1979 Apple Graphics Tablet vs. the iPad 81
CWmike writes "When Apple launched the iPad earlier this year, it was the culmination of fans' long wait for the company to enter the tablet market. There's no doubt the iPad is a revolutionary device. But in 1979, an earlier generation of Apple users used a different kind of Apple tablet, back when the word meant something else entirely, writes Ken Gagne. The Apple Graphics Tablet was designed by Summagraphics and sold by Apple Computer for the Apple II personal microcomputer. (Summagraphics also marketed the device for other platforms as the BitPad.) To be clear, this tablet was not a stand-alone computing device like the iPad. Instead, it was an input device for creating images on the Apple II's screen, and it predated the Apple II's mouse by six years. Apple II fan Tony Diaz had an Apple Graphics Tablet on hand at last month's KansasFest, an annual convention for diehard Apple II users. He and Gagne, the event's marketing director, compared and contrasted Apple's original tablet with the iPad, snapping photos as they went." The contrived comparison is as silly as it sounds — but it's a fine excuse to look at some ahead-of-its-time gear, even in the form of an annoying slide show.
Poor comparison (Score:5, Insightful)
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In TFA, they mention the first version created interference on TVs, so they were RF, kinda like the Summasketch tablets used for AutoCAD in the late '80s/early '90s (you could see the coil in the *mouse*)
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Light pens from those days are probably closer to a modern touch sensitive screen.
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If you read TFA, you would notice that they do not really compare the functionality, but rather design, packaging, interfacing, etc. I believe it is more a comparison of Apple 1979 vs Apple 2010 than AGT vs iPad.
And interesting device comparison to do both for the aspects compared here and for functionality aspects would be the Apple Newton Message Pad 2000 series against the iPad. It has been compared to the iPhone quite a few times, and probably already to the iPad to. (I think that an iPad comparison is
Re:Poor comparison (Score:5, Funny)
If you read TFA, you would notice that they do not really compare the functionality, but rather design, packaging, interfacing, etc.
That is probably a good choice. I have the feeling that Apple's customers value those things higher than functionality.
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Name one Apple product that failed at its core functionality recent memory. Just one.
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The problem with this kind of rhetoric is that Apple redefines "core functionality" until it's pretty meaningless. They redefine "core functionality" so that it excludes things that even a 1979 Apple was capable of doing. That's why "geeks" give the new Apple so much grief. They have UNNECESSARILY castrated technology in the name of consumer accessability.
They're like the anti-Apple when compared to 1979.
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Also, when something fizzles, lately it becomes suddenly "just a hobby from the start" (vide Apple TV)
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Funny enough, it's fizzled so badly enough that most other companies would've killed it long ago as well. Fact is, Apple's still keeping it around for whatever reason, investing money into it. I'm sure the other products the fizzled don't get extended lifetimes as much as AppleTV does. Even considering it's supposed to be replaced, Apple's still pouring money into it.
I'm guessing there's a reason for that i
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Yeah, I never really understood the idea behind the Apple TV. It's like some hybrid media server/DVR/iTunes/whatever. It has no focus, really, especially with only a 160GB drive.
I'm guessing they're working on some new, very improved version that has a strong focus in at least one of the areas. If not, just cut the thing.
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From what I've heard, the latest iPhone fails at being phone, depending on how you hold it.
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Just as a side note.
In my opinion design and interfacing are part of the functionality - which is an aspect that
many feature ridden products neglect - and which is an area where apple is a leader.
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There's been an ad comparison which is almost shot for shot, word for word identical. Not that it stopped me from getting one.
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If you read TFA...
It would be even more useful if the /. article posters actually RTFA before posting.
Re:Poor comparison (Score:4, Funny)
You're right. That's like comparing a Canon 7D to a Barbie Video Girl. [vimeo.com]
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Why not compare it to, say, the Apple Newton. That would make a lot more sense.
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Eat Up Martha.
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Yes, the newton is a better comparison on features.
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A better comparison to the iPad is the Modbook [axiotron.com]. Axiotron, who makes them, took real MacBooks and replaced the lid/monitor with a Wacom tablet. As such they run OS X 10.6 or Snow Leopard not iOS or whatever.
