NEWTON MessagePads Facts and FAQs Version 3.12 =========================================== Jean-Christophe BOUSSON JC@easynet.co.uk =========================================== Last update: 28 Nov 95 =========================================== This text has been formated for the monospaced font "Courier 10". This is probably not your default font. Please "Select all" and change the font to Courier 10 before reading. 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 selected software). The version number indicates the month of release: the digit after the point is the month (i.e. 5 = May). The digit before the point is the year of Newton existence (1993 was the first year). Information contained here come mainly from my own experience, from Usenet (comp.sys.newton.misc), from the excellent Newt_News e-newsletter, with some material from NANUG and the old Paul R. Potts FAQs. Many thanks to Ashley Barnard Armstrong (AMUG) for her help with the diffusion of this document, with the feedback and the database. Thanks also to all the other 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 1.3 ROM upgrade. This document includes at the end a list of selected software (with a short description and comments/review). Only the latest releases and some of the best (in my totaly biaised opinion) software will be covered here. If you want a more extensive listing, you should download the "Nwt Software" database from ftp.amug.org/pub/newton/resources. To keep up to date with new releases, suscribe to comp.sys.newton.announce and NewtNews mailing lists (cf. subjects 4.4, 4.5 & 4.8). 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). ------------------------------ Subject: 1. Contents. ---------- *** 1.1 Table of contents. 1 Contents. 1.1 Table of contents. 1.2 What's new in version 3.12 . 2 MessagePad basics. 2.1 How does it work ? 2.2 Should I buy a MP ? (pros & cons of the Newton MP). 2.3 General advice to a new MP owner. 2.4 Handwriting recognition blues. 3 A guide to the various Newton devices. 3.1 Hardware: a comparison. - Comparison. - MP120 details. - Marco details. 3.2 System software. incl. NOS 2.0 infos 3.3 History of system/ROM updates. 4 Where can I find Newton software and information ? 4.1 Web, gopher and ftp sites. 4.2 NANUG. 4.3 Apple helplines. 4.4 Usenet groups. 4.5 NewtNews. 4.6 Newton peripherals list. 4.7 Commercial networks. 4.8 Newton mailing lists. 4.9 Magazines. IN Magazine. PIE Developer. PEN Computing. PDA Developers Magazine. 4.10 The "Newton Software" database. 4.11 Newton Users Groups. 4.12 Electronic publications. NewtReport. NewtOnLine. Tapped In. The Newton Tech Journal Mobilis 4.13 List of Newton vendors. 5 Major Newton Bugs & Problems. 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 ? 5.2 "The application does not have enough memory..." error messages. Installing packages can cause a lot of trouble ! 5.3 Synchronisation with the Newton Connection Kit 1.0 (Mac). 5.4 Everything the MP has learned about your handwriting may be lost. 5.5 Unreliable alarms. 5.6 Slow flash cards. 5.7 Can't back-up to my PCMCIA Card (error -48016). 5.8 Security issue (password). 5.9 Dialling from the MP speaker. 5.10 Bug in Repeat Meetings. 5.11 Shareware-caused problems: soups. 5.13 Printing a note longer than one (printer) page. 5.14 Clipboard problems. 5.15 System 1.3 quirks (Assistant / Letter-by-letter & formatting). 5.16 Newton fax problem. 5.17 OMP100 Extras drawer bug. 5.18 NewtonBooks and Reset. 5.19 Beaming data from Sharp Wizard. 6 Minor problems. 6.1 My MP won't let me remove the PCMCIA card. 6.2 Accessing "Styles". 6.3 User dictionary. 6.4 Moving packages from the internal memory to a PCMCIA card. 6.5 Deleting ToDo items. 6.6 Calendar notes & "Delete meetings older than". 6.7 Note separator "eating" previous note. 6.8 Note separator double trouble. 6.9 Non cumulative styles. 6.10 Names overview. 6.11 Birthday (in Names). 6.12 Erasing one occurrence of a repeating event. 6.13 Empty notes don't automatically update the date stamp. 6.14 Moving the keyboard. 6.15 Add 'xxxx' to word list. 6.16 Overlapping packages names. 6.17 More calendar bugs. 6.18 Black line in the upper left corner of Dates. 6.19 French / Canada (French locale) numbers. 6.20 Out Box out of memory. 6.21 Undo-ing a "delete". 6.22 User interface improvements. 6.23 "About Newton" bug. 6.24 Dictionary bug (Syst. 1.3 only). 6.25 Mad clock. 6.26 Fields too small in Names. 6.27 Calendar. 6.28 Note scrolling. 6.29 Newton clock loosing time. 6.30 No monospaced font. 6.31 Newton is always learning your handwriting. 6.32 Important words not in the built-in dictionary. 6.33 Problem with folder tab name. 7 Wish list. Filing calendar items or ToDo items. Assist 'Remember' and 'Schedule' could be improved. Disabling digital ink compression. MP permanent buttons design. Guide-lines on a blank screen. Characters templates. Accents. 8 Technical information. 8.2 OMP -> MP100 Upgrade. 8.4 "Assist", the Official Newton User Group in the UK. 8.5 Newton Connection Kit 2.0. 8.6 Newton Solution Packs. 8.7 Newton ToolKit 1.5. 8.8 What can be stored in 1MB of Newton RAM (card) ? 8.9 Newton Fax/Modem specifications. 8.10 French MP110. 8.11 PocketCall 1.0 . 8.11bis How Is PocketCall ? 8.12 Craig Macfarlane's Newton Peripherals List 1.7 8.13 Serial Port / Cable Specs. 8.14 MP120 / ROM 1.3 in Germany. 8.15 Graffiti. 8.17 System 1.3 Feb 95 Update. 8.18 System 2.0 Dec 95 Update. 9 Various FAQs. 9.1 Can I add a new time zone and city ? 9.2 Can I add countries to the popup list in the Names file. 9.3 Connection Kit 1.0 for the Macintosh: Hardware limitations. 9.4 How can I move easily a lot of items from card to internal memory ? 9.5 NiCd batteries. 9.5bis NiCd Batteries, AC adaptator and the MP. 9.6 PCMCIA cards: Flash vs. Static RAM. 9.6bis Other PCMCIA cards questions. 9.7 Modem questions (incl. PCMCIA modems). 9.8 Cleaning the MP screen. 9.9 MP transport. 9.11 Can I fax notes from a PCMCIA card using a PCMCIA fax/modem? 9.12 Can the MP be used as a remote control ? 9.13 MP110 <-> OMP IR beaming. 9.14 Black line in the upper left corner of Dates. 9.15 Upgrade OMP or buy MP110 ? 9.16 Syst 1.3 & hard reset / total power failure. 9.17 OMP ROM upgrade: will I get 32K RAM back ? 9.18 System memory, heap, store, RAM, ROM: what is what ? 9.19 Programming the Newton. 9.20 Bar code reader for Newton ? 9.22 Can I connect my Newton to a network via IR ? 9.23 How can I load long text files and pictures in my MP ? 9.24 Can I have a 24h clock while retaining the US date format? 9.25 Does "English-speaking" MPs spell in the US, UK or both ways ? 9.26 Letter Styles questions. 9.27 How to enter area codes in Names (for proper dialing). 9.28 How do I know what is the system version on my Newton ? 9.29 NOS 2.0 screen rotation questions. 10 Tips. 10.1 Automatic power shutdown. 10.2 Shareware problems. 10.3 Backup to PCMCIA card. 10.4 Preserving your MP screen. 10.5 Undo -> Redo. 10.6 Drawings. 10.7 Access to last 4 Newton "messages". 10.8 Speed. 10.9 The secret 3rd font of the MP. 10.10 Alarms reminders. 10.11 Event spanning several days. 10.12 Plugging a keyboard into a MP. 10.13 Quick access to Recognizer Prefs. 11 Newton hardware products. 11.1 Styluses. 11.2 Screen protections. 11.3 Various. 12 Easter eggs. 12.1 Find Elvis. 12.2 About Newton. 12.3 Graceland: Alternative startup screen (OMP only). 12.4 Thermometer (OMP & MP100 only). 12.5 Serial debugger. 12.6 Date easter egg. 12.7 Happy Hour Fri. 12.8 Alternative startup screens (Syst 1.3 only). 12.9 Moon phases. 12.10 NOS 2.0 Easter eggs (Titanic...). 13 A quick Best Newton Software Guide. 13.1 Spreadsheets. 13.2 List Management Apps. 13.3 Databases. FlashData FileMaker 3.0 Companion TeamAgent FilePad Transform AppGen 13.4 My own top ten list. 14 Not sorted (nor checked), yet. Newton, Newton mail, and standard email. Sharp Wizard. NCK 2.0 for Mac bugs ? Deleting Day Events. Windows Connection Kit 2.0 Warning. One_button_print WARNING. ToDo's Newton Bug. 15 Software: Applications. 16 Software: NewtonBooks. 17 Software: Games. 18 Software: Utilities. ---------- *** 1.2 What's new in version 3.12 . Reorganised section 4. New stuff: 2.1, 4.13, 8.7 (replaces previous subject 8.7), 8.18, 9.29 (screen rotation), 10.13, 12.10, 13.3 (changed from "various" to "databases"). Updated: 2.2, 2.4, 3.2 (Rumours about System 2.0), 4.5, 4.9, 4.12 (expanded to cover new publications), 7.1, 8.2, 8.5 (shortened), 9.1, 9.9, 9.23, 10.12, 11.1, 11.2, 13.1, 15. Software: NoteScroller, ProCalc, CalcWorks, BigNotes, NDCrypt, National Parks, Eudora Light, Calc++, ... Deleted: 9.15 (MP110 vs OMP upgrade). ------------------------------ Subject: 2. MessagePad basics. ---------- *** 2.1 How does it work ? This is not the place to write an essay on how Newton devices work, I am just going to explain a few basic things to know about the way handwriting recognition works. Newton users know this already, but this is for the benefit of non-users seeking basic information in this FAQ. Before I start, let me remind you that "Newton" is the generic term designing Apple PDA technology: the interface, operating system, handwriting recognition software, etc... Nonetheless, the term "Newton" is often used as a generic term refering to all the devices employing Newton technology: Apple's "MessagePads", Sharp's "ExpertPad", Mototola's "Marco", etc... Newton handwriting recognition (HWR) has disappointed many people who tried a MessagePad (MP) in a shop. Many jokes have been made about it (how many Newtons does it take to change a light bulb ?: hwrihdtfb). This was due to the fact that they didn't know about the way HWR works in Newtons. To recognize a written word, a Newton first tries to identify the letters composing the word. This is not easy because, in cursive writing, computers cannot easily tell where a letter ends and where the next letter starts. For example, how to distinguish "cl" from "d" when the "l" loop is not clearly formed ? And how do you tell the "l" from "1" (one) ? To get around that problem, Newton compares its first reading to a dictionary and tries to find the most likely word. Lets take an example: Suppose you wrote "clean" with no loop in your "l" nor in your "e", and that your "a" could be mistaken for an "o". What you wrote could read as "clean" but also as "dean", "clian", "dian", "clion", "dion", "cleon" and "deon". By using the dictionary the Newton can narrow down its choices to only two possibilities: "clean" and "dean". Which one will be chosen depends on exactly how you formed your "cl". If the Newton had choosen "dean", the propective buyer could tolerate the mistake, it is close enough to the right word. But imagine that "dean" was written, with a "d" looking like "cl" because of a very narrow loop instead of one vertical bar (that's the way I write my "d"s) and an "e" looking very much like an "i" w/o the dot: the Newton might decide that "cli_n" is 100% sure. The possibilities would then be "clian", "clion" and "clien". The last option is the only one close to a word present in the dictionary: "client". Then the unsuspecting user would get "client" instead of "dean", he can be excused for thinking badly of Newton HWR !!! This is made worse by three other points: - If a word in not in the dictionary, the probability of mistake gets quite high (despite the fact that the latest MPs will try to use letter-by-letter recognition if word-recognition gives poor results). - Secondly, the Newton HWR system performs well only when it has "learned" the way its user writes. So a Newton is a very personal tool that must be configured and trained at the beginning (it will carry on learning all the time). So if you pick a Newton in a shop, the chances that its set-up matches your handwriting style is pretty slim. - Last, to know when you've finished a word and start the next one, Newton times the writing. If you pause in the middle of a word, it will be split- up. For example, in "clean", if you pause after the "e", the chances are that Newton will recognize "de" + "an" or, worse, "Dr." + "an" (because "cle" could be read as "de" where the closest match in the dictionary can only be "dr" which is properly written as "Dr.". This is a crude simplification of what actually happens, but you should get the idea better that way. ---------- *** 2.2 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. Note that with version 2.0 of the Newton Operating System, handwriting recognition has been significantly improved. At this time (Nov 95) it is too early to quantify the improvement, but some people report excelent results with printed writing (as opposed to cursive). 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 a MP120, MP110 or upgrade MP100, 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). Note that the 4K limit has been extended in NOS 2.0, but larger notes scroll very slowly and thus are not really suitable. But you can buy software designed for long text entry and editing. 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 desktop computer. - 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). And thereÕs loads and loads of software available for the Newton. 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 handwriting recognition, so much that they do take notes on the Newton at lectures. And some people just take notes in digital ink, not using handwriting 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). There's also a commercial software called "Graffiti" that you can add to your MP. This software is supposed to be very good at letter-by-letter handwriting recognition. Thus it is possible to take notes, even very technical ones (i.e. with words not in the Nwt dictionary) w/o being plagued by recognition errors. The catch is that the user must conform to a set way of writing letters (most of the time it's close to the normal writing, but sometimes it will be very different from how you write). Also, each space must be "written". And you must use a special symbol to switch from uppercase to lowercase and back. So some people might find that using Graffiti slow down their writing too much or is otherwise unpractical for note taking. There's a lot of controversy about it. Try the demo. Cf also subject 8.15. Note that it has been reported that the new printed text recognizer of NOS 2.0 is so good that you no longer need Graffiti for that kind of text input. --- 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. --- Final word: Note that next year (96) a new MP should reach the market, equipped with a faster processor that should solve the big speed problem of the current MPs. ---------- *** 2.3 General advice to a new MP owner. You'll probably need a PCMCIA card, even with the MP110 or MP120 that have a lot of internal memory. There're so many interesting Newton shareware & freeware packages around (not to mention the NewtonBooks) that you'll need that 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 , 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 or a MP120/2, 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 can nearly do the job of StewPot and it's also good at deinstalling quickly several packages.NewtCase 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 short list of important Newton software, with comments to guide you. For detailled information about most of the available Newton software, download the "Nwt Software" database (cf. subject 4.2). 