This is the Newton FAQ, $Revision: 2.21 $ Last Updated $Date: 1999/05/25 13:31:15 $ UT Copyright (c) 1997-1998 Robert Sexton The most recent version of this document is available via the web: This document remains a work in process. Updates are always welcome. With the demise of the Newton, changes will be less frequent, but will continue to happen. A Japanese Newton FAQ is available: Standalone's FAQ (Memory, miscellany): The Heap FAQ: The Newton RAM Page: The Battery FAQ: The Newton Pre-Buyers' Guide The IR FAQ: 1. Introduction 2. General Newton Issues 2.0 Newton Vaporware 2.0.1 When is The New Newton 3000/Nie v6.0 Coming out? 2.0.2 How do I get the REX to work with my Newton? 2.1 What are the different Models of Newton? 2.2 Why does my MP130/MP2000/eMate Whine when the backlight is on? 2.3 What is Heap?/Newton Memory Architecture. 2.3.1 How Can I get more Heap? 2.4 Can I use Ram Card X with My Newton? 2.5 When I try to install a package with NCU, I get 'invalid package' 2.6 I've installed a package on my Newton, and now my Newton crashes. 2.7 My City has two area codes. How do I get the right phone number? 2.8 Why does my Newton wake up at 3 AM? 2.9 I have a Flash card that needs to be zapped, but I can't. 3. Model Specific Questions 3.0.1 What is the power rating of the AC Adapter? 3.0.2 Are accelerator boards available for the Newton? 3.0.3 How much does a PCMCIA Modem drain my batteries? 3.0.4 How do I connect the Newton to an external modem? 3.0.5 How do I connect the Newton to personal computer? 3.1 MP120/130 3.1.1 Why does my MP120/130 Whine? 3.1.2 Can I use regular NiCds in my MP120/130? 3.1.3 How do I upgrade from NOS 1.3 to 2.0? 3.2 MP2000 Family - MP2000, and MP2100 3.2.1 Can I Use my old Power adapter with my MP2000? 3.2.2 Will the MP2000 Charge 4 NiMH batteries? 3.2.2b Can I use regular NiCds in my MP2000? 3.2.3 Help! My MP2000 Won't turn on! 3.2.4 My MP2000 Says the battery on my Flash RAM card needs to be replaced. 3.2.5 How long will the backlight on my MP2000 Last? 3.2.6 What are the SW4500 and SW6500 Packages? 3.2.7 How do I get a list of Keyboard Shortcuts? 3.2.8 My MP2000/2100 Has 6 holes in the back, but only 4 screws. 3.2.9 Why do I get this damnable -10061 Error? 3.4 eMate 3.4.1 Where can I get a RAM upgrade for my eMate? 4. Software 4.0 Is there a package to (insert useful thing here) on the Newton? 4.1 TCP/IP on the Newton 4.1.1 Will NIE run on my (Insert Model Here)? 4.1.2 How do I use an NT server as a PPP Gateway? 4.2 I have a To-Do that wont go away. 4.3 How do I use an 800 number based calling card on the Newton? 4.4 Is there a way to hyperlink to namecards? / Cards to Notes? / ... 4.5 What do I need to send e-mail with my MP120/130? Does eWorld still exist? 4.6 How do I password protect a note/name/'fooapp entry' ? 5. Other sources of information 5.1 Web Sites 5.2 Mailing Lists ------------------------------------------------------ 1. Introduction This FAQ answers common questions on the newsgroup comp.sys.Newton.misc. Please consult the FAQ before posting to the newsgroup! Many questions can be consulted by checking your documentation. Apple has done a good job, so don't forget to RTFM. You'd be amazed how many things you will learn. All trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Please send updates or Corrections to Robert Sexton robert, at kudra.com ------------------------------------------------------ 2. General Newton Issues 2.0 Newton Vaporware. Yes, the Newton platform supports it. 2.0.1 When is The New Newton 3000/Nie v6.0 Coming out? [A Note from your Editor] Never, in all likelihood. The Newton has been officially discontinued by Apple. At the time of this writing there are offers in to Apple of for the purchase of Newton. I'll believe it when I see it. In the mean time, its very much alive. To date, no Newtons that have learned of the changes at Apple have refused to work for their owners, so we should be safe for now. The used market is alive and well, so go ahead and get one. You won't be sorry. Most developers continue to support and sell existing software. The Newton development tools are now free, so I expect to see a steady trickle of software from new software developers who write only for the love of it. 2.0.2 How do I get the REX to work with my Newton? The REX is a really neat little Organizer. It's the size of a credit card, and it's designed to sync with desktop apps via PCMCIA. I want one. It would be a great Newton companion. However, you can't plug it in, and dump anything down. Not yet. The REX _could_ work with the Newton, but it won't until somebody writes a driver for it. This can't happen until Apple releases their Device driver tools, and Franklin releases technical specifications on the REX. Stay tuned for further developments. 