This Old Newt
TON's Newton News
Newton WaveLan driver updated
This update includes:
* bug-fix: Entering WEP key as hexa-decimal
Both upper-case and lower-case letter can be accepted.
* added 3.3V voltage support (trial implementation)
Tested cards: BUFFALO WLI-CF-S11G only
### This feature is for MP2x00 only ###
You can visit their site at:
Driver Labo./Newton/WaveLAN
posted by Jimmy Olsen Friday, April 11, 2003
Sunday, March 02, 2003
NewtWiki version 0.5.1 available
Jim anderson posted the following on NTLK
Due to my long-standing crack habit, I managed to completely break
the BackLink handler in NewtWiki (the part that lets you see which notes
link to the current note). I've now released version 0.5.1, which fixes
this problem.
NewtWiki, by the way, enables automatic linking between notes (and
from notes to other apps, though this isn't automatic). By automatic, I
mean you don't have to do anything to create the link. Any word or phrase
will link to a note of the same title.
NewtWiki is available at http://www.narcosislabs.org/NewtWiki/
Public release of newtonscript.dtd
(ntlk)
XML document type definition for Newton Streamed Object Format data. This is part of the DCL project, enabling communication and Newton data storage in XML format. It allows developers to validate XML documents against shared vocabulary and document structure, ensuring cross application/platform data compatibility.
For now, the basic set of elements is presented, with plans to expand the definition by adding more in future versions.
You can find the latest annotated version here:
DelCann Software is pleased to announce the immediate availability of
Newtourage 0.7b1.
Newtourage synchronizes your Newton's Names - and now - Dates applications
with Microsoft Entourage v.X. Dates support includes meetings, events,
repeating meetings and events, exceptions to repeating patterns, alarms and
more.
This new version also takes advantage of Microsoft's Synchronization API to
access Entourage's data nearly 5 times faster than before.
Finally, If you haven't tried it yet, Newtourage works wirelessly! There's
even a new built-in tool to help those of us who have problems running
Appletalk under Classic.
You can download Newtourage 0.7 from http://www.delcannsoftware.com
Questions can be directed to jrd@delcannsoftware.com
posted by Jimmy Olsen Sunday, March 02, 2003
Paul Guyot and Friends are at it again
(ntlk)
Nicolas Zinovieff, Michael Vac�k and I (Paul Guyot) are very pleased to announce
DCL PrelimBinaries.
These binaries exhibit some of the coolest features of the Desktop
Connection Library, our long-term project aimed at replacing Apple's
libraries and applications to connect to and transfer data with the
Newtons.
It includes:
- NewtonScript DTD that explains how to represent Newton data in XML
- NSOF to XML converter, a MacOS and MacOS X application to convert
data from the Newton format (in .nwt attachments for example) to XML
- Notes XSL to convert Newton Notes from abstract XML to readable
XHTML and an applescript droplet to easily use it
- Dock TCP/IP with ZeroConf support
- Delivery, a MacOS X package installer with AppleTalk and RendezVous
You'll find them on the official DCL home page:
http://www.kallisys.com/newton/dcl/
~~~ State Of The Newton Address ~~~
(This is so perfect I had to steal it and publish it here)
by Victor Rehorst
(who is the "king of NewtonTalk", but doesn't need to be worshipped)
victor@newtontalk.net - http://www.chuma.org/
Feb 27, 2003
Today marks the five year anniversary of the cancellation of the Newton.
Around this time in 2001, I wasn't sure if the Newton and its followers would
last the year: Palm and Pocket PC were making strong showings at the expense
of the smaller PDA players such as Psion. It seemed like Newton software
development was at a total standstill, with a small handful of exceptions.
NewtonTalk was losing subscribers because of mismanagement at the hands of
IdeaCast.
Today, some key developers have joined those few and created applications that
we only dreamed of: MP3 players, ATA support, desktop synchronization, and
TCP/IP and IR connectivity, to name a few. NewtonTalk has grown by 60% since
June 2001. The Newton still gets positive press coverage from publications
such as Wired and MacAddict. There's been an explosion of Newton-based
Websites. People want to use their Newtons and seem willing to do so through
any means necessary. I believe that we are in the midst of the Newton's
renaissance, five years after it all seemed like the end was nigh.
In my opinion, the Newton platform is as healthy as a five-year-old platform
can get. Used hardware is plentiful, mostly because the large number of units
that were in the vertical market are now being liquidated. This drove prices
on 2x00 models down from $400 US to $150 and below. Suddenly, people could
purchase a PDA for less than a Palm or Win CE machine, and it had a huge
screen and great battery life! This coupled with some press coverage and much
evangelism by the community actually caused the number of personal Newton
users to increase as business users decreased.
This influx of users has fueled many important software developments as well.
I'm sure I've forgotten somem, but here's a short list of new software
developments for the Newton that have come about since 2001:
- SimpleMail 4.3 with APOP/SMTP authentication, IMAP and vCard support
- http://www.simple.dial.pipex.com/
- WaveLAN 802.11b wireless network card driver
- http://www.ff.iij4u.or.jp/~ngc/eng/newtwave.htm
- Newtourage, information syncing with Entourage 2001/X
- http://www.delcannsoftware.com/
- NewtSync, information sync system with extensible plug-ins
- http://www.everchanging.com/newton/
- DIL Tester, first desktop connection app to support TCP/IP connections
- http://www.tempel.org/newton/#DILplugin
- MAD Max, native MP3 player (with iTunes plugin)
- http://40hz.org/MADNewton/
- Waba VM, bringing a whole new programming language to the Newton
- http://www.tempel.org/newton/#DILtester
- many updates to NPDS, the Newton's very own open source web server
- http://npds.free.fr/
- Nitro, a free TinyTP / IrCOMM implementation
- http://40hz.org/Nitro/
- NaPalm, the forthcoming (we hope) PalmOS emulator
- http://www.sealiecomputing.com/Napalm4.GIF
- the Desktop Connection Library
- (you'll be hearing about this soon I think...)
Many of these pieces of software wouldn't exist without the growth of the
community in the past two years.
The Newton seems to attract a certain niche of supporters: people who have
found things in the platform that haven't been duplicated anywhere else. The
screen size, the feeling of writing on paper, the intuitive OS, the unique
system architecture, the dual PC Card slots even! We are people for whom
Palms and PocketPCs are either flashy or underpowered. The Newton is still
serving as an actually *usable* handheld computer five years after the last
system was sold.
I'm rambling on now, and I'm way too tired to be writing this right now. So
let me say this: the Newton is alive and well. It's pretty rare for a user
community to actually grow after the cancellation of a product line, but here
we are, growing and extending our Newtons, and gaining more and more dedicated
users. We keep on writing software, finding and making hardware fixes, and
dreaming up new things to do with our Newtons. It's just great. Of course,
you all know that already. But maybe today, you should find someone who
doesn't, and show them how useful the Newton could be for them. How after
five years, the Newton is still the most intelligent handheld computer.
TON Contest almost over. TON Update
Well the contest has extended a bit long due to our moving. Even for a short relocation of under 30 miles your life can get turned upside down.
March will have only a small update to This Old Newt's " Son of Ultimate Newton" Pages.
PDFConv - PDF converter released
This java program is intended to convert a PDF file (for which currently no viewer exists on the newton) into a series of images (currently: JPEG or PICT), together with a HTML file containing these images. The result then can be viewed with NewtScape (or maybe converted into a NewtonBook).