On Sun, 6 Jan 2002, Bijan Parsia wrote:

> chapter in it (using the hand writing recognition!). It was really
> quite slick. My impression is that the 2000/1s were really way beyond
> the 1xx models.

Oh, totally. The idea most people have of the Newton is of the OMP or
MP100.  Clumsy, huge, and poor HWR.  I've owned a MP100, MP120 (OS 1.3)
and MP2000u (all secondhand), and the difference between the OS 1.3 and
2.x models is really amazing.

> I'm afraid that the iPaq is never *quite* going to make it, because of the
> super dinky screen. ANd MS digital ink, frankly, sucks. The screen is a
> bit wierd too. Not as accurate or responsive, IMHO.

Have a look at PhatWare's CalliGrapher.  Same engine as both MS
Transcriber and the Newton 2.x series's HWR.  While Transcriber has the
same engine, it sucks quite a bit more than the Newton's HWR.
CalliGrapher is 10x better than Transcriber, mostly because of the
gestures for editing.  Even more gestures than the Newton had for editing!
<http://www.phatware.com>  I took the last couple weeks of my class notes
on my iPAQ using CalliGrapher, and yeah, the small screen is a pain.

I've been having some serious problems with the iPAQ's screen myself.  It
is having problems like an aging Newton gets, the affliction known as the
"squiggles."  This is really disturbing.  That is, if I draw a straight
vertical line between the upper-right and lower-right hand of the screen,
it looks more like a moutain range than a straight line.  I bought it off
of eBay on the cheap, so I'm afraid to call Compaq only to find out is has
no warrantee.  (I've no proof of purchase date) :(

> Anyhoo, Aaron, I'm *totally* up for a newt inspired Squeak interface with
> newt lever (or better!) capabilities.

I'll probably be needing help.  I've been too busy for me lately, which is
a pain.  One interesting thing I found is that CalliGrapher works within
Squeak! That is, I can get natural HWR within Squeak.

> Biblio333, a bilbilography manager I've been on again offagain porting to
> squeak from visualworks (you should be able to google for it) has an
> intersting record/field model (with fields being first class objects). It
> might serve as a useful base for a newton framelike thingy.

Can't wait to have a look at it!

Regards,
Aaron

  Aaron Reichow  ::  UMD ACM Pres  ::  http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/
"truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies." :: r. w. emerson