides scroll options for long lists of methods, objects
- adds other apps/books to Newt's overview list, e.g., Slurpee
- uses a "library" folder for shared, customizable method/object templates
- supports Duplicate, Delete of source code via action button
- removes built-in demo code; see sample sources applic0.nwt, graphic0.nwt; see also NewtATut and/or NewtTurT interactive tutorials
- lite-version (w/o turtle graphics and some features) available separately
See also:
- RUNewt (aka Run,Newt,Run) -- an application for running, beaming and mailing applications created by Newt 2.3.
- NewtATut (Newt Application Tutorial) -- a Newton book version of an article entitled "Building Native Newton Applications with Newt" that appeared in PIE Developers, Vol. 2.4.
- NewtTurt (Newt Turtle Tutorial) -- a book showing you how you can also use Newt for turtle-style graphics.
- Slurpee -- a utility for transferring data or text between desktop files and Newton soups.
Internet: weyer@guest.apple.com
America Online/eWorld/NewtonMail: SteveWeyer
Compuserve: 74603,2051
AppleLink: WEYER.S
----------
*** MoreInfo
Commercial software ($39).
Author: SilverWare.
Expands the capabilities of your Names & Calendar (more options, contact management, enhanced scheduling, ...).
For exemple, you can add multiple addresses, family or account information, notes, to-do items that can be linked to Notion or NotePak.
SilverWare: 508.521.5262 or <74007.2303@compuserve.com>
----------
*** NotePak 1.15
Commercial software
Super ToDo lists manager. Cf. subject 13.2.
----------
*** Notion 1.0.1: The Newton List Manager
Commercial software
($59.95 incl. ship. & hand., 470FF TTC)
Demo available on the Net
Author: Eidetic, Inc.
Notion is a list manager / simple database (i.e. groceries, credit card charges, to do lists, CD collection list, babysitting charges, ...). The data are displayed as a list. To enter new data you call an entry card which works like the All Info card in Names. On top of that, Notion attaches to each record a note slip to allow you to enter more info about the record.
Other features include sorting lists by any one of the fields, calculation fields, check boxes for each record of a list and the ability to export lists to the NotePad or to the ToDo list.
MARK: 2/5 (more if you only need the provided templates)
COMMENTS: Notion is well designed, but quite slow. The major limitation of this package is that you can't design your own templates from scratch. You have to work from one of the 100+ templates provided, finding one with the right number & type of fields and with a layout that you like. Then you can only change the name of the fields and rename the template.
Notion is a a collection of templates (with some customizing abilities), not a true database similar to Macintosh / Windows FileMaker.
Notion is a "clean" package that destroys all its soups (if you wish to) when you remove the package.
From Albert Chu: Notion 1.0 has a minor bug, the package must be installed before the templates.
----------
*** NS Basic
Commercial software
Edited from: ghenne@tor.hookup.net, 22 Jul 1994.
NS BASIC Corporation
Phone: 416 264-5999
Fax: 416 264-5888
Internet: gh@hookup.net
CompuServe: 74431,412
NS BASIC is implemented as a fully interactive implementation of Basic.
As well as providing the full instruction set, it has extensions to take advantage of the Newton environment.
NSB can be programmed directly on the Newton without requiring a host system. Popup menus provide quick access to many commands and statements; other code can be input using the on screen keyboard or via handwritten input. Programs can also be downloaded via a serial port, or edited from a PC or Mac using a terminal emulator tied in through the serial port.
Your NSB programs can accept handwritten input, access system information, (even the NotePad) and other applications. You can program windows or buttons, and create files.
NS BASIC itself requires 120K. A memory card is recommended.
Programs do not take up any additional internal memory while running, other than space used for user variables. The code itself remains resident on the card (except for the current statement) and does not impact internal memory. Programs can therefore be of almost any size, subject to space available on the card. The CHAIN statement can be used to segment programs.
NSB comes with a 150 page manual, spiral bound and about the same size as the Newton.
Application you write in NSB will run on someone else MP only if he has NSB on his Newton. However, a free run time is planned.
Programs can be easily uploaded and downloaded via a serial port.
----------
*** Numbers
NewtonMail local access numbers.
----------
*** Order-maker-13b1
OrderMaker is a Newton application which is ideal for the salesman. Newton looks up the customer name from the Newton names database, and allows the salesman to enter data about the customer's order real-time while at the customer site.
----------
*** PageXpress 2.0
Shareware
Not a page layout software (as Mac users might think) but a software for pagers.
----------
*** PaperBack 1.02 (Mac) & 1.00 (Win)
Freeware (Macintosh/Windows software)
Author: David Fedor
Paperback takes pure text files and generates a Newton Package file from them... allowing you to create Newton books straight from your text, without the NTK. The books must be loaded into your MP with the Newton Connection Kit or Packages Downloader.
MARK: 3.5/5 (Mac version tested)
COMMENTS: Even though PaperBack has got a lot of room for improvement, it is very very useful. It will allow you to download a lot of text into your MP in no time (it's way faster than making a NewtonBook).
The limitations are that all the text will be in the same font (but you can change this font at will on your MP), that you cannot download pictures (yet), and that the navigation tools are very basic: fast forward/backward is only possible through a slider with about 20 positions (OK for small documents, but not enough for large ones, like this FAQ) and no table of contents like in a NewtonBook (which allows convenient fast access to various parts of a book). Also, you can't print/beam/fax a page from the book-package generated by PaperBack.
PS: The "Find" problems of previous version have been fixed.
Indispensable package if you don't have access to a NTK (BookMaker).
----------
*** Periodic-table
Shareware ($5).
RAM: Heap: 0.5kb.
Small periodic table for the Newton or ExpertPad.
MARK: 2/5 (if your job/studies require use of the periodic table).
----------
*** PerPro
PerPro is a Myers-Briggs Personality Types profiler intended for amusement purposes only and not for professional analysis.
----------
*** Personal
Author: Gravity Point
This package provides you with 12 fields to record very private information such as pin numbers. The access to those fields require a numeric code that you set yourself. This "password" is independant of the normal Newton password.
MARK: 0/5
COMMENTS: The data stored this way are not secure at all. With the use of the most basic soup manager you can see the access number and everything stored in the fields.
You might still find this package useful to store a few info away from the prying eyes of somebody trying your MP.
----------
*** PocketCall 1.0
Commercial software (631FF TTC in France, ú96 in UK)
Author: E. Gross (Ex Machina Inc.)
Distribution: StarCore
Communication software like TermLimit plus numerous additional features. It will support any Hayes compatible modem (not only those with the Rockwell chip set) or Newton compatible PCMCIA modem.
It is a commercial product and as such is fully supported.
ExMachina is committed to providing VT100 emulation in the next major revision (at the moment it's TTY compliant).
Read subject 8.11 + 8.11bis of this document for more info.
COMMENTS: TTY services include CompuServe, AOL & CalvaCom.
----------
*** PocketMoney 1.2
PocketMoney is a persoanl finance manager. Setup savings, checking, credit card, pocket cash and loan accounts. Keep your account balances up to date and only a pen tap away. See how much you spend every month for food or entertainment. Setup repeating payments via the builtin calendar. You can export PocketmOey date or Quicken, MYM or other PC based applications.
Some new features:
Find support added
Amount popup is now editable
Assist support for specific template
Repeating payments or bills can be setup via the builtin calendar
Made the to/from larger for data entry
NCK support builtin - can import some data into PM and edit data
Reconcile accounts
More ways to filter data
Password protection added
Overview can scroll a full page - 1 Added Posting Standards support.
Store filters in soup so the will stick around thru reboots
Added pocketmoney finder icon - for recurring transactions
----------
*** PPIM - PDA Package Installer Maker
Author: Lunatech Research.
The PPIM is an application which allows software developers to create self-installing software packages for the Newton. The PDA Package Installer Maker has a nice and simple user interface and is very easy to work with. With the PPIM, developers can add an extra touch of quality to their finished software products by helping make installation of them easier for their customers. The current version of the PPIM works only for the Macintosh but there are plans in for a Windows PC version.
Below you will find PPIM license charges for an unlimited distribution license per product. That means that a separate license would be required for each software product you would plan to distibute that uses the PPIM. The PPIM can be paid for in US dollars ($), British Pounds Sterling (ú), or Dutch Guilders (Fl). Discounts are available for purchases of multiple licenses.
Retail Price (US) $ 200
Retail Price (UK) GBP 125
Retail Price (NL) Fl. 350
If you would like more PPIM information or want to get a fully documented and working PPIM evaluation copy, have a browse through our web pages and ftp site.
Presentation tool. Can control a computer, a slide projector and a tape- recorder.
----------
*** QuickFigure Lite 2.0
Freeware.
Author: Don A. Vollum.
RAM: 74380 bytes.
Heap: 1.6kb (10kb when using 2 sheets).
QuickFigure Lite is a fast, small, fully functional spreadsheet for the Newton. It supports all standard Newton math and financial functions, allows the user to store multiple worksheets, has printing, faxing and mailing capability, and many other features.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: Pretty good. Not as nice looking as NapkinCalc, but QuickFigure won't let you down. QFigure Lite is a basic spreadsheet, with fewer features than other similar packages (notably, the formating features are very limited and entries require an entry slip which close after each entry). But it's free. If you want more, you can buy QFigure Pro (cf).