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. And luckily, the larger heap size of the new models (MP110, MP120) helps. 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, in the "Nwt Software" database, 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 might help with that. Check out also subjects 5.1 & 5.3. ---------- *** 2.4 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". And do not use letter-by-letter recognition everywhere at the beginning. - 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. Also, some people find that enabling letter-by-letter recognition everywhere is very useful (available only in System 1.3). But donÕt use that before you have fully trained your Newton. NOS 2.0: In the new operating system handwriting recognition has been greatly impoved. But it is too early for me to report anything on that front since I donÕt have first hand experience of NOS 2.0. Handwriting recognition tips from Bill Kearney: The recognition can only act on what you feed it. In the current units it's very dependent on your entering in the first few lettersproperly. The recognizer uses a binary tree to search for the words. If you give it the wrong first letters, it will branch off down a useless path. It's really critical that you write the first letters properly. ------------------------------ Subject: 3. A guide to the various Newton devices. ---------- Newton devices now come in many shapes and configurations. Even more confusing, two Newtons that look the same may have significant differences at the system software level (responsible, among others, for the handwriting recognition). Subject 3 is a little guide to the various Newton devices, system software updates, ROMs, etc... I'll start by a comparison of the various Newton devices solely at the hardware level, without discussing the capabilities of the associated system software. Then I'll introduce the various system updates and their capabilities. ---------- *** 3.1 Hardware: a comparison. Appearance (OMP / MP100): - 7.5" x 4.5" x 0.75" (185mm x 114mm x 19mm) 1 lb (450g) incl. batt. Wider body than MP110 / MP120 (you better have large hands to hold it confortably) but thinner. - "Rubberized" finish. - PCMCIA slot at the top, with lock on the left side. - Frontal speaker (sounds more audible than in MP110). - Flat stylus, stored in stylus holder along the right side. - Flexible carrying case provided (metal plate imbedded to protect the screen). Appearance (Sharp ExpertPad PI-7000): - 7.15" x 4.4" x 1.1" (182mm x 112mm x 28mm) 440g incl batt. - "Hard plastic" finish. - PCMCIA slot at the top, with lock on the left side. - Flip-side cover. - Frontal speaker. - Flat stylus (stored on the side of the screen). Appearance (MP110): - 8" x 4" x 1.25" (202mm x 106mm x 31mm) 1.28 lbs (580g) incl. batt. Slightly longer and narrower body than the OMP (better hand hold, but worse balance due to the higher battery weight in the lower part). - "Rubberized" finish. - PCMCIA slot on the top right side, with lock on the MP110 back (not very accessible). - Flip-top lid that folds out of the way when MP110 is in use (but many people have reported that the lock, used to secure the cover when closed, is of poor quality). - Speaker at the bottom edge (sounds less audible than in OMP / MP100). - Round telescopic stylus (stored inside the MP110, at the top). - Contrast wheel on the side. Appearance (MP120): Overall shape similar to MP110, but with the following modifications: - "Hard plastic" finish. - Removable lid (but still flip-top if wanted). - PCMCIA lock located on the side (easy access even with lid folded under the unit, as opposed to the MP110 lock). Appearance (Marco): Sorry, haven't seen one yet. - 7.5" x 5.8" x 1.4", 1.8 lb. Screen (OMP / MP100 / EP): - 240 x 336 pixels. Screen (MP110): - 240 x 320 pixels, 16 pixels shorter but retains 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 MP110. Titles which do not adjust to variable screen sizes may not work properly with the MP110). - Many people report that the MP110 screen is slightly worse than the OMP/MP100 screen (which is not very good) with respect to glare/light reflection. Screen (MP120): - As MP110, but improved screen visibility (equivalent to MP100). Internal RAM (OMP / MP100 / EP): 640K. - In system 1.05 or 1.11 or 1.3, 640K translates as 158K user RAM and 482K system RAM (including about 50K heap memory). - In system 1.04 or 1.10, 640K translates as 192K user RAM and 448K system RAM. Internal RAM (MP110 / MP120-1Mb): 1024K. - This is 480K user RAM and 540K system RAM. Internal RAM (MP120-2Mb): 2048K. - This is 1510K user RAM and 540K system RAM (including about 95K heap memory). PCMCIA slot (OMP / MP100 / MP110 / EP): - Type II. - Power rating of 115 mA. PCMCIA slot (MP120): - Type II. - Power rating of 325 mA (allow the use of "power hungry" PCMCIA devices). Batteries (OMP / MP100 / EP): 4 x AAA batteries or 1.5V NiCd rechargeable pack (sold separately). 14 hours (alkaline batt.) or 4 hours (NiCd batt.). NiCds rechargeable overnight in the MP or in 2 hours with special charger (sold separately). Batteries (MP110 / MP120): 4 x AAÊbatteries or NiCd rechargeable pack (sold separately). 28 hours (alkaline batt.) or 14 hours (NiCd batt.). NiCds rechargeable overnight in the MP or in 2 hours with special charger (sold separately). IR beaming (OMP / MP100 / EP): 9600 baud, 19.2k bps (1 meter range). IR beaming (MP110 / MP120): up to 38.4 kbps. Modem (all models): up to 9600 baud (fax/data). Serial port (all models): 8-pin mini-DIN (RS-422) up to 230.4 kbps. Latest system software (OMP / EP): 1.05 or 1.11. Latest system software (OMP100 / MP100 / EP100): 1.3 (414313). Latest system software (MP110): 1.3 (345025). Latest system software (MP120): 2.0. ROM: Only the latest models of MP120 have "socketed" ROM allowing for easy upgrade to ROM 2.0. --- For a detailed look into the MP110 (previously code-named "Lindy"), read "_protoReality 1.3". --- MP120 (previously code-named "Gelato"): Two configurations: 1MB (like MP110) or 2MB (internal RAM) i.e. 480K (like MP110) or 1510K of internal user RAM. Overall shape similar to MP110, but with the following modifications: - Removable lid - Improved screen visibility - PCMCIA lock located on the side (easy access even with lid folded under the unit, as opposed to the MP110 lock: at the back of the unit). PCMCIA slot power rating of 325 mA (115 mA only in MP110). Bundled Software and Hardware (with 2Mb, in the US): * Notion: The Newton List Manager (create and manage lists). * Pocket Quicken for Newton (tracking personal and business finances, can be used as a standalone personal finance manager or as a data capture device that can communicate with desktop Quicken on a Windows- or Mac OS- based personal computer). * eWorld: Apple's newest online service. A coupon valid for a complementary month of eWorld service is included. * An external data/fax modem (2400/9600 bits per second [bps]). * PowerNeWS: A news service from Pen Tekk Software for Newton OS-based products that enables MessagePad users to keep abreast of the news with personalized reports tailored to their specific needs and interests. A coupon for a complementary month of service is included. --- Motorola's Marco Wireless Communicator. The Marco integrates two-way, wide-area wireless communications with the Newton operating platform. Without plugging into a phone line, the device allows users to: * Exchange messages with their workgroups, or with the tens of millions of people connected to the Internet, including those connected to America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy and other public and LAN-based messaging systems with Internet gateways. * Access company or industry-specific information using custom wireless applications available for the Marco product. * Send wireless messages to fax machines. * Receive wireless news and stock market updates. Marco provides desktop connectivity through the Newton Connection Kit. Network Services: * RadioMail; Connects users to anyone communicating on the Internet or via public e-mail services including America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy. Provides wireless store and forward mail system with gateways to the Internet and additional wireless news, quotes, fax and directory services. * ARDIS PersonalMessaging; Wireless message exchange between PersonalMessaging users on communicators and desktop computers as well as wireless messaging to fax machines. Provides cost-effective and reliable communications to workgroups. Application Solutions: * SalesMate from KPMG Peat Marwick - makes order entry, inventory query and new product information accessible through the Marco device. * SkyDispatch from SkyNotes - serves as a field service person's electronic clipboard for reporting time logs, job completion reports and troubleshooting information to a Lotus Notes database. * bonds@hand from info@hand - delivers up-to-the-moment access to treasury certificate quotes and foreign exchange rates along with news and commentary. * MobileVision from CE Software - provides an intelligent wireless remote client for CE Software's QuickMail mail system with future extensions to other e-mail systems and services. Development Tools: * Mobile App Builder from the Memphis Group - offers a multi-platform, scalable solution for remote data access and entry. Applications are created by graphically defining the user interface and then the developer only needs to write C or C++ code to access the required data. Writing NewtonScript is not necessary. * Real World Solutions - Intelligent Mobile Server simplifies the development of mobile applications that access corporate data. Intelligent agents provide message routing, filtering, compression and security. The device features a portrait screen and provides users with 1MB of internal memory and a PCMCIA TypeII slot. Communication between devices is also supported via a Newton-compatible infrared port. ---------- *** 3.2 System software. System 1.05 / System 1.11: - Word-by-word handwriting recognition. - Less heap problems than in older versions (32K user RAM taken away to make it available to the system). System 1.3 (414059) / System 1.3 (344052): - Character-by-character recognition allowing the MP to recognise words that are not in Newton's dictionary. You can switch on c-by-c recognition in Names only, everywhere, or just call it when needed from a new button in the statusbar at the bottom of the screen (next to the clock). - Deferred recognition allowing users to take notes in digital ink and return later to the notes to recognise them. - Modified Prefs/Recognizers. - New font, ugly, used in the writing windows of Names. - New button in the "Personal Word List" to add names, street names and cities (from "Names") to the user dictionary. - Faster IR transfers (or so Apple in claiming). - Faster decompression (or so Apple in claiming). System 1.3 (414313) / System 1.3 (345025): - Increased reliability of erasing PCMCIA flash cards. - Improved Newton ability to remember user preferences (including a fix to the bug causing loss of settings when using guest mode with "printed only"). - Notification windows, such as alarms, now remain open when the MessagePad goes to sleep. - Improved dialing: the '*' and '#' characters may now be used when dialing phone numbers from the call slip. - "Package mover" package to better handle large number of packages (Package Mover is only visible in Prefs/Memory where it displays a version number, 1.8, and the memory usage of the PCMCIA card when one is inserted). -------------------------------- System 2.0 (code-named Dante) -------------------------------- NB: I donÕt have access to NOS 2.0 to verify all the infos presented here, consequently, some inacuracies might have slipped by ! *** Edited from Apple press releases (20 Oct 95, 14 Nov 95): - NOS 2.0 will be available worldwide initially on the MP120 from december. - Infos on Apple Newton web site (http://www.info.apple.com/newton). - Upgrade from MP120/1.3 to MP120/2.0 thru ROM exchange (at factory). - MP100 / MP110 owners will be offered a rebate program beginning early 96. Improved input capabilities: - New handwriting recognizer for printed words. - Improved cursive recognizer. - Improved ink text can be used in all applications, easily edited and converted to typed text at any time. - Optional external Newton keyboard ($89). - Smart lists provide the most commonly entered information for easy selection. - Ability to use the MP in landscape orientation. Built-in Applications: - Significantly enhanced Names and Dates applications with user interface improvements and tighter integration. - New Calls application for tracking phone calls. - Improved Notepad with integrated Outline and Checklist stationery. User Interface: - Caret icon indicates where text will be placed and provides a quick way to enter punctuation marks. - "New" button available in all built-in applications for rapid creation of new documents. - Customization features such as the ability to add fields, label files and group contacts together. - Universal In/Out Box: Centrally locate all incoming and outgoing communications. Communications: - Ability to send AND receive faxes (send only in previous NOS). - Built-in e-mail client (send and receive) with internet access (like Eudora), LANs access (like CE QuickMail, Lotus cc:Mail, and Microsoft Mail), AOL, e-world, CompuServe, RadioMail, WyndMail. - Internet Access thru Apple TCP/IP software package (available first half of 1996) and third-party offerings. - Flexible, more productive development environment for Windows and Mac. - Better integration with Windows and Mac OS-based personal computers. Apple's new desktop integration utilities and applications for Newton 2.0 include the following: * Newton Backup Utility: Allows users to back up and restore Newton 2.0 information to a personal computer, Installs software packages from a personal computer to a Newton PDA. NBU will be bundled with MP120/2.0 and be freely available on online services and WWW. * Newton Press: Provides a drag-and-drop method for creating electronic reference documents (NewtonBooks), Imports graphics, e-mail, text and word processing documents. Apple price: $69. * Newton Connection Utilities: idem Backup Utilities plus the additional ability to allow users to synchronize PC files with corresponding data residing on a Newton PDA. With NCU, users can also import and export text files and information between a PC and Newton PDA. And by using a modem, users can perform these tasks remotely. With NCU, users can enter data directly into a Newton PDA via their PC keyboard. Apple Price: $69. - Developer products: * Newton Toolkit 1.6 for Mac (Apple Price: $299). * Newton Toolkit 1.6 for Windows 95, Windows 3.1, or Windows NT. * Desktop Integration Libraries (DILs) This Newton platform technology makes it easy for developers to create customer solutions that allow for direct synchronization of data between applications on Mac OS- and Windows-based PCs and Newton PDAs. The Desktop Integration Libraries (DILs) are C libraries which make it possible for data in PC applications to be synchronized with data on Newton PDAs in one easy step. For example, the same personal information management (PIM) applications you use on your PC can talk directly to your Newton PDA. Bundled with