[NTLK] So what is a accelerated eMate like?

[Greg Goodwin]

Written from my eMate: So what is a accelerated eMate like?

In the Newton world I started with a Newton 110, then a 2000.  The eMate on first glance and description reminded me of the scaled down laptops that were being sent to kids in technically sparce parts of the world.

The eMate, looking at it as a Newton 2000 user thought the eMate had the most recent operating system.  And the eMate memory could be upgraded to the memory size of a Newton 2000.  The eMate could even play the programs of a Newton 2000 for the most part, but slower.  Around 2002 I found some eMates in a flea market, and I bought three for $5-$10 USD a piece.  I used one for a bit to take notes till the spring popped the cable.  Twenty years later I would fix that one, and the other I went ahead and did the spring fix.  That one was fine.  And then they sat twenty years as I mostly used the Newton 2000 for the occassional Newton projects like setting up a NPDS (website from a Newton).  Many times I thought about purging the Newton equipment but in picking up and purging things the Newtons gave me a happy vibe so they were kept.

About two years ago the Newtons were brushed off, restored, and made to work with more modern Macs over USB.  As I was tinkering with older eyes, I really liked the larger screen of the eMate, and so they too were fixed up, repaired and restored.

It is a little embarrassing to say that now in my fifties that the Newton 2000 screen is uncomfortable to read even with glasses.  The eMate however, is just easier to read, with or without backlight.

The keyboard for my size large to extra large hands I find I am generally hitting the keys, though I hit the sides of the next keys a lot.  Otherwise, a nice keyboard.

The speed however, while the eMate is capable, just sometimes a bit sluggish.  About 4 to 5 seconds to bring up the extras.  3 seconds to load the modplayer, 4 seconds to load a mod once there.  As you type there is a slight delay.  When I typed "delay" the "d" appeared by the time the whole word was typed.  So you find yourself typing a word and waiting for the notepad to catch up.  That sort of thing.

I noticed that NewtonSales in Sweden had the speed update where they swap out various components to boost the speed 30%-50%.  I had seen this over the years, and was really interested in the upgrade for the Newton 2000 at one time, but never pulled the trigger.  As I wrote in another message, mailing something to Sweden from the United States was generally a $90 trip one way, and if the customs people had the wrong thing for breakfast that day you'll find the package returned for the craziest of reasons, or no reason given.  And customs charges as much as it cost to ship the package.  Of course those are the worst case scenarios I would hope, maybe your milage would vary better
 
Long story that was shared in my message about a week ago summarized: I sent an eMate over and got the speed update and memory daughterboard.  The result?

Well you know all the things your eMate currently does?  And all the things your eMate doesn't do?  Well, now it does all those things as they do them but twice as fast.  

To me who likes to write messages with the eMate (as messages are not as easily transferred out of Einstein that I've found yet)   Message writing happens at nearly real time now.  No more waiting a second for the words to keep up.  That alone was worth the price of admission.

The transfer that I can tell doesn't work while boosted.  I was beaming packages to set up the boosted eMate from another Newton 2000 and the speed switch, which is simply a small almost unnoticable switch between the headphone jack and the PCMCIA slot where the case connects, had to be flipped to normal speed.

Action sounds are sped up.  Everything is.  I've been thinking of making a sound set that is naturally slower to sound normal in accelerated mode.

Music mods are played at double speed, and even faster if you turn off Pal mode.  Fun turning a slow song into a pop song.  

MP3s still don't work.  Anything that failed before will fail twice as fast.

Really aside from the typing being a lot quicker and less sluggish.  2 seconds to open the extras, 2 to open the modplayer, and 2 to load a mod.  

Played a game of NewtHack for a few minutes, probably a little closer to playing it on a Newton 2000 now.

Is the speed upgrade worth it?  Truthfully I think the eMate is quite capable without it.  Get the memory upgrade for sure which is only $40 and can be shipped to you and installed by opening the battery compartment.  Save on a LOT of shipping costs not having to ship a eMate back and forth.

The speed upgrade is a fun feature.  Get it if you really like the eMates, like typing and journaling on them or just want a less sluggish eMate.  Shipping costs make it where only the most devoted Newton fans would bother.

Despite all, I'm happy with it.