Toluu

a million monkeys typing

random musings from a primate

HospitalityJuly 9 2007

Walking into a dimly-lit cabin on the shores of a subarctic lake, I thought I saw someone staring at me from a dark corner. I walked closer to get a better look.

He wasn’t too talkative.

Love and Chaos (or, Fixing the eMate Hinge)July 6 2007

Although my confession here might cause those hanging out on the Newton mailing lists some degree of embarrassment for their newfound brethren (their technical aptitude, at least for hardware, seems to dwarf my own), I have to admit some trepidation, if not outright fear, in finally addressing the eternal problem of eMates: wonky hinges. It’s a well-known manufacturing defect that will cause the hinge springs to eventually pop out of their slots within the hinge and, sooner or later, puncture the display cable. However, reading the fix is enough to intimidate most beginners to electronics: it involves a lengthy process of removing the battery, opening the shell, soldering wires, stripping down the eMate to its bare components, recoiling wires with vicegrips, applying white grease or teflon lubricant, putting in washers to prevent future spring pops, and putting everything back together again. (The process, for those not faint of heart, might be found on Frank’s excellent Newton site.)

Thankfully, it was nowhere near as painful as it sounds, even though I did experience a few problems because of my tools and inexperience.
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Syncing a Newton with a Modern MacJune 3 2007

My Newton MessagePad 2100 remains disconnected from my computer and the world at large while I wait for a) a Newton 2100 Serial Adapter Dongle; or b) Andriano’s Newton-USB dongle. Thus I’m taking this time to play around with my Newton eMate 300 and a few of the available sync programs. To tell the truth, I had heard so many intimidating and frustrating things about synchronising a Newton with a modern Intel-based Mac OS X box that I doubted I’d ever bother with it. Sure, I could always go back to my Pismo and OS 9, but my wife has now claimed that machine, and besides, I want to sync with my OS X address book, calendar, and so forth.

So, my current set-up: a 15″ MacBook Pro, a stock eMate 300, an old-school Mac serial cable, and a Keyspan USA-28X serial-to-USB adapter. One end of the serial cable plugs into the eMate, the other end into the Keyspan, and the Keyspan’s USB connector into my MacBook Pro. Keyspan drivers are downloaded and installed.

First, the most basic sync program: NewTen, by Panic Software’s Steven Frank. This is basically a package installer. I choose my Keyspan connect, set the eMate to dock via serial, and drag a Newton package onto the app. After a little while –remember that a serial connection can be rather slow– the eMate

YANN - Yet Another Newton NewbieMay 27 2007

In two articles for DIYPlanner, one about the MessagePad 2100 and another about the eMate, I mentioned how I’ve got the decade-old Apple Newton bug. Given that the site is mostly about paper-based fetishes, there’s only so much I can say there without upsetting the apple cart. (No pun intended.) Here I can say a little more.

It’s a little bizarre: I normally receive a half-dozen email per article, in addition to the 6-12 comments left on the site. These Newton articles not only generated a lot of comments, but some 30 email, and were picked up by The Unofficial Apple Weblog and –giving me a brief and unexpected laugh-out-loud instant in a supermarket check-out line– on the MacBreak Weekly podcast. Most of the email posed the same conundrum: “I’ve always wanted a Newton, too…. Should I buy one on eBay?”

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Returning to LifeApril 16 2007

First, to all those who have inquired, yes, I am still alive, in the same way a hibernating bear is. That’s due to sheer exhaustion, to being stretched far too thin over the past six months or so. The new job, the new home, Conor (nearly three years old), Danny (nearly a year old), and a few lingering after-effects from previous contracts and jobs have been draining all my energy, and it’s only lately that I feel like I’m finally able to yawn and stretch, poke my nose out the door, and sniff the promise of Spring.

The new job up in the Northwest Territories is going very well, and I’m very happy to be part of a great team. Starting in any new workplace is often cause for trepidation, if not outright caution, but I’m pleased to find myself among some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. The weather here in Yellowknife may be cold at times (-40C, in fact), but the people up North are some of the warmest individuals I’ve ever met.

I’m not quite sure why I’m posting here today after such a long absence. (Yes, I have been around, in spirit if not in body, at DIYPlanner.com.) I think it’s because I’ve finally reached a turning point of sorts. My life, much like the land around me, is starting to thaw. And where there’s thawing, there’s life waiting to happen.