Apple Newton

Well, you could use one of these: http://www.welovemacs.com/usbseadbpdaa.html. You will also need an 8-pin apple serial cable and a dongle (pretty rare though).
You could also connect it via PCMCIA modem (there's a lot of them on eBay). All software needed is here: http://www.unna.org. You just have to look around.
Oh yeah, and don't buy anything older than Newton 2000.

The two AppleTalk-over-Ethernet to AppleTalk/LocalTalk converters still available are used mostly for printers, but they can support 8 devices (printers or computers) on the AppleTalk/LocalTalk side. I used to use a Farallon EtherMac iPrint LT to share files with a Mac-II.

Most USB-to-Serial converters do NOT support AppleTalk/LocalTalk, because it runs too fast ( 0.240 Mbits/sec).

As quoted - nothing earlier than a 2000 although at a real pinch you could try a 130 with OS2.0 but I don't recommend it.

As you can see from my kit I use my 2 with a new iMac G5. Again as indicated you need a USB/Serial adapter (try Keyspan - most seem to use them) + the serial cable + the dongle for the Newt's connector. The dongle does turn up on eBay but you really should try to get one with the Newt you purchase.

www.unna.org has all the info in the wiki to get you started and most software is now openware or sometimes shareware for a small fee. There is a printer driver for ethernet connection so you don't really need Appletalk. Similarly you can talk to your Mac by wi-fi, bluetooth or ethernet all with the appropriate PCMCIA cards and drivers. NewTen will load software once you have the connection sorted. The somewhat flawed Newtsync will sometimes do what it says on the tin.

Good luck!

Of course you can connect a Newton with a Powerbook ... The dongle and a serial cable permits it, just like others have pointed out. I myself have an old Apple printer serial cable with the dongle, and that's what I 'm using to connect the Newton and the iMac... You can also connect wirelessly with a BT card but you will need some drivers that you can find in the net. I recomend you to visit this site: http://www.splorp.com/newton/faq/ that is very good to the newbie to seek fast answers to just all the questions that you can think of.

About the software, I use NewtSync to do the syncronization between the two machines and NewTen to install packages of software to the Newton from the iMac, and it's all very easy to do. Some say that NewtSync is a litlle bit buggy, I wouldn't know because I'm using the Newton more and more as an independent machine, but I remember that my first experiences with it were good, but as I said I don't use it at the moment...

Hope I could help


iMac G5 1.8 Ghz + Newton MessagePad 2100 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

iMac G5 1.8 Ghz + Newton MessagePad 2100 Mac OS X (10.4.7)