How to make your Clie more like an Apple Newton: anyone out there doing it?

[wneumayer]

Any former Apple Newton users out there trying to tweak their Clie into a Newton-like device? IThe Clie has so many cool features, but could use a few add-ins.

Got any hints or tweaks for those of us who are only now converting??

[ballistic]

I'm a NX70V user who just got a MP2100 in my quest to find the most intelligent PDA (and to satisfy my curiosity about the Newton platform). I wish my NX was as smart as my new/old Newt! The HWR is awesome, and the Assist is a nice feature.

I have a few posts and started a thread on this topic before everything got wiped out. I'd be interested in your view-point wneumayer.

I have noticed it is a lot easier to write on the MP2100's larger screen. The desktop connectivity is absolutely hideous by today's standards. But it was way ahead of its time, and I think it can still hold its own in the 'intelligence' category against anything currently available . The NX has it beat hands down in terms of multimedia capabilities and form factor. But I can send/receive email wirelessly & surf the web/web clip on the Newt using a Wi-Fi PC card thanks to the WaveLAN driver. The web is a much better experience on the NX thanks to its color hi-res screen and faster processor.

There are still developers supporting the Newton Platform and the Newton Community is still alive and well.

I'd love to find HWR for my NX that rivals the Newt's, and an intelligent assist feature would be very nice. I want my NX to be as smart or smarter than a 5 year old MP2100. I think that is missing in the Palm OS. The NX's hardware now exceeds the processing power of the Newt, so it would be nice to have an intelligent Palm OS device. I'd also like to see text to speech and limited voice navigation/recognition. If a cell phone can voice dial, why can't my NX take limited voice commands for hands-free situations like while I'm driving? I'd like my NX to be able to read my email,webclips, ebooks, etc to me during my commute!

We'll see, I truly hope these type of features are in the development stages.


Edited for typos.

[ballistic]

Originally posted by wneumayer
Got any hints or tweaks for those of us who are only now converting??

I've been a Palm user for 5+ years and a Newton user for about a week. I don't know of any programs/tweaks for the NX that would mimic the best qualities of the Newton.

Here are a few that you might want to check out though.

HWR

MyScript http://www.visionobjects.com/

Jot (Soon to replace Graffiti & Become Graffiti 2) http://www.cic.com/products/jot/

Intelligent/Smart Assistant Programs

?????????

[POWER_Rich_G4]

Well, I just stuck an old Apple smaller (multicolor) logo sticker on my clie, now people think it's an Apple product! I'll take a picture of it to show..... oh wait, I can't, my clie is my camera lol ;)

[Molerat]

^ Use a mirror! :D

[Picasosz]

If you wanted an apple why didn't you just buy one?

[SwissUser]

I having been using using my MP2000 until just before the New Year when I received the Newton. A new Tablet PC will be taking over the extensive note taking I do.

Check out Palmgear, mythomania has a skin for the NX launcher to mimic a OSX interface. (Brushed aluminium) [That is spelt right by the way]

A skin for the graffiti area and status bar would be fun, maybe along the lines of the Dashboard silk screen on the MP2000.

Anyone want to try...

[ballistic]

Originally posted by Picasosz
If you wanted an apple why didn't you just buy one?

Who are you asking?

[dimensiondvdrob]

Where can I pick up a Newton? eBay maybe?

[ballistic]

www.jksalesinc.com

Not affiliated with them in any way other than I am a very satisfied customer. When they say near MINT, the units are as MINT as you can get without being NIB. You may find a deal on eBay, but I've seen them go much higher than what JK Sales is asking. Don't just take it from me, you can check on their reputation at the www.newtontalk.net archives and the MacAddict Newton Forum.

My NX and new/old MP2100 are co-existing peacefully. It is also a very interesting case study on the direction PDA's are going, (especially the NZ), Apple with the introduction of the first Newton coined the term Personal Digital Assistant.

[KenSong]

Well, good to know there are some Newton folks here. I have used every Newton from the Original Messgepad right up to the MP2100 upgraded to 212mHz strongarm. Here are things I miss about Newton compared to my NR70V.

