Tadpole Computer

Tadpole Computer
Founded1994; 32 years ago (1994)
Defunct2005
FateAcquired by General Dynamics
Headquarters
Cupertino
,
United States
ProductsLaptops, servers, workstations
Websitewww.tadpolecomputer.com

Tadpole Computer became a manufacturer of UNIX workstations, thick and thin client laptops, and lightweight servers, having started as a manufacturer of single-board UNIX computers.

History

Tadpole was founded in the late 1980s, originally based in Cambridge, England. Initial funding was based on the credit card of the then-MD. The main manufacturing was carried out in Cambridge in a small advanced facility on the Cambridge Science Park with re-assembly of the laptops occurring in the Austin, TX, offices.

In 1998, Tadpole acquired RDI Computer Corporation of Carlsbad, California, who produced the competing Britelite and Powerlite portable SPARC-based systems, for $6 million.

Tadpole was later acquired by defense contractor General Dynamics, in April 2005.

Production continued until March 2013 but since then, they no longer sell any systems; and support for their products was provided by Flextronics. Flextronics discontinued Tadpole support around 2019. Vector Data, a Tadpole OEM, still provides legacy Tadpole systems and support.

An anonymous US intelligence officer had stated to Reuters in 2013 that a decade earlier the US secretly created a company reselling laptops from Tadpole Computer to Asian governments. The reseller added secret software that allowed intelligence analysts to access the machines remotely.

Products

Tadpole laptops used a variety of architectures, such as SPARC, Alpha, PowerPC and x86. Although very expensive, these classic Tadpoles won favour as a method to show corporation's proprietary software (IBM/HP/DEC) on a self-contained portable device on a client site in the days before remote connectivity.[citation needed]

SPARC

SPARCbook 3 in Computer History Museum

The original SPARCbook 1 was introduced in 1992 with 8–32 MB RAM and a 25 MHz processor. It was followed by several further SPARCbooks, UltraSPARCbooks (branded as Ultrabooks) – and the Voyager IIi. These all ran the SunOS or Solaris operating systems. In 2004, Tadpole released the Viper laptop.

The SPARCLE was based on a 500-600 MHz UltraSPARC IIe or 1 GHz UltraSPARC IIIi.

DEC Alpha

Demo of the Tadpole ALPHAbook 1 at VMworld 2011

An Alpha-based laptop, the ALPHAbook 1, was announced on 4 December 1995 and became available in 1996. The Alphabook 1 was manufactured in Cambridge, England. It used an Alpha 21066A microprocessor specified for a maximum clock frequency of 233 MHz. The laptop used the OpenVMS operating system.

IBM PowerPC

A PowerPC-based laptop was also produced – the IBM RISC System/6000 N40 Notebook Workstation, powered by a 50 MHz PowerPC 601 and with between 16 and 64MB RAM – and designed to run IBM AIX.

x86

Tadpole also produced a range of x86-based notebook computers, including the Tadpole P1000, and the TALIN laptops with SUSE Linux, or optionally Microsoft Windows.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tadpole Technology: Industry news" (PDF). 2020-04-20. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-04-20. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  2. ↑ "Tadpole Technology purchases major competitor RDI Computer Corporation - SunWorld - August 1998". sunsite.uakom.sk. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  3. ↑ "Form 10-K, General Dynamics Corporation". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  4. ↑ "Strong ties bind spy agencies and Silicon Valley". Reuters. 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  5. ↑ "Tadpole Eyes Athlon 64, Multiprocessor Sparc Notebooks - ExtremeTech". www.extremetech.com. 11 March 2003. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  6. ↑ Chronology of Workstation Computers (1991-1992) Archived April 2, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Sub-$6,000 Sparc Notebook Announced, By Martin Marshall, InfoWorld, 27 May 1991, Page 32
  8. ↑ Advert: Meet the Notebook that Breaks the Mold: SPARCbook 1: Tadpole, Computerworld, 23 Mar 1992, Page 37
  9. ↑ Tadpole release Sparc notebooks, By Yvonne L. Lee, InfoWorld, 21 Feb 1994, Page 33, ...The $10,950 SparcBook 3....The $7,500 SparcBook 3LC...
  10. ↑ SPARC notebook manufacturer promises desktop performance, by Michael Fitzgerald, Computerworld, 28 Feb 1994, Page 41, ...Tadpole Technology Inc. in Austin, Texas, announced its third SPARC notebook....The $10,950 SPARCbook 3 uses Texas insstruments, Inc.'s 50-MHz MicroSPARC processor...
  11. ↑ "Tadpole SPARCbook 3", computinghistory.org.uk
  12. ↑ SPARCbook 3000ST - The coolest 90s laptop, March 14, 2019, adafruit.com
  13. ↑ Table 11-1: Identifying Different SPARC CPUs, Page 256, Sun Performance and Tuning: Java and the Internet, By Adrian Cockcroft, Richard Pettit, Sun Microsystems, ...System(Kernel Architecture): Tadpole SPARCbook 1 (sun4m) / CPU Mhz: 25 / CPU Type: Cypress 601...System(Kernel Architecture): Tadpole SPARCbook 2 (sun4m) / CPU Mhz: 40 / CPU Type: Fujitsu MB86903...System(Kernel Architecture): Tadpole SPARCbook 3 (sun4m) / CPU Mhz: 85-110 / CPU Type: microSPARC II...
  14. ↑ Sparc-based notebook ready to debut: Tadpole system uses Cypress processor, runs Solaris operating system, By Cate Corcoran, InfoWorld Dec 28, 1992 - Jan 4, 1993, Page 23
  15. ↑ "Tadpole leaps to Sparc portable workstation". CNET. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  16. ↑ "Tadpole". 2004-06-04. Archived from the original on 2004-06-04. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  17. ↑ "Tadpole Technology announces the ALPHAbook 1, the world's most powerful notebook computer". Business Wire. December 3, 1995. Retrieved September 2, 2008.
  18. ↑ HP OpenVMS Systems Documentation Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  19. ↑ "IBM RISC System/6000 N40 Notebook Workstation", March 8, 1994, Announcement Number: 194-062
  20. ↑ "RS/6000 Notebook 860" (PDF).
  21. ↑ Tadpole boosts power in Pentium-, Sparc-based notebooks, By Yvonne L. Lee, InfoWorld, 24 Jul 1995, Page 45, ...The two new notebooks, shipping now, include the SparcBook 3GX...and the Tadpole P1300, the first 133-MHz Pentium-based notebook...A Pentium notebook with 8MB of RAM and a 340MB hard disk cost $6,995...