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Connecting to the Web | Accessing Sites and Pages | Gracefully Degraded Content

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mp2kConnecting to the Web

  • Although a lot of information and software about the Newton has disappeared,
    there was just enough available -- along with some trial and error
    -- to access the web using Newt's Cape on my MP2K,
    last tested in 2017 on macOS 10.13 (High Sierra)
  • Newton Connection (NCX): install packages, screenshots, backup/restore;
    directions #1; #2
  • KeySpan serial adapter: USB to Mac, serial cable to MP2K interconnect dongle
    -- works with current driver, but often crashes Mac (High Sierra) when initially plugged in, then ok after reboot.
  • Better to use: UGREEN USB 2.0 to RS232 DB9 Serial Cable
  • keyspanDriver packages and directions for Newton Internet Enabler(NIE)
    and older, selected Ethernet and wireless cards still exist: #1; #2
  • 3COM Etherlink III (3C589D-TP) PCMCIA card was recognized,
    and initiated an NIE connection, but errors persisted.
  • Switched to Lucent Orinoco Silver Wi-Fi (PC24E-H-FC; 11Mb/sec) PCMCIA card.
  • wifi cardInstalled the famous Hiroshi WaveLan driver; directions: see #1&#2 above; plus: #1; #2; #3
  • Note: older wireless cards use 802.11b, 2.4GHz and 64-bit WEP;
    router has to be backward compatible for these slower, less secure protocols.
  • Depending on age / capabilities of router, maybe you can create a separate network
    -- and keep WPA security enabled for your regular network(s).
    On my TP-Link Archer C7, I set up a 2.4GHz 'Guest Network' with a separate name;
    Hide SSID: enabled (so the neighbors can’t see the name);
    Wireless Security: off (my router did not support 802.11b on Guest (nor on 5GHz network),
    though it did support b on regular 2.4GHz network)
  • Success!

Accessing Sites and Pages

  • Newton browsers were designed around original HTML standard & technologies;
    however, modern, large, complex web pages might exhaust working memory; CSS formatting,
    JavaScript interactivity, .png images, videos, and secure https: connections are not supported
    -- though with advent of mbedtls-NewtonOS library, perhaps https might be feasible.
  • Still, it's possible with some persistence and a few extra tricks,
    to extract and display useful content for some sites, hopefully for awhile longer
    -- quite an impressive feat for a 20+ year-old device and software.
    web.archive.org (the 'Wayback Machine') can often provide access to older versions of many pages.
  • Three approaches:
  • 1. "Gracefully Degraded Content" [more below]: full (often desktop) pages via regular site URL & browser settings;
    what can't be processed is usually ignored. Grant Hutchinson (and others) discuss and show Newton screenshots
    from the 2010-2012 era. Since then, many more sites support https: and provide richer layouts and interfaces
    -- normally good things, but unfortunately, much more challenging for the Newton.
  • Travel Back to 1990 With the Original World Wide Web Browser: worldwideweb.cern.ch;
    no images, CSS, JavaScript, etc.; Gizmodo; 2/19/2019
  • 2. "Mobile-friendly" pages (via Adaptive or Responsive Web Design) can often be accessed
  • either manually by special mobile URLs ("m." or "mobile." prefix or ".mobi" domain)
  • or automatically by spoofing the User-Agent in Newt's Cape
    -- server might provide pages to better match a device's capabilities.
  • In practice, however, since most modern devices can handle large complex pages,
    many sites redirect to https: or desktop versions.
    If anyone would like to explore this option further, contact Steve for more details.
  • 3. A Mobile HTML Transcoder uses a Proxy server to generate a simpler (maybe smaller, more mobile-friendly) page, e.g.,
  • NEW: FrogFind (powered by DuckDuckGo) is optimized for vintage computers and browsers,
    -- including the Newton!! -- by converting the search result pages to extremely basic HTML,
    using Mozilla's Readability and other techniques.
  • Loband (form)
  • Newt's Cape: http://www.loband.org/loband/page?_ab_url=http://yourURL
  • Google Web Light (info)
  • Newt's Cape: http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=http://yourURL

Gracefully Degraded Content

Grant Hutchinson:
This series of screenshots shows Apple's questionably named HTML5
and web standards showcase pages displayed on a Newton MessagePad 2100.

The Newton was running Eckhart Köppen's lightweight, text-only Courier web browser,
as well as Steve Weyer's more capable Newt's Cape browser.

Keep in mind that both browsers were developed prior to the existence of HTML5.
While neither piece of software supports the advanced interaction or layout effects afforded
by JavaScript and CSS3, the clean HTML5 markup is completely accessible.

That's called gracefully degraded content.