From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MessagePad
MessagePad
MessagePad Newton devices featuring Newton OS 2.1 or higher
can be used with the screen turned horizontally ("land-
scape") as well as vertically ("portrait"). A change of a
setting rotates the contents of the display by 90, 180 or
270 degrees. Handwriting recognition still works proper-
ly with the display rotated, although display calibration
is needed when rotation in any direction is used for the
first time or when the Newton device is reset.
The Apple Newton MessagePad 100
Manufacturer Apple Computer
Operating system Newton OS
CPU ARM 610 RISC
eMate 300
Weight 1.4 lb (0.64 kg) W/ Battery
The MessagePad was the first series of personal digital as- Handwriting recognition
sistant devices developed by Apple for the Newton plat- Main article: Newton OS
form in 1993. Some electronic engineering and the man- In initial versions (Newton OS 1.x) the handwriting
ufacture of Apple’s MessagePad devices was done in Ja- recognition gave extremely mixed results for users and
pan by the Sharp Corporation. The devices were based on was sometimes inaccurate. The original handwriting
the ARM 610 RISC processor and all featured handwriting recognition engine was called Calligrapher, and was li-
recognition software and were developed and marketed censed from a Russian company called Paragraph Inter-
by Apple. The devices ran the Newton OS. national. Calligrapher’s design was quite sophisticated;
it attempted to learn the user’s natural handwriting, us-
ing a database of known words to make guesses as to
Details what the user was writing, and could interpret writing
anywhere on the screen, whether hand-printed, in cur-
Screen and input sive, or a mix of the two. By contrast, Palm Pilot’s Graffiti
With the MessagePad 120 with Newton OS 2.0, the New- had a less sophisticated design than Calligrapher, but was
ton Keyboard by Apple became available, which can also sometimes found to be more accurate and precise due
be used via the dongle on Newton devices with a Newton to its reliance on a fixed, predefined stroke alphabet.
InterConnect port, most notably the Apple MessagePad The stroke alphabet used letter shapes which resembled
2000/2100 series, as well as the Apple eMate 300. standard handwriting, but which were modified to be
both simple and very easy to differentiate.[1] Palm Com-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MessagePad
Newton OS Intelligent Assistant, a unique part of every
Newton device.
The handwriting recognition and parts of the user in-
terface for the Newton are best understood in the con-
text of the broad history of Pen computing, which is quite
extensive.[5][6]
A vital feature of the Newton handwriting recogni-
tion system is the modeless error correction. That is, cor-
rection done in situ without using a separate window or
widget, using a minimum of gestures. If a word is rec-
ognized improperly, the user could double-tap the word
and a list of alternatives would pop up in a menu under
the stylus. Most of the time, the correct word will be in
the list. If not, a button at the bottom of the list allows
the user to edit individual characters in that word. Other
pen gestures could do such things as transpose letters (al-
so in situ). The correction popup also allowed the user
to revert to the original, un-recognized letter shapes -
this would be useful in note-taking scenarios if there was
insufficient time to make corrections immediately. To
conserve memory and storage space, alternative recog-
nition hypotheses would not be saved indefinitely. If the
user returned to a note a week later, for example, they
would only see the best match. Error correction in many
current handwriting systems provides such functionality
but adds more steps to the process, greatly increasing the
interruption to a user’s workflow that a given correction
requires.[citation needed]
User interface
MP2000 Text could also be entered by tapping with the stylus on
a small on-screen pop-up QWERTY virtual keyboard, al-
puting also released two versions of Graffiti for Newton though more layouts were developed by users. Newton
devices. Ironically, the Newton version sometimes per- devices could also accept free-hand "Sketches",
formed better and could also show strokes as they were "Shapes", and "Ink Text", much like a desktop computer
being written as input was done on the display itself, graphics tablet. With "Shapes", Newton could recognize
rather than on a silkscreen area. that the user was attempting to draw a circle, a line, a
For editing text, Newton had a very intuitive system polygon, etc., and it would clean them up into perfect
for handwritten editing, such as scratching out words to vector representations (with modifiable control points
be deleted, circling text to be selected, or using written and defined vertices) of what the user was attempting
carets to mark inserts.[2] to draw. "Shapes" and "Sketches" could be scaled or de-
Later releases of the Newton operating system re- formed once drawn. "Ink text" captured the user’s free-
tained the original recognizer for compatibility, but hand writing but allowed it to be treated somewhat like
added a hand-printed-text-only (not cursive) recognizer, recognized text when manipulating for later editing pur-
called "Rosetta", which was developed by Apple, included poses ("ink text" supported word wrap, could be format-
in version 2.0 of the Newton operating system, and re- ted to be bold, italic, etc.).[7] At any time a user could al-
fined in Newton 2.1. Rosetta is generally considered a sig- so direct their Newton device to recognize selected "ink
nificant improvement and many reviewers, testers, and text" and turn it into recognized text (deferred recogni-
most users consider the Newton 2.1 handwriting recog- tion). A Newton note (or the notes attached to each con-
nition software better than any of the alternatives even tact in Names and each Dates calendar or to-do event)
10 years after it was introduced.[3] Recognition and com- could contain any mix of interleaved text, Ink Text,
putation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas Shapes, and Sketches.
