On 7/1/01 Sean Luke wrote:
> My SER-001 arrived in the mail yesterday, and I promptly installed
> it. It's a professional device, but it does appear to have two problems
> -- has anyone else experienced these:
>
> 1. It doesn't quite fit, resulting in the back of the MP2K being slightly
> bowed out when you you put the screws back in. You can see this effect by
> looking straight at the serial and interconnect ports, and see a crack
> which widens as the back of the Newton meets the port. I also identified
> what appears to be a design flaw. The small chip on the board presses
> against a 100MHz crystal in the Newton. If it had been moved jist a half
> cenimeter to the side, the board would fit much better.
First of all, the space behind the blanking plug was not meant for a
mini-din
plug in the first place. The connector has been modified to fit. It is not
perfect, I agree, but represents a best attempt to use readily avalable
parts
for a simple, user friendly solution.
The '100Mhz crystal' is in fact a 100uF tantalum capacitor.
Yes, it does touch the chip but as the 32 pin connector height is actually
the highest part on the board, it is this part that sets the mating height.
I could have moved the chip slightly, but the end result would have still
been the same.
> 2. The keyboard isn't recognized!! WHen you plug the keyboard into the
> interconnect port, the Newton automatically recognizes it and allows you
> to type. Not so the SER-001, where if you plug the keyboard in, nothing
> happens. What's interesting is that *after* you have gotten the Newt to
> recognize the keybard via the interconnect port, you can then plug it into
> the SER-001 and type away. Turn off the Newton for a long period, or
> reboot it, and you won't be able to use the keyboard via the SER-001
> again.
This is not a problem. This is how the Newton operates. The keyboard uses
the serial port to communicate. The Newton needs to know when it is
connected. So the serial port is scanned when the Newton is powered-up.
If a keyboard is connected, then communications between the two are
established and you can type.
The dongle, when inserted, pulls pin 26 low. This is the wake-up pin. The
Newton will power-up at this point and do what it always does - scan the
serial port for a keyboard. If a keyboard is connected to the dongle, it
will be recognised and work.
The SER-001 is functionally, no different to the existing serial port. It is
not, however, a dongle and does nothing with pin 26.
If you plug a keyboard into the SER-001 AFTER power-up, it won't be
recognised until power has been cycled.
If you wish to check all this do the following:
Disconnect the dongle from the keyboard and plug it in. The Newton wakes-up
and looks for a keyboard. With none connected, it just powers up. Now
connect a keyboard to either port without powering down. It won't be
recognised.
If you now cycle power with the keyboard connected to either port,
it will be recognised.
The keyboard is only recognised after a power cycle.
> Anyone know how the Newton automagically recognizes the keyboard? Do we
> need to make a modification of the board to get it to work? Otherwise the
> SER-001 is quite a nice device. It's frustrating to have such a close
> near-miss.
>
> Sean
No modification of the board will accomplish this task.
Regards,
David Humphreys
Designer of SER-001
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