[NTLK] In other geek news, the Interconnect Port.

[Matthias Melcher]

Hi Newtonistos,

whenever I find a bit of time, I tend to do silly things. So here is a PCB I developed to plug into the Newton MP2x00 Interconnect port that gives easy (breadboard) access to all the pins for those who love to play with hardware:

https://github.com/MatthiasWM/newt_interconnect_breakout/tree/master

The Gerber files can be used by anyone to have their own PCBs fabricated. I received mine today, soldered the parts to it, and I will (re)build my custom Newton dongle tonight. I named it "TLD", as in "The Last Dongle", and I will make many versions and revisions ;-) .

On the hardware side, everything so far is solved. The dongle has pretty much the same size as the original dongle. It connects via USB-C and provides power to the MessagePad (to be tested). The dongle has enough room for an SD-Card, so you can easily upload Unna to it, and download packages into the Newton without NCU/NCX. Eventually you should be able to backup to and restore from the dongle directly. There are two holdups until I can make those and send them to interested users: 

1: the dongle uses a Raspberry Pi Pico module. A new module just came out, so I want to redesign the circuit boards to the newer version with more features

2: Software. Just as with Jake's internal Wifi board, I just don't get around to writing the firmware we need for both projects. I will try to fit this in as soon as I possibly can. As an excuse though, I was busy with the other project, FLTK, that has in a release crunch and has will likely be included in all major Linux distributions, Yay!

 - Matthias


FAQ: 

Q: Can I have my "TLD" *now*? 
A: No. I will need a few more weeks to have new PCBs for the better and improved Pi Pico. If you really feel like building a dongle, I can publish all the things required. You need to have one PCB made, solder two SMD components, and solder the plug. There is enough software to install packages on the Newton.

Q: Is this competing with or replacing Jake's Wifi card?
A: No. The "TLD" is an external dongle and does pretty much exactly what the original dongle does. The advantage is, that there is no need to open the case. But it only communicates via USB. Jake's card OTOH is internal, so you need a screw driver and some bravery, but it provides additional Wifi communication, and will eventually run with modern Wifi encryption. Nevertheless, both will use quite similar firmware, at least in respect to connecting with the Newton Connect Utilities, NCU. Both boards will be able to install packages without having any other packages installed previously.

Q: What was this about IrDA?
A: All Newtons have an infrared port. Some support the Sharp protocol, some the slightly more modern IrDA protocol. I was hoping to be able to write something that allows an NCU connection via IR, but that is not fully implemented on the Newton side. I will experiment, but don't hold your breath on that one ;-)