How to connect a Nokia 7110 to a Newton

  

After reading on the NewtonTalk mailing list an article (not present in any of the two archives) by Richard Avery telling how he connected a Nokia 6210 to his Newton, I decided to buy a cellular phone and try it.

My choice has been a model 7110 (mostly because of its price...), which however has a built-in modem, this being necessary to use it with the Newton without special software. I found also the data cable DLR-3: note that data cable for lower models (DAU-9P and the like) doesn't allow to use the modem (it's possible to use 51xx and 61xx phones for data trasmission with those cables, but only under Windows with a software modem).

Having the cable, we can test it putting it between the phone and a computer with a RS-232 serial port. With a terminal emulation program:

Minicom talking to the phone

In the picture you can see how to the ati (identification) commnad, the phone answers with its name, and to the ati2 command, it asnwers with the version number of its software.

But the Newton has no RS-232 port!

Yes, this could seem a problem at first sight. On the other hand, as many know, with the special serial adapter (dongle) it's possible to extract a RS-422 (Mac serial) from the Newton; moreover, RS-422 is compatible with RS-232: just connect the right wires. I did it this way: (pinouts are connector side):

[Pinout]

RS-232

[Pinout]

RS-422

12
25
33
41
58 & 4
62
71
82

On the Web you can find several texts about different serial interfaces: the search is left as useful exercise to the reader.

To test the adapter, link everything up (phone - DLR-3 - adapter just built - dongle - Newton) and use a terminal emulator on the Newton:

The program used is PT100

What about the Internet?

All right, at this point the only thing missing is using the phone to connect the Newton wirelessly to the Internet. You'll need Newton Internet Enabler version 2, and Modem Modifier version 2.02.

Here you can see the settings I use (the links are to a text version of the same).

Internet setup (link to text version)

Modem setup, part 1 Modem setup, part 2 Modem setup, part 3 Modem setup, part 4

There are some details to clear:

  • 2800 is the phone number of Omnitel (Vodaphone group) Internet access. It seems to be the cheapest in Italy.
  • There's no need for username or password, since the authentication is done by the SIM card.
  • The DNS number is NOT official: it would get sent during PPP handshaking, but the Newton doesn't understand it. The information come from an Italian web page (Come accedere a Omnitelnet 2800 da Linux). DO NOT use this number if you are not using Omnitel's service.
  • Configuration strings have been taken form the .INF file for the 7110 installation under Windows.
  • Someone might have noticed that the +CBST=0,0,1 command has been changed in +CBST=75,0,1. This allows the phone to connect at 14400bps instead of 9600bps. The information comes from an Italian web page (Portel). In some areas, the phone will not correclty establish the data connection if set for 14400bps. I have made two modem profiles, one for each speed. I still need to find a way to discover which one to use without trial and error (and paying for two calls).

Enjoy!