2.1 What are the different models of Newton? In the list below, NOS level refers to the latest version of the Newton OS that the Newton device supports. Original MessagePad. Primitive software, little heap, bad HWR, NOS 1.11 MP100. An improved OMP. NOS 1.3, uses 4 AAA batteries. MP110. New form factor, 240x320 LCD, 4 AA batteries, NOS 1.3 MP120. Improved MP110. Runs NOS 2.0 and NOS 1.x MP130. Improved MP120. Backlighting, more heap. NOS 2.0 MP2000. New form factor. StrongARM CPU, lots of storage. 1MB of DRAM MP2100. An improved MP2000. 4MB of DRAM eMate. Newton technology packaged as a laptop. Special software for the educational market. From: Holger Schmidt +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | | | | | | | | | | | Type: | RAM | ROM | CPU | N/OS | Peri. | Fax | Screen | Sound | | | | | | | | | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | OMP |640K | 4MB |ARM 610| 1.1 |one PC Card|send | 336x240 | Speaker | | | | | 20MHz | |one Serial |only | | only | | | | | | |IR(ASK) | | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | MP100 |640K | 4MB |ARM 610| 1.3 |one PC Card|send | 336x240 | Speaker | | | | | 20MHz | |one Serial |only | | only | | | | | | |IR(ASK) | | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | MP110 | 1MB | 4MB |ARM 610| 1.3 |one PC Card|send | 320x240 | Speaker | | | | | 20MHz | |one Serial |only | | only | | | | | | |IR(ASK) | | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | MP120a| 1MB | 8MB |ARM 610| 2.0 |one PC Card|send | 320x240 | Speaker | | | | | 20MHz | |one Serial |and | | only | | | | | | |IR(ASK) |rec | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | MP120b| 2MB | 8MB |ARM 610| 2.0 |one PC Card|send | 320x240 | Speaker | | | | | 20MHz | |one Serial |and | | only | | | | | | |IR(ASK) |rec | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | MP130 |2,5MB| 8MB |ARM 610| 2.0 |one PC Card|send | 320x240 | Speaker | | | | | 20MHz | |one Serial |and |back-light| only | | | | | | |IR(ASK) |rec | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | eMate | 3MB | 8MB |ARM 710| 2.1 |one PC Card|send | 480x320 |Speaker, | | 300 | | | 25MHz | |one Serial |and |back-light|headphone| | | | | | |IR(IrDA) |rec | 16 gray | jack | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | MP2000| 5M* | 8MB |Strong | 2.1 |two PC Card|send | 480x320 |Speaker | | | | | ARM | |one Serial |and |back-light| Only* | | | | |162MHz | |IR(IrDA) |rec | 16 gray | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ | MP2100| 8MB*| 8MB |Strong | 2.1 |two PC Card|send | 480x320 |Speaker | | | | | ARM | |one Serial |and |back-light| Only* | | | | |162MHz | |IR(IrDA) |rec | 16 gray | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+------+-----------+-----+----------+---------+ [Editors Note] The MP2000/MP2100/Emate Has a special connector, known as the interconnect port, which contains the line in, line out, and two serial ports. At the time of this writing, the interconnect port connector is not widely available. The Emate has an interconnect port and a headphone jack. The MP2000 Ram consists of 1MB of DRAM, and 4mb of Flash RAM The MP2100 Ram consists of 4MB of DRAM, and 4mb of Flash RAM The latest ROM versions can be found on Apple's web site: Axel's page of 'Secret Newtons' has info on Newton prototoypes. 2.2 Why does my MP130/MP2000/eMate Whine when the backlight is on? Backlit Newtons use the same technology that is found in indiglo watches. The backlighting uses high voltages, and this requires a transformer which makes the noise. If you listen carefully to an indiglo watch, you will notice the same effect. 2.3 What is Heap?/Newton Memory Architecture. The Newton system uses RAM in a different way than traditional machines. The following comparisions might be useful: Heap = RAM Storage = Disk Soups roughly correspond to databases in traditional machines. Because the Newton uses an interpretred bytecode (Much like Java), your bytes go a lot further. For further info, consult Standalone's FAQ: and the excellent Heap FAQ: 2.3.1 How can I get more heap? From: Markus The heap memory in every Newton is not expandable. To get more free heap you can remove or freeze some packages. Every program that is installed takes a bit of your heap to save things that it needs at startuptime and other information. If you remove a package the amount of heap its uses is freed again. If you didn't want to remove the packages you may as well 'freeze' them. This means they are no longer executable (until thawn) and are stored as data entries thus not consuming any heap space. They are thawed by a single tap, so they are still accessable without much work. Several Freezing utilites exist. Consult the Web Pages for more info [Editors note] Heap memory is just one of the things that your Newton's DRAM is used for. There are several heaps. The size of the heaps is configured into the NewtonOS. 