----------
*** QuickFigure Pro
Commercial software ($49.50)
Author: PelicanWare (Don Vollum)
QuickFigure Pro adds many features to the original QFigure.
New features in QuickFigure Pro include:
--Larger worksheets, up to 26 columns by 50 rows.
--Resizable column widths.
--Import and Export of worksheets to Windows and Macintosh computers.
--A complete charting and graphing package: line, bar, and pie charts.
--The ability to export data from a worksheet to the Newton's NotePad.
--An online function reference.
--Support for QuickFigure Tools, third-party extensions to QuickFigure.
QuickFigure Pro still includes all of the functionality of previous versions of QuickFigure:
--Over 40 math, scientific, financial, and statistical functions.
--Support for user-defined functions and conditional statements.
--Adds math functionality to the Newton's Intelligent Assistant.
--Complete Text formatting (font, size, and justification).
--Compact size (a minimal installation of QuickFigure Pro requires only 96k of user memory, and the complete installation requires 181k).
----------
*** Quiz 1.0
Use this simple 10-question quiz to discover your political identity !
----------
*** Resto 2.0
Freeware
Author: Macapa software
This application is a restaurant bill splitter. It also lets you handle local taxes, extras, people paying for other people, etc.
----------
*** RPN Calc 0.91
RPN Calc is my interpretation of an HP41/42 style RPN calculator. It contains most of the basic functionality of an HP scientific calculator.
----------
*** Runewt 2.1
Runs native applications created by Newt 2.1 or beamed/mailed from RUNewt.
There's a newer version available.
----------
*** Rx-on-tap-demo-v1
Using Rx on Tap, any given prescription, no matter how complicated, is only a few pen taps away.
This demo is "soup-clean" (it removes its 3 soups when you de-install it).
----------
*** SciCalc 1.04
SciCalc is a simple implementation of a standard (i.e. NOT Reverse Polish or 'RPN') scientific calculator for the Apple Newton MessagePad and similar PDAs.
COMMENTS: Doesn't work in my hands (Syst. 1.05), but maybe I'm stupid.
----------
*** ScriptLink 1.0
Commercial software
Author: Momentum.
ScriptLink offers Newton developers a flexible mechanism for controlling a server Macintosh using AppleScript.
Combining the flexibility of AppleScript with the mobile computing power of the Newton, ScriptLink enables developers to quickly build customised solutions using off the shelf software packages. Release 1.0 of ScriptLink is compatible with industry standard wired and wireless AppleTalk networks.
On August 2nd, Momentum announced a joint development agreement with ETE Incorporated of San Diego. The joint development agreement calls for ScriptLink to support the wireless technologies offered by the ETE Communicator, including access to the nationwide RAM Mobile Data and ARDIS packet radio networks in the United States and Mobitex network operated by BellSouth Mobile Data in Australia. Future options to be offered also include cellular and landline modem support. The immediate goal of the joint project is to shorten the development cycle for organisations who wish to deploy wireless Newton systems in the field.
For pricing information or a technical overview, please contact:
ScriptLink is also available from Creative Digital Systems
Phone (415) 621 4252
Fax (415) 621 4922
Internet cds@netcom.com
AppleLink CDS.SEM
----------
*** Shopping-list 1.3
Shopping List was originally developed to demonstrate a potential Newton application in a manufacturing firm. (Grocery shopping is very much like "order picking" in a warehouse with many SKU's.).
MARK: 1/5
COMMENTS: Leaves soup in memory when you remove the package.
----------
*** Sign
Sign is a Newton app that contains pictures for the American Sign Language finger alphabet.
----------
*** SonyRemote 1.01
Freeware
Author: Craig richmond
Makes your MP able to operate as a Sony remote control for TV, HiFi and video.
COMMENTS: Not very useful as such (except if you've lost or broken a remote control) but it demonstrates what is possible. You can forsee what could follow (i.e. TV magazine in a NewtonBook format where you highlight a program you want to tape and let the MP do the rest).
The design/layout of the actual commands is nice. I had no trouble controlling my three years old HiFi, but my older trinitron TV wouldn't answer. Can't say about the video since mine is not a Sony.
Note: SonyRemote leaves a soup behind when you remove the package.
----------
*** TapWorks
Commercial software (UK ú69).
Demo available on the Net.
Integrated software: Word processor, spreadsheet, drawing, graphing.
----------
*** TermLimit 1.1
TermLimit is a (very) limited terminal emulator for the Newton.
COMMENTS: Leaves soup in memory when you remove the package.
Version 1.1 won't work with the MP110 (screen size problem) but version 1.4 should fix this.
Latest version is 1.4
----------
*** The Economist World in Figures
Commercial software (490FF TTC in France, ú40 in UK)
Statistical data on the economy, geography & society of each country.
----------
*** Time Accountant 2.0.2
From John Schettino <js12@gte.com>:
Do you need to track the time you spend on several tasks? This is the problem David Grietens' <72154.202@compuserve.com> Time Accountant solves. This 78kb shareware ($20) package is simple to use and capable of performing the job of your personal time logger.
Using Time Accountant. You can create a three-tiered reporting structure by entering the names of Companies, Projects within a company, and Modules within a project. Whenever you start working on a task for a Module, you tap the New Task button. Time accountant creates an empty task with a text area you can jot a note in (recognized only, no ink or letter-by-letter supported yet) and a big STOP sign. The clock is now running on this task. You can shut the Newton off or exit time accountant while a task is │running,▓ and it will still be running when you power up or run the app again. Once you are finished on a task you tap the stop button. It totals up your time and bills it to the appropriate Module. If you want to 'fudge' the times you can edit a completed or running task by, tapping the Started or (if it's completed) Stopped fields. A Newton date editor pops up, and you can change the day and time for the start or stop of the task.
You can also delete tasks and Projects using the Action button (routing slip, envelope, whatever that little icon is called that has Fax, Mail, Delete, Move to/from Card!).
Reports: You can see the total time for all tasks within a Module in the normal display of the app. Using the Action button you can Print, Fax, or Mail a full report about the tasks within the current Company/Project/Module. You can review time (and dates) spent on individual tasks for a Module by scrolling between them using the up and down arrows. Tap the overview button and you can review all your recorded times. This overview has two modes: List behaves like a standard overview and lets you navigate to any Company/Project/Module with a tap; Outline lets you expand/contract the hierarchy and see totals at each level. This is very handy for reviewing where your time was spent.
Prefs: You can customize the names used for the three levels of the hierarchy, and you can control whether the names should be treated as a true hierarchy or "flattened" at each level.
Test Drive: I've been using Time accountant to track my time between seven tasks. In practice, you must remember to start and stop tasks when you start and stop, because using the Clock to edit times is not very easy. There is currently no way to specify date ranges for reports. The NCK is not supported, so there is no supported way to get the data out of Time accountant. Even with these issues, I found it to be very useful, since (1) my Newton is always with me and I'm more likely to use Time accountant to capture time spent on projects, and (2) I can use Slurpee-10 (freeware - available on Sumex) to dump the recorded time data to my Mac.
Support: I have received good support from the author. He has answered all of my bug reports, and has informed me that support for the Connection Kit is planned.
Recommendation: If you need to keep track of your time, this shareware app is worth a look.
----------
*** Time-card
TimeCard comes from my need as a consultant to track daily activities by client and project.
----------
*** Time-Out Guide to London
Commercial software (720FF TTC in France, ú49 in UK)
Guide to London restaurants, hotels, museums, etc...
Includes data from 2 guides: TimeOut Good Food & Wine and Visitors TimeOut.
This package contains simplified maps of London (4 level of zoom) with the name of the main avenues and all underground stations. But there is no indexing of the streets (i.e. you can't "Find Oxford Street").
This is actually a NewtonBook, with some clever programming.
----------
*** UNT Map 1.0
UNT Map is an interactive map of the University of North Texas Campus.
----------
*** Vframe_debug_demo
A program that lets you examine and modify Newton objects
----------
*** Viewer
Commercial software demo
Author: William Kearney (The Novanto Group)
This app allows you to view a sequence of images. It requires an image sequence to be loaded in order for it to operate. One sequence package is provided with the demo, a rotating image of a human brain. The images are provided courtesy of Pete Loats and are copyrighted.
------------------------------
Subject: 16. Software: NewtonBooks.
----------
*** 2poes
The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe.
----------
*** 800s
A list of 800 numbers for travelers.
----------
*** 90210
Guide for Beverly Hills, 90210, including pictures of the actors/actresses.
----------
*** ADD_Info
Suggested Diagnostic Criteria For Attention Deficit Disorders in Adults.
----------
*** Aesop's Fables.
----------
*** A first name basis (The Kjilt Saga, Volume 1)
COMMENTS: Mark Underwood's own prose: a well written science-fiction crime thriller not unlike Asimov's Caves of steel. In a near future, the human race has been contacted by plant-like aliens (the "Kjilt") who just appeared out of the blue in the UN building. Both races have been studying each other for a few years when, apparently, a psychotic human afraid of the Kjilt starts murdering the ones on Earth.
