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Blog under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
Sep
15
(2006)
The eMate 300 I ordered on eBay finally arrived this afternoon – the mailperson decided to leave the package on my front step in the rain/snow.
I fired it up, and aside from the battery being dead (it’s only a decade old), it works great! The previous owner left it in Classroom Mode so I had to perform the über-hard reset (hold down the power key, tap the reset button on the bottom, and keep holding until the reset prompts come on screen). That got it back to factory condition – but I lost the installed copy of Works, and there were no install CDs provided. Doh. Off to unna.org…
I have to say – Newton OS 2.1 is pretty darned sweet. The thing just hums along nicely, and everything just seems to work as expected. The handwriting/printing recognition is nearly flawless – and when it has problems, it’s obviously a result of my less-than-legible printing.
The form factor is pretty sweet, too. It’s slightly smaller than a 12″ iBook, with a shorter screen. The built in keyboard is pretty nice, and would make long writing sessions (or just correcting the occasional recognition error) go quicker. The backlight is nice, too. My MP120 doesn’t have one, and it makes it nearly unusable when not in a very brightly lit room.
It must have been pretty sweet to have a classroom full of these puppies, with the classroom dock and charging station, and each student having their own eMate (and private account on it, too). I haven’t seen anything quite as well thought out since. That’s a bit of a shame in and of itself.
I’ll post some pics to Flickr when I get the chance – probably after installing some apps on it to show what it looks like. Evan’s going to LOVE this thing, since he can draw on it, as well as practicing his new letters. That should be fun. And it’s supposed to be rather ruggedized, so it might survive more than 30 seconds with The Boy™.
Playing with Newton OS 2.1 has me wanting a full MessagePad 2100, though. Man, that would be sweet. 10x faster than the eMate, in a hand-held form factor for easier handwriting. Slap in an 802.11b card and you’re online, too. I’ve got to start rummaging through my couch cushions for some spare twonies for eBay…
This post is brought to you by the words “pretty” and “sweet”, apparently. Man, do I need a Reader’s Digest subscription. Ways to Enrich Your Word Power, anyone?
Just received my Newton Messagepad 2100 from J&K Sales and its magic!
I understand your love of the eMate. I can’t wait to play more with these devices.
The only problem is that my vintage Mac collection is growing exponetially and I
probably should seek professional help! lol
Just loaded my Newton with software using only IrDA. From all I read it couldn’t be
done, well I scoff at that notion. Mind you, I did have to pick up an old Wallstreet to
do it.
hmmmm maybe i should fire up my Newton 2100! nah maybe i should just sell it to you
contact me at roland@rolandtanglao.com in the unlikely event you are interested!
Congratulations on your eMate; I’ve always wanted one of those things. I have an MP 130 (no workie anymore), a 2000, and a 2100, which I’ve recently gotten out of mothballs, stuck a few AA batteries in, and am using again as my full-time PDA. I spent a ton of money way back when on these devices, cases, software, memory cards, and I can’t think of anything that would give more of a return on the investment. Of course, when I powered the thing on for the first time in years last week, everything was still there (though I have a 4MB card that has given up the ghost). All my software (MoreInfo is still the perfect PIM!), serial numbers, data, everything was as I left it. It’s darn near perfect.
I often sit and wonder what we would be talking about now if The Steve had not decided to kill the Newton project when he returned to Apple. Would the iPod be the Newton? Even ten years hence we’ve got Bluetooth, Wifi, MP3, before these technologies even existed. That’s due to the amazing environment, the skill of the developers, and the community’s love of the device. Imagine if Apple had been keeping the hardware up to date all this time!
Last year I had the great fortune to have 18 eMates in my classroom. They were magic. I had kids want to keep writing instead of go to lunch! I’m no longer at that school, but I helped train the upcoming class in how to use them– that way the teacher couldn’t get scared and just not use them — the kids wouldn’t let her. Fortunately, my great principal found the money to get the hinge repair done on all of them, and to replace the battery packs. She also got hold of a charging cart so the teacher won’t need to have them all open and charging all over the room.
Have fun with it. It is an elegant little machine and I share your thought that I haven’t seen anything as elegant and well-suited to its purpose in the classroom.
(If you don’t know about the necessity of the hinge repair, learn about it here
http://www.pda-soft.de/body_emate_disassemble.html)
I have 16 of these puppies, but only two or three chargers. I would love to sell them. If any one has any ideas, let me know before I ebay them.