2.4 Can I use RAM Card X with My Newton? PCMCIA Ram cards currently come in two flavors: a. ATA, which emulate IDE hard drives. b. Linear/Intel, which appear as RAM. The Newton only supports Linear cards. Older cards used 5v for reads, and 12v for writes. Newer cards use 5v for both. The eMate can read but not write the older cards. The other members of the family can write 12v cards. Apple does not support use of non apple cards, although many brands are known to work. For more info, check out the Newton Memory page: 2.5 When I try to install a package with NCU, I get 'invalid package'. From: Jason Dufair (funne@iquest.net) It sounds like you may have used Stuffit Expander to unstuff the file and had the settings wrong. In Stuffit Expander, go to the "Cross Platform" options and make the following changes: Convert text files to windows format: When a file is known to contain text Save Macintosh files in MacBinary format: Never 2.6 I've installed a package on my Newton, and now my Newton crashes. From: "Charles Pickrell" The following works on 2.0 Newtons. Reset your MessagePad, while you are resetting it, put the pen about 1/2 inch away from the left edge of the screen a little more than half way down from the top. The Newton will ask you if you want to activate the packages on the internal then external stores. Answer no. This is like freezing all of your software when your Newton boots. Now you can just erase the offending packages from Extras. Afterwords just reset again and everything will be back to normal. 2.7 My City has two area codes. How do I get the right phone number? From: "Scott Magoon" <-> find me at: scottmag at pobox dot com The workaround is to put in your local (default) area code and then include the other area code with the number. The Newton will dial the ten digit phone number and won't add a 1 or the home area code. I have the same situation here in Atlanta where my area code is 770, but I dial into Mindspring in 404. I set the Newton to dial (770) 4045551234. This really needs to be corrected in the Newton OS. After Jan. 1st, we will also have required ten digit calling and three area codes. 2.8 Why does my Newton wake up at 3 AM? The Newton wakes up to move your Todos over from yesterday, and do other housekeeping. 2.9 I have a Flash card that needs to be zapped, but I can't. From: Open the Prefs application and insert the offending card with the Prefs application open. You will get a dialog box that says, "Do you want to completely erase this card? (Inserting a card with "Prefs" open allows erasing damaged cards without reading them.)" Answer "Erase" and the card is completely reinitialized. Make sure that this is really what you want to do of course. This works on all Newtons from the original MP0 to the MP2100 as far as I know. This was documented in at least one of the owner's manuals though I couldn't tell you what one or if it is still documented. ------------------------------------------------------ 3. Model Specific Questions 3.0 All Newtons 3.0.1 What is the power rating of the AC Adapter? The Apple 3.5W adapter (Used by the MP130 and earlier) is rated at 7.0V, .5A The Apple 9W adapter (Used by the MP2000 and eMate) is rated at 7.5V, 1.2A Layne Harris has a large supply of the 3.5W adapters for sale. I prefer them because they are smaller and lighter than the newer models. See Section 3.2.1 Enfour sells a 9W adapter. 3.0.2 Are accelerator boards available for the Newton? From: Holger Schmidt There is an Speed Up Kit availble that will make you Newton 130/MP200 More than 20% faster, but it has some side effects and voids your warranty. You can find info at http://www.pixsolution.com/ 3.0.3 How much does a PCMCIA Modem drain my batteries? From: Markus If left always in the slot most of the PCMCIA modem cards fall into a sleep mode that is much less power consuming. Most users report a drop of 30 to 60 minutes of overall usage time with rechargeables. Compared to the overall usage time of about 5-6 days with rechargeables on a MP2k and 2-3 weeks on a MP130 it is almost unnoticeable. 3.0.4 How do I connect the Newton to an external modem? From: Markus The simple (and more expensive) way is to use a normal Macintosh Modem cable that can be purchased at any Apple Dealer. The more difficult way is to build your own. A description can also be found at http://www.ap-connect.com/Newton 3.0.5 How do I connect the Newton to a personal computer? If you don't have the cables that came with your Newton, you can use a Macintosh serial printer cable, or a modem cable and a null modem adapter. 