[NTLK] NewtonTalk Digest, Vol 154, Issue 19
Martin Harding
martinh1161 at hotmail.com
Fri Oct 23 16:27:57 PDT 2026
I have a Message Pad 120.
Is it possible to put an Ethernet Card into its PCMCIA port and connect the device to a Network?
Regards,
Martin Harding
Sent from my iPhone
> On 23 Oct 2026, at 5:05 am, newtontalk-request at newtontalk.net wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Importing .pngs (Doug)
> 2. Fwd: Newton 120 problems (your E-Mail from
> http://www.pda-soft.de) (Michael Sheflin)
> 3. Re: Importing .pngs (Matthias Melcher)
> 4. Re: Newton 120 problems (your E-Mail from
> http://www.pda-soft.de) (Matthias Melcher)
> 5. Re: Importing .pngs (Matthias Melcher)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2026 10:22:26 -0700
> From: Doug <ispinn at gmail.com>
> To: NewtonTalk Mailing List <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
> Subject: [NTLK] Importing .pngs
> Message-ID:
> <CAKW856+Lth-dpCr=9LrMc4GGpS_LcfnAsw3QNO72otBZY8g63Q at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> "The compiler can import .png images now, so you appd can have nice
> graphics."
>
> ELI5, explain it like I'm 5: how'd you manage to add and mix this ability
> into the compiler and why do you think it hadn't been there earlier?
>
> I'm being blown away once a day or seems with the pace and the depth of the
> advancements that are happening lately.
>
> Thank you, thank you, thank you.
>
> Doug
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:34:32 -0400
> From: Michael Sheflin <sheflinm at gmail.com>
> To: NewtonTalk Mailin List <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
> Subject: [NTLK] Fwd: Newton 120 problems (your E-Mail from
> http://www.pda-soft.de)
> Message-ID:
> <CAKUGNUWH3Y3Mn3MxBj6_WWHabULRyj9izTyX28shkURTZ1kjMw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Daniel suggested I share this with the group.
>
> https://sheflinlaw.com/Screenshot_20261014_212018_Gallery.jpg
>
> https://sheflinlaw.com/20261014_205235.mp4
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Michael Sheflin <sheflinm at gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 8:59?PM
> Subject: Re: Newton 120 problems (your E-Mail from http://www.pda-soft.de)
> To: Newton Support <newtonsupport at pda-soft.de>
>
>
> Hey I am actually curious about two unrelated issues. I have no idea if
> you have any interest in them or anything to say about them:
>
> 1) Have people tried flashing the ROMs of various other ARM devices,
> particularly ARM7 devices or SA-1110 devices? I just bought a really cheap
> Jornada 565. I have very low expectations but I'm genuinely curious
> what'll happen when I flash its ROM to my 2100's ROM.
>
> 2) Since 2008 or so, my friend and I have vaguely talked about the
> prospect of Arabic script on NewtonOS. I know people have made Chinese and
> Japanese support add-ons. My understanding (assuming I could get as far as
> actually making the script/font - the font is the very easy part, I think),
> the recognition software is only left-to-right. I haven't started doing
> research again but I'm really curious if you have any thoughts on that.
> Obviously it's not all that important anymore either, though.
>
> Best,
> Michael
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:47:15 +0200
> From: Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de>
> To: NewtonTalk Mailing List <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Importing .pngs
> Message-ID: <5A319248-3DEE-4767-BD9D-94346A305511 at robowerk.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
>
>> On 22. Oct 2026, at 19:22, Doug <ispinn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> "The compiler can import .png images now, so you appd can have nice
>> graphics."
>>
>> ELI5, explain it like I'm 5: how'd you manage to add and mix this ability
>> into the compiler and why do you think it hadn't been there earlier?
>>
>> I'm being blown away once a day or seems with the pace and the depth of the
>> advancements that are happening lately.
>>
>> Thank you, thank you, thank you.
>>
>> Doug
>
> Hi Doug.
>
> To use this, you can download `newtc` which is a standalone compiler and decompiler, or you download VSNewt, which is a plugin for Visual Studio Code, that includes newtc and allow you to run apps on a Newton or on Einstein and debug them by setting breakpoints, single-step through the code, and look at variables and the call stack.
>
> https://github.com/MatthiasWM/newton-framework/releases/tag/v0.4.0
>
> https://github.com/MatthiasWM/VSNewt/releases/tag/v0.4.0
>
> VSNewt comes with a sample program that shows how this works.