My OMP is gone for upgrade so I've read only 70 pages of this book, but so far I like it very much. If you like science fiction give it a try (it's much better than Poul Anderson's "The Avatar" that I was trying to read at the same time).
----------
*** apple-facts 367340 bytes
Apple FactBook Nov. 1993
COMMENTS: Half the chapters have been left empty.
----------
*** A Tale of Two Cities (file: 2cities).
----------
*** BarKeeper 1.0
BarKeeper is a list of drinks collected from various places over the years.
----------
*** big-book
Alchoholics Anonymous Big Book.
----------
*** BioTerm (biology terms)
Shareware ($5)
Author: Iverson Software Co
Very, very small dictionary of biological terms.
MARK: 0/5
COMMENTS: Nice idea, too bad it is such a small dictionary. And there are many mistakes or inaccuracies. Can't be of any use to anybody.
----------
*** Call of the Wild (by Jack London).
*** Book of holidays (file: days).
----------
*** Error-book
This is just a simple Newton book that lists all the 48xxx errors and exceptions on the Newton, as taken from the Newton Toolkit Documentation.
----------
*** EYSUbook
Excerpts from Engineering Your Start-Up: A guide for the Hi-Tech Entrepreneur, by Michael Baird.
----------
*** Federal Communications Commision's frequency allocations.
*** Fortune 500:Guide to American Business (Demo).
*** Getting Even (by George Heyduke).
*** Guide Michelin de Paris & Environs: cf. Apps (subject 15)
*** The Hacker's Dictionary.
*** The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (by Bruce Sterling).
*** Heart of Darkness.
----------
*** How-to-make-books (1 to 7)
Word files and NewtonBooks to show you how to make goodlooking books for the Newton. Includes a lot of useful tips.
MARK: 4/5
----------
*** The Hunting of the Snark.
*** Informing Ourselves to Death (by Neil Postman).
----------
*** International Tourist Information Directory
Commercial software (NewtonBook, $50)
Iverson Software Co., Jeffrey D. Iverson
P. O. Box 3, Rice Lake WI 54868-0003
(715) 236-7918
AppleLink, eWorld, Delphi: J5rson
CIS: 76675,1772
The International Tourist Information Directory allows the user to quickly find a source of tourist information for almost any destination, no matter how exotic. Many destinations have several points of obtaining information, which allows the user to choose the quickest or most cost effective method. The book contains information on over 140 countries and every state in the USA.
----------
*** The Jungle Book.
*** King James version of the New Testament.
*** Later-day-saints Articles of Faith.
*** Membership Directory of the Macintosh Consultants Network (file: mcn- directory).
OMP upgrade, Maurice Sharp (PIE DTS guru) interview, ICS (the makers of SleepAid, NewtCase & HeapIt) interview, alternative styluses, KISS solar panel power suplly, ViewFrame, Columbo's Mystery Capers, QuickFigure, GoFigure, TimeReporter, Notion 1.0.1, NotePak 1.11, SleepAid 1.01, HeapIt 1.0, PrefsPatcher 1.0, Newt programmation lesson, CANDi (the MP helping disabled persons), disappearing space on PCMCIA cards, software pricing.
_protoReality 1.5 (Summer 94)
RAM: 286032 bytes
Stuff from other Newton User Groups (Chicaco, Philadelphia, Toronto, ... which includes reviews of KISS Solar Panal, PocketCall, NChess), Jigsaw Strategy, Dyno Notepad, See-through MPs, NewtonMail Extension 1.1, tips (programing, Konexx acoustical coupler kit, MP & X-rays...).
_protoReality 1.6 (September 94)
RAM: 184228 bytes
MoreInfo, Accountable 2.0, PDA Panache Styli, NewtCase 1.1, PageXpress 2.0, BBS in a box vol12, Project NetScope (appletalk monitor), Project Tempus (time sheet generator), ChiILNUG, OzNUG (Australia NUG), SFNUG.
_protoReality 1.7 (October 94)
RAM: 210036 bytes
Ashley Barnard (AMUG BBS in a Box) interview, Raines Cohen (The User Group Connection), Accessor, PaperBack, eWorld, _protoReality index.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: The best publication on Newton that I've seen so far.
Very good on comprehensive software reviews, interviews and introduction to Newt programmation.
----------
*** Sega Genesis Video Game Secrets FAQ.
----------
*** Sherlock Holmes Stories
adv-of-black-peter
adv-of-bruce-part-plans
adv-of-charles-milverton
adv-of-missing-3-quarter
adv-of-the-beryl-coronet
adv-of-the-blue-carbuncle
adv-of-the-cardboard-box
adv-of-the-copper-beeches
adv-of-the-dancing-men
adv-of-the-devils-foot
adv-of-the-dying-detective
adv-of-the-empty-house
adv-of-the-engineers-thumb
adv-of-the-golden-pince-nez
adv-of-the-noble-bachelor
adv-of-the-norwood-builder
adv-of-the-priory-school
adv-of-the-red-circle
adv-of-the-solitary-cyclist
adv-of-the-speckled-band
adv-of-the-three-students
adv-of-the-veiled-lodger
adv-of-wisteria-lodge
boscombe-valley-mystery
case-of-identity
dis-of-lady-frances-carfax
five-orange-pips
his-last-bow-an-epilogue
man-with-the-twisted-lip
the-crooked-man
the-red-headed-league
----------
*** The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
*** TimeOut Guide to London: cf. Apps (subject 15).
----------
*** sn-94
Book containing a serial number database, Mac system errors, sad Mac codes, stupid Mac tricks, Newton error codes, and stupid Newton tricks.
----------
*** Star Trek: The Next Generation Guide
Listing of all TNG episodes with synopsis & cast. Indispensable for fans of StarTrek & Newton !
----------
*** The Constitution of the USA.
*** The Time Machine (by H.G. Wells).
*** Thuvia, Maid of Mars (by Edgar Rice Burroughs).
----------
*** Tidbook
TidBITS Magazine in Newton Book format. Available in NewtonBook format from issue 205 to the latest issue (228 at the time I write this).
----------
*** The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
----------
*** The War of the Worlds (by H. G. Wells).
*** We Become Atheists (by Gora).
*** The Wisdom of Father Brown (by G. K. Chesterton).
----------
*** uci-fact-book
The UCI Fact Book is a small subset of information about UCI published each year via traditional media such as paper reports and Gopher.
----------
*** US-hist-docs
This little Newton digital book contains the complete text of the following important American documents: The Bill of Rights, The Constitution, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, JFK's Inaugural Address, Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech, Lincoln's First and Second Inaugural Addresses, The Mayflower Compact, and The Declaration of Independence.
----------
*** Zen and the Art of Internet
RAM: 374768 bytes
MARK: 3/5
------------------------------
Subject: 17. Software: Games.
----------
*** 15-puzzle
The object of 15-Puzzle is to slide fifteen numbered tiles into ascending order on a four by four grid.
----------
*** 24
Shareware
Author: Erica Sadun
You are presented with four digits. Your job is to make the number 24 out of the digits using only addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. Part of the "Figgle Utilities".
----------
*** ahorcados
A version of Hangman.
----------
*** Black-box
Black Box for the Newton is a game based on the old Parker Brothers board game by the same name.
----------
*** bombs-away
You begin with 4 cities. Protect them.
----------
*** boppin12
Boppin' is like the old bop-the-beaver standup game. It has bad beavers that you tap on the head and good beavers you leave alone.
COMMENTS: If you get too excited with this game you may damage your screen.
----------
*** checkers
This checkers program is being written to help me learn to program the Newton. This beta version is a two person game, i.e., you need two humans to play it (unless you're schizophrenic).
COMMENTS: Some bugs.
----------
*** chess
Database of historic chess matches.
----------
*** ChessPad
Commercial software ($69.95)
Demo available on the Net.
Chessboard on your MP to play with someone else + 100 chess problems + 28 annotated famous games.
COMMENTS: When you play against someone else ChessPad doesn't check the validity of the moves.
----------
*** Cogito
Commercial software (291Frs TTC in france)
----------
*** Columbo's Mystery Capers
Commercial software (ú29 in UK)
Distributed by StarCore
COMMENTS: I've tried the demo of this package. I was not impressed. The pictures are cute, the interface is nice, but I didn't like the two demo mysteries ! The so-called mysteries are pretty lame and/or the solution not too logical. On the basis of the demo I would give a 1/5 mark to this game.
Erica Sadun has reviewed this game in _protoReality 1.4 (the NANUG newsletter). Her opinion of the (demo) game is similar to mine. The creator of the game has written to NANUG to complain about such an unfair review based only on the demo. Well, if I don't like a sample of something I think that it's perfectly logical to assume that I won't like the whole thing. If the trailer of a movie is poor, it's very unlikely that I will pay to see the movie. I might miss an excellent movie, but chances are that I won't.
The whole point of a demo software is to let you test it so that you can decide if you're likely to need/enjoy the full package. I didn't like the demo so I think that buying this software will be a waste of money. This is my opinion only and a lot of people might disagree with it, different people have different tastes (if I see good reviews about CMCapers I'll mention them and let the reader decide).
And if your demo is not representative of the full package, that's a big mistake, YOUR mistake not mine nor Erica's.
----------
*** digital-dice-11
Generates random numbers often used in role playing games.
