|NewtDump - A Newton Data Export Utility|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
Version 0.1b66 (build 66) October 6, 2000

Copyright and Licence Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NewtDump is (C) 2000 Victor Rehorst.  You are free to distribute and modify the program in any way, but you may never collect money for this software or any software or code derived from it.  If you have bugfixes or features to add, I highly suggest you submit them to NewtDump - see the "I noticed that NewtDump is Open Source, so How can I help?" section.


Requirments
~~~~~~~~~~~

-Windows 95, 98, 2000, or ME.
-A free serial port and a cable to connect your Newton to it
-A Newton with OS 2.0 or higher.
-Steve Weyer's Sloup program (http://members.bellatlantic.net/~sweyer/newton/sloup.htm)
-J.B. Hemlock's sup program (http://www.narcosislabs.org/newton/sup.html) if you want to save Packages.


What is NewtDump?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NewtDump is a data export utility for OS 1.x and OS 2.x Newtons.  It will allow you to export most kinds of Newton data into plain, human-readable text files.  NewtDump can export InBox, OutBox, or Notes data to plaintext files, and Names data to vCard streams compatiable with many desktop PIM packages, and Packages to PKG files.


Why should I use NewtDump instead of NCK or NCU?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I originally started writing NewtDump because I was going to start using my Newton for all my e-mail, but also wanted to store all of my messages as well.  I get a lot of e-mail, so storing it on my Newton was out of the question.  Noticing that NCU couldn't export In/Out Box entries for some unknown reason, I started out.  So the first reason to use NewtDump would be that it does something that NCU doesn't.  Secondly, my goal with NewtDump is to produce files that are human-readable (this is because I'm mainly a UNIX hacker and having everything in plaintext files whenever possible is part of the UNIX philosophy).  Thirdly, it is helping me to understand some very basic NewtonOS concepts, mostly revolving around writing EntrySpecs for Sloup and the soup structures.


OK, OK, enough already, how do I use it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plug your Newton into the serial cable and start up Sloup.  Click on the NewtDump entry in the Programs section of the Start menu.

You'll be presented with the main window, which is pretty simple for now.  Click on About for version and Copyright info, and Help for some quick help.

The Preferences window is mostly unused for now, but there is one important entry if you wish to export Packages: you must have sup installed (see the Requirments section of this file) and make sure that the full path to sup.exe is in the Package Export section of Preferences.

On the left, select which kind of data you want to dump.  In the middle, select the serial port your Newton is plugged into.  On the right, select the serial speed to communicate with Sloup at (and make sure Sloup is set to this speed as well).  Make sure the serial cable is connected and Sloup is running!!! and then click Dump.

Select the file you wish to write the data to.  If you select an existing file, the data will be appended.  If you type a filename that doesn't exist, it will be created.

If Sloup is open and the cable is plugged in, then the data will begin to transfer.  You'll see messages about the status of the dump in the status bar.  When the process is complete, you'll see a message like "OutBox dump complete!" indicating that the process was successful.


Why Doesn't NewtDump do x, y, or z random thing/feature/whatever?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because I haven't written it yet, or because you haven't written it yet, or because I don't think it has merit.  For instance, I doubt this humble little program will ever do data synchronization.


I noticed that NewtDump is Open Source, so How can I help?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you want to contribute to the NewtDump source code, first drop me a line (see "Contact Info") and let me know what you'd be interested in working on (a new feature, a bugfix, calculating the meaning of life, etc).  Of course, since the code is open source, you could always modify it and release it as NewtDumpClone, but why not keep everything together, for the good of the community?

If you submit a bugfix, please send me the complete package of project files as well as detailed documentation on what was changed.


Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NewtDump will always be available at http://www.chuma.org/code/newtdump/

E-mail the author at chuma@chuma.org


Thanks
~~~~~~

Steve Weyer for Sloup, and comp.sys.newton.programmer for help.
My folks and family for understanding that I'm a geek, and spending twenty hours a day in front of the computer is normal for me :)
My collection of music for keeping me sane.


Credits and Included Components
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All of the NewtDump code was written by me, Victor Rehorst, with the following exceptions and included components:

A wee bit o' code for receiving the Sloup data was lifted from Notes2Notes by Bradley Smith: http://newted.dyndns.org/users/bsmith/

SHBrowse.bas and SHFinfo.bas:  Browse Folder Dialog by Brad Martinez
            http://members.aol.com/btmtz/vb btmtz@aol.com
