[HN Gopher] Newton FAQ
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Newton FAQ
Author : lelf
Score : 21 points
Date : 2023-01-21 16:55 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (newtonfaq.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (newtonfaq.com)
| im_down_w_otp wrote:
| I use my MessagePad 2100 regularly. It's a really wonderful
| device waaaaaaaaay ahead of its time.
|
| I am considering getting a reMarkable to use as my "daily driver"
| replacement, and dedicating the Newton to my home office museum.
| criddell wrote:
| "Can I use my Newton as a web server?"
|
| Really? That's a frequently asked question?
| gurchik wrote:
| Similar to Doom, there is a group of people who try to get web
| servers running on unconventional hardware. There is an HTTP
| server for the Nintendo 3DS for example:
| https://github.com/dimaguy/3ds-httpd
| kwhitefoot wrote:
| I doubt that any question related to the Apple Newton would be
| frequently asked! Assuming that Apple Newton is what it is
| about, the FAQ doesn't seem to explain.
| layer8 wrote:
| The F in FAQ isn't to be taken at face value: [...] _text
| consisting of questions and their answers may thus be called a
| FAQ regardless of whether the questions are actually_
| frequently _asked._ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAQ]
| ctxc wrote:
| Is it really a good FAQ if it doesn't explain _what_ it is as top
| level info? What is this? There are no links to the original
| product (or whatever it is - hardware? Software? OS?) either in
| the first few minutes of navigation.
| Finnucane wrote:
| Q: is this a website about Isaac Newton, the city of Newton,
| MA, or fig cookies? A: No, none of those things.
| sambapa wrote:
| That's why I don't like global variables...
| [deleted]
| seanhunter wrote:
| Weirdly it explains what an FAQ is but assumes you know what
| "Newton" is.
| locusofself wrote:
| my thought exactly. I spent a few minutes on the FAQ and I
| don't know what a Newton is. Some kind of Palm Pilot like
| device I assume?
| jhbadger wrote:
| Has the Apple Newton really fallen so far out of the public
| consciousness that this wouldn't be obvious? What about the
| Palm Pilot? Yes, I know the idea of PDAs has basically
| disappeared since the advent of smartphones (which are really
| just PDAs that also work as phones), but even so.
| throwanem wrote:
| > Has the Apple Newton really fallen so far out of the public
| consciousness that this wouldn't be obvious?
|
| Yes.
|
| > What about the Palm Pilot?
|
| The what?
|
| Kidding aside, I doubt anyone who finds their way to this FAQ
| without knowing what it's about will care enough to find out.
| If they do, there's no shortage of obvious search terms
| throughout the text that will make the context very easy to
| come by.
| torstenvl wrote:
| I know what an Apple Newton is. But this is not the Apple
| Newton FAQ. It's the Newton FAQ.
|
| If you don't specify the context and namespace, don't be
| surprised when people don't know wtf you're talking about.
| You might as well make a "String Class FAQ"
| AlbertCory wrote:
| In working on my Book III (basically, the early 90s), I've done a
| ton of research on handheld devices and the money pit they were.
| Newton is not going to be any more than a footnote.
|
| Jerry Kaplan's book _Startup_ tells the story about how Sculley
| stabbed GO in the back with Newton -- actually, both GO _and_
| General Magic. They got a lot of press and flopped miserably. And
| of course, let 's not forget Momenta (as easy as that would be,
| given that they failed so fast).
|
| Meantime, Palm finally figured out something people would buy and
| use, by scaling back expectations and building a device that did
| something valuable.
| wrs wrote:
| Two of the most important differences in design assumptions
| between Newton and Palm, from my POV on the Newton team:
|
| 1. Newton was designed with "natural" pen-based interactions as
| a core design goal. That had huge effects on the entire product
| from the OS to the UX, including the need to recognize normal
| writing. The Palm Pilot was designed as a fairly standard PDA
| OS with the keyboard replaced by an oddly modified set of
| character shapes that had to be learned by users before they
| could enter text. We thought that would be a deal-breaker for
| potential Palm users -- we were wrong!
|
| 2. Newton was designed as a standalone system, the next
| generation of computing after desktops. The assumption was that
| it could be your only computer. Syncing to a PC/Mac was an
| afterthought. Palm was designed as an adjunct device for a PC,
| so its capabilities were far less and the sync functionality
| was core to the system.
|
| There are lots of other differences but many can be traced back
| to those two. For example, the huge difference in the tech
| specs and therefore the cost of the devices is directly related
| to both of those assumptions.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| You're right. Other failures back then were also trying to do
| that.
|
| Unfortunately, it wasn't generally accepted that those two
| goals were not achievable. That's engineering for you:
| figuring out what's actually possible.
|
| There was a little sticker you could put on the back of your
| Palm Pilot that reminded you of the Graffiti language. As you
| said, it was not a deal-breaker.
| georgeecollins wrote:
| Startup is a really good book. People should be very wary of
| power of monopolies, MSFT also really messed with GO and
| General Magic.
|
| The example of Palm vs Newton is great because it shows how
| clear goals trump excellent technology. Newton had this amazing
| OS where you could turn it on or off at any moment and preserve
| state. All data was available to all apps. And with that
| technology -- and probably some other choices-- and a great
| processor at the time (relative to Palm) it was useless because
| it was so slow. A handheld device cannot ever be slow. Palm did
| very little well and survived up until smart phones.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| There is another really good book that's sadly out of print:
| _Piloting Palm_ by Andrea Butter & David Pogue (yes, _that_
| David Pogue, from the _Nature_ PBS shows).
|
| tip: don't pay the $80 for a new one. I got a used one for
| $8, and it came within 3-4 days.
| CharlesW wrote:
| > _Startup is a really good book._
|
| A Google search is surprisingly unhelpful at a finding the
| book you mean. Who is the author?
| chongli wrote:
| Jerry Kaplan.
| jhbadger wrote:
| And Palm's "Graffiti" actually existed as a software package
| for the Newton by Palm before the Palm Pilot! It was popular
| in the early days of the Newton because the handwriting
| recognition in the first versions of the Newton OS were
| pretty bad (Remember Doonesbury's "Egg Freckles" comic, or
| The Simpsons' "Eat up Martha" when the bullies were trying to
| write "Beat up Martin"?)
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(page generated 2023-01-21 23:01 UTC)