such as "1 + 2 =" was also under development but never
released.[4] However, users wrote similar programs
which could evaluate mathematical formulas using the
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MessagePad
Connectivity Later efforts and improvements
The MessagePad 100 series of devices used Macintosh’s The Apple MessagePad 2000/2100, with a vastly im-
proprietary serial ports—round Mini-DIN 8 connectors. proved handwriting recognition system, 162 MHz
The MessagePad 2000/2100 models (as well as the eMate StrongARM SA-110 RISC processor, Newton OS 2.1, and
300) have a small, proprietary Newton InterConnect port. a better, clearer, backlit screen, attracted critical plau-
However, the development of the Newton hardware/ dits.[citation needed]
software platform was canceled by Steve Jobs on Febru-
ary 27, 1998, so the InterConnect port, while itself very Cases
advanced, can only be used to connect a serial dongle. Apple and third parties marketed several "wallets" (cas-
A prototype multi-purpose InterConnect device contain- es) for the handheld Newton devices, which would hold
ing serial, audio in, audio out, and other ports was also them securely along with the owner’s credit cards, dri-
discovered. In addition, all Newton devices have infrared ver’s license, business cards, and cash. Most also protect-
connectivity, initially only the Sharp ASK protocol, but ed the LCD screen.[citation needed]
later also IrDA, though the Sharp ASK protocol was kept
in for compatibility reasons. Unlike the Palm Pilot, all
Newton devices are equipped with a standard PC Card ex- Market reception
pansion slot (two on the 2000/2100). This allows native The original Apple MessagePad and MessagePad 100 were
modem and even Ethernet connectivity; Newton users limited by the very short lifetime of their inadequate
have also written drivers for 802.11b wireless networking AAA batteries.
cards and ATA-type flash memory cards (including the
popular CompactFlash format), as well as for Bluetooth
cards. Newton can also dial a phone number through the
built-in speaker of the Newton device by simply hold-
ing a telephone handset up to the speaker and transmit-
ting the appropriate tones. Fax and printing support is
also built in at the operating system level, although it
requires peripherals such as parallel adapters, PCMCIA
cards, or serial modems, the most notable of which is
the lightweight Newton Fax Modem released by Apple in
1993. It is powered by 2 AA batteries, and can also be used
with a power adapter. It provides data transfer at 2400
bit/s, and can also send and receive fax messages at 9600
and 4800 bit/s respectively.
The Original Apple Newton’s handwriting recognition was
Power options made light of in The Simpsons episode "Lisa on Ice".
The original Apple MessagePad and MessagePad 100 used
four AAA batteries. They were eventually replaced by AA Critics also panned the handwriting recognition that
batteries with the release of the Apple MessagePad 110. was available in the debut models, which had been trum-
The use of 4 AA NiCd (MessagePad 110, 120 and 130) peted in the Newton’s marketing campaign. It was this
and 4x AA NiMH cells (MP2x00 series, eMate 300) give a problem that was skewered in the Doonesbury comic
runtime of up to 30 hours (MP2100 with two 20 MB Lin- strips[8] and the animated television series The Simpsons.
ear Flash memory PC Cards, no backlight usage) and up Not even the word ’freckles’ was in the dictionary,
to 24 hours with backlight on. While adding more weight though the user could add it themselves. Difficulties were
to the handheld Newton devices than AAA batteries or in part caused by the long time requirements for the
custom battery packs, the choice of an easily replace- Calligrapher handwriting recognition software to "learn"
able/rechargeable cell format gives the user a still unsur- the user’s handwriting; this process could take anywhere
passed runtime and flexibility of power supply. This, to- from two weeks to two months.
gether with the flash memory used as internal storage Another factor which limited the early Newton de-
starting with the Apple MessagePad 120 (if all cells lost vices’ appeal was that desktop connectivity was not in-
their power, no data was lost due to the non-volatility cluded in the basic retail package, a problem that was lat-
of this storage), gave birth to the slogan "Newton never er solved with 2.x Newton devices - these were bundled
dies, it only gets new batteries". with a serial cable and the appropriate Newton Connec-
tion Utilities software.
