Einstein Update

As an active Apple Newton user, I love it when fellow users continue finding ways to improve the platform. This week Matthias Melcher deserves a huge “Great Job” from everyone. Matthias is the current maintainer of Einstein, the Newton Message Pad emulator. This week he released an updated version of the Android version of the emulator that included many improvements that increased the speed considerably.

After using the new release on both my Galaxy Nexus and a Nexus 7 I have to agree with the claims. The emulator is feels like it is running at about 90% the speed of my Newton 2000u. the Screen reaction seems to be a little slower than the real thing but given time can only improve. I could see an Android tablet with Einstein replacing my beloved green machine one day.

There are still some things to fix in Einstein. Sound doesn’t work, there is no way to set data in or out, and the app menu needs to fix for 4.0+ devices. Regardless, I think we are closer to realizing Paul Guyot’s original idea for Einstein.

If you would like to run Einstein on your Android device, please check out My previous post here.

Einstien Update Announcement: [NTLK] New version of Einstein for Android
Einstein Project Page: http://code.google.com/p/einstein/

Written on Message Pad 2000u

Newton Networking On-The-Go

A public service announcement from a fellow Newton nerd

Friends,
Do you surf the web on a mobile phone?
Do you find that experience too rich and interactive?
Do you wish for a simpler Internet experience while on the go?
What if I told you there was a way? A way to surf the Internet anywhere there is a cellular signal?
And do it from a Newton?

Introducing: WiFi Tether 3.1 Beta 11. Now with WiFi Tether you can turn your mobile phone into a mobile wifi hotspot and allow any wireless device to connect on the go.

How much would you be willing to pay for a product like this? $20? $50? $100? Now for an unlimited time you can have Wifi Tether 3.1 Beta 11 for the low price of $0.00. To prove how easy this product it I’m going to demonstrate on an Apple Newton 2000 MessagePad. Just watch:
Continue reading “Newton Networking On-The-Go”

IM Chatting with a Newton

About two years ago I wrote a wiki article detailing how to setup a Newton to use Jabber as an instant messaging client for Yahoo, MSN, AIM, etc… Unfortunately that wiki no longer exists and the Internet Archive never backed up the pages. So I pulled out the old document I typed up and have reposted it here. I hope somebody finds it useful.

Continue reading “IM Chatting with a Newton”

1997 OS Meets 2011 Hardware

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish there was a way to use my Newton on my phone or tablet?” Well now you can. For all of those Newton Users who have an Android device, you can now run the Einstein emulator.

Let me give you a little backstory. Back in 2005 Paul Guyot, a well-known and respected Newton programmer, released the first public version of his Newton emulator called Einstein. The original concept was to come up with a solution to make the Newton operating system hardware independent and possibly license the OS from Apple (1). That was going to open the way for new hardware and therefore keep the Newton platform alive. Unfortunately the project never got past the emulator step, but Paul continued to working and was able to build Einstein to run on OS X, Windows, and a few Linux tablets like the Nokia 770/800. In 2007 Einstein was released as open source software so other programmers could join in and help bring Newton OS to new devices. Once such programmer was Matthias Melcher (2).

Since 2007 Matthias has continued to work on Einstein to improve its speed, reliability, and functionality. 2011 has been particularly exciting because Matthias ported Einstein over to the iOS platform giving users the potential to run Newton OS on their iPhones and iPads. Unfortunately Apple rejected Einstein from being released in the App store and the iOS port is no longer being developed (3).

Now Matthias is working on an Android port of Einstein (4). An early build is available for download, but a lot of work still needs to be done to optimize the speed and reliability. Running the emulator on a Droid 1 is slow, but good enough to show off to friends. I personally can’t wait to see what happens to Einstein in the near future as devices get faster. What are you waiting for? Go dump the ROM off your Newton and get to emulating.

