Tikkabik

Several months ago I bought on eBay an eMate 300. I got it for a steal from a family that didn't need it anymore (they were kind enough to throw in a StyleWriter inkjet printer too). I'm just getting around to playing with it now, and I have to say that it's pretty darn neat.

If you're unfamiliar with the eMate, it was one of Apple's final experiments at PDA technology. It's a Newton MessagePad, essentially, but instead of the slate form factor, the eMate is a complete clamshell-style computer. It has a flip-up LCD panel -- monochrome, of course -- that backlights with a rather radioactive green glow. The device's form factor is thoroughly alien-looking -- rounded, organic, and a dark green color, like pond algae. It looks a bit like a first-generation PowerBook that was left out in the sun for too long and melted. But the eMate has a few design elements that were clearly echoed a few years later when Apple built the first iBook. A handle, for example, to let you carry it around without needing to put in a carrying bag first.

Newton OS has long been dead, and Newton hardware development is similarly deceased -- Apple walked away from the technology once it was clear that Palm was -- however briefly as it turns out -- going to dominate the PDA market. Yet the Newton scene is still quite active, as I've discovered -- I've already joined a listserv and turned up several really useful sites to help me get the most out of this little computer. I've learned that I can install a wireless networking card, for example. And I've also found a source for "recelling" the eMate's battery, which will come in handy as it's no longer holding a charge.

People scoff at Newton users -- they're too hardcore even for many notoriously evangelical Mac users to really understand or appreciate -- but what I've discovered is that they're really, really nice folks who share a common love for a neat piece of hardware.

As it turns out, my packrattish behavior when it comes to Macintosh hardware has finally come in handy. Getting the Newton to install software or synchronize data with a computer running Mac OS X isn't impossible but it is a pain in the ass; it's greatly simplified if you have a Mac with a serial port. As it turns out, I do -- a Power Mac G3 that's still running Mac OS 9.2. So I can install Newton connectivity software on the Mac and trade files with my eMate without too much of a hassle.

As a true-blue PowerBook user and someone who already owns a Palm-based PDA, I admit that I don't have a lot of practical application for my little eMate. So once I get my eMate's battery recelled, I might hand it off to one of the kids to use as a portable computer.

This isn't my first run-in with a Newton, by the way. I'm an OMP (Original MessagePad) owner as well. I still have it around here somewhere. I think it's keeping my PowerBook 540c company in a storage box.