Meanwhile, the excellect Nitch software package, which implements GTD on the Newton has actually made me fire up my 2100 and get it connected to a desktop so that I could install Nitch. Eckhart Köppen has written zn amazingly useful package that really shines on the Newton form factor, and proves that the Newton is relvant even today.

Getting it connected back up to a desktop, to install the software is another story, and is a big issue for anyone getting back into the Newton scene. I'll write that up later.

Here is a posting back in 1999 from John Arkley, newton engineer about creating system patches. This collection was forwarded on the Newton Talk list by Jon Glass, who collected these.

I've edited for spelling.....

Q. What would I need to do to make my code an OS patch that others could apply?

Well i am not sure how you have been doing this development but i assume you did it with the Newton C++ Tools for Macintosh? or do you just have a prototype algorithm running on a desktop? or did you use NTK? I suggest you just ship a complete app and forget about trying to make a Newton OS "patch". Why? A Newton System Update or "system patch" is a complex intermixed collection of MMU tables, 40-70 assembler "fixes" all packed together in a collection of ordered 4K RAM pages. Building and testing a System Update is complex and expensive process and no single engineer could do it. The Newton OS only supports ONE system patch, so ALL the existing "fixes" and any new ones have to be combined together to combined to create the "next" System Update. Newton OS is unusual in this reqard; it like only allowing ONE "init" in the MacOS instead of a whole folder full of "Extensions". You can't do this "as a system patch"; Apple is the only one who has the tools to build a new System Update and all the engineers who know how to do it don't work for Apple any more (me for example) although _maybe_ there is one remaining employee who could eventually do a new one given enough time. A new NewtonScript GC is not very likely something you could complete and test without the ROM sources. The performance of MANY MANY things in the OS change if the GC is messed with and you probably wouldn't find out just how sensitive the SYSTEM is to changes. Making GC "faster" probably would have negative side effects you couldn't anticipate and it would thus break all kinds of stuff. Having GC happen at the wrong time can have just a bad an effect on the Newton OS as changing it speed would. If you can engineer a new GC for newton OS without documentation and source, i suggest you should be working as a programmer for someone who will pay you well for your effort.

The post over at My Apple Newton is worth the read, if just to prove that the newton is still here.

Feel free to download the binary here. You'll need this file also: Einstein.rex. The last thing you need of course is a real Newton ROM, so please have that handy. Directions are in the manual-- it's worth the read if you are going to try and run this.

I'm still trying to figure the best way to make this run on the 770. I like killing the maemo_af_desktop, so that the OpenE isn't locked into it, but sometimes OpenE won't start. If someone has it going full screen on the 770, please add a comment for your exact startup line. I still haven't gotten it to go the full 800x480 on the 770.

N800 has dual SD cards for more Flash, iPhone has no way to extend the 8Gb. N800 has a bigger screen, higher DPI but doesn't have the light-touch touch-screen like the iPhone. I'd still consider getting a N800 to replace my 770 if the price drops. I'd like to use ITOS2007 and have Flash 9 available for browsing-- especially now since Mozilla has just been released for ITOS2007. We'll probally never see Flash in the iPhone, but who knows. I just don't think Apple will do it.

The published directions are here, and you should read them first and familiarize yourself with them.

Install MacPorts

* MacPorts-1.5.0-10.4.dmg

Open a terminal and then use macports to install the following packages:

$ sudo port install gettext
$ sudo port installlibffi
$ sudo port install jam
$ sudo port install arm-none-linux-gnueabi-gcc

Then you must add

/opt/local/bin

to your $PATH on the Mac (edit .bash_login in your home directory), then restart your terminal or read in the new bash_profile.

Pull down Klibs and Build

K is located at SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/KLibs/)

$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@klibs.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/klibs login
[Enter] for password

$ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@klibs.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/klibs co -P K

$ cd $PATH_TO_KLibs/_Build_/Jam

$ jam -starget=nokia2006

Klibs should build with out problems. If you want to build for the Mac, just leave off the -starget parameter.

Pull down Open Einstein and Build

$ svn checkout http://einstein.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ einstein

$ cd einstein/Einstein/_Build_/Jam

$ jam -sK=$PATH_TO_KLibs -starget=nokia2006 -sjittarget=GENERIC

Now there is a new folder in the /_Build_/Jam directory called build.ARM-LINUX-Nokia2006. This folder will contain the einstein binary for the Nokia 770.

Move files over to 770

You need three files:

[You should set up sshd on 770, change password of 'user' to something you know, change the ip address below to match your 770 local ip. Use ifconfig -a to check the local 770 ip.]