Have fun,
Tony

http://code.google.com/p/einstein/
(1) http://marc.info/?l=newtontalk&m=109452984605975&w=2
(2) http://marc.info/?l=newtontalk&m=118396241728586&w=2
(3) http://marc.info/?l=newtontalk&m=129745881308428&w=2
(4) http://matthiasm.com/einstein.html

Mobile Ready

I am happy to report that Look It’s Another Blog is now compatible with mobile browsers. This is thanks to the WordPress Mobile Pack plugin, which provides a simplified theme along with some PHP scripting. WPMP has a list of browser user agents known to be used on mobile devices. If one of those browsers connects to this website then the mobile version will load. If you would like to view the full version of the site then not a problem. There is a link at the bottom of the page to switch back and forth. The website will remember your preference in the future.

For all of you out there who are surfing the web with an Apple Newton and the Netwscape browser, WPMP will choose the mobile version of the site for you. Currently I can not get Net Hopper to connect to Look It’s Another Blog. It doesn’t appear to like the fact Go Daddy is the host. Courier will load the full site. In testing it does not send a user agent to websites. Therefore, websites do not know what type of browser is connecting.

And in case you were curious, here are the user agents for Newtscape and Net Hopper.
Newt’s Cape/2.1e-2(NIE)
NetHopper/3.2 (Newton)

Newton Meets Facebook

By some miracle I managed to get the greatest PDA of all time, the Apple Newton, to connect to the largest social network in the world, Facebook. For all of those interested here are the instructions.

Disclaimer: The Newton does not support SSL or https. Basically this means that anything you type into the website (including your password) is sent as plain text over the Internet. Do this at your own risk.

What you will need:

  • A Newton with Internet connectivity
  • The Newtscape web browser

What you will do:

  1. Open Newtscape
  2. Enter the following address:
    http://www.skweezer.com/s.aspx/-/m~facebook~com/login.php?http
  3. Once the web page loads then enter your account information. Note the warning saying, “Your password will be sent in plain text.”

It will take about 1 to 2 minutes for the page to completely load but once done you will be able to see your news feed. Have fun.

PS. If I could get NCX to take a screenshot then I would show you how great the site looks in green.

Posted from my Newton 2100.

Update: You may be wondering why you can’t connect to Facebook’s website directly from the Newton. Good question. I don’t have a good explanation as to why. I experienced issues when trying to connect through http://m.facebook.com/login.php?http. Both Net Hopper and Newtscape would load the page, but logging in fails. Of course, Courier cannot login because it doesn’t support forms. I haven’t tried Lunasuite.

The solution I came with for logging into Facebook was to use a website that could transcode the pages into more basic HTML. In the past I used Google’s GWT page combined with Net Hopper to view pages but about a year ago things changed. Google changed how GWT worked and since then I have not been able to get it to work on the Newton. After searching the web for mobile browser transcoders I learned about skweezer.com. Using its online transcoder I was able to login to Facebook using the Newton. Sure, loading pages is really slow, but it works. I consider that a success.

Newton Posting Works

You will probably see a lot of posts like this. After much trial & error I have successfully posted a blog entry from my Apple Newton 2100. What is a Newton you ask? This should help answer your question.

Anyway, below are the steps and settings I had to use to get application, nblog, working:

1. Go to http://www.unna.org/view.php?/internet/NBlog1.2
2. Download and install XML-RPC.pkg, nBlog.pkg, and nHTML.PKG

I’m using WordPress 3.0.1 as my CMS with everything setup and hosted at GoDaddy.com. Your settings may be slightly different.

Host: lookanotherblog.com
Path: /xmlrpc.php
Port: 80
Weblog API: MovableType

*Note: you will need to go into your Word Press configuration and enable the XML-RPC option under Settings > Writing.

I would like give a shout out and say thanks to Tony Kan and his blog, myapplenewton.blogspot.com. Tony posts regular information about the Newton and the community that surrounds it. He has managed to get nblog to work with Blogger in the past so I asked myself why couldn’t I get it to work with WordPress.