Newton Toolkit 1.6, available without charge on WWW and online services. *** Edited from Newt_News / AOL: - Newton 2.0 is faster because of improvements in the NewtonScript interpreter and in how data is stored in Soups. - More efficient usage of heap in NOS 2.0. - MP120/2MBs will retail for $699 and include the Newton Backup Utility. - Newton 2.0 upgrade price for existing MP120s is $109. - Turn around time for getting MP120 upgraded to NOS 2.0 should be 3 days. *** According to MacWeek (Michael Moeller and James Staten): - NOS 2.0 will also be supported by a new MessagePad, code-named Q and expected to ship in the first half of 96. MP150 ?? - The recognition will support shortcuts such as "sig," which expands into the user's full salutation and signature. - The Notepad will be enhanced to allow developers to add functions to the applet. Two examples will be included, a hierarchical outline template and a list template with check boxes for each item. - Built-in calculator to provide more scientific functions. - New built-in application: a mini-spreadsheet. - Multiple Extras drawers, with visible soups. - Multiple selection of drawer items possible (to move, beam or delete the selected items). - Improved memory management (especially: unopened packages will no longer tie-up system memory). - Ability to mount a Mac or Windows volume in the Newton's directory. NB: Newton Connection Kit 3.0 to be released at the same time as NOS 2.0. It should allow Macs to mount a MP as a standard external volume. - TCP/IP plug-in stack. NOS 2.0 is expected to run 2 to 2.5 times faster than the current version because of machine code use instead of byte code. Features earmarked for use with Q and other future PDAs: - Ability to emulate the permanent buttons at the bottom of the MP screen. *** Q&A from NewtNews: >>> a) Will I lose all my information that I have saved on my Newton for a long time, when installing NOS 2.0 ? Or can I leave the saved information in my Newton and work with it later again? All your information should work in Newton OS 2.0. Even though the internal applications have changed, Apple has reportedly done an excellent job of insuring no loss of data when upgrading to a Newton running NOS 2.0 using a back-up from the Newton Connection Kit (NCK) 2.0 (Mac or Windows). So, when you get your Newton that has NOS 2.0 running on it, you will get your old data on to it by running the not yet released NCK 3.0 using your last back-up from NCK 2.0. *** MEMORY IN NEWTON 2.0 (From NewtNews, again !): The following is an attempt to answer the following question: "What does Newton 2.0 do to the amount of Heap available?" The basic Apple answer is something like: things at the OS level are more efficient, and Apple will continue to work with developers to make sure their applications are more efficient as well. On the other hand, here are some answers from Newton developers: "In my opinion, the heap memory situation has only changed marginally. In theory, the built-in apps are supposed to use heap better, and give it up when they are closed, and this is at least somewhat true. Some apps, like the Extras Drawer, use much more heap than they used to but they do seem to give it up when they close. My app takes up more heap in Newton 2.0 but releasing the heap is easier in Newton 2.0." "The overall heap numbers haven't changed, and my 2.0 unit seems to have about the same, or slightly less, heap than my 110 in most situations. So the bottom line is -- Yes, you will still need to reset your Newton." "The system in general seems to be better at managing heap, in that it doesn't disappear quite as quickly, and installed packages don't all sit in the heap (they're in a soup). The Notepad is still pretty bad, especially if you have a big note being displayed. The Notepad never really closes so you have to realize this." *** Punctuation in NOS 2.0: David Fedor reports on comp.sys.newton.misc that as you are doing handwriting recognition input in Newton 2.0 you get a caret just below the area you are writing in to mark your place. If you tap on the caret you will get a pop-up menu to insert "standard" punctuation marks along with backspace, return and space. ---------- *** 3.3 History of system/ROM updates. From Don A. Vollum (donv@teleport.com), edited and expanded by JC Bousson. Thanks also to Mark Warren. OMP === *** ROM: 1.00 (released 1 Aug 93 approx) Patches: - 1.01: Fixed incompatibility with Getting Started Card. - 1.02: Fixed lots of other bugs. I believe that all the MessagePads shipped at MacWorld Boston had 1.02 (in other words, they started there). - 1.03 (released 1 Sep 93 approx) Added the now famous "cancel/restart" out of memory dialog -- I believe that 1.02 Newtons just locked up when they ran out of heap. - 1.04 (released Oct 93 approx) Various other bug fixes, I don't remember exactly what. First UK Newton launched (24 Nov 93, at Apple Expo London) with this patch. - 1.05 (released Jan 94) Increased the heap (system memory) by taking 32Kb from user memory (package store). This is the most advanced patch for the OMP (i.e. this patch supercede even patch 1.11). *** ROM: 1.10 (Oct 94 approx) Some later OMPs (after about Oct 94) had 1.10 ROMs with patch 1.11 installed at factory. ROM 1.10 basically brought the system up to about the 1.04 level. The 1.11 patch then added the additional heap (but not other bug fixes) from 1.05. There were no subsequent patches to the 1.11 Newtons, and 1.05 was the last 1.0x patch. The next upgrade of the OMP required a change of ROM, effectively making the OMP an MP100. MP100 / OMP100 ============== *** ROM 1.3 - 1.3 (414059) for US/UK. Introduced deferred recognition, letter-by-letter recognition, ... cf. subject 3.2 - 1.3 (414313) patch (for US/UK) in Feb 95. cf. subject 3.2 MP110 ===== *** ROM 1.2 - 1.3 (344052) patch (for US/UK) installed at factory. cf. subject 3.2 - 1.3 (344137) patch (for US/UK). Improved the permanent arrow buttons and overview button (smaller active area for the overview button). - 1.3 (344138) patch (for Australia). Idem 344137, but with tone dialing disabled (itÕs illegal in that country). - 1.3 (345025) patch (for US/UK) in Feb 95. cf. subject 3.2 Marco ===== *** ROM 1.3 with a special Motorola patch (the OS version might be 1.3M-- I don't have a Marco). MP120 ===== - ROM 1.3 (444217). - ROM 2.0 (See previous subject) ===== In addition, localized Newtons (such as the French and German versions) have their own patch ids. ------------------------------ Subject: 4. Where can I find Newton software and information ? ---------- *** 4.1 Web, gopher and ftp sites. --- Arizona Mac User Group (AMUG) The best place to get Newton info & software ! Accessible via WWW and ftp. http://www.amug.org/amug/sigs/newton/amug_newton.html ftp://ftp.amug.org/pub/newton/ The Web site is very rich in useful links to other nice Newton Web pages. The Newton software collection (also accessible by ftp) is the largest available (and is well organised). At the Web site you will find: - The Newton software archives (shareware, freeware & demos). - The NANUG site (famous for its quality newsletter, cf. subject 4.2). - Links to Newton software companies & developpers. - Apple Newton links. - Links to Steve Holden's Newt_News archives, to Newt_Report, NewtNet, S. Koren's reviews, Lunar Engineering's NewtOnLine, etc... - This FAQ and other Newton related FAQs. - Links to Newton Usenet newsgroups. - The regularly updated list of Newton User Groups. - Links to the Web pages of some major NUGs. - The Newton Software database (cf. subject 4.10). AMUG also produce Macintosh CD-ROM disks (called "BBS in a Box") stuffed with Newton shareware (and, mainly, Mac shareware / fonts / graphics). The NEWTON CD-ROM disk (vol.3) is AMUG latest production. It's packed with freeware, shareware, demos and infos for Newton devices. None of the files are compacted so you can use the disk w/o lenghthy decompaction process, and you won't require any precious extra space on your hard disk. The CD can mount either on a Mac, or on a PC. --- http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/NewtNews: cf. subject 4.5 . --- NewtReport, the "hypermedial" Newton magazine: cf. subject 4.12 . --- http://www.info.apple.com --- http://www.uth.tmc.edu/newton_info (reported by Jay Luerly report) --- http://www.global.net:8210/newton (reported by Jay Luerly report) --- http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/Newton-Announce.html --- http://www.teleport.com/~gaia/ (Gaia the developer of Personal Media) --- http://www.csn.net/~ssande/SanSoft.html (SanSoft page) --- http://www.nsbasic.com (NS BASIC Corporation, Newton Basic) --- http://rainbow.rmii.com/~rbruce (THE ULTIMATE NEWTON SITE by Robert Bruce . --- http://www.info.apple.com/dev/newton/newtondev.html (The main Newton Development WWW page from Apple). --- http://www.oznug.org.au/documents/oznug (OzNUG Sydney, the Australian Newton Users Group). Includes a newsletter called "Scribbles". --- ftp://newton.sys.uea.ac.uk/Newton_Archive Very good UK ftp site. It mirrors all the great Newton sites: ftp.amug.org, newton.uiowa.edu (including the /submissions directory), Cornell, Manitoba, Sumex, Umich, Newt_News, ... This ftp server is located in Norwich (UK) and gets updated everyday. --- ftp://newton.uiowa.edu/pub/newton (128.255.63.55) This site has a large collection of freeware/shareware. Look also in /submissions for the most recent stuff (but untested). In Europe, newton.uiowa.edu is mirrored at: ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/Newton ftp://newton.sys.uea.ac.uk/Newton_Archive. --- ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/Newton --- ftp://ftp.support.apple.com Can accomodate 50 users at one time. The /pub/usenet directory contains archives of comp.sys.newton.misc --- ftp://ftp.info.apple.com (same as ftp.austin.apple.com) Can accomodate 100 users at one time. /apple.support.area/newton.and.starcore.info NB: /dts/newton is empty in this site. --- ftp://archive.umich.edu/newton or /mac/development/newton (141.211.32.2). --- ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/nwt --- ftp://ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca/MacDevelop/Newton (130.179.16.24) --- ftp://ftp.uth.tmc.edu/public/newton (University Texas, 129.106.30.1) --- ftp://csd4.csd.uwm.edu/pub/Portables (129.89.7.4) --- ftp://mchip00.med.nyu.edu/pub/newton (Univ. New-York, 128.122.205.115) --- ftp://ftp.med.cornell.edu/pub/newton (140.251.2.4) --- ftp://io.com/pub/btorres/Newton_News (192.100.81.1) --- Pacific BBS (UK): 0430.43.11.45 if calling from within UK. +44.430.43.11.45 otherwise. --- ftp://ftp.nordwest.pop.de/pub/Newton (Germany) (reported by F. Simon). This archive (ftp.nordwest.germany.eu.net,ftp.ccc.de) is only for use from *.de, *.eu.net and *.sub.org-Sites. Users from other coutries use the mirrors, please. --- ftp://ftp.rahul.net/pub/flasheridn/snug --- Gopher sites: 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 gopher// MED-AMSA.BU.EDU/11ftp%3aAMSA%3aMedical%20Software%3Newton%20Applications%3a -> Medical Newton stuff. ---------- *** 4.2 NANUG. A "must" for news & infos about your MP is "_protoReality", the free Newsletter from the North Atlanta Newton Users Group (NANUG). It is available in Newton Book format (there is also a text version). All issues can be found on ftp.amug.org/pub/newton/NANUG/Newsletter (cf. subject 4.1). To join NANUG (free membership, open to any Newton user in the world) contact Mark Underwood (Internet: marku@aix3.ema.com, NewtonMail: MarkU). ---------- *** 4.3 Apple helplines. Help via e-mail: newton.help@applelink.apple.com. Newton Helpline US: 1-800-SOS-APPL (1-800-767-2775). Newton Helpline UK: The newton helpline in the UK is Freephone 0800-639.866. 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. ---------- *** 4.4 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. ---------- *** 4.5 NewtNews. NewtNews is a very useful weekly newsletter containing a summary of nearly every piece of info you can find about Newton (paper-based press, newsgroups, etc...) and also some related stuff about other PDAs and about Apple in general. Very convenient to keep up to date without spending hours reading newsgroups and co. Many thanks to Steve Holden (sholden@ridgecrest.ca.us) for his good work. NewtNews is posted on comp.sys.newton.misc, but you'll probably find it more convenient to subscribe to NewtNews mailing list (administered by Bob Torres, btorres@io.com). You can also download the NewtonBook version (formatted by Mark Heringer) or read it on the Web: To subscribe to the mailing list, send email to with the message 'subscribe newt_news' as the body of your message (excluding the quotes). You can also subscribe or unsubscribe to the mailing list on the web using the following URL: . You can anonymously FTP the latest and past issues of NewtNews in both text and Mac NewtonBook format from ftp://ftp.io.com/pub/usr/btorres/NewtNews>. PS: the AMUG site (cf. subject 4.1) also keeps copies of NewtNews. Web site: http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/NewtNews/NN_top.html Newton_News is in setext format so it can be viewed in outline form using EasyView or sv setext browser. ---------- *** 4.6 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, contact Craig. ---------- *** 4.7 Commercial networks. America OnLine: Keyword: PDA AppleLink: Newton CompuServe: Go Newton ---------- *** 4.8 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 ---------- *** 4.9 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. - PEN Computing. Contact: Nigel Ballard (Nigel@dataman.demon.co.uk). - PDA Developers Magazine. Published by Creative Digital. For more info check out or send email to or call 415.621.4252 or FAX: 415.621.4922. ---------- *** 4.10 The "Newton Software" database. One administrator of AMUG (cf. subject 4.1), Ashley Barnard Armstrong (ashley@amug.org), is compiling an extensive database of Newton Software. This file can be found on AMUG CD-ROMs and on their Web & ftp servers (cf. subjects 4.1). It is called "Newton software". The database gives information on more than 500 software products for the Newton. The software short comments and reviews that I write are now going into that database (the FAQ was growing too big with the software entries). NB: The Newton Software list was started by Steven Nygard. To get the best out of the database you need to use FileMaker Pro 2. You can download a runtime version from ftp.amug.org. The database is also provided as an Excel file and as a text file. ---------- *** 4.11 Newton Users Groups. Steve Holden (sholden@nosc.mil) is compiling a list. One copy of the latest update can be found on http://www.amug.org/ (cf. subject 4.1). ---------- *** 4.12 Electronic publications. - NewtReport. Gerald Mesaric is editing an "hypermedial" newsletter/magazine called NewtReport. It's a WWW based bi-monthly publication. You read it online using your favourite Web-browser. You'll find there various features, reviews, and pointers to many Web sites dedicated to the Newton and other PDAs. The Jan-Feb 95 issue includes an introduction to NS Basic 2.0 and to Newt. http://www.iicm.tu-graz.ac.at/CNewtReport. - NewtOnLine. A Mb-large publication ! Articles (i.e. handwriting recognition, programming in NewtonScript and NS BASIC), interviews, newton users and usage (i.e. in HealthCare), reviews (Graffiti, Personal Media, NewtCase, RemoveIt, Berlitz Interpreter, MagicCalc DX, WakeUpWeek, Newton Enhancement Pack, MP110/120 charging station, NewtBoot, ...), latest news, tips & tricks, Q&A. For more information contact Thomas Rhee at: . - Tapped In. Tapped In is the Newsletter for Apple Newton Systems Integrators. Exemple of topics covered: Q&A with Sandy Bennet (Director of Software Engineering Group), interview with Rick Fleishman (Newton Tools Product Line Manager), Newton Toolkit 1.5, closer look at ISIS International (developers of Flash-Data), Creative Digital (publisher of PDA Developers magazine), Techie Tips (i.e. practical debugging solutions for NTK 1.0.1 and NTK 1.5, PCMCIA Serial Cards), Newton in Hollywood: Apple has been aggressively seeking to expose Newton to mass audiences through product placement in film and TV productions (in Steven Seagal's 'Under Siege II' and next season's 'Melrose Place'. For more information send email to . - The Newton Tech Journal (from Apple): . - Mobilis: the mobile computing lifestyle magazine: Monthly magazine that features interviews, tutorials, reviews, and opinion concerning all aspects of PDAs, wireless communication, and mobile peripherals. Exemple of contents: First Looks - introducing Newton OS 2.0, Mobilis Reader's Choice Awards, Introducing Sony's Magic Link PIC-2000, Hardware Review - Hewlett-Packard OmniGo 100, Software Review - Ragout for the Newton, Mobile Watch (hardware, software, communication), Ask Ms. PDA (questions and answers about mobile computing). http://www.volksware.com/mobilis jerney@volksware.com ---------- *** 4.13 List of Newton vendors. From NewtNews: Eric Sohn has released a list of Newton vendors. It includes a great summary of Newton vendors with contact phone numbers and email addresses. The list has been released to most online services, and AMUG ftp / Web sites (/resources). ------------------------------ Subject: 5. Major Newton Bugs & Problems. ---------- *** 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 ? 