[54] in bcs-newton
BCS Newton PDA Group Update
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Albert Willis)
Mon Mar 22 15:07:03 1993
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 15:00:01 EST
From: awillis@MIT.EDU (Albert Willis)
To: bcs-newton@world.std.com
BCS Newton PDA Group Update
===========================
Welcome!
========
For those of you who are new to the mailing list, welcome and thanks for
your interest in the Boston Computer Society's Newton PDA group. For
those of you who have been here since the start, thanks for your
support. The goal of the mailing list is to help jump-start the BCS
Newton PDA user group; the first meeting is March 29 (see next
headline).
For everyone: stay tuned; things should start to get very interesting.
You may have noticed that we've added `PDA' to the name of the group.
Seems that too many local people were getting Newton, the personal
digital assistant, confused with the town of Newton which happens to be
a suburb of Boston.
THE FIRST MEETING!
==================
The kickoff meeting of the BCS Newton PDA group takes place March 29,
7:00 pm, at the BCS office. The BCS office is located at 1 Kendall
Square, building 1400, Cambridge, Massachusetts. If you need directions,
please call the BCS office at (617) 252-0600. Tell them that you are
attending the Newton meeting.
Most people haven't seen anything but magazine articles about Newton.
For most people, this will be the first time they'll see Apple's
information on Newton, including brochures, the Newton white paper and a
videos of what Newton supposed to do. There's also the chance of a
surprise or two.
This meeting will also be a good place to give us feedback on the kinds
of services you'd like to see provided by the Newton group. It'll also
be our opportunity to let people know about the volunteer opportunities
available in the Newton group. Of course, there will be the usual
exchange of information, rumors, etc.
Mailing list stuff
==================
We are archiving the mailing list; the files are available via anonymous
ftp from world.std.com, in the /bcs/Newton directory. They are also
available on America Online in the BCS forum's file area. Use keyword
BCS to access the BCS forum.
As the group grows, we'll probably add more lists--for activists,
newsletter authors, etc. Currently, there's two addresses:
bcs-newton@world.std.com The general discussion list
bcs-newton-request@world.std.com Admin stuff
We are also in the process of collecting Apple press releases on Newton;
they should also be online soon.
Apple stuff
===========
I spoke to a couple of members of the Newton team at MacWorld San
Francisco in January. According to then, Newton is on schedule for a
mid-1993 launch. Actually, at that time, they were saying "2nd quarter"
but I think they've backed off that time frame. That would have meant
sometime in the April-May-June timeframe.
Other tidbits that I learned: the Newton operating system will use
QuickDraw as it's imaging model and a TrueType-derivative for font
display. Future Newtons will use QuickDraw GX as their imaging model.
The screen resolution is supposed to be 100 dots per inch. Compare that
to 72 dpi, the resolution of most Mac screens these days.
Q & A
=====
Since most of you are new to the list, one question I'd like to get some
feedback on is: as a potential Newton user, what kind of information and
services do you need from us? What kinds of things would you want to see
in a publication devoted to Newton PDAs? How would you want the
information and publications delivered? E-mail? Paper? Fax? Some
combination?
Your feedback will help us determine what services we should provide.
Are there other questions that need to be answered--about Newton or PDAs
or whatever? Feel free to fire those off as well. Thanks.
BCS Stuff
=========
The Boston Computer Society is a non-profit, educational organization
devoted to helping people learn about computers and computing. The BCS
has over 50 user groups and special interest groups. Founded in 1977,
the BCS has over 24,000 members worldwide. An individual membership is
$39; other rates are available. For more information about joining the
BCS, call or write:
The Boston Computer Society
1 Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 252-0600
