SNUG

It seems like it’s been a long time since we’ve had 11 people come to the SNUG meeting, but the November 27, 2001 gathering had that many people! Wayne was on hand to demonstrate his dissection of a Newton MessagePad 2000 or 2100. The only difference between a 2100 and a 2000 are a bunch of memory chips soldered to the Newton’s motherboard. Apple use to have an upgrade path for owners to transform their MP2000’s into MP2100’s. Now we know the actual process that Apple performed!

Wayne had a bunch of other interesting things to show, including a prototype dongle for the Newton’s Interconnect port that sported dual serial ports and audio in/out jacks. The serial ports worked, but the audio ports, alas, did not. According to Wayne, the 2×00-series of Newton MessagePads were the most serviceable of all Newtons. The original MessagePad was probably the most complicated of all the devices.

I do wonder how small Newton could be if it were being built today. The processor in the Newton is the same on the latest batch of PocketPC devices, a StrongARM processor. Had Newton been spared execution in 1998, I think the handheld and underlying technology could be a very powerful force to be reckoned with in the handheld industry. That’s pure speculation, of course, as Newton was cancelled as a project in February, 1998.

Some of the technology made its way into other Apple projects, however, including the original iBook and the new iPod. Wayne showed off his iPod which had a special feature not found in most iPods, a beveled top edge. When I first held the iPod, I immediately noticed that the top edge was very, very sharp. Wayne got his retooled to have a silky smooth beveled edge at the top. That’s definitely something I’d want if I got an iPod.