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For the earlier Messagepads (120 & 130) getting on the Internet can be a chore, since they don't support NIE 2.0 and therefore don't support Ethernet cards.

The only options are to use a Modem and dial up or to use a PPP link over Serial. You will need 3 things for this to work:

  1. A newton with NOS 2.0 (or above)
  2. A Serial cable (that can hook up to your newton and computer)
  3. A Mac with a Serial port and Mac OS X

First, make sure you've installed NIE 1.1 http://www.unna.org/view.php?/apple/software/Internet. In Extras in the Setup section you will find Internet Setup. Add a new setup, pick Direct Serial 19.2 leave the link protocol as PPP leave the phone number blank now enter your username and password Tap Continue.

Its best to specify your Newton's IP address, so tap Dynamic and choose Static instead. Give the newton an IP address one after your computer (if available). In the following example, the host Macintosh is 10.0.0.1, and the Newton is 10.0.0.2. Leave the gateway as dynamic. Specify your computer's IP address (10.0.0.1 here) as the nameserver and set the domain to .local (or whatever you have set up). Tap Continue.

You're gonna have to overhaul the login script a little:

 Send User Name
 Send ¶
 Send Password
 Send ¶
 Done

Set timeout to 60 seconds. We should really wait for the prompt, but since there won't be any lengthy handshaking involved it's unnecessary. That's it for the Newton end of things.

Now on to the Mac. At the Terminal enter the following;

 sudo /usr/sbin/sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 (this will enable Internet Sharing)
 sudo named
 sudo named (running it the second time always seems to do the trick; don't ask why)
 sudo pppd /dev/cu.modem 19200 10.0.0.17:10.0.0.16 noauth proxyarp persist

Important

The above will need to be changed to suit your Mac's particular setup. You will have to change the first IP address to your Mac's IP address, and the one after to the one you specified on your Newton. You will also have to change /dev/cu.modem to the serial port your Newton is plugged into.

A not so handy way of finding out which device to specify is to 'ls /dev' in Terminal. Usually any serial ports will be after stdin, stdout and tty. Here's a selection from a typical listing of /dev:

 ptyq7           ptyub           tty                ttyt1           zero
 ptyq8           ptyuc           tty.modem          ttyt2
 ptyq9           ptyud           tty.printer        ttyt3
 ptyqa           ptyue           ttyp0              ttyt4
 ptyqb           ptyuf           ttyp1              ttyt5
 Hyde:/Users/killboy root#

Fire up your favourite web browser or Newton Internet application and the connection dialog will pop up. Tap connect and it should hopefully work a treat. And remember, don't let the speed of it all get to your head. ;oP

I'll make an Applescript to automate this all sometime.


HomePage : InterNet : serial