As reported by Engadget, Apple Newton enthusiasts have the Einstein core running on a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 PDA. The port is still slow but the developers are hopeful to fully optimize it soon.
Newton on the Sharp Zaurus
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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… but NewtonOS may possibly contain a ‘hidden Apple message’ like this http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/15/1857210
^_^
ho-boy! this might have be go out and buy a zaurus again… i’ve owned a zillion PDAs- Newtons, Palm OS devices, WinCE-based ones, and devices based on yet other OSes… And even today, even compared to my top-of-the-line Dell Axim X51v, nothing beats the Newton MP2100. The only things I would really want on the Newton is the CPU and screen upgrade- an MP2100 is decent at 162 MHz, but the Axim at 624 MHz is even better. I can ‘t imagine how well it’d run a native Newton OS. The VGA screen would also be wonderful to have on the Newton. The Newtons came in different resolutions, so apps generally took advantage of it when you had a higher-res screen. On my VGA WM5 device that isn’t the case, with a few exceptions. I run my Axim in real-VGA mode, and way too many apps just run in a little box in the upper-left corner. A shame, a waste of a nice screen.
*sigh*
I’ve run the emulator some on a 1.25 GHz Mac and it’s been pretty decent. But not the same when it’s not on a PDA! To attempt to get some idea, I’ve VNC’d from my Axim to the Mac and played around with the Einstein emulator that way, and it was fun. The nostalgia hit me hard, even though I only stopped using my Newton a couple years ago.
A shame that he doesn’t have a port to WM5/CE, but I hope that is in the works. The Zaurus is generally a pretty crappy PDA (I’ve had an SL-5500 and a C760), but if a Newton emulator was working decently (decently defined as the HWR worked usably) on it, I’d buy another in a minute. Three cheers for Paul! If he can make my dream happen, I’ve got $100 for him.
…Someone build a device specifically meant to run a Newton rom and emulator from the hardware. Make something ala those Atari or Comodore 64 retros and see if it’ll fly. Isn’t this more or less what PalmOne..err Palm is planning to do with Linux?
–bornagainpenguin
Agreed. It’s really the cohesion between the hardware and the software that makes a Newton MessagePad special. Unfortunately I think there are a couple of issues standing in the way of making new Newton hardware in the near future:
1. Cost. It’s more expensive to make a good compact modern computer than it is to make a good desktop system or a good retro system. With the C64 “gamesticks” that were recently released, they were able to get the cost per unit down low enough that they knew they could sell enough to justify a production run. I don’t think that’s the case with the Newton.
2. Legal Concerns. It’s one thing to make a free Newton emulator that runs on Mac OS X or Linux and requires a ROM image from an original Newton to function — it’s quite another to make a stand-alone device that functions as a Newton for sale. Keep in mind that when Apple axed the Newton they turned down at least two offers to purchase the technology. This was just after they’d accepted a large sum of money from Microsoft for non-public reasons, and at the time there were rumors that the killing of the Newton (which was then beating WinCE in the marketplace) was part of the deal.
All that being said I’d love to see such a device (assuming it captured the soul of the Newton) and I’d be one of the ones lined up to purchase it. The Newton has features that even today can’t be found in any other competing device; I wrote a bit about it (that’s too long to repeat) here:
http://feneric.blogspot.com/2006/01/newton-technology-in-2006.html
Interesting. I might finally be able to dump my SL5500….
In theory, if newton ROMs could be extracted, you could have everyoine who wants a newton can have one – until the available legal ROMs run out – then you run into piracy issues.
If this does take off I can see Apple pulling a Konfabulator/Watson maneuver and bring back the Newton (in some form or another).
The problem that I see is that the Zaurus handheld seems to be with one foot in the grave. I dont know how they will reconcile this (unless they run linux on iPaqs and then run Newton on them).
From the Einsten presenteation the cool thing is:
1. COLOR – finally the NOS and its apps will be colorized
2. New hardware – wifi, bluetooth, etc can be supported
too bad these guys cannot get their hands on Newton hardware specs and the NOS source code – they could REALLY do wonders with it. (apple should hire them
)
too bad these guys cannot get their hands on Newton hardware specs and the NOS source code – they could REALLY do wonders with it. (apple should hire them
)
Why would you want that? So Apple could shut them down? ;P
—bornagainpenguin
heh…. i meant a *legal* version of it – if it were available :p