The Definitive Pen-Based Computing Timeline

We are in the process of creating the definitive timeline chronicling the history of pen-based computing.
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GO Corporation and the Vision of Pen-Based Computing

We are constructing an online exhibit highlighting the many breakthrough achievements of GO Corporation.
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About the museum...

This museum is a tribute to those amazing, early pen-based computing systems — precursors to today’s smartphones and touch tablets.

The museum was founded by the editors of the influential industry newsletter Pen-Based Computing (1991-1998), and looks to build on an existing, superlative collection of early artifacts and stories.

The collection

The museum currently resides as a private collection featuring over 30,000 distinct artifacts, including hardware, software, documentation, magazines, press material, photos, and audio recordings/interviews.

The task of bringing the museum online represents a massive undertaking, and new items are added regularly.

How to donate...

We welcome donations to the museum with the purpose of not only documenting and cataloging this important segment of computing history online, but also with the goal of creating free, curated exhibitions for display in schools, libraries, and other public venues.

If you have anything you would like to donate, please send us an email. You can see the list of artifacts that we’re looking to acquire here.

Contact us...

We’re very interested in hearing from anyone who was involved in developing, marketing, or selling these early pen-based computing systems. More to the point, we’d love to hear your stories.

If you have an interesting anecdote to share, or would like to comment on some aspect of the history of these systems, please be sure to send us an email. Thanks!

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE MUSEUM

FEATURED

PEN-BASED COMPUTING: THE JOURNAL OF STYLUS SYSTEMS

Classic Articles

The PenPoint OS

GO Corporation’s PenPoint operation system was a seminal advance in the history of mobile computing.

See the museum’s growing collection of PenPoint-related artifacts.

Software

Third-party software developers enthusiastically embraced the pen-based paradigm.

Check out the museum’s early catalog of stylus-based software.

Magazines

Several magazines were dedicated to pen-based computing systems and the emerging mobile revolution.

See the museum’s comprehensive collection of magazines.

BROWSE THE MUSEUM

Browse the entire collection

WE ARE LOOKING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT…

We’re looking to get in touch with people who worked on early, classic, pen-based systems including GO Corp’s PenPoint OS, Apple’s Newton OS, Palm Computing’s Palm OS, and the GeoWorks OS. If you contributed to these, or similar, systems, please send us an email. We would be happy to share your stories and experiences on this site.

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