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 are disappointed that this has not been fixed yet. 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. "ScrollEx" and "Keyboard Pro" also solve the problem and have many other useful functions. "PickExtras 1.17" is the best to use if you don't want 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 ! "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 or 1.3 will help a little because Syst 1.05 & 1.3 are "stealing" about 32K of user memory to give it back to the system. NB: The MP110 & MP120 have got more system memory than the OMP / MP100, so should be less prone to this problem. >>>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". "NewtInfo 0.9b2" also estimates the requirements in heap space of each package. And you can use "NewtCase" to store rarelly used packges in a form that is not using any system memory. Check-out the "Nwt software" database (subject 4.10) for info on memory requirements of packages. ---------- *** 5.3 Synchronisation with the Newton Connection Kit 1.0 for Mac 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. Also cf. Subject 9.26 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. --- The Feb 95 update to System 1.3 is partially fixing this problem. ---------- *** 5.5 Unreliable alarms. Steve Mitchell wrote: I've missed a couple of meetings recently because my newton failed to remind me of them. I'm running 1.04 From Dwight.D. McKay 12 Feb 1994: 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. - From: Flash Sheridan , 30 Oct 1994. Newton Bug #1. From the Snug Gripe List: URL: ftp://ftp.rahul.net/pub/flasheridn/snug/snug_gripe_list.txt Open Dates, create a meeting, set the alarm, set the frequency. The alarm has been forgotten. I think if you add the repeating alarm in any way except the above sequence, it actually works. (On the Newton, of course. For alarms, the Connection Kit is, as usual, useless.) From JC Bousson: I've verified this on my OMP100 (Syst. 1.3). So Dwight is wrong. If there has been a fix, it's only a partial one. NB: Derek L., scholz@osf.org and Jim Bailey have reported this bug too. Also, after having done the above (using the default 10 min. alarm and setting the frequency to Every week Fri), go back to Alarm. It has been forgotten, so set it again. Then go to Frequency and remove it (by tapping "Don't repeat"). Then go again to Alarm: the number of minutes has changed to something quite big ! There must be a serious bug around there !!! ---------- *** 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 sec. for the MP to carry out an action, but longer is very irritating. ---------- *** 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). * There is no password protection to access the data saved on a MAC / PC with the Newton Connection Kit. 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. 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. From: hundledm@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Dave Hundley), 13 Apr 1994. 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 : 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? Reply from: alex@grafton.dartmouth.edu (Alex Hartov), 19 Apr 1994. 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 there's 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. ---------- *** 5.19 Beaming data from Sharp Wizard. Syst. 1.05 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. 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 problems. 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). ------------------------------ 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 or 1.3 ---------- *** 6.4 Moving packages from the Internal Memory to a PCMCIA Card. Normally, to move packages from memory to card and back, you have to delete the package first then install it again in the new location. >>>Fix: "MagicApp" or "CopyMachine". ---------- *** 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. >>>Fix: Nearly never appends with Syst. 1.05 ---------- *** 6.6 Calendar notes & "Delete meetings older than". Syst 1.04 & 1.05 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. 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. Styles are not cumulative (i.e. it is not possible to get bold AND underline characters with the regular Newton style palette). From StephenM35@aol.com: "Styler" allows you to use cumulative styles. ---------- *** 6.10 Names overview. 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). 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 "Birthdays" will collect all the birthday dates and create the relevant entries in the calendar. Another package, "Happy" 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. There's also a package called "Bdays" that I haven't tested. 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. 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. 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. 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 !!!! From StephenM35@aol.com: I wrote a small freeware app called "Dumbkbd" that opens the alpha keyboard with a temporary lobatomy disabling the word check. Also the keyboard in ViewFrames and the one used in Quickfigure avoid the dictionary. ---------- *** 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 £30,36 the MP will often recognize £30,366. 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 ! This bug was present in System 1.05 and maybe before. I didn't check it in System 1.3 (414059) but it seems to be absent from System 1.3 (414313). ---------- *** 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... :-) ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** 6.27 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. ---------- *** 6.28 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. IÕve seen many complains about that (like from Dave Hundley). ---------- *** 6.29 Newton clock loosing time. Peter Kacandes wrote: I was wondering, does the 110 still have a problem in the ROMs with losing time ? Mine always seems to be falling behind. From: aaronn@vnet.net (AAron nAAs): I had the problem and called APPLSOS, and they said that this occurs when the batteries are REALLY low and when Newton tryies to save power, it starts to have a problem with the time. The solution is to hold down the power switch while you hit the reset button. When it asks you if you want to erase EVERYTHING, say no. This solved my problem with losing SIGNIFICANT time. Oh, and I haven't let the batteries run down to DEAD since then either. ---------- *** 6.30 No monospaced font. There are 3 fonts available on a MP (simple, fancy, epsy). None of those fonts is monospaced (each letter with the same width) like geneva and courier on a Mac. It would be useful in certain situations (like when you want to align letters of various lines to get a table-like effect). ---------- *** 6.31 Newton is always learning your handwriting. Each time a Newton device calls on its ability to recognize handwritten text, it tries to improve its knowledge about your handwriting. It does that by comparing what you wrote with the recognized word and by adjusting accordingly the "letter styles". If the MP makes a mistake in its interpretation of what you wrote, it's crutial to double tap the word to indicate to the MP what is the correct interpretation (using the keyboard if necessary). Otherwise the MP will adjust the "letter styles" according to the wrong word-fitting. This is a very useful feature that allows the MP to "learn" your handwriting. Very few people have got good HWR right from the start, but it will quickly improve (provided you correct the mistakes). But once youÕve "taught" the MP and are satisfied by the performance of the HWR, this learning feature can be annoying for two reasons: - You may not want to always correct mistakes (scrubbing and writing again is faster than double tapping if you need to call the keyboard in the end). But if you don't, then the MP will learn wrong things and the HWR will deteriorates. - If a friend wants to try your MP you have to go tap tap tap tap tap to set the "guest mode" then tap tap to close the Prefs and all that again to deactivate the guest mode. If you don't do that the MP will start altering your "letter styles" according to your friend handwriting. It would be so much nicer if you could deactivate (in the Prefs) the learning feature of your MP once youÕre satisfied by its HWR. ---------- *** 6.32 Important words not in the built-in dictionary. The names of the months are not in the ROM 1.3 dictionary (but May & March are still recognized, because they are in the dictionary as verbs). ---------- *** 6.33 Problem with folder tab name. This is a tricky bug: it doesn't happen all the time and some people have never encountered it. On my OMP100 (Syst. 1.3 UK), in Notes, when I go from "Unfiled notes" to my "Banking" folder (or any other folder), the MP change folder, but quite often, the folder name (tab at the top of the screen) retains its previous name (i.e. "Unfiled notes"). This happens even if I've got a lot of free heap space (49K). It could be due to mischevious shareware, but Leanne Waldal (who told me that sometimes she got the same bug) and I haven't a single common package on our respective MPs. But I can't rule out that this strange behaviour could be the result of a package now removed. Another hypothesis, put forward by Leanne, is that this bug might only happen on folders created by the user (as opposed to folders already present in the MP when you buy it, like "Business" & "Personal"). This is consistent with the fact that I have this bug often (I have created nearly all the folders I use) and that Leanne's husband has never had the problem (he only uses the 4 original folders on his MP). Unsolved mystery for now. ------------------------------ Subject: 7. Wish list. ---------- The "Wish list" is a list of features that the MessagePads lack. Opinions vary about those lacking features: some people consider they are bugs/bad design, other people don't consider them important/useful. This list is given for information to potential future buyers of a MP. - It is currently impossible to file calendar items or ToDo items. It could be useful. - Assist 'Remember' and 'Schedule' could be improved. 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. - Disabling digital ink compression: Newton doesn't use a lot of memory because it "compresses" what you save. For drawings (when you use digital ink) that means that curves are transformed into 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 using 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). NOS 2.0 is supposed to have better electronic ink handling. But I havenÕt had the chance to test it yet. - MP permanent buttons design should be improved: 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 that partially solve this problem with slightly larger "sensitive areas" for the arrows. I don't know the number of the patches where this is implemented (the patch number is the 6 digits number between brackets after the ROM number 1.3). - It would be nice to be able to toggle on / off the permanent guide lines of the screen. I find them quite irritating sometimes (it impedes reading notes in some circumstances). FIX: There is a shareware package called "NoLines" to do this. ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** 8.2 OMP -> MP100 Upgrade. This upgrade scheme has been terminated. The upgrade replaced the OMP original ROM with ROM version 1.3. Check out March 94 issue of _protoReality for more details. ---------- *** 8.4 "Assist", the Official Newton User Group in the UK. Completely worthless (except the helpline which is staffed with knowledgeable and helpful people). ---------- *** 8.5 Newton Connection Kit 2.0 This software is required for backing up (and keeping synchronised) the content of your MP (incl. HWR settings) to a desktop computer. Also, the NCK is required to install new packages (except when found on PCMCIA cards). Several Newton packages and desktop computers can exchange / share data by use of the NCK. Supported Macintosh applications include Dynodex, Act!, Now-Upto-Date, DateBookPro, Addressbook Plus, Excel, Word and MS-Works, Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect, Nisus, 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 RAMÊminimum and, 2,500K preferred. The Windows version requires at least a 386SX with 4MBÊRAM 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. ---------- *** 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 £130). 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. Executive Productivity Manager Solution Pack (UK £115 MacLine). 