[PHoynak]

I just purchased a Newton 120 with Newton OS 2.0 off Ebay. I have many questions and appreciate any help.

1. Can I sync it to my iMac?
2. Where can I find software/ accessories for it?
3. What upgrades are available?
4. Where can I find info on how to use it?

[TimmyDee51]

Welcome to the Newton community! I would first recommend signing up for the NewtonTalk mailing list at www.planetnewton.com . As for your questions, here are a few answers.

1. Yes, you can sync it to your Mac. If you have a beige Mac, just get a standard DIN-8 or DIN-9 cable (printer cable) to connect to your serial port. If you have a new USB only Mac, use a serial-to-USB adapter.

2. As for sofware, try www.unna.org , www.chuma.org/newton , or www.planetnewton.com . Accessories can be found at www.sunrem.com or ebay.

3. I don't think there are any upgrades for your 120. You have OS 2.0, so thats the best the 120 gets.

4. Try the Newton FAQ at either www.chuma.org/newton or This Old Newt (easily accessible through www.woz.org ) or www.info-newt.com .

I think you'll find the Newton the best PDA you'll ever have used (if you have used one before). I have gone from a 130 to a 2000 to a uMP2000 in a short time. I love the platform and the community is second to none: developers are still active and everyone is helpful.

I concur.
There are ways to upgrade your 120 however.
The biggest is to add a FlashCard to get more storage/memory. But you can also add a PCMCIA modem for faxing or phone dialing.

TimmyDee50: what is a uMP2000? Is that a MP2100?

[TimmyDee51]

A uMP2000 is an upgraded MP2k. Either Apple or someone like Dr. Newton or PixSolutions upgraded the RAM (user RAM, not storage) to 4 MB from the 900 some k it had. Mine was done by Apple and has a little "MP2100" sticker by the interconnect port. The added RAM sure is nice, as I have had a regular 2000 as well.

As for the external "upgrades," I would recommend a flash card for sure and a modem or ethernet card (although I don't know if ethernet works on 2.0 -- maybe only 2.1) depending on your situation. Talk to a local ISP, as the flash cards they use for their routers can be used in the Newton for some time after they are beyond use to the ISP.