Was this Newton ever brought to market?
ibara...@yahoo.com
Newton. There were two Newton prototypes being developed at the time. I
was working on a screen calibrator for the larger of the two Newtons. I
never saw anything but the LCD and its controller. Then, there was a
big layoff, about 2500, if I recall. Our whole division, Manufacturing
R & D was wiped out, my boss, his boss, and his boss and nearly all
their people. Later, the $40,000 calibrator we'd been building went in
the dumpster. IIRC, the Newton whose calibrator I was working on was
shelved and the smaller one, the Newton as we know it, got to market as
the 100.
The one whose calibrator I'd worked on had a larger screen than the
100. Its screen and the surrounding board/controller were made by
Sharp.The screen may have been about the size of the 2000/2100, but the
board surrounding it added more than an inch around the perimeter of
the screen. Does anybody know if the the larger one was produced? Did
it become the 2000/2100?
wkearney99
What's worse is the "Senior" never made it to the light of day. THAT was
sweet. Take a 2000 and put it in an 8.5x11" tablet form. Several
prototypes existed, I wonder whatever happened to them?
Not unless you're talking about the wedge-shaped thing, I think it was
called the 'cadillac'? That had a 2000 sized screen but a large bezel area
around it. One prototype I saw had a wired pen on it.
<ibara...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1102631331.5...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Laurent Daudelin
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "calibrator"...
-Laurent.
--
=================================================================
Laurent Daudelin Logiciels Nemesys Software
mailto:laurent....@ihatespam.net <http://nemesys.dyndns.org>
Replace ihatespam with verizon to reply
+++++++++++ Sent using an Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 ++++++++++
Helpful Harry
ibara...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> In late 1992 to mid-1993 I was working on a project at Apple for the
> Newton. There were two Newton prototypes being developed at the time. I
> was working on a screen calibrator for the larger of the two Newtons. I
> never saw anything but the LCD and its controller. Then, there was a
> big layoff, about 2500, if I recall. Our whole division, Manufacturing
> R & D was wiped out, my boss, his boss, and his boss and nearly all
> their people. Later, the $40,000 calibrator we'd been building went in
> the dumpster. IIRC, the Newton whose calibrator I was working on was
> shelved and the smaller one, the Newton as we know it, got to market as
> the 100.
>
> The one whose calibrator I'd worked on had a larger screen than the
> 100. Its screen and the surrounding board/controller were made by
> Sharp.The screen may have been about the size of the 2000/2100, but the
> board surrounding it added more than an inch around the perimeter of
> the screen. Does anybody know if the the larger one was produced? Did
> it become the 2000/2100?
The short answer is: Probably not.
As many people know, the "Newton" started out life as an expensive and
bulky keyboardless pen-based laptop computer. It later became a tablet
computer which was still expensive, and then became two competing
'products' within Apple's R&D department - the bigger "Senior" which
was still a tablet computer, and the smaller, cheaper "Junior" which
eventually became the palmtop Newton we know and love. It's possible
that the expensive and gadget-complex "Senior" later got downgraded to
form the basis for the eMate laptop.
The Newton and the eMate are the only two "Newton" products (plus of
course the 'Ink' handwriting recognition in Mac OS X) to ever make it
to the market place and be able to be bought and used by the general
public.
BUT, there were stories of Disneyland workers walking around with
tablet-style Apple devices bigger than the Newton, which were rumoured
to be prototypes for a new Newton. Nothing has ever come of those
rumours ... yet, but despite Steve Jobs assertion that he won't be
making a PDA the "new Newton" rumour continues pop up every other year
in one form or another (eg. iWalk), usually just before a big Expo
announcement. Or maybe it's because of Steve's assertion ... perhaps
the "Newton2" will be more than a simple PDA. :o)
It's possible (even probable) that Apple is still working on Newton and
tablet style devices in their R&D department, but whether any of these
devices ever see the light of day on a shop shelf is unknown. No doubt
some of the ideas will make it into future devices and future versions
of the Mac OS though.
Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)
wkearney99
> bulky keyboardless pen-based laptop computer.
Err, not really. The expectation was to have it be a PDA, that early
prototypes were larger is less relevant.
> It later became a tablet
> computer which was still expensive, and then became two competing
> 'products' within Apple's R&D department - the bigger "Senior" which
> was still a tablet computer, and the smaller, cheaper "Junior" which
> eventually became the palmtop Newton we know and love.
I think you might be exaggerating the 'competing' angle.
> It's possible
> that the expensive and gadget-complex "Senior" later got downgraded to
> form the basis for the eMate laptop.