MARK: 1/5 (if you play RPGs).
----------
*** Fingertip for Golf
Commercial software (931FF TTC in France, ú59 in UK)
----------
*** hangman
A rather noisy version of Hangman. Sorry about the lame graphics.
----------
*** incoming-099b
Based on Missile Command, your mission is to defend your cities from waves of ICBM's.
MARK: 1/5
----------
*** JigSaw Strategy
Commercial software (291FF TTC in France)
----------
*** Knight Run V1.1
Freeware
Author: Keith Fieldhouse (Rexmere)
Knight Run is a solo game played on a chess board with a single Knight. The object is to visit all of the squares on the board once and only once. It has online documentation and takes up about 30k of memory.
----------
*** mancala-10
This is a Newton game based on the old African game Mancala.
----------
*** mastermind-102
Master Mind is a simple game where you try to guess a four digit number.
----------
*** minesweep-101
The object of Mine Sweep is to locate and flag ten mines.
----------
*** mine-field-12
Find and flag the mines in a mine field.
----------
*** Morphion
Morphion is a simple solitaire game I used to play on paper when I was a kid.
----------
*** NChess
Shareware ($15)
Author: Robert Duran
Chess for the Newton. You can play by e-mail & by IR-beam. You can even fax a picture of the board. You can also print / e-mail / fax the moves in the standard chess notation.
----------
*** N-Dungeon 0.9beta
Shareware to be, when ready ($25)
Author: Uwe Hauck (with NANUG help)
A 3D underground maze to explore, foes to fight, treasures to collect and a princess to rescue. The classical implementation of Dungeon & Dragons on computer.
It's a 40 room labyrinth with about 10 Monsters. It also includes two shops and a lot of goods.
You roll 4 characters (Intelligence, Vitality, Wisdom, Luck, Strength, Constitution) starting at level 1. Each one has its own head icon. You've got a choice of races & classes just like in the classical D&D RPGame. There are fields for the things you carry and items you're using. Each character record sheet has also a menu of possible actions like Get, Drop, Wield, Wear, Use, etc...
A NPC also accompany your group: Gollum !!!
During your explorations, you've got buttons for the direction of movement and you have permanent access to the sliders to control the contrast of the screen and the sound volume.
During a fight you've got buttons for your orders (Cast, Flee, Talent, Meditate, Use, Attack).
There's also a window describing what happens in a fight and listing what can be found on the ground (because objects on the floor don't appear in the 3D view window).
COMMENTS: It's fun to play this on a Newton. OK, by desktop computer standards it's a pretty poor game, but playing it on a MP gives it a kind of magic. And the sounds are really great.
My first minutes with N-Dungeon were quite negative, but once I got round the memory problems I really loved it. This early version is very promising. And a multi-player version (via IR) is planed !
The task of programming 3D-like corridors on the poor black & white Newton screen is not easy. As a result, the 3D perspective will often strain your eyes, but the other graphics are nice (scans from TSR rule-books).
The application is memory hungry (879328 bytes of RAM for the version with sounds, about 250K without, and a lot of heap space). At the beginning it didn't run very well on my OMP, admittedly loaded with 17 other packages. To really use N-Dungeon with an OMP you should remove as much other packages as possible, and do a reset.
Be sure to have "action sounds" ticked in your Prefs, otherwise you will miss most of the fun.
I had no trouble with the character generation and reviewing. The first time I went into the dungeon I had an error message after each action, but this was fixed when I did a reset and went to play N-Dungeon right away (though I still got the odd error message which doesn't seem to prevent any playing).
There's a good joke at the end of the credits.
It's impossible to give a mark to this package. I loved it and spent one very exciting hour on it. But it's too memory-hungry for a non vital package (and an OMP), so I erased it. But I keep it handy to impress friends !!!
Note that this opinion is likely to change when (if?) all other promised features are implemented (IR, larger dungeon, intelligent monsters, own dungeon design capability, etc...).
It is a very impressive piece of programming. Too bad the MP is not good for this kind of package. It's perfect as a fun-gift to a Newton owner though.
----------
*** NewtonBandit
NewtonBandit is a Slot-Machine for Newton PDA.
MARK: 1/5
----------
*** Newtris 1.0
You might guess from the name that it has to do with falling blocks on the Newton.
MARK: 1/5 (2/5 for the Tetris lovers !!!)
----------
*** Othelo For Newton 1.0
Shareware ($10)
----------
*** patience
Card solitaire.
COMMENTS: Some minor but annoying bugs, contrast very bad, use the screen in the "landscape" orientation.
----------
*** Peg-solitaire
Shareware ($10)
Pegboard Solitaire.
MARK: 2/5 (if you like that kind of solitaire).
COMMENTS: Simple but nice implementation. I quite liked this package.
----------
*** pico-fermi-bagels
Number guessing game, similar to MasterMind.
----------
*** Poker 1.0
Poker for the Newton.
MARK: 1/5
----------
*** scrambled
Scrambled is a game where you have to decipher a scrambled word.
----------
*** sea-hunt-11
Battleship against the Newton.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: Well implemented.
----------
*** Silicon Casino
Commercial software (278FF TTC in France)
Demo version available.
----------
*** Snake 2.0
This is a small action-game based on something named "SnakeByte" (remember the Apple ][ days ?).
MARK: 2/5
----------
*** Solo 1.31
Freeware (vers. 1.21)
Solo is a simple Klondike like solitaire card game for the Newton.
----------
*** Tapboard
Freeware (as far as I know)
Heap: 0.5kb.
Contains Tic Tac Toe, Gomoku, and Reversi (play against the MP).
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: You will like the Reversi (even though the MP isn't a very good opponent).
----------
*** t-3
Tic Tac Toe.
----------
*** The Dock
Demo: dockDemo.sea.hqx and dockDemo.zip.uu on uiowa.edu
Shareware ($15)
Author: Erica Liebman Sadun (erica@cc.gatech.edu)
RAM: 120K
The demo version has got only two levels of a the game. Beware, the demo leaves a soup behind when you remove it.
From Ron Vutpakdi, 9 Aug 1994:
In this strategy game, you control a little dock person who has to move these barrels/packages from their current locations to a loading area. The only problem is that the barrels are scattered helter skelter, the playing area is somewhat irregular (almost maze like connecting rooms), and your dock person can only push one package at a time (ie, no pulling packages or trying to move 2 packages at once). So, the game becomes one of trying to figure out how to get the packages into the right place without accidentally pushing them into corners or other spots where you simply can't move them again.
There is no time limit.
The game comes with 50 levels (or so, if memory serves). The game remembers your current position/level if you exit.
There really are only two things that are missing. Currently, the dock person only moves to the square that you tap on if the destination square is in a straight line from the current one. It would be nice (in the more intricate mazes), if you could double-tap (or something) on a square not in a straight line from the current position and have the dock person move directly there (if possible) but without moving any packages in the way. Though Erica graciously offered to include any levels that I would like to design in an add on package or the program itself, I would also like to see a way for users to create and directly add in new levels. Part of the reasoning there would be that I'd like to make sure that the levels that I might design would be winnable before inflicting them on her/others. :-) Erica responded quickly after I sent in the shareware fee with the real version (uuencoded and mailed).
I'd heartily recommend this game for your Newton. It's a fun little strategy game which seems to be perfect for the Newton because it does not need fancy or arcade speed graphics.
----------
*** Tricorder-7
Simulates the tricorder from Star Trek.
COMMENTS: Fun but takes a lot of memory.
----------
*** Yahtzee
This is the game of Yahtzee for the Newton, for one to four players.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: Well implemented. If you like Yahtzee you can't do without this package.
------------------------------
Subject: 18. Software: Utilities.
----------
*** Add-country
Freeware
Add a country to the popup list of countries.
----------
*** Add-to-dict-102
Shareware ($10)
AddToDict is a small Newton application that allows multiple additions to your User Dictionary in one sitting.
----------
*** Alarmist 1.1
Shareware ($15)
Author: Matthew Dixon Cowles
Alarmist is an alarm application. It allows the user to schedule alarms to go off at some time in the future. The alarms may have one of four degrees of "annoyingness" and each may have a message associated with it. When the alarm goes off, a floater is displayed and a sound may be played. The user can acknowledge the alarm by tapping a button or defer ("snooze") the alarm. If the alarm is ignored (neither acknowledged nor snoozed) and the annoyingness level is high enough, the alarm will automatically be rescheduled. A list of alarms (if any) that have been ignored is displayed at power-on.
----------
*** Any-messages-10b2
Freeware
Displays the last four alarms or error messages (fewer if you've restarted recently), and allows you to copy them.
----------
*** ascII
Table of ASCII code/characters.
----------
*** Assistance 0.7
Shareware ($5)
Author: Bill Kearney
This shareware utility adds a pop up menu to your Assist button. Now, instead of tapping "Assist", "Please", a choice and THEN tapping please, you just tap Assistance!, tap a selection and it executes! If you have text selected before tapping Assistance!, that text will be added to the chosen command. So the next time you see a phone number or name somewhere, select it and tap Assistance!-Call. It will set it up for you. Assistance! only uses the top portion of your Assist button. If you'd like to continue to use the Assistant in the regular Newton fashion, simply click on the lower half of the Assist button.