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 Newton ToolKit 1.5. Newton Toolkit (NTK) version 1.5 is $299 and Newton Book Maker (NBM) version 1.1 is $199. Both only run on MacOS. NTK 1.5 features a new NewtonScript compiler and profiler; a range of user interface improvements; and greater support for developing software localized for multiple markets worldwide. NBM 1.1, now sold separately from NTK, is a tool for application developers that allows for the creation of electronic books, travel guides, reference manuals, and corporate documentation. NTK 1.5 Update is available to customers who already own the NTK for $99. ---------- *** 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. Another version from Apple (part of MP110 announcement): 600 recognised notes, 750 names, 1500 appointments and 100 notes in digital ink. ---------- *** 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. A guide of Paris is available on a PCMCIA card (with simplified map, hotel, restaurants & museums info). ---------- *** 8.11 PocketCall 1.0. Edited from: dsr@delphi.com, 12 May 94. PocketCall 1.0 will run on any Newton device, including OMP, MP100, MP110 and the Sharp ExpertPad. PocketCall will allow you to use any Hayes compatible external modem (and PCMCIA devices if the Newton can recognize them) 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). --- To install the main PocketCall 1.0 application you will need 110K of RAM. The Services Setup application requires another 55K. 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. PocketCall cannot be used to call into services that use private binary data protocols for access. These include America OnLine, Applelink, Prodigy and eWorld. PocketCall 1.0 does not provide direct TCP/IP access to Internet Unix-based services, but Internet can be accessed through the many Internet providers (including Delphi) who offer text-based dial-up access. 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 WAIT for "Password:" TYPE Password WAIT for "!" TYPE "Go Newton" 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 will let you set up a script to be automatically run at a later date and time. ---------- *** 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 . 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 IBM easy options $ 144 144 PCM . Y . . Intel PCMCIA 144 $160 144 144 PCM . . . . Doubtful Megahertz PCMCIA $ 99 24 96 PCM . . . . Not recognized + 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 Ô+Õ 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 FickasÕs FAQ or contact him at . From J. Pusey: The Okidata OL840 (postscript printer) works fine with a MP. ---------- *** 8.13 Serial Port / Cable 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 All outputs are: Voh = 3.6V Vol = -3.6V Rl = 450 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. --- From Paul Kern . I've checked the Newton-to-PC cable and it is as follows: PC/DB-9: Newton/Apple Serial: Pin 1 Pin 1 2 3 3 5 4 7,2 5 4,8 6 1 7 Not Connected (NC) 8 NC 9 NC Any place that makes custom cables can make one for you. I do have the number for Belkin and it is 1-800-2-Belkin. ---------- *** 8.14 MP120 / ROM 1.3 in Germany. The MP120 in Germany is the 2Mb version and comes with its own version of System 1.3. Software bundled with it: Notion, FilePad. ---------- *** 8.15 Graffiti. This application brings to your MP a 100% accurate letter-by-letter handwriting recognition. This is achieved by making YOU learn a modified alphabet designed to removes the confusing (for a computer) similarities between various letters. I am not going to discribe here how Graffiti works. Many articles have appeared in the press (i.e. MacUser & Co) on that subject. Check out _protoReality 1.8 if you want to read a review available as a NewtonBook. On the good side: It is very fast, really 100% accurate, it allows you to write incomplete words (like when you're taking notes and use abreviations) or arcane (scientific ?) words not in the Nwt dictionary and it even recognises special foreign characters (like accentuated letters). On the bad side (opinions varies greatly here): I find that it is slower than using the normal Nwt HWR (even when taking into account a few mistakes to correct). This is because you have to toggle between uppercases, lowercases and numbers, write each space, etc... Also, I find the special alphabet a bit non intuitive because it mixes uppercases and lowercases (but I guess that you get used to that with practice). Many people love Graffiti, and many don't like it at all. The best thing to do is to try the demo version available on the Net. This will give you a good idea of the beast, and it doesn't require much time. ---------- *** 8.17 System 1.3 Feb 95 Update. Two versions of the system update are available, version 1.3 (414313) for MessagePad 100 users, and version 1.3 (345025) for MessagePad 110 users. The upgrade: - Increases the reliability of erasing PCMCIA flash cards. - Improves the Newton's ability to remember user preferences. - Notification windows, such as alarms, now remain open when the MessagePad goes to sleep. - The '*' and '#' characters may now be used when dialing phone numbers from the call slip. ---------- *** 8.18 System 2.0 Dec 95 Update. Only available trough exchange of MP120 ROMs. cf. subject 3.2 to get all the details about NOS 2.0. ------------------------------ 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. EditCities.pkg (17k, freeware): This auto part (no icon will appear in the Extras drawer) adds functionality to the 'Time Zones' app, allowing users to edit the locations. Changes persist across resets. It also fixes the UK international code from 010 to 00. Only countries from the menu are available, thanks to Apple hard-wiring ROM_Countries inside :MungePhone(). Notes: This package supercedes ExtraCities, reviewed in _protoReality. Contact: Andrew Pitkin, apitkin@cix.compulink.co.uk ---------- *** 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 easily a lot of items from card to internal memory ? From Godwin Lui, 15 Feb 94: To avoid doing it item by item you can try to use 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. From Bill Kearney: Use a package called CopyMachine. ---------- *** 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" 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" 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. From: heywoodfl@aol.com (Heywood Fl), 27 Apr 1994. schott@cs.umbc.edu (Brian Schott) writes: > 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 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: 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. * Edited from Nicholas Mandich (Nick.Mandich@Britain.EU.net), 17 Nov 1994 I got to the bottom of my concern about Flash v SRAM for Newton which I researched recently. I contacted Howard Oakley, Newton Forum Sysop on CIS, Newton developer, MacUser UK columnist, and most crucially in this case, someone who know about Newton as well as Psion. I asked him about SRAM cards and he then asked me why I don't like Flash, to which I replied it was because of: 1. Speed, 2. Power drain on writing, 3. non-reclamation of released memory blocks, and 3a. consequent memory fragmentation. Here's his reply: ----- start of Howard Oakley's reply ----- Several of your issues have been examined in some detail with respect to the Newton, and here are the team's conclusions: 1. Speed - only really apparent on careful benchmark testing. As far as perceptible speed goes, the Newton is so slow relatively that unless you are handling big soups or packages, you are unlikely to notice. 2. Power drain is accepted, but again compared to the Newton this was not too significant unless you are doing a lot of writing to the card. 3. The Newton Flash driver (which is why only Intel Flash works) addresses this. Released blocks are automatically reclaimed - it is only Psion AFAIK that require you to reformat Flash memory to reclaim it (and that looks like changing as they get more Type II Flash out). 3a. Not true - this is handled by the driver and the choice of block size. Remember that this is RAM and there is no physical seeking which is required, which is the major reason for wanting to defrag a hard disk. Remember that files do not require contiguous address space, so there is actually nothing to be gained by defragging. ----- end of Howard Oakley's reply ----- So, the truth is that the Newton Flash driver is smart and it makes Flash behave like a hard disk inasmuch as when something is deleted, it can be overwritten, and an object can end up fragmented as on a HD, but given that Flash is solid state it has zero access time so fragmentation does not matter. PS: Lifetime no longer make and sell 2M SRAM. They have switched over to Flash entirely. 4MB SRAM PCMCIA Type I are made by Mitsubishi and cost an astonishing GBP 999 from Powermark plc in Edgware. ---------- *** 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 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) at least 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 ). - TDK Modem DF2496 (PCMCIA Data/Fax 2400bps/V.42bis/MNP5/9600bps Send Receive Fax). Laurent Dumont. Mark Gadzikowski reports one caveat for this PCMCIA modem: this modem has a 'dongle' rather than the convenient XJack of the Megahertz or Apple PCMCIA modems. This means you have another part to carry around. (This is a PCMCIA-to-RJ11 cord, not to be confused with a copy-protection dongle.) Shortening the cord from 7' to 1' allows storage in a PCMCIA card slot of the leather OMP case. - Creatix SG144 Modem (Creatix Speedster) data & fax. (reported by Joerg Syre ). 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. - Megahertz XJ124FM (24/96) will give you an "unrecognized type of card" error message (Mario Babini). - Intel 24/96 data/fax PCMCIA modems (Brad Sandman & mhichme). Might be compatible: - US Robotics Mac & Fax (14400bps). - Intel 14.4k PCMCIA modem (Paul Yager, Thomas Farrell & Brad Sandman say it's compatible, E.J. Draper & Lancelot Comrie & B. Reisner say it isn't). Maybe there are two models of this modem (like the Megahertz XJ1144). 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 ? From: alex@grafton.dartmouth.edu (Alex Hartov), 19 Apr 94. 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. - Ad in NewtNews: The NEWT HOLSTER is a custom designed easy-to-secure holster for the MP110/120 that is constructed in leather tanned to match the greenish black color of the Newton itself. The holster is available in two configurations: a belt-loop version for $50 (Aug95) and a clip-on version for $55. Tel 212.586.2794, email: tyrmax@pipeline.com (Lunar Engineering). - Pocket Liberator by Opus 63, shoulder holster that fits the Newton, $95, based in New York, NY, 718.706.6787. - "Andy Ihnatko's tactical holster for automatic weapons" from Michaels of Oregon, Set No. 9927-1, Size 27, $69.95 + S&H, 503.255.6890. - "Newt Boot" is a handy and stylish Newton carrying case. http://www.wyoming.com/~cavenewt/newtboot/ ---------- *** 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 NewtonÕs infrared LED. [stuff deleted] With the introduction of NTK 1.0.1 the IR Toolkit functions are built into the Platforms file. PIE has said that they arenÕt planning to provide codes for every vendorÕs 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 ÒIRÓ in the message subject. 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 canÕt 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 MP110 is not a problem. But... Last week I tried to beam a "Name" card from my OMP100 to a friend MP110. It didn't work. We tried in the reverse direction, it didn't work either. The units are not faulty since I've successfully beamed stuff to another OMP and my friend also was successful (with another MP110). We were in range, there was no interfering direct sunshine, the settings were right (as far as I can tell), so....I wonder if there might be problems for a subset of the early units. Another great Newton mystery ! ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** 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. From: cowart@tpcs1.tpc (Larry Cowart), 14 Apr 1994. 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 Programming the Newton. For those who can't afford to buy a Newton Tool Kit, there are several alternatives to try your hands at Newton programming: --- There is a book (about Nwt programming) which includes a cut down version of the NTK. From Justin York: 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 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 £25 (Academic Press). The NewtonBook Maker is not included in the demo version. PS: This demo version supports the screen-dump feature. --- You can also try "Newt" and "NS-Basic". NEWT (aka NewtDevEnv) from Stephan Weber, is a native environment for developing simple applications using NewtonScript, and saving as packages directly on your Newton. Latest version (as of Aug 95) is version 3.1. Cf also Subject 15. NS BASIC 2.0 is a fully interactive implementation of Basic. As well as providing the full instruction set, it has extensions to take advantage of the Newton environment: 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. NSB can be programmed directly on the Newton without requiring a host system. Check out http://www.nsbasic.com. --- Other sources of information for developers: - PDA Developers magazine (Creative Digital Systems). - Apple Programmer and Developer Association (the source for development tools from Apple). - Usenet comp.sys.newton.programers. - Apple's Newton Associates Program and Apple's Newton Partners Program. ---------- *** 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. #dealer PCMCIA SRAM #Memorex Commuter Computer palmtop, Memorex branded Psion MC-400 notebook #bar code readers, IS-400 Input System #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 ---------- *** 9.22 Can I connect my Newton to a network via IR ? Yes, with Photonics' IR Networking System (UK £400 !). ---------- *** 9.23 How can I load long text files and pictures in my MP ? To load a lot of text (and/or pictures) in a MP from a desktop computer you need the very expensive Newton Tool Kit (and its very useful BookMaker application). The Newton Connection Kit 1.0 or 2.0 is no good for that. But there are alternatives, albeit not completely satisfying ones: 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 (no 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). Also, you need some sort of communication software for your desktop computer. No (cheap) solution yet for pictures. NOS 2.0 update: All this should be solved with the arrival of NOS 2.0. You can buy a small external keyboard, use your desktop computer keyboard w/o typomanica (Newton Connection Utilities, $69, required), and create NewtonBooks and imports graphics (Newton Press, $69, required). ---------- *** 9.24 Can I have a 24h clock while retaining the US date format ? This is a problem on the US/UK Newton: all of the "locale" settings use a 2x12h clock except the Canada(French) locale but which uses a European date format (dd/mm/yy) instead of the US date format (mm/dd/yy). From David Dunham (ddunham@radiomail.net): It's one of the features of my "Place Settings" utility. ---------- *** 9.25 Does "English-speaking" MPs spell in the US, UK or both ways ? Rick_Reed,MacTel_Iconex@metro.mactel.org wrote: > The Nwt built-in dictionary does not spell in the British way. The usual test for this is colour/color. From JC@easynet.co.uk This might be true for a MP sold in the US, but MPs (Syst. 1.3) sold in the UK recognize both US and UK spelling. I've done the test with colour/color, habour/harbor and recognise/recognize. ---------- *** 9.26 Letter Styles (Prefs) questions. M. Selby (mselby@netcom.com), M.B. Ayers (ayers@mizar.usc.edu), J. Knowles (Jelly@mickle.demon.co.uk), C. Wylie (chriswyl@bnr.ca), B. Kokernak (briankok@delphi.com), R. Williams (ronw@tpcst1.tpc), and T. Harpold (tharpold@mail.sas.upenn.edu) have all