The Senior was quite far along, plastics existed for it's case. It was more
rounded on the sides than an MP2000, had two PCMCIA slots and a battery
'tube' along the expected 'grip edge' of it. I'd hardly categorize it a
'gadget complex' since all it really had was a larger screen. The circuit
boards were different, of course, but not significantly so.
> The Newton and the eMate are the only two "Newton" products (plus of
> course the 'Ink' handwriting recognition in Mac OS X) to ever make it
> to the market place and be able to be bought and used by the general
> public.
Well, there were also the Schlumberger and other embedded units. Those
weren't retail products though.
> BUT, there were stories of Disneyland workers walking around with
> tablet-style Apple devices bigger than the Newton, which were rumoured
> to be prototypes for a new Newton. Nothing has ever come of those
> rumours ... yet,
The Senior did exist and was quite close to being a unit capable of being
put in to production. Whether or not anyone from Disney had any of them I
don't know. It's certainly possible.
> but despite Steve Jobs assertion that he won't be
> making a PDA
When Steve Jobs was given a demonstration of the Motorola Marco (wireless
newton) he was his usual rude and dismissive self, go so far as saying "real
computers have keyboards". It's no surprise all the Newton people jumped
ship on news of his return.
It's tragic they essentially just turned out the lights and bricked up the
doors on the Newton. Entombed as it were.
Helpful Harry
<wkear...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > As many people know, the "Newton" started out life as an expensive and
> > bulky keyboardless pen-based laptop computer.
>
> Err, not really. The expectation was to have it be a PDA, that early
> prototypes were larger is less relevant.
I meant the ORIGINAL device before "Senior" that years later evolved
into Newton. It wasn't meant to be a "PDA" as such (a term not even
invented then), it was basically a pen-based tablet PC.
> > It's possible
> > that the expensive and gadget-complex "Senior" later got downgraded to
> > form the basis for the eMate laptop.
>
> The Senior was quite far along, plastics existed for it's case. It was more
> rounded on the sides than an MP2000, had two PCMCIA slots and a battery
> 'tube' along the expected 'grip edge' of it. I'd hardly categorize it a
> 'gadget complex' since all it really had was a larger screen. The circuit
> boards were different, of course, but not significantly so.
"Senior" also originally reportedly had a pile of other technology
(basically an 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach) that bumped
up the price and size, much of which was dropped for "Junior" ... at
least to start with. Some of it did come back again though and
eventually "Junior" was doing many of the more useful abilities
"Senior" could, only smaller and cheaper (and perhaps slightly slower).
> > The Newton and the eMate are the only two "Newton" products (plus of
> > course the 'Ink' handwriting recognition in Mac OS X) to ever make it
> > to the market place and be able to be bought and used by the general
> > public.
>
> Well, there were also the Schlumberger and other embedded units. Those
> weren't retail products though.
>
> > BUT, there were stories of Disneyland workers walking around with
> > tablet-style Apple devices bigger than the Newton, which were rumoured
> > to be prototypes for a new Newton. Nothing has ever come of those
> > rumours ... yet,
>
> The Senior did exist and was quite close to being a unit capable of being
> put in to production. Whether or not anyone from Disney had any of them I
> don't know. It's certainly possible.
There's many products around that can't be bought by the public and/or
are prototypes undergoing testing, so it is possible that "Senior" or a
derivative of it was used by Disneyland workers, but more likely those
people actually saw were really versions of Windows-based tablet PCs or
perhaps some sort of larger Palm device. Apple doesn't usually put
"secret" R&D products out in such a public arena.
> > but despite Steve Jobs assertion that he won't be
> > making a PDA
>
> When Steve Jobs was given a demonstration of the Motorola Marco (wireless
> newton) he was his usual rude and dismissive self, go so far as saying "real
> computers have keyboards". It's no surprise all the Newton people jumped
> ship on news of his return.
>
> It's tragic they essentially just turned out the lights and bricked up the
> doors on the Newton. Entombed as it were.
And yet 'Ink' was inserted into Mac OS X ... so much for having to have
a keyboard. :o)
wkearney99
more
> > rounded on the sides than an MP2000, had two PCMCIA slots and a battery
> > 'tube' along the expected 'grip edge' of it. I'd hardly categorize it a
> > 'gadget complex' since all it really had was a larger screen. The
circuit
> > boards were different, of course, but not significantly so.
