Getting a Newton 120 to connect to OS X

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Level 1

6 points

Getting a Newton 120 to connect to OS X

I know, the subject of this discussion post is about as crazy as trying to shove a dollar bill through a quarter slot, but I've seen in a lot of places that you can easily use various applications to sync a Newton device with your contacts/calendars, etc on OS X (or at the very least install packages onto it).

I'm using a Newton 120 (NOS 2.0). I have a Prolific 2303 USB to serial adapter, and connect the Newton to this adapter using a mini- Din-8 to RS-232 serial cable (these cables are fairly new). I installed drivers from Prolific for the USB to serial adapter, and System Profiler sees it fine.

-- In fact, this adapter shows in the Network preferences, but I have no idea how (or if) I am supposed to configure any settings here, since the adapter is not connecting to a network.

Anyway I'm using Snow Leopard (10.6.7) and have tried installing all the applications listed in this site: http://newtonpoetry.com/2008/03/10/connecting-your-newton-to-os-x/

including:

-- eScale

-- NewtSync

-- NCX

-- NewTen

No such luck. I'm telling the Newton to connect via Serial, and it always kicks back errors "The connection attempt was unsuccessful. Please check your cable".

I'm able to connect this old Newton to a PowerBook 3400c on OS 9 fine, using either the Serial or AppleTalk options to connect. So the Newton itself is not the issue.

I then surmised maybe my Mac OS was too "new". I tested the same software and Prolific cable on 10.5, 10.4 - no luck.

I then took a step back and tried on an old G4 cube, once on 10.2.8 (using PPC drivers from Prolific and meant for earlier versions of OS X) - no change.

-- I tested on same G4 cube with 10.3.9 - no change.

I guess it's remotely possible I have a faulty Prolific Serial to USB adapter, but am wondering if there's something else I'm doing wrong here. Often it's a PEBCAK issue for me :-) Any thoughts are appreciated.

Posted on Apr 21, 2011 9:52 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 23, 2011 9:48 PM in response to sopranojam85

AppleTalk/LocalTalk connects at 240,000 bits/sec. Only the old KeySpan USB to Serial adapters could handle those speeds.

Appletalk File Sharing was removed in 10.4. So those newer version of Mac OS may not stand a chance.

The Farallon Ethermac iPrint LT converted AppleTalk-over-Ethernet to AppleTalk/LocalTalk. In addition to printers, it could actually support up to 8 AppleTalk/LocalTalk devices, including computers.

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Answer 2

sopranojam85 Author

Level 1

6 points

Apr 25, 2011 2:24 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Awesome, yeah I tried a Farallon LocalTalk to AppleTalk over Ethernet adapter, and it worked like a charm across everything up to 10.3.9. After that, even if I checked "Enable AppleTalk" in the Ethernet preferences (10.4, 10.5) it would not connect over AppleTalk.

I then thought - hey there's a TCP/IP option on the Newton. Trying this option gave a prompt that NIE was needed.

I found Newton Internet Enabler 1.1 (version 2.0 only works on later model Newtons).

Problem is that each time I try to use the TCP/IP option, it wants me to dial a number. Well I don't have or use Dial-up, and even if I did, I don't have the serial Modem needed for that. Any idea if there's a way to work-around this, and make a TCP over LocalTalk/Ethernet connection happen?

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Answer 3

Apr 25, 2011 3:17 PM in response to sopranojam85

The reason File Sharing stops working is that only AppleTalk Printing survives after 10.3.9, and then it disappears completely in 10.6.

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Answer 4

sopranojam85 Author

Level 1

6 points

Apr 25, 2011 3:57 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Yep, I saw that.

What I don't understand is how some people have reported success with their Prolific USB to serial, though:

http://newtonpoetry.com/2008/09/02/newtmail-newton-mp130-connects-to-os-x/

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1666097?threadID=1666097&tstart=-1

The Prolific documentations has a variant of baud rates that it supports:

http://osx-pl2303.sourceforge.net/ "Different baudrates (like 1200, 4800, 9600, 19200, 115200, 230400)"

You said earlier that only the old Keyspan adapter could handle the speed of AppleTalk - (as in the super-slow speed?) I don't know if there's a way to configure the Prolific adapter.

-- I changed the Network Prefs "USB to Serial" entry to "make service inactive" and tested - no change from before on this front.

Wondering if there's a way to mod the NIE 1.1 at all to make it not want to dial up to everything and just use some kind of null modem connection - i.e. doesn't wait for a dial tone, doesn't look for carrier, etc.. just connects with the IP address I give it?

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