[NTLK] A new ROM board

[Matthias Melcher]

> On 22. Feb 2022, at 13:30, Jake Bordens <jake at allaboutjake.com> wrote:
> 
> Nicely Done.  Can’t wait to get my hands on a couple of these!

So I did manage to boot my MessagePad after all. I took out the old board and put in the new board that I flashed with the US NewtonOS ROM, pulled the power switch, and waited. 

And waited.

Nothing.

Sigh. I put the Newton to the side in frustration, and as I was about to leave the room, I heard a very familiar chime! And then I remembered: when changing the ROM, NewtonOS clears the entire system before booting which takes 15 or so seconds. I was just not patient enough:

https://youtu.be/Ou_3aya1ujI

At the moment, these cards need an external programmer hardware to write the operating system, but I plan to write some app that can update the ROM board while it is in the Newton without hardware.

If anyone has ideas and can help, maybe even write some code, I'll be happy to send a card and a programmer to you.

 - Matthias