3.1 MP120/130 3.1.1 Why does my MP120/130 Whine? If you are referring to the sound made by the backlighting (on MP130), see section 2.2 above. The humming when the Messagepad operates (More noticable when the CPU is idle) is caused by a small power transformer. Its a bit annoying, but there is no workaround for it. Some messagepads are reportedly noisier than others. This affects the MP110-MP130 3.1.2 Can I use regular NiCds in my MP120/130? Yes. However, the Newton will think they are alkaline batteries, unless the switch in the bottom of the battery compartment is depressed. People have reported successes with using regular NiCds and a small piece of cardboard. Needless to say, this is not supported by Apple. 3.1.3 How do I upgrade from NOS 1.3 to 2.0? Unfortunately you can't. Apple no longer offers this upgrade. This happened sometime in 1997, if my memory is correct. 3.2 MP2000 Family - MP2000 and MP2100 3.2.1 Can I Use my old power adapter with my MP2000? Yes. It just won't quick charge the battery pack. The newer charger will do the job in about an hour, while the older one needs 2-3 hours. Your mileage may vary. 3.2.2 Will the MP2000 Charge 4 NiMH batteries? No. You must use the Apple battery pack, which has special contacts for recharging. 3.2.2b Can I use regular NiCds in my MP2000? From: Martin Bartos Yes. The MP2000 family can only charge NiMH, so you can't charge them in the Newton. Be warned when they stop working fairly suddenly after a couple of battery low warnings so carry a spare set and swap early rather than late.. 3.2.3 Help! My MP2000 Won't turn on! Do you have a PCMCIA Modem installed? Due to an incompatibility between the MP2000 and some Modems (The Megahertz XJ1144, for one), the MP2000 will refuse to wake up after a reset when they are installed. Remeber to remove the card before resetting. To Un-Stick your MP, remove the card, and hold down the reset button until it wakes up. 3.2.4 My MP2000 Says the battery on my Flash RAM card needs to be replaced. What do I do? It's a bug in the MP2000. It can be safely ignored. This was fixed by system update 717260, which shipped with the MP2100. MP2000s can be updated. (Check section 2.1 for URL) 3.2.5 How long will the backlight on my MP2000 Last? From: drogin@panix.com (Alan Drogin) It has a "half life" conjectured to be in the low thousands of hours. Which translates to at least a couple of years, which also means it doesn't stop working, just gets dimmer, which ultimately means its within the normal limits of planned obselesence accepted by the high tech world. One thing I can't give a definitive answer to is the actual half life. I've seen plenty of posts claiming that the half life of the MP130 backlighting is 1600-1700, but no actual proof of source. I've seen claims about the MP2K backlighting at 2000 and even 5000. John Schettino saw some web sites from backlighting manufacturers claiming 15,000-20,000 hour half lives. [Editors Note] EnFour claims that the standard backlighting has a half life of 1000 hours. 3.2.6 What are the SW4500 and SW6500 Packages? These are drivers for the Apple Stylewriter 4500 and 6500. 3.2.7 How do I get a list of Keyboard Shortcuts? If you hold down the Command Key ( Labeled with an Apple ) for a few seconds, you will get a current list of keys. The Following Keys are not on the list, but are handy in Newton Works: They are all known to work in The word processor, but I can't vouch for other places. Cmd-Left/Right - Beginning of Line/End of Line Option-Left/Right - Previous/Next word Cmd-Up/Down - Beginning of Document/End of Line Cmd-Option-Up/Down - Previous/Next Document - Thanks Hardy! 3.2.8 My MP2000/2100 Has 6 holes in the back, but only 4 screws. From: Bryan Oakley That is the correct configuration. The other two holes are (presumably) for being able to bolt the device down onto a stand of some sort. 3.2.9 Why do I get this damnable -10061 Error? From: ka01@dettmer.muc.de (Andree Dettmer) Some technical information about the -10061 error can be found at Georg Oehl's site . He has translated a German article by Frank Wegener - the programmer of PowerTrans Cursive a utility that enables a German MP 2K to recoginize English handwriting and vice versa. The second link is . Alessandro Soldo has written a small (freeware) utility that automatically offers a reboot when the -10061 error occurs. This will not prevent any -10061 error but at least it is a time saver. 3.3 eMate 3.3.1 Where can I get a RAM upgrade for my eMate? You can either use a PCMCIA expansion card, or an expansion card for the built in memory slot. The only manufacturer of memory expansion for the eMate's built in slots (at the present time) is Newer Technologies ------------------------------------------------------ 4. Software 4.0 Is there a package to (insert useful thing here) on the Newton? Probably yes. Its not really practical to list them here, but in most cases anything you can do with a desktop machine can be done on a Newton. Within limits, of course. Consult section 5 for URL's. I'd suggest starting with the Newton Reference. 