Opus Rex
What it should do
Synch and control a PCMCIA based PDA. PCMCIA cards are big enough for a simple
PDA, yet are small enough to be extremely portable.
What is the point of such an app
Newton MP2x00s were designed to be laptop replacements for business users. To
achieve this, they required very large screen (for a handheld) and consequently
lost the ability to be a pocket device. Most of the time they are great for
personal information management (PIM) data, except that you can't really take
that data *everywhere*. On the other hand, PCMCIA sized PDAs are extremely portable.
These could then be stored and synched in your Newton, and popped out and carried
with you when you need it.
How to do it
Write a driver for the Xircom
Rex, a PCMCIA based PDA with PIM capability.
Another dreamy bit
- Put Palm OS onto a PCMCIA card. Drivers would let you synch
with the host computer (i.e. the Newton), and show the Palm OS screen on the
host computer's screen. The user would be able to control the palm from the
host computer. Newton handwriting recognition would feed into the Palm. This
would effectively provide the Newton (or any other machine) with a Palm -
only it would be a real Palm, and not a slower emulator. The PCMCIA card could
be popped out and used as a Palm.
- Alternatively, the PCMCIA based Palm could be a Palm OS and
core hardware (CPU, RAM, ROMs), but lacking a screen). It would then slot
into a much larger range of cases/fronts/accessories that provided the keypad/screen/IO/batteries
etc. The user could then use whatever "skin" suited them. The card
would take I/O streams and output screen data. Host computers or "skins"
would utilise these. In this regard the Newton would be a ":skin".
The card could then be popped out of the Newton, and put into a smaller carrier/skin.
Status
Not currently under development
Contact person
Rex Drivers - Daniel
Padilla has an interest in this.