reported similar problems with the "Letter Styles". Apparently, the MP can sometimes loose/forget the Letter Styles settings (at least for "a"). Apple helplines deny there is such a problem. The conditions for this bug to occur are totaly mysterious so it is pretty difficult to find out what's going on. I might have discarded that as bullshit (comp.sys.newton.misc has its share like any newsgroup) but it also happened to me once. The problem is that you probably don't notice right away the loss of your Letter Styles settings, so it is nearly impossible to find out what might have caused it. I certainly haven't a clue. I've been watching more closely my Letter Styles since this happened a few months ago, but it didn't happen again. The usually helpful UK "Assist" Helpline haven't heard anything like that (or so they say). One way of loosing your Letter Styles is by changing the writing style (printed/cursive/mixed) while in guest mode. cf. Subject 5.4. But I've been aware of that for a long long time now, so it's not what happened, at least in my case. There is also this strange "screen refresh" story (cf Subject 5.4). But I knew about that too and I don't think that's what happened in my case because I had noticed a deterioration in my HW recognition (that's what prompted me to look into my Letter Styles). Maybe the cause for this is a certain shareware package. Maybe even a first Newton virus ! --- Edited from Terry Harpold: Lots of people have reported this problem with "a". I uncovered it on my Newton months ago. I finally ended up doing a hard restart, and that seems to have cleared it up: I haven't seen it since. If you go the hard restart route, *be sure to back up first, as you're going to lose everything on the Newton*. --- After reading this I recalled doing a hard reset soon after discovering the loss of my Letter Styles settings. I guess that's why I haven't had any more problem with it since then. From Chris Wylie: As an aside, I've noticed that the Newton has changed the 'a' styles that I don't use from dark grey ('rarely') to grey (with neither radio button set). I haven't seen this behaviour documented anywhere (or in any FAQ). Has anyone else noticed it? Yes, I've noticed that a long time ago (maybe I should have included it in the FAQ sooner). This is due to the fact that your MP is always trying to improve its knowledge of your handwriting. So it does modify your Letter Styles when it notices that you're not using often certain styles of letter. There are three level of usage for each letter template: 'sometimes', 'rarely' and something that can be called 'never' (when neither 'sometimes' nor 'rarely' is selected). This 'never' option can only be selected by the MP itself, not by the user. --- The Feb 95 update to System 1.3 is partially fixing this problem. ---------- *** 9.27 How to enter area codes in Names (to get proper dialing). From Hansruedi Heeb : Enter US area codes *without* leading 1, e.g. enter (123) 456 7890 as 123 456 7890 (even though you dial 1 123 456 7890) Enter international area codes *with* the leading zero, e. g. enter (01) 123 4567 as 01 123 4567. Never enter country codes as part of the number, but always enter the country when you enter a name. Make sure Newton knows your local area code (in the same format)! This has to be done each time you travel unfortunately. If you follow this advice, Newton will *always* dial the right number (local, long-distance, international to and from any country works correctly). Even extremely exotic cases work (e.g. calling Switzerland from Austria uses a prefix 050 instead of the usual country code of Switzerland which is 41 and Newton knows it). Sometimes Newton sends a # after the number (e.g. calling international from the US). This is again correct (it speeds up dialing - try it!). ---------- *** 9.28 How do I know what is the system version on my Newton ? In the Extras drawer, open Prefs. At the bottom of the screen, under the line, there is a number. This is the version number. Cf. subjects 3.2 & 3.3 for an explanation of system version numbers. ---------- *** 9.29 NOS 2.0 screen rotation questions. From ????: You can only rotate the screen ONE way. From alanh@via.net: Straight from DTS (Dev TEch Service) the reason they chose to rotate it the way that they did was so that the serial port cable and power cables came out of the back of the unit and were out of the way. From Jim Bailey: I don't think this is correct or at least not the whole story. The problem is that the built-in silk screened buttons along the bottom of the screen (or right side) can't be moved and must be part of the screen coordinates. Look what happens when you rotate the screen so the buttons are on the left. From Kevin Fox: If this is the case, then there won't be any problem rotating in any direction on a Newton that has on-screen buttons instead of silkscreens. A friend of mine commented recently that he would really like to use his 120 upside down; that he preferred to have the bulge above the writing surface. From Greg Vaughn: If I remember right from the developers conference, there is a function that will return the current orientation of the screen. I think 0 means the original portrait mode and 3 means landscape with the silkscreen buttons on the right. Hmmm.... that leaves orientations 1 and 2 available. I would expect that Apple will have that working in the new machines. From Steve ????: There is indeed a function that lets you choose your orientation - if you hack about a bit then you'll find it. However you shouldn't use it in your applications - I know that I for one would get terribly confused if my Newt kept changing rotation without me asking it to. You can choose orientations 1 and 2 using this function, however as they're not supported with 120 hardware you just get the regular 0 orientation. Interestingly enough certain graphics will show the Newton in this newly selected orientation, such as the Newton&Card icon in the Card app. The other thing I found whilst hacking was the way in which Newton 2.0 will scale internal applications on larger screen sizes. It's a bit difficult to use a 120 when you set the screen to 640x480 though. Harald K. Zink wrote: On Newton 2.0, rotate your display, and try pulling up the 'formula' function. No Go! "This appliction won't work in rotated mode." And Newton asks if it is okay to rotate the display back. From Jonathan Conradt: This is not a bug. The formula roller does not fit in landscape mode and so it is one of the internal applications which cannot be rotated. It just did not make sense to try and get it to rotate. I think this is a good thing actually. It demonstrates that when you are using older software or software which does not work in landscape mode that Newton is polite and handles the exception with class. I believe this is a good indicator of the quality of the OS in general. ------------------------------ 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 four 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... ---------- *** 10.12 Plugging a keyboard into the MP. From Ezra Shapiro (ezra@netcom.com): 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! From: wkearney@access3.digex.net (William Kearney), 27 Apr 1994. 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 keyboard is kind of difficult to use. 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? NOS 2.0 supports a special keyboard (plugged into the serial connector) sold by Apple. ---------- *** 10.13 Quick access to Recognizer Prefs. From Michael Schmidl: I think I found a new "easteregg" with my german MP100 / ROM D-1.3(434217): double tap the character or graphic recognition button of the note pad and the configuration opens up with the character and graphic recognition settings. >>> This is a standard feature of System 1.3 (English, French and German versions). ------------------------------ 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 $9 for the SNAP, $18 for the Stealth and $26 for the Super Stealth (+handling & shipping). Info: dalford@sensemedia.net, writeware@eworld.com, tel: 408-295.4217 You can download a catalog (Mac file or Nwt pkg) by ftp or access it by Web at http://www.sbusiness.com/writeware. 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 showing-off. But some people might prefer "fat" pens. *** PDA Panache has styli available for both OMP and MP110. Their Telescoping110 pen is available in either 24K gold or sterling silver for $30 (Aug95). OMP styli are available in aluminum for $10 or gold (polished or brushed) for $20. Tel 800.270.7196, Fax 516.467.6329, email PDAPanache@eworld.com. ---------- *** 11.2 Screen protections. WriteRight Screen Enhancement WriteRight Screen Enhancement is a specially designed, clear plastic film pre-cut to the exact screen size of the PDA screen. - Prevents screen scratches. - Improves feel (the surface of the film provides a slight increase in the drag of the pen on the screen to better simulate the effects of writing on paper). - Reduces glare. WriteRight pricing (Feb95) is $12 for a 4-pack and $19 for a 8-pack (+ $3 shipping and handling per pack). Contact Information: kdmc@aol.com (Internet), KDMc (America Online), 71342.2227 (Compuserve), Tel (415) 929-1002 --- Edited from: milligan@netcom.com, 22 Jul 1994. 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 --- The Barrier From: Mellow S. Honek (tbarrier@aol.com) The Barrier is not simply an acetate or mylar film cut into pieces to fit a Newton screen ! It is not a overhead trancparancy sliced up and resold. The Barrier substrate and coatings are custom designed for the specific application of providing an extreemely scratch resistant front surface. The front coating is more durable then the Newton screen surface and in practice has provided a very long life. The Barrier is resistant not only to scratches, but to many household and industrial chemicals as well. Much research has gone into and is continuing on the development of the specially engineered material known as "The Barrier". ---------- *** 11.3 Various - Carrying cases for Newtons: cf. subject 9.9 . - From Newton_News: GPSButton 1.0 from AllPen Software, Inc. is a shareware package to interface a MP 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 . - 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 (£65) 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 £40 per year (Nwt) or £75 (Mac, Windows). Contact: (01428) 645225 or info@imago.com ------------------------------ Subject: 12. Easter Eggs. ---------- *** 12.1 Write "Find Elvis", select it and tap Assist. From Matthias Zahn : 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 Date easter egg. 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. From Daniel Salber: For the French MP110 the date you get is 6/6/44 10:00, which is D-Day... ---------- *** 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... ---------- *** 12.10 NOS 2.0 Easter eggs (Titanic...). Mike Cohen writes: Have you found any Easter Eggs in NOS 2.0? I see all of the old ones are gone. From Steve ????: "About Newton" in the assistant is still there. Also, check out the Time Zone map just to the east of Canada and you'll find the Titanic. From Gene ????: How about the time zone map above the titanic, where it says "middle of nowhere" ------------------------------ Subject: 13. A quick best Newton software guide. ---------- *** 13.1 Spreadsheets. * MobileCalc ($80) is reported to be slow. As an alternative there are QuickFigure Pro, NapkinCalc and Equate. * QuickFigure Pro ($50) as all the standard feastures and can beam or NewtonMail a spreadsheet. QFPro also allows.to copy a sheet to the notepad, and integrate it into a letter. Export to Excel or Lotus 1-2-3 (Mac or Windows) is supported. PelicanWare 800.655.6398 or donv@teleport.com. * NapkinCalc looks very good but is not yet mature (memory problems). * Equate ($99) lets you run Microsoft Excel spreadsheets of any size (16384 rows by 255 columns) on your Newton. Enter data directly into spreadsheet cells. Adjust column widths, freeze labels, scroll, and zoom just like a desktop spreadsheet. MobileCalc/Tapworks/QFPro owners can upgrade to Equate for $69. Contact Holosoft at 408.748.9648, or . There's also a kind of spreadsheet in TapWorks. For more info, check-out the "Nwt Software" database (v3.02 or later) on ftp.amug.org/pub/newton/info. ---------- *** 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. For more info, check-out the "Nwt Software" database (v2.11 or later) on ftp.amug.org/pub/newton/info. ---------- *** 13.3 Databases. - Flash-Data 1.8 Flash-Data allows you to easily create a flat-file PDA database application. In Version 1.8, lookups are possible not only in other Flash- Data files, but also in non-FD files. Other new features: * New layout options and field types - buttons and six different timestamp. * Buttons can be scripted with NewtonScript code to use built-in Newton features and/or call other applications to manipulate data. Buttons can also be scripted with the new NS BASIC. * Timestamps will automatically be set to the time and/or date the record is created or modified. * New field attributes let you place up to two fields on a single line in the entry view and create fields that can't be modified after an initial value has been entered. These features were especially requested by utilities, the military, airlines, delivery firms, large companies, and auditors. * The list view format has been improved, and you can now specify which fields you want shown. In the field setup window, you select the "Show in List" button for any field which you want to be displayed in the list view. * The fascinating and time-saving new plug-in architecture allows Flash-Data to be extended and enhanced via external code modules. * Multi-record reports can now be printed. A report editor plug-in lets you design a report for each file. * Sorting - You can now specify which field to sort by in the list view by selecting the "Index" menu in the setup window. A popup list of the indexes will be shown at the top of the list screen. * Lookups - Lookups are now available. You can use the lookup function in a formula to relate data between different files or extract data from non-Flash-Data files, such as the built-in Names application. * The connection icon now appears in the file list screen, you can create or upload files from a computer if no other files exist. Macintosh and Windows computers are supported, and Flash-Data is compatible with several UNIX systems and Linux. * Besides Flash-Data's own ability to do calculated fields, both formulas and buttons are compatible with the CHAIN function in NS BASIC Version 2.5, so you can use an NS Basic program to do the calculations or run an NS BASIC program from a button. * Flash-Link(tm) for 4D(R) is now PowerMac native and available as a drop- n extension for 4D 3.2.5 or later. A version for 4D for Windows will be available when that version of 4D ships. * The menus have been re-arranged in Flash-Link Universal(tm), and new features have been added to make it easier to copy file structures between different Newtons. A data transfer application is now available for Windows. Thus, you won't need to use the Newton Windows Connection Kit to transfer data in either direction between Windows and Flash-Data. - FileMaker Pro 3.0 for Newton. Claris has