Now copy the files:

$ scp $PATH_TO_EINSTEIN/_Build_/Jam/build.ARM-LINUX-Nokia2006/einstein user@192.168.155.155:
$ scp $PATH_TO_EINSTEIN/_Data_/Einstein.rex user@192.168.155.155:
$ scp $NEWTON_ROM user@192.168.155.155:

Once they are copied over, you can start Open Einstein like this:

/home/user # ./einstein -l log2 -m 737041 .
Welcome to Einstein console.
This is Einstein Platform 2007.
Creating image...
Max units count = 986
Max units count = 1026
Booting...
Type help for help on available commands.
einstein> power

And you should see the Newton Start up on your device. Below is a screen shot of the Newton running on my MacBook, in Xwindows:

Here are some screen shots (click for bigger versions):

After Einstein was built, the directions for starting it are the same as before. The easiest way to control einstein is via SSH into the 770, so that you can shutdown all the Hildon interfaces.

Full directions to build this will be up soon.

Update: There is a new Einstein Platform 2007.7 User Manual at Paul's Einstein Page.

"the heavy work done these past weeks allowed me to design a new experimental module where NewtonOS instructions are executed natively on ARM PDAs. "

There have been other improvements to Einstein since last year- the biggest (to me) is the ability to cross-compile and build Einstein on your Mac while targeting the Nokia 770. No more waiting for binaries to be released. The 800 was tested and the binary didn't run-- ITOS2007 has some different libraries (from ITOS 2005 and 2006), which probably caused issues. I'm attempting to roll a build for my 770 this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

Here are my screen shots of my 770 from the release of Einstein last year.

Also announced was the release of Driver Labo, the wifi drivers for Newton by Hiroshi Noguchi. AFAIK, these are the only available drivers in the world that support WEP on the Newton. I had purchased licenses back when they were available, but since 2005 Hiroshi hadn't ever responded to requests and pleas to accept payment for new licenses. As a result many Newtons can't participate in locked-down Wifi networks. The release of these drivers as Open Source is a welcome event.

There is an overview of the WWNC '07 with some pictures of course.

There was immediate and critical response to Steve Job's announcement of the SDK for iPhone.... use html. But is Apple on to something? Forcing eager developers to use the open standards of the web? Forsaking almightly Flash? No IDE? Apple seemed by many to be channeling the Reality Distortion Field at full blast. But the more I read about this, especially in regards to dumping Flash (and I don't think Apple will release it for iPhone) it seems that Apple may be helping foster a new, more open, standards-based category of web applications-- freed from the sluggish, cpu hogging stinking pile of crap that is Flash. Because what has been happening so far, and so rapidly, is amazing to me. A growing hot bed of activity is the google groups organized by iPhoneWebDev. How hot is this? So hot that a few old skool Newton developers are kicking around with web apps for iPhone. Both Hardy Macia and Serg Koren have posted recently, and I'm not surprised that they are embracing the iPhone development as it stands now. Javascript is probably pretty easy compared to NewtonScript.

iPhone

Here is Paul's Message:

Hi all,

I'm pleased to announce the release of Einstein Platform 2006.6 for
MacOS X (PowerPC and Intel) and for arm-linux.

What is Einstein Platform?

Einstein Platform is a way to transform a computer in a Newton
device. It's NewtonOS taking over existing architectures.

Einstein Platform 2006.6 was revealed yesterday night at the Einstein
Night at AppleStore Ginza. It features full screen support (with
rotation) as well as Relativity.

What is Relativity?

Relativity is Einstein Platform latest technology. It allows the
merge of host and newton technologies inside Einstein Packages. It is
easy to use and developers can take advantage of anything on the
host, from OpenGL on the Mac to Japanese Handwriting Recognition on
the Zaurus.

URL

Einstein Platform, with the documentation and two relativity sample
codes, can be downloaded from my website:

http://www.kallisys.com/newton/einstein/

You can also download the Einstein Night slides as well as the
previous slides.

A Nokia 770 version will be available soon.

What's new?

- Initial release of Relativity for Einstein.
- Accelerated some transfers between Einstein and Host.
- Einstein Platform now runs full screen on MacOS X.
- Included several keyboard mappings.
- Update of PortAudio (from CVS).
- Included a new set of icons by Michael Vacík. The toolbar icons
reflect the state of Einstein.
- The state is now shown on the screen (instead of just: screen is off).
- Improved the Cocoa preferences panel.
- Included AppleScript support to evaluate newton script code and to
install packages.
- Fixed an endianess problem with the Cocoa screen manager on Intel
machines.
- Fixed a bad bug in the memory emulation that caused crashes,
especially with the JIT page cache.
- Fixed a bug yielding to an abort when the platform was quitted.
- Fixed a bug with CoreAudio sound on Intel machine.
- PortAudio sound driver now reverts samples an little endian targets.
- The tablet region was incorrectly limited to 1023x1023. It's now
set to NewtonOS size (2047x2047).

update: the Nokia 770 version should be out this weekend (june 10/11)

For those of you interested in the Einstein Project (emulation of an Apple Message Pad 2000 on your Nokia 770), I have some news. Good and bad of course.

The Good news: Paul has his own 770, which was donated to him. This will certainly help the eventual development of Einstein on the Nokia platform.

The Bad news: Paul is very busy working on his dissertation, so work on Einstein is paused.

