Newton OS was an operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1993–1997. It was written entirely in C++ and trimmed to be low power consuming and use the available memory efficiently. Many applications were pre-installed in the ROM of the Newton (making for quick start-up) and to save on RAM and flash memory storage for user applications.
Newton OS featured many interface elements that the Macintosh system software didn’t have at the time, such as drawers and the “poof” animation. An animation similar to this is found in Mac OS X, and parts of the Newton’s handwriting recognition system have been implemented as Inkwell in Mac OS X.
Shortly after the Newton PDA’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.
History of Newton OS is provided by wikipedia
Newton OS – General information
Overview
| Introduced | August 1993 |
| Price | Unknown |
| System Requirements | Apple Newton MessagePad Motorola Marco |
| Distribution | Package installation |
| Versions | 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 2.0 2.1 |
Source: Wikipedia, The Tech Journal, Apple
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