announced that FileMaker Pro (FMP) 3.0 Companion for Newton 2.0 devices will ship in early 1996. FMP 3.0 Companion will let users capture subsets or collections of data (including the creation of new records and fields) and synchronize at a later time. The synchronize procedure will insure database integrity. Here is a summarized list of specific features: - FMP interface and functions: Users will be able to browse, sort, query and print downloaded data as well as perform Look-Ups from other FMP 3.0 Companion databases that may also reside on the MP120. Other typical functions such as auto entry, pop-up lists, check boxes and radio lists will be available in FMP 3.0 Companion for Newton. - Desktop Connectivity and Database Creation: Provides live connection to desktop and network-based (Macintosh and Windows) FMP databases and the ability to download subsets, or collections, of these database records to the MP120. In addition, MP120 users can download simple FMP layouts without records to create new databases directly on the MP120. - Synchronization: Direct record-level synchronization from FMP 3.0 Companion to desktop-based FMP 3.0 databases. - Communications: The new product completely supports all basic communications functionality provided by the MP120 with Newton 2.0 (beaming, faxing and mailing). - Password Protection: FMP 3.0 Companion for Newton will provide the same database security provided by FMP 3.0 for Macintosh and Windows. http://www.claris.com - TeamAgent / Lotus Notes Steven Sims reports: TeamAgent (formerly InterAgent) from Ives & Co (Huntingdon, England) will exchange databases to and from Lotus Notes and Newton. In fact it'll do any combination of Notes, Newton, ODBC, SQL, Oracle, MS-Access, MS-FoxPro and text. When you're using the Newton driver it works via either serial or modem. Currently TeamAgent is in beta testing. Server platforms supported are currently Windows 3.11, 95, NT, and OS/2. There's also a Newton 2.0 optimized version. Pricing is expected to be about $150 for the personal edition of TeamAgent. If you want to know more about it then you can either give me a call" (+44 973 173721) or Ives & Co. at: (+44 1480 433919). - FilePad cf. Subject 15.1. - Transform TransForm is an integrated form design and fill program for Newton. With transForm you can create and modify form layouts, and you can capture data in form entries. transForm supports eight field types as well as Print, Fax, Beam, Find, and Undo. ftp://ftp.eecs.wsu.edu/pub/newton/transForm-31.hqx> (English) ftp://ftp.eecs.wsu.edu/pub/newton/transForma-31.hqx> (Spanish) http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~schlimme/> (Info) - AppGen AppGen by Pinehill Software is an application generator enabling users to easily generate their own custom tailored data-collection applications for their Newton. Release 2 of AppGen allows users to generate a scrollable data entry screen populated with any number & combination of the following field types: Popup, Numeric, FreeForm, Date, Phone, Currency, Time, Fraction, Stopwatch, External Lookup, and External Application. Results are presented in an "expando" interface, allowing 15 fields to be visible at a time. A version of AppGen also supports bar coding. Contact: 508.548.4470 or pinehill1@eworld.com ===== ---------- *** 13.4 My own top 12 Nwt software. - Password (Utility) - RYO III (Utility) - NewtCase (Utility) - PaperBack 1.01 (Book making App.) - StatusBar Buttons 2.0 (Utility) - Accountable (Banking App.) - StewPot (Utility) - Convert 2.0 (Utility) - NANUG newsletters "_protoReality" (NewtonBook) - TapBoard (Game) - SoloDX (Game) - Dumbkbd (Utility) I also like very much (but don't need): - TapStyles (Utility) - QuickFigure Lite (Spreadsheet) - CheckList (Basic list manager) - Extra-extras (Utility) - HeapIt (Utility) - MagicApp (Utility) - BooksOff (Utility) - FilePad (Database) - RemoveIt (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. 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)? Hey, I like my MP. But (for me) a "communications assistant" it ain't. ---------- *** 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! ---------- *** Deleting Day Events In article , 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. ---------- *** Windows Connection Kit 2.0 Warning. From: snk@metro.tpsinc.com (Sam Kamens), 21 Jul 1994. 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 , 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. ---------- IMPORTANT NOTE: The following list of software (with its short descriptions and comments/reviews) is only a small selection of what is available for the Newton. Only the latest releases and some of the best (in my totaly biaised opinion) software will be covered here. If you want a more extensive listing, you must download the "Nwt Software database" (v3.02 or latter) from ftp.amug.org/pub/newton/info. There's more than 500 entries in this database. Also check out Serg Koren reviews, and keep informed with NewtNews. IMPORTANT NOTE: ThereÕs so much new software and upgrades coming out every week that it is impossible for me to keep up to date (IÕve got to earn a living too !). Some of the software entries here are not the latest version (always with loads of new features !). Those entries are only given as exemple of what can be found to expand your Newton PDA. ---------- *** Accountable 2.0 (a newer version is available) Commercial software. Author: Nomadic technologies. RAM: 210kb + 112kb + 30kb. Heap: 2.2kb + 0.8kb + 0.7kb. Powerfull bank account manager with report and charting abilities. Handles checking, saving, credit card, frequent flier and generic accounts. Create as many accounts and transactions as you like, limited only by storage. Merchants and payees are automatically captured into pop-up lists for later reuse. Category code association is maintained. Handles repeat transactions/standing orders. Password protection. QIF (Quicken(tm) Interchange Format) file importing and exporting via Connection Kit 2.0. Nomadic Technologies at 216.331.5771, fax 216.331.5887. In the U.S., orders are accepted at 800.713.6291. 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, ... Accountable requires a lot of Heap space to run. This might depend on how much data you've entered, but in my case it needs at least 26 k of heap. ---------- *** Calc++ / MiniCalc++ 4.0 Author: Gerard Hammon. This is a CASIO style scientific calculators that includes: 18 scientific constants; a recording tape; 15 new functions; and 20 memory registers. MiniCalc++ does not have recording tape but its window can be dragged around the screen. Infos: macsos@eworld.com ---------- *** CalcWorks 1.4.0 Author: John Brochu CalcWorks features full scientific and binary function sets, a printable paper tape window, optional RPN support (100 percent HP-compatible with pop-up stack display), customizable constants and conversions, a built-in help system (including a well-done Balloon Help), plus an easy-to-customize interface (put any calculator button anywhere you want). You can paste in equations for quick evaluation, enter figures directly in appropriate units (minutes, feet, degrees, etc.) and - thanks to a new floating point library - CalcWorks has floating point precision significantly better than most Mac applications (just try entering (1 - 0.9 - 0.1) in the standard Calculator and see what you get!). ---------- *** Equate Spreadsheet: cf. subject 13.1 ---------- *** EUDORA LIGHT for the Newton The most successful e-mail software on Macintosh got ported to Newton. To get it, check out: . ---------- *** FilePad 1.0 Commercial software (657FF TTC, UK £79). Demo available. Author: HealthCare Communications. 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). 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 ! Cf. the Nwt Software database for a detailled review. ---------- *** Graffiti. Cf. subject 8.15. ---------- *** Labels v2.0 Author: Geert Jadoul <76271.2121@compuserve.com> Shareware ($20) Labels allows you to take names from your Names application and add them to a list of Labels to print. You can setup the contents and layout of the labels; add and delete items from the label; set style, size and font of each item in the label; setup the number of labels on a page; and set border size, gutter and offset in the Format. ---------- *** List-it 2.7 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. ---------- *** LunaMail 1.0b1r1 Author: Lunatech Research. Free for personal and educational use. LunaMail is a mail client for the Newton. With LunaMail you can call into an Internet service and retrieve your mail via (for instance) a POP/SMTP server, just as you can do with other mail clients such as Eudora. Besides being able to send text messages with LunaMail, you can also send attachments from applications that you have installed on your Newton. This means you can send graphical notes, appointments, name cards, or even a page of your favorite spreadsheet. Or simply put, anything you can send via 'beaming' can also be sent with LunaMail. Non-Newton recipients of a LunaMail message with an attachment (say a PC or Mac Eudora user) won't see Newton graphics but will receive the message as text. LunaMail is very flexible and will allow you to create your own categories in the InBox and OutBox of your Newton (one for each account you own). The accounts don't all have to be on one system either. LunaMail uses plug-in modules for different types of systems. The first version of LunaMail will only have the Internet module, with others (Telefinder, Compuserve) to follow shortly. LunaMail provides several ways of establishing a connection with your server. The connection facilities in LunaMail are provided by an engine which supports the following connection methods: - Serial: A normal serial connection for connecting to your host via a serial cable (for instance a serial cable into a Unix system). - Serial Modem: A connection method for a modem serially connected to your Newton (external modem). - Internal Modem: A connection method for modems on PCMCIA cards inside your Newton. - AppleTalk ADSP: For access to your system via AppleTalk, or for the LunaRoute application (LunaRoute is an application that works as a router on a Macintosh, that routes between your Newton and IP). To be able to run LunaMail, you need a Newton Messagepad or a Sharp Expertpad, with at least about 400K's of free memory. This will allow you to install the most crucial packages, and to store a reasonable amount of mail on your Newton. We also advise you to use a 1MB (or more) PCMCIA memory card to store all your mail on. http://www.lunatech.com ftp://ftp.lunatech.com ---------- *** Newt 3.1 Shareware Author: Steve Weyer Newt 3.1 (aka NewtDevEnv) is an environment for developing applications using NewtonScript and saving as packages directly on your Newton. Changes in Newt 3.1 (11 Aug 95): - NewtPack saves "small" packages (RUNewt no longer needed). - NewtPack better progress feedback, faster, creates smaller packages. - NewtPack saves books, apps & autoparts. - Heap button displays current heap/does gc; Eval Controls draggable off screen - Better coordination of Print&Notify behavior between Eval Log, Slurpee, NTK. If you use Slurpee, you must use Slurpee 1.6. - Uses DontAsk patch with standard keyboard (rather than custom keyboard). - GetNamedResource works directly with Ben Gottlieb's Icon Editor. - Cleanup, performance tuning, better heap use, preferences, customization. - Faster versions of Newt and NewtPack with native code available to registered users. http://www.netaxs.com/~weyer/newton/releases.html ---------- *** NewTel Commercial software (470FF TTC) French software to emulate a Minitel terminal (V.23). ---------- *** 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. Last version is 2.0. ---------- *** 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. 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. ---------- *** 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. 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). ---------- *** PocketCall 1.0 Commercial software (631FF TTC in France, £96 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 Last version is 1.35. ---------- *** ProCalc 1.1 Author: Clinton Logan ProCalc is an advanced calculator replacement for the Newton. ---------- *** 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. 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 ($50) Author: PelicanWare (Don Vollum) --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). --Worksheets up to 26 columns by 50 rows. --Resizable column widths. --Import and Export of worksheets to Excel & Lotus 123 (Windows and Mac). --A complete charting and graphing package: line, bar, and pie charts. --The ability to export data from a worksheet to the Newton's NotePad, or beam it, or NewtonMail it. --An online function reference. --Support for QuickFigure Tools, third-party extensions to QuickFigure. ---------- *** TermLimit 1.4 TermLimit is a (very) limited terminal emulator for the Newton. ---------- *** Time Accountant 2.0.2 Shareware ($20) Author: David Grietens' <72154.202@compuserve.com> RAM: 78kb Edited from John Schettino : Time accountant keeps track of the time you spend on "tasks" (even when you've turned off your Newton). Tasks can be grouped in a "module", and modules can be grouped in a "project". Once you are finished on a task you tap the stop button and Time Accountant totals up your time and bills it to the appropriate module. 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. COMMENTS: 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 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 to dump the recorded time data to my Mac. ------------------------------ Subject: 16. Software: NewtonBooks. ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** _protoReality, the North Atlanta Newton Users Group newsletter. _protoReality 1.1 (January 94) nanug-11 file RAM: 142196 bytes Kent Sandvick (PIE DTS guru) interview, Yahtzee, Black Box, 24, Morphion, MobileMath, code samples (formula, drawing), handwriting tips. _protoReality 1.2 (February 94) nanug-12 file RAM: 233968 bytes System 1.05 upgrade, David Dunham (BookReader) interview, David Alford (WriteWare) interview, SNAP stylus, Mr Advisador, List-It, StewPot, Souper, KeyboardPro, MobileCalc, TermLimit 1.1, Accountable, the german Newton, code samples (adding to intelligent assistance, ...), drawing tips, MagicCap. _protoReality 1.3 (March 94) nanug-13 file RAM: 282548 bytes Steve Weyer (Newt/RUNewt) interview, MP110, ScrollEx, MagicApp, ViewFrame, List-It 1.4, PrefsPatcher, SleepAid, Happy, MobileCalc revisited, Apple PCMCIA FaxModem, GeoAssist, Newt programmation lesson. _protoReality 1.4 (April 94) RAM: 290116 bytes 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. _protoReality 1.8 (November 94) RAM: 194444 bytes Andre Meyer (Author of "Pen Computing: a technology overview and a vision") interview, Graffiti, Action Names & Agenda, XPack, Desdamona 1.6, Othello, The Barrier, Message Manager, ScrollEx 2.7, Tips. _protoReality 1.9 (December 94) AOL PDA Forum's Pocket Press, Gaia's Personal Media, QuickCall 2.1, TimeToGo, WineList 1.0, NUG News. COMMENTS: The best electronic publication on Newton that I've seen so far. Very good on comprehensive software reviews, interviews and introduction to Newt programmation. ---------- *** 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). ---------- *** US National Park Service Reference Freeware. Author: thomas@zippy.sonoma.edu USApp is an application dedicated to the goal of representing all of the parks in the U.S. National Parks System. With this new version of the app, many parks in the Western United States are detailed with descriptions covering: 1) How to get there 2) What to do once you get there. Included are descriptions of National Parks, National Monuments and National Recreation Areas. Some parks have detail maps which will assist in helping you find your way. May only be found at: ---------- *** Zen and the Art of Internet RAM: 374768 bytes ------------------------------ Subject: 17. Software: Games. ---------- *** ChessPad $50. Turns the Newton into a digital chess book and a portable chess set. It contains 28 annotated grandmaster games played by the greatest players of all time and 100 chess problems. Tel: 713.663.7513; E-mail: DavidL62@aol.com ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** Peg-solitaire Shareware ($10) Pegboard Solitaire. COMMENTS: Simple but nice implementation. I quite liked this package. ---------- *** sea-hunt-11 Battleship against the Newton. COMMENTS: Well implemented. ---------- *** SoloDX 1.5 Freeware. Author: Renaud Boisjoli. RAM: 135K 3 card solitaires: Klondike, Canfield & Pyramid. COMMENTS: Nicely implemented, you can even change the design of the cards. There's also a button to "shrinkdown" the game to quickly access the notepad w/o quitting the game. My girlfriend favourite package !!! Latest version is 1.6. ---------- *** Tapboard Freeware (as far as I know) Heap: 0.5kb. Contains Tic Tac Toe, Gomoku, and Reversi (play against the MP). COMMENTS: You will like the Othello Reversi (even though there are weak points: the MP isn't a very good opponent, and indicating the number of pieces would have been handy). ---------- *** Yahtzee This is the game of Yahtzee for the Newton, for one to four players. COMMENTS: Well implemented. If you like Yahtzee you can't do without this package. ------------------------------ Subject: 18. Software: Utilities. ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** 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. 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. ---------- *** 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 2.6 (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. 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. ---------- *** Date Utility 091 Freeware View all of your Dates, Meetings, To do items, etc. COMMENTS: Very useful to remove many Calendar Notes in one go (the "Deleteolder than" of Syst. 1.05 doesn't work for the notes). ---------- *** Dumbkbd Freeware Author: Stephen Millman RAM: 3k The Newton has a "smart" keyboard - if it doesn't recognize a word you tap out with it, it asks if you want to add the word to the dictionary. Sometimes this is great. Sometimes it's a pain. DumbKbd opens the normal Newton alphanumeric keyboard with a temporary lobatomy to prevent it asking about each unrecognized word. Closing the keyboard restores it to normal. Dumbkbd will work from the extras drawer. COMMENTS: If youÕre fed up by the Newton always asking if this word or that word should go into the dictionary, Dumbkbd is there to help. It is very useful when you need to enter a lot of text from the keyboard because most of it wonÕt be in the dictionary (i.e. write in another language, technojargon, URLs). It would be even nicer if Dumbkbd wouldnÕt appear in the Extras drawer but just add a ÒDumbÓ checkbox in the standard keyboard window. In the next version maybe... ---------- *** 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. 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. ---------- *** Extra-extras 1.1 Freeware Allows access to Newton applications beyond the limit of 30 that the current Extras drawer imposes. 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! "Typomatica" lets you type into any Newt field from any computer with a serial port. ---------- *** MagicApp ShareWare ($20 for v1.0. US$25, UK £20 or AUD$30 for v1.1) Author: Sydney Low (syd@suburbia.apana.org.au) Magic App will allow you to: 1.Move packages between the Newton's internal RAM and a PCMCIA card. 2.Copy packages from one card to another (MagicApp 1.1 only). 3.Remove applications with a single tap of the pen. 4.Beam packages to another Newton (MagicApp 1.0 only). MagicApp 1.0 doesn't work with the MP110. MagicApp 1.1 doesn't work with the OMP. NB: Moving and copying programs requires the MP to have sufficient free storage space in the INTERNAL RAM and on the PCMCIA 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. ---------- *** NDcrypt v1.1 Author: Geert Jadoul <76271.2121@compuserve.com> NDcrypt is a little floating app that lets you encrypt/decrypt the current Note, or All Notes. It keeps font type, size and style. When you are encrypting/decrypting All Notes it will count the Notes so you know the app is working. ---------- *** 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. 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. UPGRADE INFO: Here is the official NewtCase 1.x upgrade information. If you registered NewtCase 1.x before 31Mar95, you can upgrade to NewtCase 2.2 & Essentials (which includes GestureLaunch/Script, SoupKitchen, SleepAid and NewtInfo) for $20+T+S&H. Users who registered NewtCase 1.x after 31Mar95 can upgrade for $30+T+S&H. For more information contact: Tom Collins by email at: or by phone at: 602.970.1032. NB: ThereÕs a new version of Newtcase coming out for NOS 2.0. ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** NoteScroller Shareware ($10) 5 different modules give you a wide range of ways to scroll the NotePad. Scroll 1 line, half of page, or continuously scroll (slow, medium and fast). ---------- *** OpenTime Freeware Author: Allan Marcus RAM: 2kb 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 Toggles password protection on and off when you tap the pckge icon. 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. ---------- *** 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! 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. ---------- *** PKEINST.EXE From Ashley Armstrong : This is a package downloader for PC. You can find it on ftp.amug.org/pub/newton/dos-only/ (it's part of the file QFLITE.ZIP). The catch is that you have to have the cable that comes with the Windows connectivity kit, and Apple does not yet sell that cable separately. cf subject 8.13 for the cable specs. ---------- *** RemoveIt! / TrashPak Shareware ($5) Author: Atomic Software (Allan Marcus) RemoveIt! 2.2 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. 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. RemoveIt last version (3.11) has been renamed TrashPak. ---------- *** RYO III (Roll Your Own) Freeware Author: S. Millman RAM: 24kb (internal) This is a really great utility that lets you associate buttons to any package of the Extras drawer, even the ones that are in ROM like "Styles", "Prefs", ... With RYO you can make floating buttons, top of the screen buttons, statusbar buttons (bottom of the screen), and even make buttons out of the name of the permanent buttons (Names, Dates, Extras, Undo, Find, Assist) while leaving the icon to operate normally the permanent buttons. Any character may be displayed by the buttons made by RYO (except, obviously, for the permanent buttons highjacking). For example I use a "bullet" in the upper right corner of my screen to call the Styles pallet, a "K" button in the upper left corner to call the package "Dumbkbd", and "Assist" to call the "Prefs". The only drawback I've found so far is the size of the package, 24K, which is a lot for an MP100 (you must install RYO in internal RAM). But that's the price to pay for so much flexibility. In the RYO III folder you will also get several utilities: - "Open" which pops up an alphabetical list of some of the applications in the Extras Drawer. Selecting one opens it. Selecting the top item "Settings" opens a window with two scrollable lists from which you can set apps not to appear on the menu. - "Styler" which is a small palette to substitute for the Styles Palette. It can produce any type face, size and style that the Newton can show. - "Type Palette" which is a small palette containing some commonly used keys to type that don't work well with handwriting recognition. - "Dumbkeyboard" which is a normal keyboard except it doesn't ask if you want to add words to your user dictionary. - "NoteMarker" that lets you define "bookmarks" in your Notes, for quick reference. - "Quickies" that performs a number of normally cumbersome tasks easily. - "Chars" that pops up a page of most ascii characters, tapping one types it and closes the page. ---------- *** 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. 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. Version is 2.7 is out. ---------- *** 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). ---------- *** StatusBar Buttons 2.0 Freeware Author: Jess Devine (Jester@apple.com) 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. 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). ---------- *** StewPot 1.0 Final Freeware Author: Mark Underwood RAM: 31856 bytes StewPot is a soup inspector that allows you to view and change soup entries, make new entries, remove old entries, and copy entire soups. COMMENTS: If I need to remove a soup, I always use StewPot. 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). ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** 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. COMMENTS: My favourite utility. And it's very small. ---------- *** 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. ---------- *** 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 800-642-4321 (orders), 510-527-6186, 510-540-1057 (fax) extralead@aol.com From: Adrian Freed , 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). ------------------------------ UNFORMATED STUFF (extracted from NewtNews): DidnÕt have the time to present nicely the following stuff, but I include it because I find it potentially interesting. * Newt Tools Ascribe Software: $49.95 plus S&H. Email: ## Dealers/Orders/Info: 800/732-8608 ## * PERSONAL MEDIA is Your Key to Organization! Take notes and organize projects your own way. Use the notepads like real paper. Create as many as you want. File them anyway you want. Compare notes side by side. Resize and shuffle your notes so they will make sense to you. You can even communicate - email and faxes. Just drag and drop. Call Gaia at 800.784.8758 or . $99+S&H. * New! STAND ALONE offers a variety of Newton applications... - SPEED gives your names file a boost! Finally, filing a name on the Newton is possible ... and FAST. Switch to a folder quickly and painlessly. View email address while in Card or Card & Notes view, and a slew of quick access methods. $25. - KEYMAN a series of keyboard enhancements for the built in keyboards. Fix the annoying "Add to Dictionary?", dial a phone, add some numbers, all from within a keyboard. $15. - USER PICKER: allow many people to use one newton, all with their own handwriting and preferences. $15. - NOTEMAN bring the notepad to the front of any app, instantly! - MORE FOLDERS want more folders? How about an unlimited amount? For information about any of these or other Stand Alone products, contact us at , or (312) 262-5150. Ciao! * BILLS TO PAY 2.2.1 - never get charged for an over due bill again! BILLS TO PAY lets you easily track bills and expenses; create budget projections; and set alarms to remind you of bills coming due. BILLS TO PAY is also fully customizable, and interfaces with PocketMoney. From MAR Software $20 (shareware). Download demo version from most Online Services or email: for more info. * CATAMOUNT SOFTWARE offers the following: - POCKETMONEY assists you in balancing your checking, savings, credit card and loan accounts. Export and import transactions to Quicken, MYM and other desktop based program. With a shareware price of only $20 it won't break your piggybank. - MPG helps you keep your vehicle records in order. Track fuel economy, record mileage for tax purposes, schedule repeating vehicle maintenance items for multiple vehicles. MPG can directly update to PocketMoney. It's only $20. - SPECIAL of the MONTH - ALOHA sends and receives AOL email from your Newton. Mention NewtNews and receive a $5 discount. Aloha is $50. (Newton 1.3 OS is required) For more information call 802-863-5256 or email WWW Catalog at: * Wake Up Week 2.7, the date manager for the Newton. Allows you to work with your schedule over a fixed time period (ranging from 1 day to 3 years,) the ability to file meetings and to dos, view only those in particular folders, and work with multiple items at a time. Fully compatible with MoreInfo, NotePak, Notion, and DropToDo 2.0. $20. Stand Alone Software or 708 Forest, Evanston, IL, 60202 * AMIGO, an English and Spanish dictionary reference and simple translation program is now available for the Newton. Features include: a 2800 entry dictionary with common phrases; use handwriting recognition to enter phrases; view AMIGO's dictionary; add up to 200 phrases of your own; switch translation modes at the tap of a button. AMIGO is available for $19.95 plus $1.50 S&H from ACCSYS Corporation, 1635 Bow Tree Dr, West Chester, PA 19390. Call 610.436.4570 for more information or email: . * WANT BIG NOTES? Stand Alone Software has posted Big Notes, a shareware extension for the built in Note Pad application, to all online services. It will allow notes up to 8 times bigger than the built in software (up to 32k.) You will not see any change in the behavior of the note pad, other than you will not be bugged by those annoying "The current note is too large. To start a new note, draw a line across the note pad." messages. For more information send email to: or call: 518.274.0787. ** NEWT TOOLS V1.5 The new version of the Newt Tools program adds new features to coincide with Newton 2.0. Each of the individual Newt Tools management utilities for memory, packages and soups will provide new features and interfaces. All of the tools are now available as separate applications, allowing you to selectively install only the tools you need. - Button Bar: will offer new features providing quick "freezing" and "thawing" of packages on-the-fly, instant access to screen rotation, and improved heap memory cleaning functions. - Package Tool: will provide new package management features including "freezing" and "thawing" to manage heap memory, launching, icon views, folder support, and more. - Soup Tool and Soup Editor: will offer support for soup management capabilities to move, duplicate and edit Newton 2.0 soups. - Memory Tool: will perform diagnostics to alert you of potential data problems inherent within Newton 2.0 and help to keep your memory free of the data some applications leave behind. The new version will be included on the same diskette with Newt Tools version 1.1, which continues to support Newton OS version 1.3 users. For owners who purchased Newt Tools before 01Oct95, the upgrade to 1.5 will be US$7.50 (or $12.50 international) and free for customers who purchased the product after 01Oct95. Upgrade orders are being accepted. Email to: