computer science

History of tablet computers

History of tablet computers is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand History of tablet computers rather than just read about it. In short: The history of tablet computers and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing technology, and thus the development of tablets has deep historical roots. The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting motion was granted in 1914.

Key takeaways

History of tablet computers belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect History of tablet computers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of History of tablet computers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The history of tablet computers and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing technology, and thus the development of tablets has deep historical roots. The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting motion was granted in 1914. The first publicly demonstrated system using a tablet and handwriting recognition instead of a keyboard for working with a modern digital computer dates to 1956.

Early tablets The tablet computer and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing technology, and the development of tablets has deep historical roots. In addition to a number of academic and research systems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s: Pencept and Communications Intelligence Corporation were among the best known of a crowded field.

Fictional and prototype tablets Tablet computers appeared in a number of works of science fiction in the second half of the 20th century, with the depiction of Arthur C. Clarke's NewsPad appearing in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the description of the Calculator Pad in the 1951 novel Foundation by Isaac Asimov, the Opton in the 1961 novel Return from the Stars, by Stanislaw Lem, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in Douglas Adams 1978 comedy of the same name, all helping to promote and disseminate the concept to a wider audience. Star Trek: The Next Generation also featured extensive use of tablet computers. In 1968, Alan Kay envisioned a KiddiComp; while a PhD candidate he developed and described the concept as a Dynabook in his 1972 proposal: A personal computer for children of all ages, the paper outlines the requirements for a conceptual portable educational device that would offer functionality similar to that supplied via a laptop computer or (in some of its other incarnations) a tablet or slate computer with the exception of the requirement for any Dynabook device offering near eternal battery life. Adults could also use a Dynabook, but the target audience was children. Steve Jobs of Apple envisioned in a 1983 speech an "incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes". In 1985, as the home-computer market significantly declined after several years of strong growth, Dan Bricklin said that a successful home computer needed to be the size of and as convenient to carry as a spiral notebook. He and others urged the industry to research the Dynabook concept. In 1988, Apple, as part of the "Design the Personal Computer of the Year 2000" contest, awarded a project named TABLET, inspired by the Dynabook. This tablet included all the features found in "modern" smartphones: camera, video recorder, microphone, speaker, cellular communication, GPS, and more. In 1986, Hindsight, a startup in Enfield CT, developed the Letterbug, an 8086-based tablet computer for the educational market. Prototypes were shown at trade shows in New England in 1987, but no production models ever came out.

Early devices In 1987 Linus Technologies released the Write-Top, the first tablet computer with pen input and handwriting recognition. It weighed 9 pounds and was based on MS-DOS with an electroluminescent backlit CGA display and a "resistive type touch screen in which a voltage is applied to the screen edges, and a stylus detects the voltage at the touched location." The handwriting had to be individually trained for each user. Around 1500 units were sold. 1988, Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Acorn Computers, with Olivetti, would establish the Active Book Company Ltd, to develop an ARM based pen computer, with GSM connectivity, and utilising a Smalltalk based touch OS. The company would be bought by AT&T, and some technology borrowed for its 1991 EO Personal Communicator. In 1989, Grid Systems released the GridPad 1900, the first commercially successful tablet computer. It weighed 4.5 pounds and had a tethered pen resistive screen like the Write-Top. The handwriting recognition was created by Jeff Hawkins who led the GridPad development and later created the PalmPilot. Its GRiDPen software ran on MS-DOS and was later licensed as PenRight. The 1991, Atari ST-PAD Stylus was demonstrated but did not enter production. In 1991, AT&T released their first EO Personal Communicator, this was one of the first commercially available tablets and ran the GO Corporation's PenPoint OS on AT&T's own hardware, including their own AT&T Hobbit CPU. In 1992, Samsung introduced the PenMaster. It was based around the Intel i386SL CPU. As the OS, it used the newly released Windows for Pen Computing from Microsoft. The touchscreen relied on a chipset by Wacom and it used a battery powered pen. GRID Systems licensed the design from Samsung and was also sold as the better known GRiDPad SL.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with History of tablet computers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what History of tablet computers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to History of tablet computers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about History of tablet computers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of History of tablet computers

In research: History of tablet computers appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses History of tablet computers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: History of tablet computers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics History of computing, Personal computers, Tablet computers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for History of tablet computers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study History of tablet computers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what History of tablet computers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain History of tablet computers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is History of tablet computers in simple terms?

Why does History of tablet computers matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study History of tablet computers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on History of tablet computers.