Yay I got an eMate! Now how do I use it with my non-ancient Mac?

The best solution is to buy a USB to Serial adapter and go that route. Ethernet connections are possible, but then you have the problem of needing the driver to use the ethernet card to work, and needing the ethernet card to work to get the driver.

Not all USB to serial adapters are created equal. I don't know if the eMate/Newton's used Appletalk/Localtalk to connect to a Mac or not, but if they did, that's one protocoal the majority of USB adapters don't support.

Congratulations! You are about to experience a wonderful, adictive new type of computing.

As an emate owner you need to make friends with these two sites

http://www.kallisys.com/
http://www.unna.org/

The former has the software you are looking for. (You will need the USB to Serial cable)

BTW: What's wrong using an "Ancient" Mac?

JHV

nothing, its just that I don't have one

Or better yet, try to elicit more specific information from Newton die-hards by visiting www.newtontalk.net and subscribing to their list.

Robert

Just retrieved the email sent me by Joel M. Sciamma, a member of the newtontalk list who wrote me this comprehensive reply when I posted the same query on the list:

NCX and the Keyspan is the way to go. You don't need the fancy
translucent adaptor, the white one will do fine, is a lot cheaper and
has the product code USA-28 instead of USA-28XB (the current one on
the Keyspan site looks to be USA-28XG). Amazon have the white one in
the UK.

When you get the Keyspan adaptor, first install the drivers for OSX
as per the instructions on the CD or download from the link below -
the software is the same.

Then all you have to do is plug the serial lead into the eMate and
the other end into port 1 of the Keyspan adaptor and the adaptor into
the USB port of the iMac. Only then launch NCX, choose KeySerial1
(usually for the white adaptor and the translucent one) or
USA28X1b1P2.2 (sometimes for the translucent adaptor) from the NCX
prefs and close the window (important) then initiate the connection
from the Newt Dock app. as usual by choosing Serial as the connection
option.

As the Keyspan driver has evolved, the names of the virtual serial
ports have changed and are becoming more logical but it should be
possible to identify which port is which regardless.

It might be necessary to relaunch NCX or soft reboot the eMate for
this to work the first time, after which it will be reliable. NCX can
take some time to see the adaptor initially so give it a while before
force quitting - the setting will stick anyway.

To use the higher 115200 speed connection, you need to follow the
routine described in the NCX manual by downloading a small package to
the eMate (which is supplied) and a entering a terminal command on
the iMac as directed. After this it will only work at this speed and
you have to remember to choose 115200 from the dock menu on the Newt
the first time. The higher speed is reliable and does help a bit when
there is a lot of data to shift.

After the initial setup, just attach the hardware, launch NCX, launch
the Dock on the eMate and start working, it's quick and reliable,
uses no card slots and consumes the least power.

On the eMate, I suggest you have a package like Twerks which can move
notes to Works easily and since NCX appeared I have used Works a lot
more because NCX can bring up a list of Works documents very quickly
and choose one or more immediately whereas with notes you have to
export them all before choosing one. Other Works utilities can enable
HWR and more editing options. Outlines and checklists created in
Notes can be moved to Works while retaining the structure as tab-
indented which are then reusable in many outliners.

To send data to Works, TextEdit RTFs seem to do a good job in the
main with only the occasional glitch. Keeping them simple is best. Be
sure to set the right margin in the ruler to the same width as an
eMate Works paper and save a TextEdit template document when you have
settings that work for you. Experiment with fonts etc. until you
reliably gets the results you require.

For Notes, Names and Dates the best strategy with NCX is to export
everything and pick what you want in the iMac. In effect you are
doing a backup which can be browsed on the Mac, which has its own value.

I hope this gets you going OK.