EO Personal Communicator
Encyclopedia
The EO was an early commercial tablet computer
created by GO/Eo (both later acquired by AT&T
) and released in April 1993. Eo (Latin for "GO") was the hardware spin-out of GO. Officially named the AT&T EO Personal Communicator
, it was similar to a large personal digital assistant
with wireless
communications, and competed against the Apple Newton
. The unit was produced in conjunction with the Frog design, Matsushita, Olivetti
and Marubeni
corporations.
Among the EO customers AT&T claimed were: The New York Stock Exchange, Andersen Consulting, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, FD Titus & Sons and Woolworths.
EO, Inc., 52 percent owned by AT&T, shut down operations on July 29, 1994 after failing to meet its revenue targets and to secure the funding to continue.
chip, created by AT&T specifically for running code from the C programming language
. They also contained a host of I/O ports - modem, parallel, serial, VGA out and SCSI
. The device came with a wireless
cellular network
modem
, a built-in microphone with speaker and a free subscription to AT&T
EasyLink Mail for both fax
and e-mail
messages.
Perhaps the most interesting part was the operating system
, PenPoint OS
, created by GO Corporation. Widely praised for its simplicity and ease of use, the OS never gained widespread use. Also equally compelling was the tightly integrated applications suite, Perspective, licensed to EO by Pensoft.
Tablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
created by GO/Eo (both later acquired by AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
) and released in April 1993. Eo (Latin for "GO") was the hardware spin-out of GO. Officially named the AT&T EO Personal Communicator
Personal Communicator
The term personal communicator has been used with several meanings. Around 1990 the next generation digital mobile phones were called digital personal communicators...
, it was similar to a large personal digital assistant
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
with wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
communications, and competed against the Apple Newton
Apple Newton
The MessagePad was the first series of personal digital assistant devices developed by Apple for the Newton platform in 1993. Some electronic engineering and the manufacture of Apple's MessagePad devices was done in Japan by the Sharp Corporation...
. The unit was produced in conjunction with the Frog design, Matsushita, Olivetti
Olivetti
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines.- Founding :The company was founded as a typewriter manufacturer in 1908 in Ivrea, near Turin, by Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti...
and Marubeni
Marubeni
is a Japanese trading company, one of the largest general trading companies in Japan.-Offices:*Head Office - 4-2, Otemachi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan*Head Office -20-6, Shiba 5-chome, Minato, Tokyo, Japan...
corporations.
Among the EO customers AT&T claimed were: The New York Stock Exchange, Andersen Consulting, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, FD Titus & Sons and Woolworths.
EO, Inc., 52 percent owned by AT&T, shut down operations on July 29, 1994 after failing to meet its revenue targets and to secure the funding to continue.
Product specifics
Two models, the Communicator 440 and 880, were produced and measured about the size of a small clipboard. Both were powered by the AT&T HobbitAT&T Hobbit
The Hobbit is a microprocessor design of the early 1990s from AT&T. It developed from the company's CRISP design that was in turn developed from the C Machine experimental efforts in the late 1980s at Bell Labs. C Machine, CRISP and Hobbit were optimized for running the C programming language...
chip, created by AT&T specifically for running code from the C programming language
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
. They also contained a host of I/O ports - modem, parallel, serial, VGA out and SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
. The device came with a wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
cellular network
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
, a built-in microphone with speaker and a free subscription to AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
EasyLink Mail for both fax
Fax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
and e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
messages.
Perhaps the most interesting part was the operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, PenPoint OS
PenPoint OS
The PenPoint OS was a product of GO Corporation and was one of the earliest operating systems written specifically for graphical tablets and personal digital assistants...
, created by GO Corporation. Widely praised for its simplicity and ease of use, the OS never gained widespread use. Also equally compelling was the tightly integrated applications suite, Perspective, licensed to EO by Pensoft.
External links
- EO 440 and 880 specs
- The EO 440 And EO 880 (subscription required)
- EO 440 receives one of 1993 Byte Awards
- Personal retrospective about working for EO