It's card friendly !
----------
*** Auto-dict-11
AutoDict "automagically" scans your Names soup for new entries and adds the corresponding names (Company, First, Last, etc) to your word list.
----------
*** BeamMeUp
Author: Chris Christensen
BeamMeUp will allow you to fill up the inbox of a friend with items from your notepad. Beam Me Up brings up a list of all the notes in your notepad and you can beam any set of them to one user by checking off the appropriate notes.
----------
*** Birthday Updater 1.1 (bdays)
Shareware ($5)
Author: Pirate Dog Software (Rusty Greer & Mike Reed)
BDays is a simple program to go through your Names, collect birthday dates and enter them in your Calendar (as a repeat event).
COMMENTS: You might prefer to use "Happy" because "BDays" doesn't update automaticaly if you enter new birthdays in the Names and because scheduling birthdays is a bit of a waste of memory (since you effectively have twice the same data, one in Names, one in the Calendar). On the other hand, "BDays" is less obstrusive: no window poping-up now and them to remind you of incoming birthdays (but this might be a good point if you wan't to be reminded strongly). Another drawback of Happy is that it's not well behaved on a card: if you remove the card Happy loses its pref.
----------
*** Bookcase 1.2
Freeware?
Author: Michael Tibbott
RAM: 10kb
Heap: 2kb.
Lists all books currently installed on your Newton and lets you open them by clicking on the book's name from a list.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: If you're storing many NewtonBooks on your MP, this utility saves space in the Extras drawer by removing the books icons. To access the books you tap the BookCase icon and a list of books pops-up.
Version 1.2 includes a facility to exclude books from a search with Find. Thus you no longer need "BooksOff".
Version 1.2 fixes a previous flaw that was preventing installation of new books with NCK 2.0 while the books where "inside" Bookcase.
Note that a reset takes all books out of Bookcase and deselect the "skip books" option. I hope that this will be improved in the next version.
BookCase 1.2 is bundled with NewtCase 1.1 (they are now compatible).
One drawback: Bookcase must be installed in the internal memory otherwise it won't let you remove your card. I've stopped using Bookcase because of this.
----------
*** BooksOff 2.0
Freeware.
Author: Yosuke Suzuki (NBC02376@niftyserve.or.jp)
Heap: 2kb?
The "Find All" button is a useful tool but it looks up through all the data in the Newton. If there is a digital book, the speed of command execution is very slow.
BooksOff 2.0 adds a checkbox in the "Find All" window to allow you to skip all digital books, so the execution time becomes much shorter.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: Partial incompatibility with "OnSet". When I have "Signature" and "BooksOff" installed, adding "OnSet" removes "BooksOff" from the Prefs list overview. You can still access "BooksOff" Prefs by opening the "OnSet" Prefs and scrolling down. I suspect that the real problem is with the number of Prefs that can be listed when you first tap Prefs.
----------
*** Bulk-mail-1b3
Bulk Mail is a _protoQuick and :Dirty() Newton Mail utility that I wrote to help me manage the hideous task of batch mailing a single note to more than one person.
----------
*** Bullet
Shareware
Adds a button to the bottom of the Notes screen to add a bullet point.
MARK: 2/5
COMMENTS: Bullet, Exclaim, QuickStyle and Keys come usually together in a pack called "StatusBar Button". They do well their job, but add 4 buttons to the StatusBar, which don't leave much room for buttons from other packages. I would recommend instead to use "Figgle Utilities" (keys, styles, bullets, and more), "Skip" (styles) or "TapStyle" (styles).
----------
*** B-save1
Checks battery level and adjusts volume and receive beams automatically.
----------
*** Clockwise 2.0
Shareware ($10)
Author: Carsten Brinkschulte
This program implements the basic features of an alarm clock. It offers eight alarm sounds, four volume levels, and a snooze bar.
Latest version is 2.3
----------
*** Convert 2.5 (a Unit Converter)
Freeware
Author: Clinton Logan (clinton@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz)
RAM: Heap: 0.5kb? 2kb?.
Convert is a replacement for the conversion tables found on the Newton.
Convert! new version (2.5) includes:
* User definable Currency conversions
* Total of 131 Unit Conversions (30 more than version 2.0) inc navigation
* Messagepad 110 compatibility
* More user control over the environment (fonts, number entry behaviour...)
Convert! sports a more Newton like interface than its counterparts and best of all it is still FREE.
Convert! allows the user to enter and quickly convert between 131 common (and not so common) metric and imperial units. Once the value has been written into a field, Convert! automatically calculates the corresponding units in the table.
You can then simply overwrite any field with a new value and have the whole table recalculate.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: Much more useful than the original "Formulas" that come with the MP. Too bad you can't remove "Formulas" when you install "Convert".
----------
*** CopyMachine 1.0.1
With the CopyMachine you get an easy and safe (I hope) way of moving your data to a PCMCIA card and back to the internal store - without the system data.
----------
*** Countdown
Countdown allows you to count down for a specified amount of time. When that time arrives, a reminder, that you previously wrote, pops up on the screen.
----------
*** DataLoader
Allows downloading of names, addresses, etc.. from a Mac file to the MP Names app. Require a communication software of some sort in your Mac.
Distributed to the subscribers of the UK MP User Group "Assist", I don't know if you can find it elsewhere.
----------
*** datecaln
For those who have to sync Newton Calendar with outside calendar.
----------
*** Date Utility 091
Freeware
Heap: 3kb?
View all of your Dates, Meetings, To do items, etc.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: Very useful to remove many Calendar Notes in one go (the "Deleteolder than" of Syst. 1.05 doesn't work for the notes).
----------
*** deco-clock
This package puts clock icon in your extras drawer. Tap it and a nice clock takes over your screen, covering everything else.
Heuristically adjusts the clock on startup, reclaims up to 10K of system memory, and allows the user to disable all InstallScripts, or just InstallScripts on a card. Disabling InstallScripts may help avoid (temporarily) conflicts and Out of Memory errors.
Some features require or prefer that Disabler be installed internally; i.e., not on a memory card. Disabling InstallScripts requires that Disabler be installed internally.
----------
*** End n' Back 1.0b7
Freeware.
Author: Steve Dohrmann.
RAM: 6580 bytes.
Heap: 2.3kb.
End n' Back is a small Newton utility that installs itself in the NotePad application. Its purpose is provide a fast way to go to the last note in the Notepad's paper roll. It also provides a way to go back to the note you were at prior to going to the end.
Two new buttons will appear in the button bar of the Notepad application. Pressing the "End" button (down arrow) positions you at the end of the paper roll. Pressing the "Back" button (curving up arrow) positions you at the note you were at prior to pressing the "End" button.
MARK: 4/5.
COMMENTS: Very useful utility. Realy quick. And card friendly. It would be perfect with a button to go to the first note. Heap-space hungry though.
----------
*** Entseq 1.0
Shareware ($10)
Author: Masazumi Takahashi (masa@iias.or.jp)
Heap: 2kb?
Package only useful to molecular biologists.
Floating keyboard for entering gene sequences (i.e. limited keyboard). The 4 main keys (ATGC) speak the letter to reduce input errors.
COMMENTS: Useful package for biologists, but it would be nice to be able to activate the voice even when "Action sound effects" is not checked in the Sound Preferences.
----------
*** Extra-extras 1.1
Freeware
Allows access to Newton applications beyond the limit of 30 that the current (Syst. 1.04 & 1.05) Extras Drawer imposes.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: You must install it in the MP RAM, not on a card. Doesn't automatically update its app list. "Keyboard Pro" from the "Figgle Utilities" does the same thing, and more. "ScrollEx" too.
----------
*** Figgles-utilities 1.0
Shareware ($25)
Author: Erica Sadun
7 utilities & 1 game.
"Keyboard Pro" places a button in the statusBar, next to the regular keyboard. This button calls various keyboards, allows you to define your own keyboards and macros, paste notes from your folders into any application, call any Applet from your Extras Drawer at any time (even from other applications), edit your text using cursor movement keys, "select all" and direct access to the Styles slip, organise your thoughts using "Superbullets", clean up your Newt's memory by straining the system "soups" or doing a "Garbage Collection" and more!
"KeyQUICK" gives you instant access to Keyboard Pro from the "KeyQUICK Dot" in the upper left hand corner of the Newt.
"Typomatica" lets you type into any Newt field from any computer with a serial port.
"KeyMAKER" lets you build custom Macros for Keyboard Pro, install prebuilt keyboards and remove unwanted prebuilt, custom or third party keyboards from the Newt's stores.
"Third Party Keyboard Access" provides sample code for creating third party keyboards for Keyboard Pro. With the developer toolkit, you can customise this code for your own keyboard installation programs.
"TikTok" is a teenyweeny clock that takes up almost no screen space.
"Monitor" lets you keep track of time, temperature, memory usage and battery levels.
"24" is a fun (and non-trivial) brain teaser game which challenges you to add, subtract, divide and multiply four numbers to come up with a total of twenty-four.