4.1 TCP/IP on the Newton 4.1.1 Will NIE1.1 run on my (Insert Model Here)? NIE will run on the MP120, and all later models. The MP120 doesn't really have enough heap, but it can be squeezed in there. Your mileage may vary. NIE only works with NOS 2.0 or later. NIE2.0 only runs on NOS2.1 machines. Its bigger, but thats the price you pay for ethernet support. NIE2.0 ships as 4 pieces: NIE core, Serial/Modem support, Ethernet Support, and Appletalk support. Its modular. 4.1.2 How do I use an NT server as a PPP Gateway? It can be done. Check out the home page of the Hong Kong User Group for all the details. 4.2 I have a To-Do that won't go away. It's not clear what makes this happen. The best solution is to use 'find' to locate the original and delete that. in some cases, corruption in the To-Do soup prevents this from working. The only cure in this case it to delete ALL of your To-Do's. Go into the storage folder under extras, tap the ToDo icon, and delete them with the action button. 4.3 How do I use an 800 number based calling card on the Newton? In short, it doesn't really now how to handle them. There are some workarounds available, but they haven't made it into the FAQ yet. There is a package availble from SBM. I forget the name. It does work. 4.4 Is there a way to hyperlink to namecards? / Cards to Notes? / ... From: Markus If you only want to link Namecards with other Namecards get Hypernames (Freeware) from iambic Software. If you need more take a look at DateMan, ActionNames and MoreInfo. All of them feature (besides other stuff) linkeability between any data on your Newton. All of them can be found in the Newton Reference [Editors Note] HyperNewt also has extensive hyperlinking capabilities. 4.5 What do I need to send e-mail with my MP120/130? Does eWorld still exist? From: Markus EWorld was a mail service provided by Apple that has been abandoned some years ago. So in order to send and receive mails with your MP you will need to install an extra mail package and NIE. [Editors Note] GoFetch mail is reported to work well with a unix shell account. MP120: Due to less Heap space NIE usage may get a bit hard but there are some packages that are so small that it will work fine. Take a look at SimpleMail (freeware!), LunaMail and Eudora. Eudora light doesn't even need NIE but it can't send mail directly to your ISP. Instead you must 'mail' the messages to your desktop computer and then send them via a mail program on your desktop computer to your ISP. MP130: Same as MP120 but as there is more heap most NIE Programs will work fine! This adds (besides others) EnRoute and Aloha. 4.6 How do I password protect a note/name/'fooapp entry'? From: Jason Dufair (funne@iquest.net) - Super Notepad, by StandAlone Software (http://www.standalone.com/), has the means to encrypt notepad notes. The encryption is not "strong" encryption, AFAIK, but it should keep your information safe from most people besides professional cryptographers & determined hackers. Jason Dufair (funne@iquest.net) is working on NewtPGP which will provide "strong" encryption for data on your Newt and for email purposes. He hopes to have a release available by the end of 1997 [ Editors note: NewtPGP will probably not make it. Jason has some things working, so if you want to assist with the coding, drop him a line ] One other trick that appeared in NewtNews: Notes attached to owner cards can be password protected. To do this, set the prefs in setup to require the system password. You can then put infomation in the notes fields of owner cards, and it will be protected. This only works for small amounts of data. It is not strong encryption. Adam Tow's HyperNewt allows you to link to owner cards, making this trick much easier. 5. Other sources of information 5.1 Web Sites [ Editors note: The demise of the Newton has really cramped web site maintenance. Some of these are getting stale, but most still exist] There are too many to list. These should get you started. Apple Computer The Newton Pre-Buyers' Guide Clay Irving's Newton Reference: Steve Holden's NewtNews Newsletter: The Ultimate Newton Page The Newton Underground Standalone's FAQ (Memory, miscellany): The Newton RAM Page: The Heap FAQ: The Battery FAQ: Your Author's favorites: (Shameless Plug Section) Catamount Software - PocketMoney, MPG, etc PelicanWare - Notion, NewtCase Foundation Systems - HyperNewt ICS - GestureScript/Launch 5.2 Mailing Lists NewtonTalk: http://www.esosoft.com/seano/newtontalk.htm The Ultimate eMate (eMate-specific) http://www.imco.no/emate/ ----- End of FAQ -----