Found this article on ThinkPad history

[ThinkPad R]

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/ThinkPad

In some ways I like it better than the Wikipedia entry which doesn't provide a comprehensive background story on the ThinkPad's beginning.

Still I notice the ladder sections are incomplete.
I was wondering if thinkpads.com's older feature on ThinkPad's beginning "myth" or "legend" (I can't remember the exact wording of the title) could be applicable, and if people on this forum who are very knowledgeable about the subject would join in and fill in what's been left blank.

[BillMorrow]

Birth of the ThinkPad [edit]

(CC) Photo: Andy Ihnatko
The ThinkPad 700C.
GNU Photo
The ThinkPad 710T, which closely resembles the IBM 2521, later renamed the ThinkPad 700T.I wanted to create a volume as simple as possible and as expressive as possible... and I thought the form of a cigar box, which at that time corresponded to the dimensions... more or less than a laptop computer had to have, would be an expression of what I wanted to do. I wanted to make an object that looks like a black cigar box and that shows on the outside nothing of being what it is... except for the logo of the producer. Then, when you open it, you see this is not a cigar box, but it is a computer, and you see all the complicated stuff inside. And that would create a surprise, and this is the basic concept of the ThinkPad.

cigar box..??!
from what i understand it was always the "Bento Box".. which is a japanese lunch box..
a black lacquer box meant to hold a japanese workers lunch..
thus the S30 with the piano black finish is a classic rememberance of the thinkpads origins..
the name "thinkPad" as we all should know descends from that iconic "THINK" labeled pad the IBM engineers and employees would all carry in their shirt pockets.. (I have two, one brown and one black)

The article here: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/ThinkPad
is very short and does not have much info..
on my old thinkpads.com website, well before the change in servers, i had a really good article on the origins and early life of thinkpads..
(not sure if i can find a copy, highly unlikely)

[rkawakami]

If you can't find it in your archives, try the Wayback Machine: http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http:/ ... nkpads.com

It may have been crawled and archived there.

[ThinkPad R]

Haha are you so horrified that in the interview Richard Sapper said "cigar box" rather than "bento box"?

[BillMorrow]

horrified..?
no, just confused..
everyone knows it was the black bento box and the "THINK" pad that were the inspirations..

[BillMorrow]

If you can't find it in your archives, try the Wayback Machine: http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http:/ ... nkpads.com

It may have been crawled and archived there.

holycow..!

what a trip down memory lane THAT is..
i did some cursory searching but no brass ring.. so far..
its way past my bed time (as usual) so i will pick it up on sunday.. daytime, sunday..

thanks ray..!