[NTLK] Sharing Tricks for Using Einstein for Android

[Greg Goodwin]

Sharing Tricks for Using Einstein for Android

Over the last few years I have had fun with Einstein, which as many already know is the Newton emulator for many platforms, but mainly Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS.  Android over time has been the often preferred due to possible available hardware and yet that version of Einstein remains in earlier development compared to the other platforms which are more advanced in development.

In the early days of putting Newton on a new piece of hardware, the iOS was the obvious choice since the prototype iPhone was deeemed in developer screens subtly as the "Newton 3000"   However, also in earlier days getting programs on a iOS device generally happened through the Apple store and that was fraught with developer hoops that you'd have to jump through.

The fan movie "Love Notes to Newton" echos the frustration at that time.  It is shown those tired of those hoops and recommendations for Android hardware.

It would seem since that time two things have happened 1) work arounds were found to bypass the Apple store hoops  2) Those setting up development software for Android in the Apple fan circles were generally less as they leaned towards IOS and Mac development.

So Android-Einstein remains currently in a Alpha stages.  A version without sound, unable to rotate without glitching, and without the GUI interface like the Windows and Mac versions that allows selecting PCMCIA card images and other features.

That is what I've been able to find in the latest Android version I could find (2020.04.13)   If that is incorrect or there are tricks I am missing here, please let me know.  :) 

So how useable is the Android version of Einstein?
After some playing around with it, very useful.

So here is what I've found out.  Installing the Android-Einstein app is extremely easy.  The best results were ...
1) installing einstein-2020.4.13.apk <http://messagepad.org/Downloads/Einstein/Android/Einstein.2020.4.13.apk>
2) Create the folder "Einstein" in the Download folderon the internal store.
3) in Einstein put in the files "717006.rom", "Einstein.rex"

Einstein will start up and create a file called "Flash”.  This is the internal flash memory.  The Mac version of Einstein creates a similar file called "internal.flash"  This is important for later in this article.

In earlier days of Einstein development  at least across the platforms there was an effort to keep the look and function very similar.  When you consider the differences between platforms and how they grow over time, you can see how that would be daunting.

So because of the similarities you can take the "717006.rom" and "Internal.flash" from the Mac Einstein version, drop that in the Einstein folder on the Android phone, and whamo, you have a mini-me of your Mac computer.  Just make sure the rename "internal.flash" to "flash".

Picture this: I have this "AirMate", the Macbook Air running Mac Einstein that I am taking notes of "80s One Hit Wonders" of a Youtube video that I'm listening to as I write this on my eMate.  This AirMate…the Mac version has the avantage of a keyboard interface for that Mac-Einstein version and also has a trackpad interface.  I keep wanting to touch that screen like a smart phone or a Newton.  Maybe I'll try the Apple pen, I hear that works there.

And to the point : in my pocket there is a Android  Galaxy A10E  from 2019 that is running a snapshot of sorts of my AirMate.  That Android-Einstein has the info entered on the Mac.  Lists made on the Mac-Einstein that I can pull out my 7 year old phone and reference the list.

The speed of the Android-Einstein on this seven year old phone is not bad.  Best to lock your phone screen in a portrait mode because if the phone rotates, Einstein will more than likely crash.  Also, go into the Newton prefs and set "turn off backlight" to "never"   Otherwise Einstein will go dark on you.

As the developers warned on the alpha release, you switch over to other apps for longer than a minute and Einstein will restart when you click back to it.  However if you keep Einstein on the forefront the phone will keep Android-Einstein up almost indefinitely.  You get a call, Android pops up a notice to answer, so you can keep Einstein where it is.  Tested a call earlier, a few minutes and Einstein will hang in there.  Give it more than about four to fives minutes, Einstein dozzes off.

I should add that with all that I've done with the directions of Matthias <http://matthiasm.com/software/einstein> to put an Einstein Mac on the internet that the setup has the 711000 rom.  Also on the Mac side I have the setup geared to set the time based on the host Mac.  I think some of that carried over with the files given since the Android setup keeps the time consistent in that the date is correct and the time is a hour behind.  Times when it was attempted to change the time would result in Einstein crashing and coming back up reset and whiped.  Einstein saying "Hello, what is your name?” and starting over  So maybe don't mess with the time settings right now for casual use.

Input wise, the Android-Einstein is more like the Newton hardware than the Mac, Windows, or Linux as you can tap on the screen to select items. Typing on a onscreen keyboard is quite responsive.  Sometimes I use a pen with a stylus tip, but often not needed.  Still a keyboard would be nice, so it is nice to enter all that on the Mac version and then import the whole setup as a group.

But what if you enter something on the Android side and want to bring it over?  Move those same files on the Mac side into another folder so they don't get written over, and import the comparible Android files from your phone.  Make sure to change the name of "Flash" to "Internal.flash"  You can load up the Einstein Android setup on the Mac side.  Once there:
1) connect a PCMCIA image 
2) set that PCMCIA image as the default save 
3) find the notes you want to bring over, hit duplicate.

Copies are made to the PCMCIA card.  You switch the .rom and flash files back, and then load that same PCMCIA card and read and copy the notes from the Android setup into your Mac Einstein setup.  I you try this trick with the Windows or Linux setups, let me know how it goes.

So there you have it.  The Android-Einstein might be in the alpha stage, and sure you can't yet listen to your favorite modplayer music yet (Sorry Radix), but as a note taking and organizer app on your Android device it's fairly solid, at least for us Newton fans.  My thanks to the developers who got us this far in the Android version and I and others look forward to seeing what comes next!

Thanks for reading this, hope it helped, and until next time, keep the green!

Greg / Doc Clu


PS: I have seen there is a 2020.4.2 version out there, I really have not had much luck with this version as it resets the internal lash every time the Einstein app is loaded.