KeyboardPRO
RAM: 41992 bytes
Heap: 1.5kb
Typomatica
RAM: 26764 bytes
Heap: 0.4kb
Monitor
RAM: 5284 bytes
TikTok
RAM: 4672 bytes
KeyQuick
RAM: 3460 bytes
Heap: 05kb
keyMaker
RAM: 40620 bytes
3PKBPKG
RAM: 8956 bytes
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: Very good value for money ! KeyboardPro + KeyQuick is a powerful add-on to your newton, you won't need "Extra-Extra" anymore nor any soup manager. But the style implementation requires as many taps as the normal access through the "Extras" drawer. In that respect, "Skip" or "TapStyles" are a better solution.
The soup manager feature of KeyboardPro has a nice touch compared to other soup managers like "Souper" or "StewPot": KeyboardPro doesn't allow you to mess up with the vital soups like Notes, calendar, Directory, inBox, OutBox, System, etc...
A recuring question on the Net is how to enter text on the MP via a desktop computer keyboard. Typomanica is a popular solution for that.
Minor complaints:
-KeyboardPro "delete right" key is using a symbol normally used to represent the TAB key. I personally favour the key representation of "Statusbar buttons: Keys".
- After having called KeyboardPro once (and then closed it), the insertion point tend to stay on your screen (it should normally appear only when you call a keyboard).
In the early days of the MP, when I tried KeyboardPro+KeyQuick, I decided against using those packages because it looked like they where using to much of my heap memory (I had frequent "out of memory, restart" messages that stopped after removing the packages). But that was with system 1.05. Now I not so sure. With the arrival of heap management utilities I'll have to do tests again. NewtCase estimates the heap space requirement of KeyboardPro at only 1.5kb.
----------
*** fixer-11
Fixer is a utility that will find and correct any storage problems associated with your Calendar Meetings and Day Notes.
----------
*** flashs-typer-10b5
A small popup keyboard that can type the date, time, carriage return, or Apple Enhancement Number.
----------
*** WARNING: FreeMem 1.xx & System 1.05
From: Dave Pompea <74736.172@CompuServe.COM>, 28 Jan 94.
As of this date I am requesting that Free Memory be withdrawn from all online services and any BBS's that have it posted. The reasons for this are three fold.
First: The method System 1.05 patches some routines make them incompatible with the techniques Free Memory uses to recover memory.
Second: There are increasingly more applications that depend on the persistence of their view frame to store data such as registration numbers, last view, preferences and other things.
Applications are not supposed to depend on this but store information in a soup to remember things. Some applications don't need to remember anything but don't dispose of memory when they close. Free Memory does check if the application is running and, if so, bypasses it. However, if it is not running, any memory left over was disposed of.
Third: Some people have thought that Free Memory would cure all memory problems. This is not so. As stated in the documentation, Free Memory only removes leftovers in the Frame Heap. This is where applications have memory allocated when they run and is just one of many memory areas.
Therefor, if you have Free Memory version 1.xx, please destroy it.
----------
*** Happy 1.2.1 (The Birthday Reminder)
Author: S.A. Laing
Heap: 2.9kb? 3.7kb?
Looks through your Names for upcoming birthdays and reminds you.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: cf. "Birthday Updater 1.1".
----------
*** HeapIt
Shareware
Author: Innovative Computer Solutions
Heap: 2kb?
HeapIt is a small utility for the original Newton MessagePad that removes InstallScripts from the system heap. The Newton OS leaves the install scripts in the heap, even though they are only used once. We're not sure why it does this, but if you have 10-20 apps installed, that's a lot of heap space !
HeapIt shows available Heap space when you open the utility but also when you call the "Card" slip in the Extras drawer (clever !).
COMMENTS: HeapIt is very useful, but you don't need to use it often. Run it each time you install a new package or have to reset your MP. If this is not frequent, store away HeapIt. To check on the available heap space, you can still use the card slip display or "RemoveIt" if you are using this package anyway (for checking your soups).
----------
*** helper-project
Floating palette 6mm high / screen-wide.
This pallette allows you to change font styles instantly through 3 "diamond" menus (fancy/plain font, size, style). There is also a button to switch on and off requirement to find words in the dictionaries, and a button to type a new-line bullet and space (good for making lists).
----------
*** Hot-buttons 0.9
Shareware ($5)
This application is a floating palette of user-programmable buttons to let you, with a single pen tap, access almost all Newton built-in applications as well as any user-installed applications.
MARK: 2/5
COMMENTS: This package is leaving a soup in the MP RAM when you remove the package.
----------
*** icebxmin (icebox?)
Extras manager.
COMMENTS: Reported (by Dan pollack) to work well even with a MP110 or OMP100 unlike ScrollEx.
----------
*** Inker 1.1
Freeware
Inker is a Newton App which lets you change the size of the drawing ink quickly (from a small floating palette).
COMMENTS: Advantages -> Drawing ink accessible right away, in one tap.
Disadvantages -> Small window taking some of your screen space.
"Skip" & "TapStyles" don't take any space and let you change also the styles. But you need one more tap compared to "Inker".
----------
*** keyboard-11
Gives you a floating palette of keyboards, including punctuation, time, numeric, and alphabetical.
----------
*** kill-find
Tells your Newton to search only in Names and Notes.
----------
*** llama-dos
The first Post-Newton Command Line Interpreter.
----------
*** MagicApp 1.0
ShareWare ($20)
Heap: 6.3kb?
Magic App will allow you to:
1.Move applications between the Newton's internal storage and external storage cards;
2.Beam applications to another Newton;
3.Remove applications with a single tap of the pen.
From HeywoodFl: MagicApp 1.1 doesn't work with the MP110.
----------
*** MagicApp 1.1
Shareware (US$25, UK ú20, or AUD$30)
Author: Sydney Low
MagicApp is a package for the Newton MessagePad that allows you to move and copy programs from a Newton to a storage card and copy programs from one storage card to another with the tap of a pen.
Simply download MagicApp into your Newton's INTERNAL storage, NOT onto a storage card. Open the application, select a program from the scrolling list and follow the instructions.
Requirements:
MagicApp version 1.1 runs on all Newton MessagePad 100 and 110 computers. It does not run on the MessagePad Classic. MagicApp is not guaranteed to run on future Newton MessagePad computers.
Limitations:
Moving and copying programs requires the MessagePad to have sufficient free storage space in the INTERNAL storage and on the storage card. The practical limitations are packages up to 80-90k on MP100s and 2-300k on MP110s. If you have a very full MessagePad or storage card, this will reduce the size of the program you can move or copy.
Version 1.1 of MagicApp does not have a beaming feature.
Syd Low, Instant Information Pty Ltd,
PO Box 1051, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia
Compuserve: 100026,1301
syd@suburbia.apana.org.au
----------
*** mail-saver
MailSaver is a one-stop NewtonMail assistant.
----------
*** memory-10
Floating memory display.
----------
*** minitools-102
This file contains two packages - Memory Massager and NewtonScript Runner. The purpose of Memory Massager is to call a garbage collection in your Newton's memory. NewtonScript Runner will evaluate NewtonScript for you.
----------
*** net-names
NetNames is a utility that uses the Newton chooser to see if there are named devices on AppleTalk.
----------
*** net-test-05
NetTest is an application for testing an AppleTalk network.
----------
*** NewtCase 1.1
Shareware ($20)
Author: Innovative Computer Solutions
RAM: 38856 bytes
NewtCase lets any MessagePad (Classic, MP100, MP110) user archive his/her Newton applications to reduce heap memory requirements, alleviate conflicts between applications, and clean up his/her Extras drawer. Archived (or "NewtCased") packages do not show up in the Extras drawer, but can be reinstalled at any time using NewtCase. With NewtCase, you can temporarily deinstall applications without having to remove them from your MessagePad. NewtCase can launch an archived package and, when you quit from that package, automatically re-archive it. Using NewtCase, you could keep a hundred applications on your 4 meg card without overflowing your heap space or Extras drawer. NewtCase is shareware and can be registered for $20 by mail, or on CompuServe (GO SWREG).
A list of new features follows:
- The NewtCase 1.1 archive includes v1.2 of Tibbott's Bookcase, making NewtCase and Bookcase finally compatible.
- NewtCase refuses (properly) to launch autoparts.
- Archive lists correctly update when you switch sets.
You can categorize your NewtArchives (say Utilities, games, Books, ...).
NewtCase also displays the available heap space.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: Stable package and free of nasty surprises (very important for this type of utility).
One potential pitfall is synchronisation. NewtCase "hides" archived packages to the NCK, but you can still see their soups with a soup manager. There is nothing like a soup w/o its parent package to screw-up a sync. I didn't have any problem with it so I guess that either NewtCase is taking care of that somehow or the NCK 2.0 is handling sync better than 1.0.
The problem at the moment is that NewtCase and other packages management apps like RemoveIt, Extra-Extras and ScrollEx can conflict. You shouldn't need Extra-Extras and ScrollEx if you're using Newtcase and Bookcase 1.2 (compatibility with Bookcase is a nice improvement) but RemoveIt or Stewpot are still needed. If NewtCase would include a soup manager it would be perfect.
Nevertheless, NewtCase is one of the most useful packages arround. I highly recommand it.
The NCK doesn't back-up packages archived by NewtCase. This is very useful for synchronising (in most cases backing-up packages is redundant and increases the chances of failure). No more de-installation before sync. But beware of card erasure since the archived packages can't be restored from your NCK backup.
