Introduction

NewtShare allows you to share documents located on your desktop PC with your Newton.

Simply start NewtShare, drag’n drop some files into the Container of shared files.
Launch NewtsCape on your Newton and open a connection to your PC via modem, serial or ethernet by simply entering the IP of your desktop PC. There you go!

NewtShare is basically a virtual webserver, that converts shared files into a Newton friendly format on the run.

The current version of NewtShare is a demonstration only! Not all functionality has been included.
NewtShare will be freeware and I’m going to release the sourcecode under GPL when everything seems to be stable enough.

Features:

• converts documents into Newton friendly output
• supports various graphic formats
• helps you with creation of background pictures for Avi’s Backdrop
  (special html file is created and images are fitted in size -> simply save output to package using NewtsCape’s “Save to package” function)

What filetypes are supported?

At the moment NewtShare supports the following formats:

Packages (*.pkg)

Sounds:

• Standard PCM Wave files (*.wav)

Images:

• Standard Windows bitmap images (*.bmp, *.rle, *.dib)
• JPEG images (*.jpeg, *.jpg, *.jpe)
• CompuServe images (*.gif)
• TIFF images (*.tif; *.tiff)
• Photoshop images (*.psd, *.pdd)
• Paintshop Pro images (*.psp)
• Portable network graphic images (*.png)
• Truevision images (*.tga; *.vst; *.icb; *.vda; *.win)
• Kodak Photo-CD images (*.pcd)
• Portable pixel/gray map images (*.ppm, *.pgm, *.pbm)
• GFI fax images (*.fax)
• SGI images (*.bw, *.rgb, *.rgba, *.sgi)
• Autodesk images files (*.cel; *.pic) old style only
• ZSoft Paintbrush images (*.pcx, *.pcc)
• Word 5.x screen capture files (*.scr)
• Dr. Halo images (*.cut, *.pal)
• SGI Wavefront images (*.rla, *.rpf)

Download

NewtShare is currently only available for desktop PCs running Windows.
Download the zipped file here.
After downloading read “license.txt”!!

Known Issues

• Thanks to Mike Lischke’s excellent graphic support library GraphicEx NewtShare has support for various image formats. However the GIF Format is not supported by the program in the right way. GIF files are simply copied to the destination. There’s no way for NewtShare to have them manipulated or converted. This is due to Unisys™’ strange license handling.
• NewtShare is secure:
  The server is virtual, meaning there’s no direct connection to the file system. Only shared files can actually be accessed. No backdoors.
  BUT: NewtShare is not password protected at the moment.

Mini-FAQ

I want a MacOS version... When do you think it will be available?

Well, currently I’m developing a new version of NewtShare using REALbasic™. Development comes along nicely, although I hate writing programs in a BASIC dialect, bah. But whatever! ;)

What about a Linux version?

There won’t be any native version of NewtShare for Linux. You can run NewtShare using WINE, though.

I’m using a browser other than NewtsCape. Is it compatible with NewtShare?

Well, basically every browser is compatible with NewtShare. But only with NewtsCape you can use the full set of NewtShare’s unique features, ie. creating background pictures, listening to sound, saving books,...

Can I use Lunasuite with NewtShare?

Yes, you can, though images will look ugly, because they are not dithered the way NewtsCape does it.

I would like to connect my Newton to NewtShare via a serial connection. How can this be done?

Connecting via serial (SLIP) is a problem with Windows...
I can't really tell you how to do this, because I haven't tested this yet...
There is a documentation of how to establish this in Linux and Windows NT:
Linux version:
http://archive.dstc.edu.au/AU/staff/da/stuff/newton-ppp.html

Windows NT:
http://www.sbi.co.nz/downloads/nientrasserial/ntrasserial.html

I recommend to use an ethernet card to connect to NewtShare.
Maybe I'm going to implement a SLIP server into NewtShare...