Falcon
Seeing these photos reminded me... (Score:5, Funny)
The iPad(TM) is really boring.
Boring like minimalist music. Boring like Gregorian chant. Beautiful, and fascinating for its exploration of something more distinct in a single tone - but boring like an appliance.
But is it art? ;^)
Ryan Fenton
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Ahead of its time? (Score:5, Interesting)
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All lies!
You're forgetting "There's no doubt the iPad is a revolutionary device"!
Clearly Apple invented tablets back then, and now again with the iPad.
There never has been a similar device to anything before Apple produced it!
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Hardly. Digitizing tables date back to the 1950s.
How many consumer digitizing tablets were available back in the 1950s?
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Ouuu! I smell a potential patent: it's a consumer digitizing tablet! Like, totally different, boyo!
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Nice sarcasm, but yes a consumer device is different from a professional device. Nobody had VTRs or VCRs in their home in the 1950s and 60s, even though they did exist at the time. The first VCR that people could actually afford was Betamax in 1975. And later Sony released the Betacam VCR which was aimed solely at pro level.
Likewise the earliest digitizing tablet that people could afford to bring home would probably be the Apple Tablet, just as Apple II was the first consumer-level computer. (Although
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Digitizing tables date back to the 1950s
Analog tablets go back to pre-Moses.
Apple has been around for 3+ decades, a fascinating change in computing.
As a PC user I look occasionally at why to use a Mac but the one button mouse and high prices keep turning me to the competition. However, bundle an iPad, with a stylus that uses a button for right clicking, in a Mac deal so a user has the alternative of handwriting and touch input via Bluetooth or LAN as well as a portable subcomputer away from the desk, and M
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As a PC user I look occasionally at why to use a Mac but the one button mouse and high prices keep turning me to the competition
Apple's Magic Mouse [apple.com] is a 2 button mouse. Or third party mice can be used. Next to the MacBook Pro I'm typing this on I have a Logitech Trackman Trackball with 2 buttons and a wheel. I also keep a second one in the bag. However I can also simulate 2 buttons, just as I did when I used Windows. Just as holding down the alt/opt or CTRL key when clicking the mouse with Windows and
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That one-button mouse pretty much ensures that apps are desi
So let me get this straight... (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple had a crude input device made for them in 1979 that was called a "tablet" because its shape resembled... um, a tablet. Coincidentally, Apple recently introduced a mobile computing device that is also tablet-shaped.
Slow news day, eh?
No, it means... (Score:3, Funny)
No, what it means is that the Acolyte Tony Diaz has re-discovered a precious holy relic from the hallowed First Golden Era of the God-Emperor Steve Jobs, (May the Holy Kidney Protect Him). Such a relic proves the Divine authenticity of the Miracle of iPad and serves as a reminder of the omniscience of the God-Emperor Steve Jobs, (May the Holy Kidney Protect Him).
Relation? (Score:3, Insightful)
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Ugg, and there's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I thought that I was going to learn something, or perhaps gain some insight into the design process and it's consistency over decades of products. Alas, Computer World shows us once again that all they can write is poorly reported fluff [slashdot.org]. The article just a bunch of straws grasped at in desperation of imitating journalism.
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subby is an idiot (Score:1)
"back when the word meant something else entirely"
Uhh-- a graphics tablet was so named because it vaguely resembled a stone tablet. A tablet PC was so named because it uses an input pen like a graphics tablet and you can write on the screen.
The word still means the same thing, at least since the advent of graphics tablets. Just because you're not necessarily drawing pictures with the pen doesn't mean its not a graphics tablet built into a pc.
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I think you just made a pitch for the iPad. The nice thing about Apple products in general is that they work right out of the box without any fiddling around.
Beyond that, kudos to you for getting the grammar of your subject line correct.
Mindshare (Score:2, Informative)
Another day another apple slashvert. How very fucking tedious.
We can make it fun (Score:1)
Another day another apple slashvert. How very fucking tedious.
It doesn't have to be. We can have fun with this.
I don't know, even days we just pick on fanbois - although, that's been getting a bit boring too. But there's still room for creativity like; "Ha ha fanbois! You're now mainstream and you aren't so different or rebellious anymore!"
