The first ebook I ever read was Bruce Sterling’s Hacker Crackdown on my Newton Message Pad 2000. It had a big and bright screen — “the best screen for reading eBooks on the (non-)market” says DJ Vollkasko — but it could get a bit little heavy at times.

Crackdown is available for free, along with perhaps 16,000 others, at Matthew McClintock’s ManyBooks.net. Downloads are available in 11 different formats, or you can read online.

tags: apple, apple newton, e-book, e-books, ebook, ebooks, manybooks.net, matthew mcclintock, message pad, mp2k, newton, newton message pad

When I finally get around to writing up my impressions of the Pepper Pad, I’ll be pointing to Roger Sperberg’s recent posts at TeleRead about non-PDA handhelds and computers for stand up use. At the moment, however, some of his points remind my of a few I’ve got to make about PDAs here.

I’ve got a Sony Clie TH-55, the top of the line of the last series they imported to North American shores. It’s got a big bright screen (for PDAs), WiFi and a camera that can shoot movies and .3 megapixel stills. It’s got all of that and a battery that I’ve never had below 65% despite hard camera and WiFi use at times, but I still find it nearly useless.

(Some of) my complaints? The WiFi gets poor reception and requires a long wait while the radio warms up and finds a signal before each use. Unlike most laptops, the WiFi isn’t running all the time and it’s like waiting for a modem to dial while it connects. Then, when the WiFi does connect, the web browsing is slow and painful on a screen that still has too few pixels to render most sites reasonably. Though bookmarks help, entering URLs in Graffiti 2 is like pulling out all my eyebrow hairs one by one. The keyboard solves that, but it using requires a desk and going down that road begs for comparisons against the laptop I could be using instead.

Still, these problems might be fixable. I depended on the handwriting recognition on my Newton to take notes in classes and meetings back in the day (far better than on any Palm OS or HPC I’ve ever used), so I’m holding out for something better yet from current handhelds. My use cases are changing, though. PIM apps are on devices everywhere, but I really like using Earthcomber when traveling. I need a great web browser that can remember web-site passwords and auto-fill forms like my desktop browser can. And it’s hard to know what will replace iPods, but I somehow see a device like the LifeDrive, perhaps with a camera, that might do the job.

None of that, however, should suggest that I don’t also see a huge market for products like the Pepper Pad.

tags: clie, complaints, graffiti, handwriting recognition, newton, newton message pad, pda, pda keyboard, pepper, sony clie, wifi

Just as I’m about to retire my old Newton, just as I’m exporting the contacts and calendar entries, I rediscovered why the Newton was — and still is — the best PDA ever.The Newton had a rough start back in the early 90s when the first model was released. I’ve never used an older model, but it’s clear that the handwriting recognition was bad enough to be ridiculed in comics and The Simpsons. As funny as all that is, the Newton did improve. By the time I bought my Newton Message Pad 2000 in 1997, handwriting recognition was good enough that the average person took it for granted.

How can a five year old computer be relevant today?

The Newton had a large, high resolution screen, great handwriting recognition, and excellent PIM applications. Its large screen made it too big to fit in a pocket, but also made it useful for real work. The included word processor, web browser, and email application all worked well — well enough that the Newton could easily replace a laptop.

There are many many theories about why the Newton was discontinued in 1998. It’s a passionate issue for Newton users who still talk about a Newton rebirth, some time. The fact is that commercial software development mostly stopped after the discontinuation announcement. The very active user community took up most of the slack, and the web abounds with Newton software and information today.

When my boss told me I was getting a new Palm device, I accepted it. Not only do I never refuse free stuff, but I also recognized that I’d eventually have to replace my Newt. So I went to the web to figure out how to export all my Newton data to my new Palm. And soon I was checking out all the new developments since I last looked. I found a WiFi driver, a few extra pieces of software, and checked in on the old Newton community.

What will I do?

By now, I have a fast laptop and the Newton isn’t laptop replacement it once was. I’ll use the Palm, but what I really want is a new Newton. I want something that could replace my laptop. I want a one pound computer that does it all as well as the Newton did in its time.

tags: handwriting recognition, message pad, message pad 2000, mp2000, mp2k, newton, newton message pad, newton pda, newton software development, newton message pad 2000, pda keyboard, pim, pim applications