NYCDAUG 1997 Meeting Minutes & Reviews

NYCNUG Meeting Minutes for October 9, 1997

The meeting convened with a mention by President, Peter M. Fine, that there was supposed to be a visit by Newton representative Chris Ghee but he did not show for some reason.

This statement was immediately followed by our Q&A session on all things Newton.  One member, Loren Finkelstein, had a question concerning an "error #48022" that he would receive every time he went into the names file.  He was able to identify the corrupt file name entry that is causing the problem but his MessagePad 2000 does not allow him to delete it directly.  Someone had suggested a delete/restore from a previous backup but he said he had too many changes in the file between then and now.  Another member suggested that he back up the names file first, delete the soup, then restore the names file. 

Another problem was reported by Alan Drogin.  His serial port connection on his MessagePad 2000 got loose which he thought wasn't a major problem until he tried to use Newton Connection Utility and it did not work.  It turned out that the serial connector came apart from the motherboard; a result of the way that he was handling the Newton with the cable inserted.  In retrospect, he realized that his Newton was giving him warning signs before with the "error #16023" but he did not realize it until it was too late.  Other questions addressed concerned the names application, language software for the Newton, carrying cases for the Newton and keyboard.

There were plenty of demonstrations at this meeting.  Peter started it off with two programs from Hex Dump: Bricks (similar to the popular Break Out arcade game) and HexPaint. 

Howard Katz showed off Pimple, an alternative way to view your schedule on the Newton and Michael Stone showed off PT-100 which is a terminal emulator by Scrawlsoft.

This months raffle winners were Loren Finklestein (Word Sleuth by Landware) and Eric Schneck (a Newton Tee-Shirt)

NYCNUG Meeting Minutes for September 11, 1997

This month's meeting began with general information from President, Peter M. Fine about the club membership dues, the perks of being a member and the rewards of renewing membership (an exclusive Newton Tee-Shirt!).  Afterwards, there was a general discussion about the spin out and formation of Newton Inc. and its handling of the MessagePad 2000 and eMate.  Time was also given to general Newton usage questions which included synchronization issues, error messages and other strange goings on.

Landware's Ken Landau was on hand to show off new Newton Photoshow as well as a shoulder holster-like carrying case called a Burroughs Pack. 

Skip Williams showed off some of the latest improvements in ICS' Newtcase for the MessagePad 2000 and Couch Fire by Tempest Productions which is a TV guide system for the Newton. 

Tom Deering demonstrated the latest version of Mahhjongg by Scrawlsoft and Loren Finklestein demonstrated a beta version of World Conquest (a.k.a. Risk) by Tactile Systems.

Leigh Morgan gave us some information on an insurance company called SafeWare in Ohio where she had her Newton Insured that had been stolen and how she collected successfully.

Winners for this month's raffle were Joe Bonner (Mac OS8 Demo Tour), Loren Finklestein (Sub Patrol by Iambic),Ben Smith (Action Names by Iambic) and Carl Williams (Merlin Word Sleuth by Landware).

There was NO Meeting for August, 1997

NYCNUG Meeting Minutes for July 10, 1997

This month's meeting was kicked off by NYCNUG Vice President, kenn lowy since President, Peter M. Fine was in Cupertino California at an Apple Enterprise Customer Advisory Board Meeting. It started with a general discussion on Gil Amelio's departure from Apple. Afterwards we were treated to several Newton related demonstrations. kenn demonstrated "Start Bar" by Stand Alone which sets up a "task bar" on the bottom of the Newton screen and allows the user to switch from one application to another. He also stated that he had to use another Stand Alone product called "Heap Saver" in order to run several applications at once on the MP2K in order to run several products at the same time. Loren Finkelstein demonstrated "Couch Fire" by Tempest Productions which is a "TV Guide" like program for the Newton that is customized and emailed to the user. He also showed off a program called "Ear Trainer" from Turvey Tunes which allows the user to train and test their musical hearing and a crossword package from Tactile Systems called "xWord Buddy". Finally, he was able to show us a WWW locating system called a Web Ring, one of which is devoted to the Newton. The Newton Web Ring allows you to go randomly from one Newton related web site to another by clicking on the web ring icon. You can enter the ring by clicking here. NYCNUG is already part of the Newton Web Ring. Tom Deering went "to the video tape" and allowed us to see a close up view of his Newton stylus to discover that there were particles of dirt on it that was difficult to see with the naked eye. He also showed us that simply using a cotton swab does not work in cleaning it. He was able to do this by hooking up a video recorder to a microscope. He played the video for us. Tom's stylus was made by Cross (800) 510-9660.