Or "Hey fanbois! Like Jobs says, 'You have a computing appliance'. What's it like to have an expensive toaster?! When are you going to get your Apple branded microwave the .....iWave?"
On the odd days, we can pick on the F/oSS guys.
What? (Score:5, Funny)
Hi Steve!
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Hardly an apples to apples comparison (Score:3, Insightful)
I read the article. There isn't much overlap between the two devices in terms of functionality.
so why don't they make them anymore? (Score:4, Interesting)
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The KoalaPad was also available for Apple. I had one for my Apple ][+. It plugged into the game controller port and came with a pretty decent paint program.
When Apple was a hacker company (Score:3, Insightful)
Back in 1979, Apple was a hacker company, breaking new ground.
Now they're a boutique. Their products aren't technological innovations, but re-use of existing technology in more comfy or trendy ways.
What computer science breakthroughs occurred with the mp3 player, or tablet?
With comfy/trendy products, you buy status symbols for conspicuous consumption. "Who are you better than?" is the eternal question of the fearful, and buying an iPad makes you for at least six weeks seem a lot cooler than your neighbor without one.
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With comfy/trendy products, (Score:2)
you buy status symbols for conspicuous consumption.
I don't know about other Apple hardware, and don't care, but Macs are more than just that. Mac hardware is better than typical PC hardware. And up until Windows 7 OSX was clearly more stable and usable than MS OSes.
Falcon
What I did find interesting - the toolbar (Score:2)
Flying time (Score:2)
Depressingly I remember the AGT from when it was new. Used one at a computer fair when I was 12 in amazed mode.
I remember these. (Score:1)
Someone else still wishes it was 1979. (Score:2)
Before the tablet (Score:2)
Tablets are new-fangled compared to the pantograph [wikipedia.org], a scissor/accordian linkage mechanism that digitized pen position by means of two potentiometers. I am unable to find a trace of the third-party commercial one for the Atari 8-bit on the Internet, but this research [adeptnordic.com] one will give you some idea -- except the one for the Atari was 2 DOF, was an input device only (no robotics or force feedback) and actually more closely resembled the classic Renaissance pantograph from the Wikipedia link. Recall that the Ata
Apples to Orange Juice (Score:1)
Nostalgia (Score:2)
Seriously, though... I don't recall ever really using the AGT for much, except maybe once or twice just to see what it did (my parents probably actually got it for my older brother, but I doubt he did either.) It was really just a high-tech toy without much practical application, so maybe the comparison isn't so bad after all.
I think it was fun to see t
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Number Munchers? (Score:1)
See for yourself (Score:1)
The full session schedule [kansasfest.org] is available online.
Some of the presentation's titles: "Magic with Macrosoft: Machine Language Speed for Applesoft Programmers"; "Apple's Growing Divide Between Users and Programmers"; "How to Use Your Apple II as a Dumb Terminal for Mac OS X"; "73H 0r3g0n 7r41L Game Mod"; "Apple III: A Closer Look".
The HackFest programming competition is especially cool.
Memories (Score:2, Interesting)
Decades ago I wrote a map digitizing app for the Mac II and that tablet, which in the mid-eighties I think had been rebranded as the MacTablet. I used LightSpeed Pascal (I was still in college.) It was cool. I even added a logarithmic feature for contour maps. The app would draw a picture of what you were tracing, inside a small window, while it streamed the digitized coordinates to another small window. Because I built it for engineers to use, it also had a recalibration feature during which the app
Perq used it also (Score:3, Informative)
The Summagraphics Bitpad was used as the graphical input device for the Perq. Rather than run a silly paint program, it allowed us to use the Perq as a CAD workstation to design the Perq II. Prior to that time most schematics were drawn on paper and netlists generated by hand. Graphical design saved countless hours and mistakes.
The Bitpad was fantastic compared to some of the other input devices [wikipedia.org] of the day.
One print page! (Score:2)
Ugh, too many links/pages to read. How about we do one page with its print page [computerworld.com]?
iPad as a tablet?? (Score:1)
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The iPad can be used as a Graphics Tablet (Score:1)