1. Newton Handwriting is still way ahead of what's out there. No wonder Apple refused to sell it.
2. 2 card slot
3. Voice recording (now finally available for Clies though not my NR
4. Intelligent Assistant (closest thing to Artificial Intelligence I've used)
5. Integrated Email/IR Beam/Print etc from any application
6. Non volatile memory. I've had a Newton sit cold for 5 years and when I popped in a battery, all my info springs back to life.

Well, these are things that came to mind instantly. Anyone else wants to add :)

[ballistic]

Don't forget about battery life! ;)

It's pretty interesting that a lot of former Newton users are now Clie owners.

[foghead]

I guess you could buy an NZ90 since that is at least moving toward Newton size ... :p

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by KenSong
Well, good to know there are some Newton folks here. I have used every Newton from the Original Messgepad right up to the MP2100 upgraded to 212mHz strongarm. Here are things I miss about Newton compared to my NR70V.

1. Newton Handwriting is still way ahead of what's out there. No wonder Apple refused to sell it.
2. 2 card slot
3. Voice recording (now finally available for Clies though not my NR
4. Intelligent Assistant (closest thing to Artificial Intelligence I've used)
5. Integrated Email/IR Beam/Print etc from any application
6. Non volatile memory. I've had a Newton sit cold for 5 years and when I popped in a battery, all my info springs back to life.

Well, these are things that came to mind instantly. Anyone else wants to add :)

Hi Ken!

No argument here, other than it was big and expensive. Something that a few members have condemned the NZ90 for being. I say be patient, more Clies will be forth comming later on, I am sure...

[hellraiser666]

I really want to play around with an Apple Newton now, just to see what I missed out on!

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by hellraiser666
I really want to play around with an Apple Newton now, just to see what I missed out on!

Go for it hellraiser666. I'm glad I did.

[ballistic]

That was me above , wasn't logged in :(.

[plragde]

Newton user from 1997 to last month (when I bought an NX70) chiming in here.

Shadow Plan brings to the Clie a feature I used extensively on the Newton -- hierarchical lists in Notes (MemoPad equivalent). But Shadow Plan goes beyond Notes to offer automatic linking to ToDos, filtering, divers view formats changeable on the fly... quite nice.

DateBk5 gives me some of the functionality of MoreInfo (third-party software which extended the Newton's built-in Dates) and compensates with rapid switching between views. (Hey, is there any way to set up a new appointment in the future other than to start one in the current view, ie today, and edit its details? MoreInfo had a nice single screen that came up with item text and date in one place -- in DateBk5 there seems to be no way to edit the text while the date is visible!)

Palm Address Book seems quite restricted, and I haven't decided what level of replacement to seek yet.

Newpen gives me some limited ability to write anywhere on the screen (doesn't seem to work well with Shadow Plan or DateBk5). ballistic and I had a discussion (now erased) of HWR for the Clie -- I'm not convinced I need it, but it would be nice for the masses, I suspect.

Bought the wireless card mostly to try to emulate some of the wired functionality I had on the Newton with Newt's Cape, a browser which converted HTML to the built-in Newton Book format. But I think NetFront is just not up to the task in some ways. I may go with iSilo and wired syncing instead.

Used Notion on the Newton to keep tabular information (it is a database app) -- will try to make do with HandyShopper for now.

Had some very nice UI assists on the Newton -- HiLite 2000 which brought up a floating window when I highlighted text (cut, copy, paste, del), and PunctPad which put a very nice configurable button/key set across the soft button bar at the bottom of the Newton. The latter should be doable with skins, I'm waiting to see what people come out with, but Sony's pace of releases is so fast that I may be left behind.

