''Newton OS'' is a discontinued
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
for the
Apple Newton
The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. An early device in the PDA category (the Newton originated the term), it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Apple started ...
PDAs produced by
Apple Computer, Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
between 1993 and 1997. It was written entirely in
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
and trimmed to be low power consuming and use the available memory efficiently. Many applications were pre-installed in the
ROM
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* R ...
of the Newton (making for quick start-up) to save on
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
and
flash memory
Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...
storage for user applications.
Features
Newton OS features many interface elements that the
Macintosh system software
Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. T ...
didn't have at the time, such as drawers and the "poof" animation. An animation similar to this is found in
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
, and parts of the Newton's handwriting recognition system have been implemented as
Inkwell
An inkwell is a small jar or container, often made of glass, porcelain, silver, brass, or pewter, used for holding ink in a place convenient for the person who is writing. The artist or writer dips the brush, quill, or dip pen into the inkwell ...
in Mac OS X.
*Sound responsive — Clicking menus and icons makes a sound; this feature was later introduced in
Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It includes the largest overhaul of the classic Mac OS experience since the release of System 7, approximately six years before. It places a greater emphasis on ...
.
*Icons - Similar to the Macintosh Desktop metaphor, Newton OS uses icons to open applications.
*Tabbed documents — Similar to
tabbed browsing
In interface design, a tab is a graphical user interface object that allows multiple documents or panels to be contained within a single window, using tabs as a navigational widget for switching between sets of documents. It is an interface ...
in today's browsers and Apple's
At Ease
At Ease was an alternative to the Macintosh desktop developed by Apple Computer in the early 1990s for the classic Mac OS. It provided a simple environment for new Macintosh users and young children to help them to work without supervision. At ...
interface, documents titles appear in a small tab at the top right hand of the screen.
*Screen rotation — In Newton 2.0, the screen can be rotated to be used for drawing or word processing.
*File documents — Notes and Drawings can be categorized. E.g. Fun, Business, Personal, etc.
*Print documents — Documents on the Newton can be printed.
*Send documents — Documents can be sent to another Newton via Infrared technology or sent using the Internet by E-Mail, or faxed.
*Menus — Similar to menus seen in Mac OS, but menu titles are instead presented at the bottom of the screen in small rectangles, making them similar to buttons with attached "pop-up" menus.
Many features of the Newton are best appreciated in the context of the history of
Pen computing
Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using a pen or stylus and tablet, over input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse.
Pen computing is also used to refer to the usage of mobile devices such as tablet computers, PDAs and GPS recei ...
.
Software
Shortly after the
Newton PDA
The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. An early device in the PDA category (the Newton originated the term), it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Apple started ...
's release in 1993, developers were not paying much attention to the new Newton OS API and were still more interested in developing for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. It was not until two years later that developers saw a potential market available to them in creating software for Newton OS. Several programs were made by third-party developers, including software to enhance the disappointing hand writing recognition technology of Newton OS 1.x.
The basic software that came with Newton OS:
*Works — A program for drawing and word processing, with typical capabilities such as: rulers, margins, page breaks, formatting, printing, spell checking and find & replace tools.
*
Notes
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* Notes (album), ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) sho ...
— Used for checklists, as well as both drawing and writing in the same program either with a newton keyboard or a stylus pen.
*
Dates
Date or dates may refer to:
*Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner
**Group dating
*Play date, an ...
— Calendar program where you can schedule appointments and other special events.
*
Names
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A persona ...
— Program for storing extensive contacts information in a flexible format.
*Formulas — Program that offers metric conversions, currency conversions, loan and
mortgage calculator
Mortgage calculators are automated tools that enable users to determine the financial implications of changes in one or more variables in a mortgage financing arrangement. Mortgage calculators are used by consumers to determine monthly repayment ...
s, etc.
*Calculator — A basic calculator with square root, percentage, MR, M+ and M- functions additional to the basic functions found on a calculator.
*Clock — A small floating window type application, known as a desktop accessory on the Macintosh. The Newton clock also includes features for an alarm, minute timer and the date.
*Book Reader — Support for displaying electronic books is built in.
Version history
Handwriting recognition
The Newton uses the CalliGrapher word-based
handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition (HWR), also known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other dev ...
engine developed by
ParaGraph International Inc, led by former
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
scientist
Stepan Pachikov
Stepan Alexandrovich Pachikov ( rus, Степан Александрович Пачиков; born February 1, 1950) is the co-founder of ParaGraph Intl., Parascript, Evernote Corp. among other software companies which contributed heavily to the ...