>
> "Senior" also originally reportedly had a pile of other technology
> (basically an 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach)
I've actually seen, held and written code for one. It wasn't a 'kitchen
sink' approach. It was larger with more RAM/ROM and a second PCMCIA slot.
But that's about it. It would of course have been more expensive but that
and available battery life had everyhing to do with it not coming to market.
That among the rest of the non-technical reasons the Newton group tanked.
> There's many products around that can't be bought by the public and/or
> are prototypes undergoing testing, so it is possible that "Senior" or a
> derivative of it was used by Disneyland workers, but more likely those
> people actually saw were really versions of Windows-based tablet PCs or
> perhaps some sort of larger Palm device. Apple doesn't usually put
> "secret" R&D products out in such a public arena.
Pegasus-based tablets (windows) were horrible, people wouldn't have confused
it. Likewise there weren't (still aren't?) any larger Palm-based devices
available at the time.
> > When Steve Jobs was given a demonstration of the Motorola Marco
(wireless
> > newton) he was his usual rude and dismissive self, go so far as saying
"real
> > computers have keyboards". It's no surprise all the Newton people
jumped
> > ship on news of his return.
> >
> And yet 'Ink' was inserted into Mac OS X ... so much for having to have
> a keyboard. :o)
Uh, the box is still sold with one, isn't it? It basically cannot be used
without a keyboard and the ink is just tacked on as another alternative
input device (and rather poorly at that).
-Bill Kearney
Helpful Harry
<wkear...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > The Senior was quite far along, plastics existed for it's case. It was
> more
> > > rounded on the sides than an MP2000, had two PCMCIA slots and a battery
> > > 'tube' along the expected 'grip edge' of it. I'd hardly categorize it a
> > > 'gadget complex' since all it really had was a larger screen. The
> circuit
> > > boards were different, of course, but not significantly so.
> >
> > "Senior" also originally reportedly had a pile of other technology
> > (basically an 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach)
>
> I've actually seen, held and written code for one. It wasn't a 'kitchen
> sink' approach. It was larger with more RAM/ROM and a second PCMCIA slot.
> But that's about it. It would of course have been more expensive but that
> and available battery life had everyhing to do with it not coming to market.
> That among the rest of the non-technical reasons the Newton group tanked.
DOH!
That should have said "the pre-'Senior' device" had everything but the
kitchen sink. "Senior" came along later when the original was
considered too expensive and over-gadgeted. :-)
> > > When Steve Jobs was given a demonstration of the Motorola Marco
> (wireless
> > > newton) he was his usual rude and dismissive self, go so far as saying
> "real
> > > computers have keyboards". It's no surprise all the Newton people
> jumped
> > > ship on news of his return.
> > >
> > And yet 'Ink' was inserted into Mac OS X ... so much for having to have
> > a keyboard. :o)
>
> Uh, the box is still sold with one, isn't it? It basically cannot be used
> without a keyboard and the ink is just tacked on as another alternative
> input device (and rather poorly at that).
True for now, but who knows what the future holds ... probably a small
phone-style keyboard for entering data like TXT Messaging. :o\
wkearney99
news:161220040850267050%
> DOH!
>
> That should have said "the pre-'Senior' device" had everything but the
> kitchen sink. "Senior" came along later when the original was
> considered too expensive and over-gadgeted. :-)
Well, I've seen most of the previous designs and none qualified as 'kitchen
sink' either. The earlier units were usually larger or more strange due to
the limits of available materials at the time. Using wired pens, wider
bezels and the like, were almost always because getting alternatives for
/that stage/ of development weren't practical.
> True for now, but who knows what the future holds ... probably a small
> phone-style keyboard for entering data like TXT Messaging. :o\
No amount of technology will help until they address the problem of people
without 'real lives' writing software for devices that are supposed to help
people that do. I've often said, letting programmers make lifestyle
software is like letting deaf people make musical instruments (no insult to
the hearing impaired intended). It may well LOOK like the right thing but
it sure as hell won't sound right.
Helpful Harry
<wkear...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> "Helpful Harry" <helpfu...@nom.de.plume.com> wrote in message
> news:161220040850267050%
>
> > True for now, but who knows what the future holds ... probably a small
> > phone-style keyboard for entering data like TXT Messaging. :o\
>
> No amount of technology will help until they address the problem of people
> without 'real lives' writing software for devices that are supposed to help
> people that do. I've often said, letting programmers make lifestyle
> software is like letting deaf people make musical instruments (no insult to
> the hearing impaired intended). It may well LOOK like the right thing but
> it sure as hell won't sound right.
That'd explain all of Microsoft's applications. ;o)