> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.sevenpens.com/drawtab/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.sevenpens.com/drawtab/misc/drawtab-history/appendix-timeline.md).

# Appendix: Timeline

### BC

* 14th century BC - evidence of wax tablet use (see Uluburun shipwreck)
* 500 BC - art depicting writing with a wax tablet and stylus
* Wax tablets used by ancient Romans and Greeks

### 1800s

* 1860s - Pantelegraph
* 1888 - Teleautograph patented by Elisha Gray

### 1950s

* 1957 - Stylator, the first use of a stylus in an electronic computing device
* 1957 - Lightpen - first technology that allows a user to draw directly on the screen

### 1960s

* 1963 - SketchPad software created by Ivan Sutherland
* 1964 - The RAND Tablet

### 1970s

* 1975 - BitPad by Summagraphics
* 1979 - Apple Graphics tablet released

### 1980s

* 1981 - Quantel Paintbox released
* 1982 - Adobe founded (December 1982)
* 1983 - KoalaPad released
* 1983 - Wacom founded (July 12 1983)
* 1983 - Wacom produces first drawing tablet with a battery-powered pen
* 1984 - Wacom launches WT-460M - the first tablet with stylus not attached by cord to the tablet \[1a]
* 1987 - Wacom releases first drawing tablet with EMR technology
* 1987 - Wacom creates a Mac app called Pressure Paint - may be the first application to support pressure sensitivity on a consumer computer
* 1989 - GRiDPad by GRiD Systems Corporation - first tablet computer

### 1990s

* 1990 - Adobe Photoshop released (Feb 19, 1990)
* 1991 - Painter (later Fractal Design Painter) published - one of the very earliest apps to support drawing tablets
* 1993 - Quantel Paintbox discontinued
* 1993 - Apple Newton released
* 1999 - Microsoft starts working on Tablet PC

### 2000s

* 2002 - First Tablet PCs released by OEMs running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
* 2005 - XP-Pen founded (April 8, 2005)
* 2006 - Microsoft Windows Vista released (Nov 30, 2006)
* 2009 - Microsoft Windows 7 released (July 22, 2009)

### 2010s

* 2010 - Apple iPad released (April 3, 2010)
* 2011 - Huion founded (Mar 12, 2011)
* 2011 - Procreate app released (Mar 16, 2011)
* 2012 - Around this time many key Wacom patents expire
* 2015 - Apple Pencil (1st gen) released (Nov 11, 2015)
* 2018 - Apple Pencil (2nd gen) released (Nov 7, 2018)

### 2020s

* 2023 - Apple Pencil (USB-C) released (Nov 1, 2023)
* 2023 - Wacom patents for erasers in pens expire (need to verify)
* 2023 - XP-Pen introduces the X3 Pro pen - first in their line of pens to have a chip on the PCB
* 2024 - Huion introduces the PW600 and PW600 pens - first in their line of pens to have a chip on the PCB

## Links

* **General**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet>
  * <https://historyofthearttablet.wordpress.com/>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tablet_computers>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus_(computing)>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen>
  * <https://www.etymonline.com/word/stylus>
  * <https://www.etymonline.com/word/pen>
* **Adobe**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Inc.>
* **CalComp**
  * [Tech Tangents - 90's CAD Digitizer and AutoCAD - CalComp DrawingBoard II](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAy08gnA_14) 2022-10-19
* **Microsoft**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Tablet_PC>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows>
* **Quantel PaintBox**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantel_Paintbox>
  * [ACM - Computer Graphics in Court - The Adobe/Quantel Case](https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/281278.281322)
  * <https://www.redsharknews.com/the-quantel-name-is-legendary.-this-is-its-story-and-ultimately-what-happened-to-it>
  * [1990 Quantel Paintbox Demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwO4LP0wLbY)
* **Sketchpad**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad>
* **RAND Tablet**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAND_Tablet>
  * [Aaron Rutten - The RAND Tablet - The Evolution of Drawing Tablets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAav9dNp9R4) 2018-01-12
* **Wacom**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacom>
  * <https://www.paintboxtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012-11-2009-08-Wacom_Art_of_Making_Marks_About_How_It_All_Started.pdf>
* **KoalaPad**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KoalaPad>
* **Apple**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pencil>
  * <https://www.edibleapple.com/2009-11-23/the-first-apple-tablet-from-1979/>
* **ProCreate**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procreate_(software)>
* **Huion**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HUION>
* **XP-Pen**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XP-PEN>
* **Misc**
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantelegraph>
  * <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telautograph>