Later versions of Newton OS offered improved hand-
writing recognition, quite possibly a leading reason for
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MessagePad
the continued popularity of the devices among Newton
users. Even given the age of the hardware and software,
Newtons still demand a sale price on the used market far
greater than that of comparatively aged PDAs produced
by other companies. In 2006 CNET compared an Apple
MessagePad 2000 to a Samsung Q1, and the Newton was
declared better.[9] In 2009, CNET compared an Apple Mes-
sagePad 2000 to an iPhone, and the Newton was still de-
clared better.[10]
A dedicated Newton store existed in the mid-1990’s
in Westwood Village, California, near U.C.L.A. It featured
the trademark red and yellow lightbulb Newton logo in
the form of an internally lit plastic sign on the storefront
facade. This store sold Newton hardware, accessories,
and third-party software such as games.[citation needed] Petrosains uses Newton technology.
Newton device models concept that visitors would use a Newton device to access
additional information, find out where they were in the
See also: Timeline of Apple products museum, listen to audio, see animations, control robots
Notes: The eMate 300 actually has ROM chips silked and other media, and to bookmark information for print-
screened with 2.2 on them. Stephanie Mak on her website out at the end of the exhibit.
discusses this:[11] If one removes all patches to the eMate The device became known as the ARIF, a Malay word
300 (by replacing the ROM chip, and then putting in the for "wise man" or "seer" and it was also an acronym for
original one again, as the eMate and the MessagePad A Resourceful Informative Friend. Some 400 ARIFS were
2000/2100 devices erase their memory completely after installed and over 300 are still in use today. The devel-
replacing the chip), the result will be the Newton OS say- opment of the ARIF system was extremely complex and
ing that this is version 2.2.00. Also, the Original Mes- required a team of hardware and software engineers, de-
sagePad and the MessagePad 100 share the same model signers, and writers. ARIF is an ancestor of the PDA sys-
number, as they only differ in the ROM chip version. (The tems used in museums today and it boasted features that
OMP has OS versions 1.0 to 1.05, or 1.10 to 1.11, while the have not been attempted since.
MP100 has 1.3 that can be upgraded with various patch-
es.)
See also
Timeline of Newton models •
•
Newton (platform)
Newton OS
See also: Timeline of Apple Inc. products • eMate 300
• NewtonScript
• Orphaned technology
• Pen computing
References
[1] Graffiti Accuracy
[2] Read about HWR, ink text, Sketches, & Shapes in
Apple’s MessagePad Handbook available in Apple’s
Other uses Newton Manuals collection
There were a number of projects that used the Newton [3] HWR accuracy:
as a portable information device in cultural settings such [1] See comments in Wired’s Apple Newton Just
as museums. For example, Visible Interactive created a Won’t Drop (4 yrs later)
walking tour in San Francisco’s Chinatown but the most [2] See text under "Handwriting Recognition" in
significant effort took place in Malaysia at the Petronas Pen Computing’s First Look at Newton OS 2.0
Discovery Center, known as Petrosains.[12] [3] See "Opportunity Squandered" in Pen
In 1995, an exhibit design firm, DMCD Inc., was Computing’s Why did Apple kill the Newton?
