So, what's on my Newton? A lot of sites have their own lists, but why not copy them and mention it all?
One thing I did to help out my Newton was to remove all the NIE, Internet, web, Enroute, email, browser, you name it that I simply don't use. Makes life much easier on me when I have all that space free...
I suppose I should mention that I categorically refuse to use pirated software. That's just plain wrong. On the other hand, I'm inclined to try out lots of shareware and freeware in order to finally figure out what works best for me. I just happen not to have any shareware on my machine...
So, what's the freeware on the Newt?
- NewtDB was given to me for my non-profit work as part of my radio show at WMUC FM College Park. Dave Pompea is the man. A great piece of work, totally easy to use and wonderful to have on my machine. I keep the WMUC international music record library on my Newt, access the database to create playlists during my show, and transfer them to a desktop to upload to the web. Slick.
- nHTML is what's letting me write this with HTML tags on my Newton.
- Auto Rotate lets me not deal with the rotate button, since the only time I work in layout is when I'm typing in NewtonWorks. If keys are plugged in, I'm in landscape, else I'm in portrait. Simply convenient.
- I just grabbed CardMedia because it seemed like a nice thing to try out for simple databases. Since I already HAVE NewtDB, I'll probably be getting rid of it again. Of course, it IS nice to know to whom I've loaned my books and articles at work.
- Extras Layout let me put more buttons in the mp2k button bar, which let me get rid of a whole set of previous shareware things I hadn't quite decided to buy. Which was a good choice. Really. I mean, I understand the need to pay for shareware, I just haven't kept any on the Newt for long enough.
- Backlight Plus gives me a simple tap and I turn the backlight on and off much quicker then with the power button.
- HWR works lets me use handwriting in NewtonWorks, but I rarely use it. Because the recognition is quite lame and I spend too much time correcting its errors.
- OneTap Scroller lets me move pretty easily from note to note without any of the more expensive methods.
- Options let me add clipboards, implement freezing, and give a new alert at 30% of battery life, which was important when I was using NiCads.
- QuickPort is a simple way to do a text dump to the desktop where I use laptap.exe (written for the Tandy Model 100, but it works) to receive the files.
- Styles + is yet one more Foundation Systems hack that gives me a few more font sizes, and I use the StyleButton extension to put a button in Notes to give me quick access to Styles...
- T time is another Dave Pompea piece that puts a clock on the screen. Since I've made the clock-less Dates my backdrop (as I use it more and more), this really helps. In my other applications, it's right where the clock is anyway.
- Nick's Dix is not what it sounds like, rather, a dictionary that throws 1000 commonly used German words into your spelling thingie (what the hell is that list called that you get when you tap the "A" in the keyboard?). It makes life much easier when trying to write in German, so that "und" doesn't turn into "and" all the damn time...
Oddly enough, that covers it for the added packages on the Newt. I've gone through tons of others (Date Sum, Easy Access, Nifty Drop, Avi's Backdrop, various Works enhancements), but I always end up removing them again. I'm actually remarkably stingy with my money and remarkably satisfied by the basic qualities of this machine.
Of course, if I weren't so stingy, I would get more of the commercial packages (like some enhancements to the date book or linking of files or whatever). But for now, I'm happy with what I've got.
|
