[NTLK] Retro Apple Printer Emulation to get data from Newton

[Matthias Melcher]

> On 15. Sep 2026, at 11:53, Elias Basse <kd5jfe at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Group,
> 
> Has anyone experimented with emulation of an old serial printer to get data
> out of their newton?
> 
> I found a github project that I am going to start looking at
> https://github.com/manybitsbyte/retroapple-printers to see if this will
> work for the newton.
> 
> This would be a basis of adding to another project that I am working on to
> recreate the newton connection kit and its features for modern operating
> systems with modern code base for those of us that are running other OS's
> such as windows or linux (NCX was what I used to use on the old macbook).
> 
> Best Regards,
> Elias

Hi Elias,

not directly related, but Einstein can print directly to the host printers, if all you need is to print out a few pages, nd you can sync between your Newton and Einstein.

As for NCX, the source code is available on GitHub and is OpenSource. I have been able to compile it for modern macOS. NCX includes newton-framework, which in itself is quite complex and in its original repos compiles for Intel only, not for ARM64.

https://github.com/newtonresearch

newton-framework is needed to compile NewtonScript and tow read and write the Newton Streming Format, which in turn is needed for implementing NCX and interpreting the data that is downloaded. NCX (nad NCT for that matter) contain a full NewtonScript compiler and bytecode interpreter.

I have put a lot of work into newton-framework, making it compile on ARM64, fixing a few bugs, adding CMake support, but the repository is somewhat ad hoc, and no longer in good sync with Simons original code.

https://github.com/MatthiasWM/newton-framework/tree/restructure

If you start writing NCT for other platforms, that would be great. Maybe you can write a cross platform version for everyone? I have deep knowledge of the protocol (my Dongle implements large parts of it), and I'll be happy to help out.

 - Matthias