>
> If you wanted set the icon for the package, for example, previoulsy you had to encode the pixel values into a binary block like so:
>
> icon: {bits: Ref_45, bounds: Ref_46, mask: Ref_47},
> iconPro: {
> unhilited: {
> bounds: Ref_46,
> bits: Ref_45,
> mask: Ref_47,
> colorData: [
> {
> cBits: MakeBinaryFromHex("00000000001000000000000000200020000000000000000000000000000000"
> "00000000000000FFFFFFFF000000000000000000000FFFFFFFFFFFFFF0000000"
> "0000000000FFFF33333333FFFF00000000000000FFFF333333333333FFFF0000"
> "0000000FFF3333333333333333FFF000000000FFF333333333333333333FFF00"
> "000000FF33333333333333333333FF0000000FF3333333333333333333333FF0"
> "0000FFF3333333333333333333333FFF0000FF333333FF33333333FF333333FF"
> "0000FF33333FFFF333333FFFF33333FF000FF333333FFFF333333FFFF333333F"
> "F00FF3333333FF33333333FF3333333FF00FF33333333333333333333333333F"
> "F00FF33333333333333333333333333FF00FF33333333333333333333333333F"
> "F00FF33333333333333333333333333FF00FF3333FFF333333333333FFF3333F"
> "F00FF33333FF333333333333FF33333FF000FF33333FFF33333333FFF33333FF"
> "0000FF333333FFF333333FFF333333FF0000FFF333333FFFFFFFFFF333333FFF"
> "00000FF33333333FFFFFF33333333FF0000000FF33333333333333333333FF00"
> "000000FFF333333333333333333FFF000000000FFF3333333333333333FFF000"
> "00000000FFFF333333333333FFFF00000000000000FFFF33333333FFFF000000"
> "00000000000FFFFFFFFFFFFFF000000000000000000000FFFFFFFF0000000000"
> "0000000000000000000000000000000000", 'cBits),
> bitDepth: 4
> },
> The new version of newtc has a command that does all that for you:
>
> MakeIconFromPNG({file: "icon.png", depth: 4});
>
> You can do that with regular images too, not only icons. There will eventually be the same thing for sound.
>
> So an entire minimal app can look like this:
>
> // test: a Newton app. F7 builds test.pkg, F5 runs it.
> //
> // newtc builds the package from what this file sets (newtc -build): the
> // app's name, its icon, and theForm, its base view. Everything else has a
> // sane default. NTK's names work: protoFloatNGo, vjParentCenterH, ...;
> // kAppSymbol and kAppName (the label) are there once the name is set.
> //
> // newtc runs each statement on its own: a local doesn't reach the next one,
> // a global (as greeting below) or a constant does. A bigger app can be
> // split: Load("views.ns") runs that file (next to this one) here.
>
> newtAppName := "test:SIG"; // the package's name; ":SIG" is your developer signature
> newtAppLabel := "test"; // its name in Extras
> newtAppIcon := MakeIconFromPNG({file: "icon.png", depth: 4}); // 16 grays, and black and white
> newtAppCopyright := "Copyright 2026";
>
> newt.theForm := {
> _proto: protoFloatNGo, // a floater with a close box
> viewBounds: {left: 0, top: 50, right: 200, bottom: 130},
> viewQuitScript: func() Print("Goodbye")
> };
>
> greeting := {
> _proto: protoStaticText,
> text: "Tap the button",
> viewBounds: {left: 10, top: 10, right: 190, bottom: 30}
> };
> AddStepForm(newt.theForm, greeting);
> StepDeclare(newt.theForm, greeting, 'greeting); // the button's script finds it as greeting
>
> helloButton := {
> _proto: protoTextButton,
> text: "Say Hello",
> viewBounds: {left: 50, top: 40, right: 150, bottom: 60},
> buttonClickScript: func()
> begin
> SetValue(greeting, 'text, "Hello from " & kAppName & "!");
> Print(greeting.text); // in VS Code's Debug Console
> end
> };
> AddStepForm(newt.theForm, helloButton);
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:53:41 +0200
> From: Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de>
> To: NewtonTalk Mailing List <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Newton 120 problems (your E-Mail from
> http://www.pda-soft.de)
> Message-ID: <C7792397-008A-414C-B644-8A8D85FD9A48 at robowerk.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
>
>> On 22. Oct 2026, at 19:34, Michael Sheflin <sheflinm at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Daniel suggested I share this with the group.
>>
>> https://sheflinlaw.com/Screenshot_20261014_212018_Gallery.jpg
>>
>> https://sheflinlaw.com/20261014_205235.mp4
>
> That is - um - surprising. Yeah, one of the nice things about NewtonOS is, that you can override a lot of stuff the developers did with add-ons. Now with a readable source code version, you can go even deeper and find the hooks.
>
> It's also relatively easy to replace the built-in English HWR with a modern better and faster HWR.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:55:50 +0200
> From: Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de>
> To: NewtonTalk Mailing List <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Importing .pngs
> Message-ID: <FF833208-A046-4600-843B-45356D4FC830 at robowerk.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
>
>> On 22. Oct 2026, at 19:22, Doug <ispinn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> "The compiler can import .png images now, so you appd can have nice
>> graphics."
>>
>> ELI5, explain it like I'm 5: how'd you manage to add and mix this ability
>> into the compiler and why do you think it hadn't been there earlier?
>>
>> I'm being blown away once a day or seems with the pace and the depth of the
>> advancements that are happening lately.
>>
>> Thank you, thank you, thank you.
>>
>> Doug
>
> PS: ELI5 is hard when explaining programming. Let's put it this way. If you want to use graphics in your program, that was previously pretty complicated. Now, all you have to do is write one line to add a png image to your application.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> End of NewtonTalk Digest, Vol 154, Issue 19
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