Penlite Prototype by Apple

Penlite Prototype by Apple
* UPDATE: 20070911 - Hey I just was perusing my own Most Views and notice this and it seems it also is a Penlite Prototype. But the only visible difference is that it's Stylus is Grey colored like the case.

Well I happen to find some downtime in the midst of my busy life and I decided to peruse the local haunts that I do when I search for all things Apple. And wouldn't you know it - since I've got a City Job paying even less than peanuts now 'THIS' decides to rear it's head out of the water like the Loch Ness Monster.

But how beautiful it was for me to find this Treasure.

I immediately contacted this owner and asked for permission to use the photos. A few hours later I was pleasantly surprised to find an email reply to my request grant such permission. And now you have on your screen this beautiful example of a Penlite Prototype by Apple. Most of these were SUPPOSE to be destroyed as I was told by an ex-Apple Employee (they all say the same thing) and they also inform me that they are at times allowed to take things home when they come up for disposal (usually NEVER a prototype).

You can find an example of this likely at the Computer Museum too.

Apple Prototype "Penlite" - Macintosh Tablet computer

DESCRIPTION: (this was what was listed describing the item)

Oh goodness, oh golly.
Xxxxx's closet of mysteries has outdone itself this time!
This is your opportunity to own one of the rarest macs in history, a Penlite - the first (and only) Macintosh Tablet Computer!
This is so rare, I haven't ever seen one sold on ebay (at least, not according to the ebay search old auctions feature...)
I'll do my best to describe it and what you'll get:

1) Its a gray scale Duo 230 without a keyboard or trackball.

2) Its got 12meg of RAM and what looks to be a 120 meg hard drive

3) It comes with a battery powered, pressure sensitive pen. As the pen approaches the screen, the cursor follows its movement. If you click with the pen, the cursor registers a mouse click. It doesn't appear to allow you to actually "write" as the newton did, but there is an application called Rosetta on the machine, which seems to have something to do with character recognition.

4) There's a Hypercard stack called "Inking Stack" on the desktop, but I'm not sure what it does.

5) Cosmetically, the machine is in great shape for being 15 years old

6) I've got a battery for it (standard duo model) but when I boot with the battery installed, the machine powers off when it gets to the battery CDEV. I suspect that the battery needs to be reset (somehow) or a new battery used.

7) At least one time when I booted it in the past week, it did the sad mac dance; pulling the power cord and rebooting worked, though.

8) It comes with a duo mini-dock, where you can plug in your ADB keyboard and mouse. Heck, I'll include a mouse, too.

9) Comes with a standard power supply (one of the flying saucer ones.)

10) The "feet" that normally cover the modem port and are usually made of plastic, are made of some sort of rubber; I didn't futz with them since rubber can turn brittle over time.

If you're an avid Apple collector, you won't want to miss this one!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_PenLite is wrong, by the way - it doesn't include a floppy drive.

Used by permission (Anonymous)
20070804