Below is his reply to me (posted with permission):

Hello Andrew,
There is no progress regarding Einstein so far. I am currently very busy with writing my dissertation.
I know it's currently too slow to be usable.
Regards,
Paul

--Ministre ultraplénipotentiaire en disponibilité. Mobile. Sans baignoire fixe.

http://www.kallisys.com/

http://www-poleia.lip6.fr/~guyot/

First there are some things I'm assuming you have already done:

• have root enabled
• have either SSH over wifi, BT or USBnet
• have a Newton ROM
• have the Einstein package for 770

First, move the einstein package and the ROM over to your 770. You need to run it from the built-in memory, unless you have your flash card partitioned and mounted as a ext2- if so, it will run fine from there.

You don't have to have any swap enabled, it runs the same with or without it.

You will be ssh'ing into the 770 then running the script below which kills OSS/Maemo/Hildon to free up ram, then finally run Einstein.

The script was provided by Simon Budig (Nomis on #Maemo) who was kind enough to share it with me. I was first killing processes by hand, using the kill command- but in order to do this you must enable the --set-rd-flags=no-lifeguard-reset with the flasher to avoid having the 770 reboot as you kill 'critical' processes. Using the script below, and stopping them via the init scripts is the proper way to do this.

Once Einstein is running you type 'power' to power it on. It should take about three minutes to start up the first time. After awhile it gets flakey and may disappear from the screen- use the power command once to power it back on.

Note: Run einstein as root!

Nomis' Script- for USB networking
(this will kill any wifi session- see my modification below if you are using ssh over wifi)

#!/bin/sh

export PATH="$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin"
/etc/init.d/ttyusb0 stop
/etc/init.d/lessertunjo0 stop
/etc/init.d/osso-ias stop
/etc/init.d/af-base-apps stop
/etc/init.d/btname stop
/etc/init.d/af-startup stop
/etc/init.d/maemo-launcher stop
/etc/init.d/osso-ic stop
/etc/init.d/wlancond stop
/etc/init.d/btcond stop
/etc/init.d/osso-systemui stop
/etc/init.d/esd stop
/etc/init.d/osso-hss stop
/etc/init.d/bme-dbus-proxy stop
/etc/init.d/bluez-utils stop
/etc/init.d/dsp-init stop
/etc/init.d/kdbusd stop
/etc/init.d/btpin stop
/etc/init.d/af-services stop
/etc/init.d/x-server.sh stop
/etc/init.d/mce stop
/etc/init.d/dbus-1 stop
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq stop
/etc/init.d/ppp stop

/etc/init.d/x-server.sh start

export DISPLAY=":0.0"
/einstein --machine=737041 .

My slightly modified script for SSH via wifi:

#!/bin/sh

export PATH="$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin"
/etc/init.d/ttyusb0 stop
/etc/init.d/lessertunjo0 stop
/etc/init.d/osso-ias stop
/etc/init.d/af-base-apps stop
/etc/init.d/btname stop
/etc/init.d/af-startup stop
/etc/init.d/maemo-launcher stop
#/etc/init.d/osso-ic stop
#/etc/init.d/wlancond stop
/etc/init.d/btcond stop
/etc/init.d/osso-systemui stop
/etc/init.d/esd stop
/etc/init.d/osso-hss stop
/etc/init.d/bme-dbus-proxy stop
/etc/init.d/bluez-utils stop
/etc/init.d/dsp-init stop
/etc/init.d/kdbusd stop
/etc/init.d/btpin stop
/etc/init.d/af-services stop
/etc/init.d/x-server.sh stop
/etc/init.d/mce stop
/etc/init.d/dbus-1 stop
/etc/init.d/dnsmasq stop
/etc/init.d/ppp stop

/etc/init.d/x-server.sh start

export DISPLAY=":0.0"
echo 'done'

I like to start mine by hand. So after the script is run i type:

Nokia770-51:/home/user/newton# ./einstein --machine=737041 .
Welcome to Einstein console.
This is Einstein Platform Preview 1.
This program will expire on July, 14, 2006.
Checksum-0: 4AFD2193
Checksum-1: 18710BD6
Checksum-2: 68481A07
Checksum-3: BBB55D42
Checksum-4: 25B60EB7
Checksum-5: 41061AF3
Checksum-6: FFFFFFFF
Checksum-7: FFFFFFFF
Checksum-8: FFFFFFFF
Checksum-9: FFFFFFFF
Booting...
Type help for help on available commands.
einstein> power

and after a few minutes you should see the Newton booting on the screen.

This is developing, but it works at this point, once you disable the kernel-watchdog and kill Matchbox to free up enough RAM for Einstein to launch. I'll post a more detailed receipe of what I did later today, when I get some free time.

Screenshots:

Photos of Newton Booting on Nokia 770

Paul has put up the Einstein Platform 2006 ( for Nokia 770) on his site.

Don't forget that you'll need a Newton ROM to make this work. Paul has a Newton Emulator for the Mac (on that same page) that has a special application that will dump a Newton ROM over the network to your Macintosh. Using a MP2100 ROM is the best idea.