My ten-year-old is using the Newton now to organize her music practice. Hasn't looked at a manual once -- figured out on her own how to use it to record short snippets of her playing (though she was frustrated at the tiny speaker, 1997 technology). Newton is my classic example of how good ideas can fail for the wrong reasons. There still isn't anything like it, though I am quite happy with my Clie. --PR

[lewisrr]

plragde
Switched to a T615c for business use, using Filemaker for palm to replace Leverage. YiShow for Background to replaceAvi's background, McPhling for Dashboard. Use my 2100 for notes and email, T615c is not a NX. What are you using for notes?

LR

[Tek Phreak]

i take notes in my classes on my nx with the built in thumb keyboard. I lay it down on the desk and can type probably 40-50 wpm using mainly my index and middle fingers. I have yet to fall behind in a lecture. Not to mention i have a good orginization method w/ wordsmith for all my classes, it's good stuff. I don't want a full keyboard, the only need i would have one would be for typing papers, but since i got a desktop and a laptop too, i guess i should be alright.

Enjoy.
-Tek

[hellraiser666]

Originally posted by ballistic
That was me above , wasn't logged in :(.

I don't want to pay too much money for one though - so will have a look around to see what's available when I get a chance.

[SwissUser]

Sorry have been up a mountain for the weekend.

1. About the skins, I couls have a bash at that, but need the time to get a suitable tool for the Newton.

2. There is a software out there that enables the Newton OBEX IRDA driver to work with Palm OS 3.5 and above. Not sure about OS 5.0 though. Can't remember whats it called but I image it can be found on www.unna.org

Still regret the HWR which went to Pocket PC as Caligarpher and Transcript. The new Tablet PCs have this installed as standard.

Jot is OK but the with a 200 MHZ ARM processor, it could and should be better.

[ballistic]

Originally posted by SwissUser
Sorry have been up a mountain for the weekend.

1. About the skins, I couls have a bash at that, but need the time to get a suitable tool for the Newton.

2. There is a software out there that enables the Newton OBEX IRDA driver to work with Palm OS 3.5 and above. Not sure about OS 5.0 though. Can't remember whats it called but I image it can be found on www.unna.org

Still regret the HWR which went to Pocket PC as Caligarpher and Transcript. The new Tablet PCs have this installed as standard.

Jot is OK but the with a 200 MHZ ARM processor, it could and should be better.

Re: #2. BackTalk by Smart Dog Software http://www.smartdogsw.com/ allows the Palm & Newton to exchange beamed information.

[ClieMarty]

anybody there to point on some screenshots of the newton?

[ballistic]

Here's the manual http://www.unna.org/unna/apple/documentation/2x00/2100UsersManual.pdf
Data Sheet http://www.unna.org/unna/apple/documentation/DataSheets/MP2100.pdf
Web Page served on a Newton http://newton.splorp.com:8080/ with link to live screen shot

http://www.newtenlightment.de/ good site (also served on a Newton!)with lots of screen shots, check out usability movies under downloads section

[plragde]

lewisrr -- using ShadowPlan to replace Notes. It doesn't do embedded drawings, but I never used that feature. I never took really long notes (eg in seminars) on my Newton anyway. I used to use it with an external keyboard for travel notes. Could use a keyboard for the NX. Why are you, with a T615C, reading the NX forum?

SwissUser: slight correction -- the PocketPC HWR is a descendant of the early lousy HWR on the Newton. The really good HWR arrived with Newton OS 2.1, and Apple kept that; it is now Inkwell under OS X. --PR

[almost newton]

- supernames and Dateman from standalone (also on the newton)
- Projects (projects4palmos.sourceforge.net) as a list manager
- BugMe as a non-HWR notepad

There's a wassup skin that uses newton icons, but I still haven't found a launcher that gets close to the customization I have when I turn on my MP2100 - I rearely have to tap more than once to get what I need. I use voicenotes heavily on the mP as well.

