New Newton 2100 user

[quzar]

I recently got a Newton 2100 and love it. The screen size, battery life, backlight, and handwriting recognition are all amazing. The only problem is that I seem to be facing a bootstrapping dilemma in getting data on/off it. There are so many ways it can communicate, but as I don't have the original serial cable, it seems I'm out of luck in installing drivers for added communication.

I've tried searching around online but the amount of dead links I come across leads me to believe that I may be missing part of the story. Is there any way short of purchasing a proprietary cable for this thing that I can add software? Alternatively, is there any documentation out there for the plug on this thing that might allow me to build my own cable (or hack a new port onto it)?

As a final alternative, maybe a better place to ask the above questions?

Thank you very much. A friend directed me here some time ago (but it seems my account was deleted for inactivity or something?) because I have a *lot* of pre-mac apple hard/software and this has been a great (lurking) resource for info on some pieces.

PS - The place that I purchased this thing at had a stack of them as surplus for 10$ a piece. Is that a good price?

 

[beachycove]

It is possible to hack/ add a localtalk port just next to the Newton Interconnect port (that little square piece of plastic comes right out when you disassemble the thing), for directions concerning which Google should be your friend (I haven't done it but it looked very do-able last time I looked); OR, you could buy a serial adapter and cable for connection to an older Mac from me for $40 plus shipping (sorry, they are rare); OR you could look for a usb-localtalk adapter; OR you could get what you need on a pcmcia memory card from some kind soul.

$10 is an absolute steal. I still use my 2100 every day and would not mind having a spare at that price. Which leads me to a final possibility: we could maybe do a straight swap of a serial adapter & localtalk cable in return for one of those 2100 units if it were complete and in good shape (incl. a non-scratched screen). Deal would have to include postage costs, however, and I am in Canada.

This would get you over the bootstrapping problem, assuming you have a suitable beige Mac to which to connect the machine.

 

[quzar]

Thanks for the reply. Aside from a 2100<>localtalk cable there's also a 2100<>RS232 cable right? I don't have any mac at the moment (unless there would be interface software for the Apple IIgs) so the cable would have to be for PC and I'd probably chop off the end and USB-ify it.

Good to know I got such a good deal, maybe I'll pick up the rest and try to get them into the hands of folks here or such who would appreciate them. The place is quite far, but now that I'll go back for the rest of the MessagePads I'll check there to see if they have any of the cables lying around (and get all that I can as they'd be probably 1$ a pop). If that doesn't pan out I'll surely take you up on your offer.

 

[beachycove]

You will need the Newton Interconnect Dongle whatever cable you use (though there were very rare ones, I seem to recall, that had the dongle built-in). I do, however, have the cable of which you wrote: it was for connection to a peecee.

 

[zerohour]

Newton Serial Adaptor board

http://newtonsales.com/pcb.htm

 

[Bunsen]

Newton serial cable

http://www.jksalesinc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25_37_48&products_id=86

Add a DB-9 to MiniDIN-8 adapter to connect to a Mac serial port.