There is one small problem though. If you do a NCK sync. with a package X installed, archive X with newtCase, reinstall X, and then do another sync., you will end up with a new save-file on your desktop computer instead of a proper sync. I think this is because X is not reinstalled exactly at the same place on your card so the NCK thinks that this is a different card.
There is a clever touch to NewtCase: to launch it you don't need to open the Extras drawer, you just tap the word "Extras".
The documentation of Newtcase is very good. I've especially appreciated the good covering of possible problems and known incompatibilities (a lot of software companies keep this quiet and let you discover limitations by yourself).
NB: If you remove NewtCase w/o first reinstalling all archived packages, you will be stuck with NewtCase soup. If you erase that soup with a soup manager package, the space occupied by the soup will remain non usable, thus you will have effectively decreased the capacity of your RAM card. To reclaim that lost memory you'll have to reformat the card.
----------
*** newNote
Freeware
Author: Keith (keith@cognisense.com)
newNote installs a button onto the Notes app's status bar which quickly creates a new page and scrolls you down one screen so that you're ready to keep on takin' notes.
----------
*** newton-transfer
QuicKeys macro that basically copies and pastes data, one field at a time, from Dynodex to the Newton Connection Kit, until the entire record is copied.
----------
*** newton-unlock
This program will allow you to bypass the login screen if you happen to forget your password. It will then allow you to disable the password protection so that you may reset your password.
----------
*** Newton PDA Package Downloader 1.5
Shareware ($20)
From: kaas@knoware.nl (Peter Kaas), 8 May 1994.
The "PDA Package Downloader 1.5" (PPD) is a simple utility which allows the user to download Newton Packages or Newton Updates from a Macintosh into a Newton. PPD now supports serial connections, as well as AppleTalk, between a Macintosh and a Newton.
Further, PPD offers "background listening" operation: it will remain in the background, silently listening for connections initiated by the Newton.
Some features in short:
- Drag and Drop installing of Newton Packages and Newton Updates;
- Support for AppleTalk and serial connections;
- Works in the background;
- No need to activate, will listen for connections all the time;
- Requires a minimum of disk and memory space;
- Will run on any Macintosh equipped with System 7 (or higher);
- Documentation in a stand-alone application.
----------
*** nndd (Newton Names & Dates Downloader)
HyperCard stack that allows you to download Dates and Notes to the Newton.
----------
*** no-sleep
No Sleep is the freeware program that will keep Newton from going to sleep when Newtons AC adapter is powering it.
----------
*** nStyles 0.3
ShareWare ($15).
Author: Bill Kearney.
RAM: 12864 bytes.
Heap: 9kb.
nStyles changes the "Styles" window so as to give you more options. With the normal "Styles" you've got a choice of 2 fonts, 4 letter sizes, 3 styles and 4 ink pen sizes. When nStyles is istalled, you get an extra font (System), 2 extra styles (italic & outline), new letter sizes (14, 24, 36, 48, 72), 8 ink pen sizes and the ability to capitalize (the sentence or each word) selected text.
MARK: 4/5.
COMMENTS: Very useful package if you think that there isn't enough options in the Styles. And a card friendly package too (you can instal nStyles on a PCMCIA card and remove the card w/o problem, text formated with nStyles' extra options will even keep its formating).
One thing that some people might not like is the extra tap that nStyles requires because of its use of menus where the normal Styles has radio buttons.
While nStyles is installed you will no longer be able to call the standard Styles window. nStyles works fine with TapStyles.
Note that nStyles doesn't appear in the Extras drawer nor in the Prefs.
BUT, nStyles requires a huge amount of heap space (according to NewtCase).
----------
*** objviewer-092
The Object Viewer displays the contents of objects in Newton's memory.
----------
*** OnSet
OnSet is a program that allows you to change the "power on screen" (also known as SleepScreen) picture to anything you want (including the lizard or custom bitmaps).
COMMENTS: Partial incompatibility with "BooksOff". When I have "Signature" and "BooksOff" installed, adding "OnSet" removes "BooksOff" from the Prefs list overview. You can still access "BooksOff" Prefs by opening the "OnSet" Prefs and scrolling down. I suspect that the real problem is with the number of Prefs that can be listed when you first tap Prefs.
With Syst 1.3 you can get two alternative startup screens w/o OnSet by adding 2 or 3 spaces after your street address in Prefs / Personal.
----------
*** OpenTime
Freeware
Author: Allan Marcus
RAM:
Heap: 0.3kb
This simply little utility, when installed, will cause the Dates application to automatically open to the current hour minus 2 (to see if you missed anything !).
No icon will appear in the extras drawer after you install this utility (to avoid crowding the Extras drawer).
COMMENTS: Fixes the mistake that Apple made in the design of the Calendar (which open at the time it was when you last closed it). You must install this package in internal RAM otherwise it won't let you remove your card.
----------
*** PaperBack 1.01
cf. subject 15 (Apps).
----------
*** Password
Freeware
RAM: 6612 bytes
Heap: 0.8kb? 2.6kb?
Toggles password protection on and off when you tap the pckge icon.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: I've used this one for ages, no bug, no problem, very useful. You must install it in the MP RAM not on a card.
----------
*** peekaboo
Developer trace utility.
----------
*** PickExtras 1.17
Shareware ($5)
Author: Bill Kearney
RAM: 9kb
Heap: 0.5kb
When you tap on the upper part of the Extras icon you call a scrollable pop-up list of all the packages installed in your Extras drawer. Thus, if you've got more packages installed than can fit into the Extras drawer window, you can still launch them with the help of PickExtras. Just tap the name in the list.
PickExtras does not appear in the Extras drawer or anywhere else. You'll only see it if you tap the top half of the Extras button.
It's Install/Remove polite and will not leave anything behind in your Newton. It does not create any soups. You can put it on your card, eject and reinsert the card into a friend's Newton and PickExtras will work! It won't alter the Newton since the app follows the card.
PickExtras uses less card AND heap memory than ALL the other Extras apps and supports opening ALL kinds of apps. It's also available at ALL times; not just as a button in the Notepad. You can even eject a card with PickExtras open; try that with any other Extras utility!
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: PickExtras has gone a long way since v1.02. From a useless package it has evolved to one of the best "Extras" utility around. I especially appreciate the care Bill Kearney has taken to make his package as small as possible (heap-wise), card friendly and soup-clean (given the MP shortcomings, those little details really counts).
Note: Don't download version 1.16, there's a bug preventing its use.
----------
*** pit
Production interval timer for music and scripts in video production.
----------
*** place-settings
Allows you to add a city name to the Time Zones list and switch between 12/24 hour modes.
----------
*** Pour
Pour is a little utility that will allow you to choose any soup from
the available stores on your Newt (or a union soup if you have a
card) and will pour it down the serial port at 9600-8-N-1.
----------
*** Prefs Patcher
Shareware
Author: Innovative Computer Solutions
Prefs Patcher is a small patch for the Newton MessagePad which corrects what we consider an annoying user interface "feature". Namely, that you have to click twice to exit the Prefs or Formulas rolls. When you install Prefs Patcher, it replaces the close box in these rolls with one that works PROPERLY, requiring only one click to close the roll. You can still click on the overview button to get back to the overview. The application also places a dual-function button on the notepad status bar for one tap access to the Formulas and Prefs rolls.
----------
*** rebooter
Allows you to reboot from the Extras drawer.
----------
*** rem-guard
RemGuard is a Newton MessagePad utility that helps prevent missed appointment reminders posted by the MessagePad Dates application.
----------
*** RemoveIt! 2.2
Shareware ($5)
Author: Atomic Software (Allan Marcus)
RAM:
Heap: 0.5kb
This package allows you to remove packages in a more convenient way than the normal, painstaking, way. RemoveIt also removes soups and display how much system heap is still available. As a bonus, version 2.2 can rename PCMCIA cards.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: RemoveIt allows you to remove any soup, even system soups and system directory soups. But it does not allow you to see and/or modify the contents of a soup. So you might prefer StewPot.
----------
*** resistor-calc10
This is just a quick applet to help calculate resistor values.
----------
*** R.U.N.
Author: Coherent Visual
Rahmel Utilities for Newton or R.U.N. is a collection of utilities that allows Newton users to create organization charts, set up flash card data for information review, track daily expenses, automate shopping lists, and automatically inserts birthday reminders into your calendar.
With Chart Organizer, organization boxes are added as one of four types: manager, co-worker, assistant, and subordinate. Each box supports two editable fields. The entire chart may be viewed at once using the Overview button. Both horizontal and vertical scrolling are support, as well as printing and faxing.
The Flash Cards program accepts information handwritten into ╥front╙ and ╥back╙ fields. A set may be reviewed randomly or in order, and a score may be kept for the answered correctly. Multiple card sets may be kept.
In Expense List, expenses and mileage are placed into various categories. Expenses may then be totaled by week, month or a specific time period. Multiple lists can be tracked separately or together. The user may also create custom categories to classify specific expenses. Printing and faxing supported.
The Shopping List application uses both handwriting and pop-up menus to enter the quantity, description, and average price of items into a given list. As items are purchased they may be checked off and removed from list. Multiple lists are supported. Common items may be added to the pop-up menus. The application automatically does a total amount calculation to show an approximate shopping total.