.
The earliest versions had weaknesses that resulted in bad publicity and reviews. However, with the release of
Newton PDAs based upon version 2.0 of the OS, the handwriting recognition substantially improved, partially being a product of ParaGraph and an Apple-created recognizer pair: Apple's Rosetta and Mondello. Newton's handwriting recognition, particularly the print recognizer, has been considered by many reviewers, testers, and users to be the best in the industry, even 10 years after it was introduced. It was developed by
Apple's Advanced Technology Group
The Advanced Technology Group (ATG) was a corporate research laboratory at Apple Computer from 1986 to 1997. ATG was an evolution of Apple's Education Research Group (ERG) and was started by Larry Tesler in October 1986 to study long-term res ...
, and was described in 2012 as "the world's first genuinely usable handwriting recognition system".
The Newton can recognize hand-printed text,
cursive
Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...
, or a mix of the two, and can also accept free-hand "Sketches", "Shapes", and "ink text". Text can also be entered by tapping with the stylus on a small on-screen pop-up
QWERTY
QWERTY () is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six Computer keyboard keys#Types, keys on the top left letter row of the keyboard ( ). The QWERTY design is based on a layout created f ...
keyboard. With "Shapes", Newton can recognize that the user was attempting to draw a circle, a line, a
polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
, etc., and it cleans them up into "perfect"
vector
Vector most often refers to:
*Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction
*Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism
Vector may also refer to:
Mathematic ...
representations (with modifiable control points and defined
vertices) of what the user is attempting to draw. "Shapes" and "Sketches" can be
scaled or deformed once drawn. "Ink text" captures the user's free-hand writing but allows it to be treated somewhat like
recognized text when manipulating for later editing purposes ("ink text" supported
word wrap
Line breaking, also known as word wrapping, is breaking a section of text into lines so that it will fit into the available width of a page, window or other display area. In text display, line wrap is continuing on a new line when a line is ful ...
, could be formatted to be bold, italic, etc.). At any time a user can also direct the Newton to recognize selected "ink text" and turn it into
recognized text (deferred recognition). A Newton Note document (or the notes attached to each contact in Names and each calendar event) can contain any mix of interleaved text, ink text, Shapes, and Sketches.
[Read about HWR, ink text, Sketches, & Shapes in Apple']
MessagePad Handbook
available in Apple'
collection
NewtonScript
Newton OS runs applications written in C++, along with an interpreted, user-friendly language called ''
NewtonScript
NewtonScript is a prototype-based programming language created to write programs for the Newton platform. It is heavily influenced by the Self programming language, but modified to be more suited to needs of mobile and embedded devices.
Histo ...
''. These applications are stored in
packages
Package may refer to:
Containers or Enclosures
* Packaging and labeling, enclosing or protecting products
* Mail, items larger than a letter
* Chip package or chip carrier
* Electronic packaging, in electrical engineering
* Automotive package, ...
.
Timeline
See also
*
Apple Newton
The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. An early device in the PDA category (the Newton originated the term), it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Apple started ...
*
eMate 300
The eMate 300 was a personal digital assistant designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer to the education market as a low-cost laptop running the Newton operating system. It was the only Newton Device with a built-in keyboard. The eMa ...
*
Pen computing
Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using a pen or stylus and tablet, over input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse.
Pen computing is also used to refer to the usage of mobile devices such as tablet computers, PDAs and GPS recei ...
*
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
*
Motorola Marco
Notes
A selection of PDFs of Apple's Newton manualsNewton FAQ*Pen Computing'
*Pen Computing'
Newton Notescolumn archive
*
tp://ftp.apple.com/research/neural/larryy/ANHR/AIMag/Yaegeretal.AIMag.pdf A.I. Magazine article by Yaeger on Newton HWR design, algorithms, & qualityand associate
slides
References
External links
Additional resources & information
*
NewtonTalk discussion email listEinstein: a Newton emulatorCalliGrapher handwriting recognition software*
Reviews
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101208053412/http://perlnet.umephy.maine.edu/bio/wittmann/pooter/newton.htm Prof. Wittmann's collection of Newton & MessagePad reviewsbr>
CNET compares a MessagePad to a Samsung Q1 UMPC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton Os
Apple Inc. operating systems
Apple Newton
ARM operating systems
Discontinued operating systems
1993 software