awarded the contract to design a new 100,000-square- [4] See comments under "Software" in MacTech’s
foot (9,300 m2) science museum in the Petronas Towers MessagePad 2000 review
in Kuala Lumpur. A major factor in the award was the [5] Comments by Pen Computing’s editor
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MessagePad
Device Model Processor Memory Display Newton Newton Ports PCMCIA Power Weight & Int
No. OS Ver- OS lan- Dimensions
sion guages
O
OMP (Origi- H1000 ARM 610 4 MB ROM, 336 x 240 1.0 to English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AAA or 0.41 kg, Au
nal Newton (20 MHz) 640kB RAM (B&W) 1.05, or or Ger- calTalk & PCMCIA- NiCd 18.42 cm H 199
P
MessagePad) 1.10 to man SHARP ASK slot II, rechargeable x 11.43 cm US
1.11 Infrared 5v or or external Wx cem
12v power sup- 1.91 cm D 199
ply Ge
Sharp Ex- ? ARM 610 4 MB ROM, 336 x 240 1.0 to English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AAA or 182mm x Au
pertPad (20 MHz) 640kB RAM (B&W) 1.05, or or Ja- calTalk & PCMCIA- NiCd 112mm x 199
PI-7000 1.10 to panese SHARP ASK slot II, rechargeable 28mm US
1.11 Infrared 5v or or external (with pa
12v power sup- screen lid
ply open)
Apple Mes- H1000 ARM 610 4 MB ROM, 336 x 240 1.3 English, RS422, Lo- 1 4 AAA or 0.41 kg, Ma
sagePad 100 (20 MHz) 640kB RAM (B&W) German calTalk & PCMCIA- NiCd 18.42 cm H 199
or French SHARP ASK slot II, rechargeable x 11.43 cm
Infrared 5v or or external Wx
12v power sup- 1.91 cm D
ply
Apple Mes- H0059 ARM 610 4 MB ROM, 320 x 240 1.2 or English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AA or NiCd 0.45 kg, Ma
sagePad 110 (20 MHz) 1 MB RAM (B&W) 1.3 or French calTalk & PCMCIA- rechargeable 20.32 cm H 199
SHARP ASK slot II, or external x 10.16 cm
Infrared 5v or power sup- W x 3 cm D
12v ply
Sharp Ex- ? ARM 610 4 MB ROM, 336 x 240 1.3 English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AAA or 182mm x Ap
pertPad (20 MHz) 640kB RAM (B&W) or Ja- calTalk & PCMCIA- NiCd 112mm x
PI-7100 panese SHARP ASK slot II, rechargeable 28mm
Infrared 5v or or external (with
12v power sup- screen lid
ply open)
Apple Mes- H0131 ARM 610 4 MB (OS 320 x 240 1.3 or English, RS422, Lo- 1 4 AA or NiCd 0.45 kg, Oc
sagePad 120 (20 MHz) 1.3) or 8 (B&W) 2.0 German calTalk & PCMCIA- rechargeable 20.32 cm H 199
MB (OS 2.0) or French SHARP ASK slot II, or external x 10.16 cm Ge
ROM, Infrared 5v or power sup- W x 3 cm D Jan
687kB 12v ply 199
RAM, 0.5 or US
1.5 MB
Flash
memory
Digital ? ARM 610 4 MB (OS 320 x 240 1.3 or English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AA or NiCd 10" x 4.5" x Jan
Ocean Tar- (20 MHz) 1.3) or 8 (B&W) 2.0 calTalk & PCMCIA- rechargeable 2.5" (3 lb. 3 199
pon MB (OS 2.0) SHARP ASK slot II, or external oz.) US
ROM, Infrared 5v or power sup-
687kB 12v ply
RAM, Flash
memory
Motorola ? ARM 610 4 MB (OS 320 x 240 1.3 English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AA or NiCd ? Jan
Marco (20 MHz) 1.3) ROM, (B&W) calTalk & PCMCIA- rechargeable 199
687kB SHARP ASK slot II, or external US
Infrared
5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MessagePad
RAM, Flash 5v or power sup-
memory 12v ply
Harris Su- ? ARM 610 4 MB (OS 320 x 240 1.3 English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AA or NiCd ? Au
perTech (20 MHz) 1.3) ROM, (B&W) calTalk & PCMCIA- rechargeable 199
2000 687kB SHARP ASK slot II, or external US
RAM, Flash Infrared 5v or power sup-
memory 12v ply
Digital ? ARM 610 8 MB (OS 320 x 240 2.0 English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AA or NiCd 9.5" x 4.5" Jan
Ocean Sea- (20 MHz) 2.0) ROM, (B&W) calTalk & PCMCIA- rechargeable x 2.5" (48 199
horse 687kB SHARP ASK slot II, or external oz.) US
RAM, Flash Infrared 5v or power sup-
memory 12v ply
Apple Mes- H0196 ARM 610 8 MB ROM, 320 x 240 2.0 English RS422, Lo- 1 4 AA or NiCd 0.45 kg, Ma
sagePad 130 (20 MHz) 1.2 MB (B&W) or Ger- calTalk & PCMCIA- rechargeable 20.32 cm H 199
RAM, 1.5 w/ back- man SHARP ASK slot II, or external x 10.16 cm
MB Flash light Infrared 5v or power sup- W x 3 cm D
memory 12v ply
Apple eMate H0208 ARM 710a 8 MB ROM, 480 x 320 2.1 (2.2) English IrDA, head- 1 NiMH bat- 1.81 kg, Ma