Birth dates entered into the ╥Names╙ application have had to be added by hand to the ╥Calendar,╙ until now. Birthday Reminder automatically searches the Names data and inserts reminders into the Newton calendar. These reminders may be inserted a day, three days, or a week preceding the event. Alarms may also be set to remind the user.
The packages are compact and therefore individually they may be loaded into an unexpanded Newton MessagePad. Although possible to put them into normal memory all at once, a RAM expansion is seriously recommended.
R.U.N. includes a bonus utility to add the dates of major holidays to your calendar. All utilities are compatible with the Messagepad 110.
Coherent Visual
204 N. El Camino Real, Suite E-229
Encinitas, CA 92024
Voice: (619) 944-8973
FAX: (619) 944-9496
email: CVisual@AOL.com
compuServe: 74627,1147
----------
*** SafeGuard 1.0
Freeware
Safe Guard is a utility that allows you to password protect your PCMCIA cards.
COMMENTS: Minor problem, when you are using a password for your Newton and the SafeGuard password for a card, if you reset, entering your password won't unlock the Newton. You have to eject the card first, enter the password (thus unlocking the Newton), then insert your card and enter the password for your card.
----------
*** sams-sensible-sleeper
Shareware ($5)
Sam's Sensible Sleeper, when turned on, detects whether you are operating by plug or by battery. You may then set the sleep time on your Newton based on whether you are using the plug or the battery.
MARK: 2/5
Quite useful, but the settings are lost after a reset.
----------
*** ScrollEx
Shareware ($10, DM15, FF50)
Enable scrolling in the Extras drawer, allows you to rename applications and to move them from card to internal memory. Also permits to assign applications to the standard screen buttons.
COMMENTS: Reported to be SystemMemory-hungry but otherwise very good.
A new version (1.5.1) is now available (in English or in French).
From: mrh@netcom.com (Mark Holmes), 17 Apr 1994.
Figgles is limited. I normally have at least thirty packages on my Newt and Figgles' KeyboardPro can't show those last few. ScrollEx is the way to go, if for no other reason than it's being most intuitive -- by simply making the arrows work in the Extras drawer. The other important feature of ScrollEx is the addition of a routing slip to the Extras drawer; the slip includes "delete package" which is important since the Card button's "Remove Software" list doesn't have room to list more than about 20 apps.
Extra Extras, and related utils, may work just as well, but ScrollEx is the clear interface winner on this score. Hopefully it will become obsolete when Apple cleans up this design deficiency.
----------
*** set-lcd-contrast
Sets the LCD screen on the Newton to 142.
----------
*** Signature
Freeware. Two packages.
Author: Chris Christensen.
Heap: Signature 0.4kb, Signed 0.5kb.
Signature:Chris2x
This application adds a new preference to the preference roll where the user can put in there signature. It makes an entry in the userConfiguartion that other applications (like the next one) can take advantage of.
Signed:Chris2x
This application takes advantage of Signature:Chris2x and adds a new print format to the paper roll which provides for a letter format that automatically signs the letter with the signature in the preferences.
----------
*** Skip 0.5
Shareware ($5)
RAM: 3476 bytes
Tapping in the upper left or right corners of your screen will activate Skip and bring forth the Styles palette.
MARK: 2/5
COMMENTS: Very useful to call the styles in one tap. You install SkipLeft or SkipRight depending on which corner you want active. No bug, no compatibility problem as far as I know. I personally favour "TapStyles" which, unlike "Skip", put a dot on the screen to remind you of the active corner. Moreover, the active corner of Skip is a bit too small for comfort.
----------
*** sleeper-10d3
Puts your Newton to sleep on demand.
----------
*** SleepAid 1.2
Shareware
Author: Innovative Computer Solutions
SleepAid covers all aspects of power management on your Newton. It replaces the default "Sleep" preferences with a "SleepAid" preferences that lets you set two sleep times - one for battery and one for AC. It lets you put your MP to sleep even if some errant application wants it to stay awake. It adds a "SleepNow" button for one-tap sleep (the top of N in the "Names" button) and an "available heap" button (the top of t in the "Assist" button).
----------
*** Small-time-1
SmallTime is a small app which lets you time events--basically a tiny stop watch.
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*** Souper 1.1
Within the Souper application you have the ability to select the "Store" on which you want to work and the Soup you wish to operate on. You may rename a given Soup, Delete to entire Soup, Clear all entries out of a Soup, or get information about a Soup.
Soup Sweep is a Newton utility to remove unused memory from Newton soups. Freeware, available at ftp archive sites and ftp from eecs.wsu.edu as pub/newton/soupSweep.hqx.
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*** StatusBar Buttons 2.0
Freeware
Author: Jess Devine (Jester@apple.com)
RAM:
Heap: 5.7kb? 11kb?
StatusBar Buttons is a single Newton applet which places seven buttons in the status bar at the bottom of the Newton's note pad application. Each of these buttons serve a distinct and useful function, and generally make the Newton a better place to live. You may select which buttons to display or not as appropriate for your unique needs. Those buttons are: "Bullet", "Exclaim!" (punctuation), "Styles", "Keys" (return,tab,delete), "Ink size", "Words/Letters" (to switch between word recognition and letter-by-letter recognition) and "Prefs access" (to access directly the Prefs, w/o opening the Extras drawer). You can also set the order of the punctuation set and shrink the standard keyboard key to half its normal size.
MARK: 4/5
COMMENTS: Very useful utility but doesn't leave much room to buttons from other packages (if you use the full 7 buttons set). I free up space by using the "TapStyles" utility instead of the Styles button. "TapStyles" has also the advantage of being accessible from anywhere (StatusBar buttons is only available in Notes).
Warning: StatusBar Buttons uses a lot of precious System Heap.
StatusBar Buttons 2.0 should be fully compatible with "Stork" & "Keyboard Pro" (version 1 was hiding other statusbar buttons).
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*** StewPot 1.0b7
Freeware
Author: Mark Underwood
RAM: 31856 bytes
Heap: 2kb?
StewPot is a soup inspector that allows you to view and change soup entries, make new entries, remove old entries, and copy entire soups.
MARK: 3/5
COMMENTS: If I need to remove a soup, I always use StewPot (v1.0b5). I've never had any problem. What I like, compared to KeyboardPro for exemple, is that with StewPot you know which soups are in internal memory and which are on a card. But you might prefer RemoveIt which allows you also to see system soups and system directory soups (but not the content of any soup).
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*** Stork 1.1
Freeware
Add a button (to the status bar) which allows you to switch between internal MP RAM and PCMCIA Card.
COMMENTS: Stork must be installed in the MP Internal Memory. If you install it on a card, Stork won't let you eject the card.
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*** strainer08
Strainer is designed to let you easily mark and remove entries from your Newton's storage.
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*** TapStyles 1.0
Freeware
RAM: 3312 bytes
Heap: 0.5kb? 2kb?
"TapStyles" is a simple little applet that, when activated, places a small dot in the upper right area of the Newton screen that allows quick access to the styles palette.
MARK: 5/5
COMMENTS: My favourite utility. And it's very small.
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*** TimeLock 1.2
Shareware ($5)
TimeLock allows you to set a delay on requiring the entry of your password. I took on this project because I wasn't using the builtin password feature because it was to cumbersome. I would turn off my newton just to remember one more thing and need to turn it back on again and enter my password. With TimeLock I can set a delay so if I need to turn my newton right back on again I can without having to re-enter my password.
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*** time-n-temp
Time&Temp is a freeware program that will speak the time and temperature.
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*** TimeToGo v1.2
Author: Extra Lead ($39 + tax & shipping = about $45).
Edited from: jalano@blend.ugcs.caltech.edu (J. Alan Low), 1 Jun 1994.
TimeToGo is a set of Newton MessagePad applications which solve timer problems (parking meters, eggs cooking, make your Newton into a Big Clock and a travel alarm clock) and also features a REPEATING ALARM !
TimeToGo will repeat any alarm you set in the datebook. When the normal datebook alarm goes off, if you don't respond to the Reminder panel that pops up, TimeToGo pops up another panel about 20 seconds later, and continues to play Trill noises until you respond to it. Rude and persistent: you will never miss again an appointment (but it might be hard on your batteries).
TimeToGo will also launch other TimeToGo applications in a flash mode, so when you turn on your Newton you can get a quick glimpse of how much time is left on your parking meter without having to do anything but tug at the on switch.
Extra Lead
1442A Walnut St. Suite 405, Berkeley, CA 94709-1496
From: Adrian Freed <adrian@cnmat.berkeley.edu>, 1 Jun 1994.
The clocks in the Time To Go application from Extra Lead allow you to switch between 12 hour and 24 hour time with a single tap. There are three clocks (out of 11 apps in all):
- an analog face, with 24 hour labels in Arabic and Roman numerals.
- a full screen landscape digital clock (tap on the flashing second indicator for 24 hour).
- a travel alarm style digital alarm clock (with a smaller 7-segment style display).
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*** tiny-timer
A small timer that will run even if the Newton goes to sleep.
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*** ViewFrame
developer tool that let you look through NewtonScript code of any application.