[rkadowns]

I miss the way the newton worked, i.e.:
1) Drag text to the edge of the screen to copy between applications.
2) Scibble out text to erase a word or a sentence or a paragraph. I was smart enought to know what you wanted.
3) It knew the difference between drawing a Circle, the letter "oh" or a zero.
4) It was smart enough to know what field in a form you were trying to enter text into using HWR and place it there. I've seen on the PPC when you attemt something like this if your entry was more than one line long, your entry would normally fill multiple fields. Wherever the text was closest too.
4) The placement of a space after a period before the recognition of a new word than after the recognition of a period. This prevented unwanted spaces.
5) ASSIST was way cool. i.e, to enter a todo from the notepad, simply write, "Remember to take out the trash before 5 am tomorrow to beat the garbage truck", press assist and whammo, a properly formated ToDo with proper dates and times. Lots of things work this way.
6) The human touches the MP provided for feedback when you issued a command, such as the delete animation and the email animation. Nice.
7) The MP was one of the most customizable PDA's ever. The PPC is probably the most, but then you need it there to make it work.

There are many more, but it has been a very long while since I used one last. Looks like I'm going to have to fire up my old V2MP120 to bring back old memories.

May the MP RIP. LLTN

[Calculon]

I too miss the Newton, having started with the MP in 1994.

The closest thing I've found to the Newt's Assist function is a program called Actioneer. Assist, of course, was part of the Newto's OS whereas this is a program that tries to embed itself into some of the Palm OS basic functions.

http://www.actioneer.com/welcome2/buy/index.shtml

Cheers!

[Calculon]

Forgot to mention that I tried it but ended up removing it.  However, don't let that deter you from trying the software.  Also check out the Flash Demo of the software.


I think I'm going to buy myself another Newt on Ebay for old times sake.


Cheers!

[freescotland]

If you have the itch to play around with a Newton, it's pretty easy to find a MP130 for less than $50. It's slower than the 2100 for sure, but you get a pretty good idea what Newton's about.

I have one and am about to buy a 2100, thanks for the link, Ballistic. What will I need to use it as a wireless with my airport network? Any advice on which card, where to find drivers for it would be appreciated.

I'm on my fourth clie (still have an old 300) and currently use nr70v/u which I've thought of selling, but keep waiting for .... well, I'm not sure what. I'd like built in wireless, like the new Tungsten (64 megs of RAM!, yeah I want that too)

thanks in advance for Newton advice

[rob_squared]

I know that this is completely the wrong place to post this but if anyone wants a newton MP2100 drop me an email.

[gyffes]

My beloved eMate still sits on my desk, amid all the newer and faster (but NOT better!) computers. I loved that I could grab it by the handle and run through an airport. Could even bounce it off a surface to show off its sturdy construction. Pop it open, it was on, close it and it was off. Start typing within seconds of sitting down.. organized the chapters and notes of my book very easily.. *SIGH*

I didn't use the handwriting recognition much since I'm a much faster (and neater!) typist, but I loved that it was there as an option, and still exceeds that of my Clie'.

D*mn you Steve Jobs!

[Calculon]

Originally posted by gyffes
D*mn you Steve Jobs!

 

I hear you brother!  Unbelievable short-sightedness (he evidently no longer was the visionary who brought us the first Apple computers).

 

 :mad:

[winexprt]

I sill have my Newton 110. First PDA I ever bought. Well, to think of it this thing WAS the first PDA as we know it so..

[Calculon]

Hehe... I also have my 110, and the 100 (MessagePad) and the 2100.  All functional!  In fact I was using my NR70V and the 2100 for its text-to-speech capabalities up until recently but since I bought the Toshiba E805 I no longer use the 2100.

 

Still great PDAs though!

[winexprt]

I always kinda wished (still do) that Apple kept the evolution of the Newton going. Oh well. We shall see if they jump into the ring soon.

[Calculon]

I doubt it.  Jobs' ego would get in the way .

 :mad:

[gyffes]

Yeah, he'd have to admit he erred when he killed the Newt.

Though, I hold out hope that, since they've not sold/shared the handwriting rec, SOMETHING's in the works.

But then, I'm still a macfan, despite all Jobs' done to turn me off, and you know how optimistic we can be..

[winexprt]

Is that the newest member of the Bush fam gyffes? Cute kid!