Other items discussed during this meeting dealt with problems that MP2K users encountered and that Apple corrected with their latest system update which can be found on Apple's web site.

NYCNUG Meeting Minutes for June 12, 1997

The meeting began with a notice to all members by President Peter M. Fine that this years dues are still needed. In the near future, NYCNUG Info Updates, special event invitations and (potentially) meetings will be restricted to members who have paid their dues for 1997. At the suggestion of the President, members decided to devote fifteen minutes of each meeting to questions and answers dealing with Newton & PDA issues.

Demonstrations were provided by several people this month. Tom Deering demonstrated three of his creations: A map of the NYC Subway system, a Street finder for Manhattan and a list he and his wife put together called the "Best of". Loren Finkelstein also showed off his version of the NYC subway system which covers all of New York City and is scrollable and "Crossword Buddy" by Tactile Systems. These packages, except for "Crossword Buddy" will be offered to NYCNUG members at no charge. Next month's meeting will be organized by Vice President Kenn Lowy, as Peter will be out of town at Apple Computer in Cupertino, CA.

The following members were winners in this months raffle: Ives Juste won the Newton 97 CD, Pat Deering won the Adcom Case for Newton, Drew Williams won the Adcom Newton/Keyboard Case and Matt Starr won the Khyber Keyboard.

NYCNUG Meeting Minutes for May 6, 1997

The meeting began with a query by some of the members stating that they do not have email capabilities and that they are unable to receive club information that is disseminated that way. NYCNUG Treasurer, Howard R. Katz, offered to act as go between for those people and provided his telephone number to call for any information.

Several members had offered to demo Newton products at this month's meeting. Kenn Lowy, NYCNUG Vice President demoed a game called "Sub Patrol" by Iambic Software which involves pitting your surface boat against submarines. Roy Cundiff of Apple Computer demoed the PM100C Cellular Modem from Motorola. The price for the modem is approximately $600. Skip Williams, NYCNUG Newsletter Editor, demoed Eudora Pro for Newton by Qualcomm which is an email program for Newton. He also showed us Issaac's Names from Rindle&Partner which will allow users to set up their names in Gant format. Frank Beecham demoed Megahertz's Allpoints Wireless Modem which he acquired used through AOL's classified section for less than the retail price.

This months raffle winners are Gary Caron winning a copy of Sub Patrol and Bryan Deutsch won a brand new Newton keyboard. As a reminder, raffles are open to members and instant members which means anyone can enter the raffle but if you win, you must join the group ($15) instantly in order to take home the prize!

NYCNUG Meeting Minutes for April 15, 1997

The monthly meeting began with an announcement by NYCNUG President, Peter M. Fine, that starting May, the meeting time will change to the normal schedule of the second Thursday of each month. This decision was reached by a query of the NYCNUG board members as to what was the best time and the majority vote ruled. Hopefully all members and guests will be able to attend on this new date.

Peter also mentioned that there are several companies that have offered discounts on their Newton software to NYCNUG members only. Two of these companies right now are Landware Inc. and Nomadic Technologies. NYCNUG member only deals will continue to be explored as a valuable membership benefit and all vendors who might be interested in offering such should contact Peter to arrange the details.

In addition, NYCNUG members will get priority seating at potentially crowded meetings although we continue to welcome non-members to come and see what we are about.

Peter and NYCNUG Treasurer, Howard R. Katz are in the process of updating the membership list and they have decided to go back as far as January 1, 1997. Those members who have paid dues before then and whose membership has not already expired (gone past 12 months since paying) will need to show proof of when you paid to the treasurer as the database was not kept current in the past.

Much of the meeting discussion focused on the Newton MP 2000 and some of the problems that its owners are experiencing which included the unavailability of power cords for the device. Roy Cundiff, the Apple representative down from the Boston area who is sponsoring NYCNUG meetings at the New York City Apple Marketing Center, was on hand to show off a carrying case for the MP 2000 and gave us some insight into what Apple's activities are in the PDA department. Our thanks also to Ann Hahn of Apple New York for her help!

Skip Williams, NYCNUG Newsletter Editor, demonstrated a shareware program called StickyNewts available from Burr Oak on the internet at http://www.burroak.on.ca

Clinton Logan of Landware, Inc. was on hand to show off their extensions for Newtworks WriteStuff Toolset which was updated since their last visit in February.

Finally, consistent with NYCNUG's desire to explore the non-Apple PDA realm and keep it's members abreast of such technology, Peter demonstrated a US Robotics Palm Pilot PDA for all to see and explained the basics of operation and the pros and cons of using the product. Ken Landau of Landware, Inc. was also on hand to show off his Pilot which had a transparent casing thus enabling us to see how the unit is assembled and what is inside.