300 (25 MHz) 1 MB RAM, greyscale phone port, PCMCIA- tery pack 30.5 cm H x 199
2 MB Flash (16 Interconnect slot I/II/ (built-in) or 29 cm W x
Memory, shades) port, Lo- III, 5v external 5.33 cm D
Expandable w/ back- calTalk, Au- power sup-
Internally light dio I/O, ply
to 2 MB Autodock
Random
Access Me-
mory and 4
MB Flash
Memory
Apple Mes- H0136 StrongARM 8 MB ROM, 480 x 320 2.1 English Dual-mode 2 4 AA or 0.64 kg, Ma
sagePad SA-110 1 MB RAM, greyscale IR; IrDA & PCMCIA- NiMH 21.1 cm H x 199
2000 (162 MHz) 4 MB Flash (16 SHARP ASK slot II, rechargeable 11.94 cm W
memory shades) Infrared, Lo- 5v or or external x 2.79 cm D
w/ back- calTalk, Au- 12v power sup-
light dio I/O, ply
Autodock,
Phone I/O
Apple Mes- H0149 StrongARM 8 MB ROM, 480 x 320 2.1 English Dual-mode 2 4 AA or 0.64 kg, No
sagePad SA-110 4 MB RAM, greyscale or Ger- IR; IrDA & PCMCIA- NiMH 21.1 cm H x 199
2100 (162 MHz) 4 MB Flash (16 man SHARP ASK slot II, rechargeable 11.94 cm W
memory shades) Infrared, Lo- 5v or or external x 2.79 cm D
w/ back- calTalk, Au- 12v power sup-
light dio I/O, ply
Autodock
[6] See user testing results discussed in part 6 of [10] A very large number of references on
this A.I. Magazine article on Newton HWR slashdot.org, here are a few: "leaps and bounds
[7] MessagePad 2000 review at Small Dog ahead of what anyone was doing then or is
Electronics doing now", "recognition is out of this world"
[8] See comments under "Note-taking" in in thread attached to Newton Won’t Die, "still
MessagePad 2000 review at "The History and isn’t a handwriting recognition system
Macintosh Society" available that’s as good" in thread attached to
[9] What’s Right With The Newton: HWR NewtonOS Running on Linux PDA, "recognition
6
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MessagePad
of 3 years ago is better than anything else on • Newton FAQ
the market today" in thread attached to • Pen Computing’s First Look at Newton OS 2.0
"Inkwell No Longer From the Newton?", • Newton Gallery
"excellent handwriting recognition", "awesome • Birth of the Newton
recognition", ""great handwriting recognition" • The Newton Hall of Fame: People behind the Newton
in thread attached to The Newton O.S. Creeps • Pen Computing’s Why did Apple kill the Newton?
Toward New Hardware, "best I’ve ever seen" in • Pen Computing’s Newton Notes column archive
thread attached to Apple Newton vs Samsung • A.I. Magazine article by Yaeger on Newton HWR
Q1 UMPC design, algorithms, & quality and associated slides
[11] Assessment by Apple developer • Info on Newton HWR from Apple’s HWR Technical
[12] Prof. Warden’s MessagePad 130 review Lead
[4] [1]
[5] Notes on the (relatively unknown) History of Pen-
based Computing
External links
[6] Annotated Bibliography in Pen Computing
[7] Pen Computing’s First Look at Newton OS 2.0 Additional Resources & Information
[8] Egg freckles comic strip • Defying Gravity: The Making of Newton, by Kounalakis &
[9] Apple Newton vs Samsung Q1 UMPC , Special Menuez (Hardcover)
Features at CNET.co.uk • Hardcover: 192 pages
[10] Apple Newton vs iPhone • Publisher: Beyond Words Publishing (October
[11] http://www.felesmagus.com/newton/ 1993)
otheremate.html • ISBN 0941831949
[12] Petrosains • ISBN 978-0941831949
• Newton at the Open Directory Project
Bibliography • Complete Developer’s manual for the StrongARM
• Apple’s MessagePad 2100 description SA-110
• Apple’s MessagePad 2100 technical specs • Beginner’s overview of the StrongARM SA-110
• A selection of PDFs of Apple’s Newton manuals Microprocessor
• Apple’s press release on the debut of the MessagePad
2100 Reviews
• Apple’s overview of features & limitations of Newton • MessagePad 2000 review at "The History and
Connection Utilities Macintosh Society"
• Newton overview at Newton Source archived from • Prof. Wittmann’s collection of Newton & MessagePad
Apple reviews
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MessagePad&oldid=473159725"
Categories:
• Apple Newton
• 1993 introductions
• Apple Inc. hardware
• Apple personal digital assistants
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