[NTLK] Einstein: new release - ATA Image Support

[DoctorClu]

Hey all!

What Matthias has done to add the ATA image support is a great game 
changer for Einstein.

I've been able to get my PowerBook G4 with the PCMCIA slot to write 
several ATA cards which I have been able to successfully work in Einstein.

I've been able to look at notes, packages, doodles, and listen to audio 
notes!

I'll let you know one way you can get ATA card images that can work in 
Einstein.

-----------------------

The test ATA images we worked with were created in Disk Utility on a 
PowerBook G4.  The one I have has a PCMCIA port.  I have not tinkered 
with the PC world just yet.

Put in the card.  Select the ATA card name, go up to "File > New > Disk 
image from Disk1

The "Convert Image" box comes up.  Change the name to whatever you 
want.  Make sure the Image Format is "read/write" and encryption 
"none".   Takes no time at all to create images, I've created from 5 mb 
to 64 mb.

Once you have the *.dmg file in the folder where you have the card 
images for Einstein, select the information on it (speaking from a Mac 
perspective), get the info on the image, and make sure to erase the .dmg 
portion of the name and have the .ata at the end of the file name.  
Usually change that in the "name & Extension" field.

 From there as Matthias says, select at Einstein startup under "PC 
Cards" the "+", then add existing Linear or ATA image.  Select the image 
you created, go through the steps after that.  In some versions there 
might be a save command, or Start.  Once Einstein is up, under the 
PCCards select the ATA image, make sure the ATA drivers are installed, 
and it should work with it from there.

Too much fun.  And as Jeff said below, I too will be backing up all my 
cards at this point.  Moving items from linear flash onto a ATA card and 
going through the steps above.

Almost in tears over here.  :)


Greg / "Doc Clu"




*Jeff Sheldon* jeffsheldon at gmail.com 
<mailto:newtontalk%40newtontalk.net?Subject=Re:%20Re%3A%20%5BNTLK%5D%20Einstein%3A%20new%20release&In-Reply-To=%3C66015A18-091E-47F0-A2FB-D1033988AD45%40gmail.com%3E>
/Mon Sep 21 16:18:03 PDT 2026/

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This is one of the most substantial gains we’ve had in the Newton community.

Thank you Matthias and Paul for making this possible.  I still have the beta ATA driver loaded from long ago and am looking forward to making backups from my 20-year-old cards.

Really cool to watch these commits happen in realtime. :-)

I would say ARM64 might be a consideration at some point given the modularity of touchscreens and SBCs.  A much more fertile playground for hardware experimentation.

-Jeff

>/On Sep 21, 2026, at 05:31, Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de 
<http://lists.newtontalk.net/mailman/listinfo/newtontalk>> wrote: />//>/Hi friends, />//>/today I released a new version of Einstein for macOS, Window Intel, and 
Linux Intel. If ARM64 versions are needed, let me know. />//>/The new version has some maintenance changes, new versions of newt/0 
and FLTK, and updated build processes. />//>/There are also two new features: />//>/- a new menu item allows users to take a snapshot of the current 
screen. This is especially great for macOS where taking a screenshot 
cuts the lower left and right corner. The new method always captures the 
full screen image. />//>/- Einstein now support ATA PC-Card images. To use those in NewtonOS, 
you must install Paul Guyot's ATA Driver first: />//>/https://www.kallisys.com/ />//>/https://www.kallisys.com/files/newton/ATA/ATA-Support-1.0.pkg />//>/In the Einstein Setting panel are new menus for integrating and 
creating ATA images into the Newton PCMCIA card list. You can create new 
cards of various sizes, and you can also mount existing ATA Card images. 
To do that, you need to take your card out of the Newton and put it into 
a PC Card or CF Card reader. Dump the entire card as a binary image 
(Einstein supports up to 128MB cards) onto your PC. Make sure that the 
filename of the image that you create ends with the letters ".ata" . Now 
you can use the Settings dialog to att that ATA image to your list. />//>/The Einstein driver should connect Paul's ATA Software to the image 
file. You have full read and write access to the card image. />//>/The reverse is true as well. If you mount the ATA image file in 
Einstein, and write data to it, the image will stay compatible. You can 
use the same PC Card reader to write the image back to the physical 
card, and the use the card in your MP2x00. />//>/- Matthias/