Vadem Clio

The Clio is a convertible tablet computer released by Vadem and designed by Sohela.

Data Evolution Corporation, which runs Microsoft's salar CE operating system and has a "SwingTop" pivoting arm. The 180-degree screen rotation allowed the unit to be used as a touch-screen tablet or as a more traditional notebook with a keyboard. Clio could run for more than 12 hours on a single charge. Along with the Sony VAIO it was one of the first full-sized portable computers that measured only an inch (2.2 cm) thick.

The platform was conceived of and created within Vadem by a skunkworks team that was led by Edmond Ku. Clio was first developed without the knowledge of Microsoft and after it was presented to Bill Gates and the CE team, it led to the definition of the Jupiter-class CE platform.

Handwriting software was from Vadem's ParaGraph group (acquired from SGI), the same team that provided handwriting recognition technology used in the Apple Newton.

Originally introduced in 1998, the Clio product line won numerous awards and accolades, such as Mobile Computing & Communications’ “Best Handheld Design, Keyboard Form Factor;” PC Week “Best of Comdex” finalist; Home Office Computing’s Silver Award; Mobility Award “Notebook Computing, PC Companion” winner; Industrial Designs Excellence Awards (IDEA)—Silver in Business and Industrial Equipment; and IDC’s “Best Design”. In addition, the Clio has been featured in hundreds of articles and has appeared on the covers of a number of magazines, including Pen Computing and Business Week.

The swing arm and rotating screen concept was conceived by Edmond Ku, Vadem's engineering director. The physical design was the creation of frogdesign, Inc.'s industrial designers Sonia Schieffer and Josh Morenstein and mechanical engineers Richard Huang and Jenny Schlee.

The enclosure was made from plastic injection molded carbon fiber reinforced polyamide (nylon). The swing-arm was die-cast aluminium for stiffness and strength. The video signals relied upon a double-sided flex-circuit that routed from the base up through the arm to the display panel.

• ActiveSync
• Personal digital assistant
• SuperWaba

• Vadem, Ltd.
• Technical Support
• Data Evolution Corp.
• Review of the Vadem Clio
• Warner's Mips based PDA info Center
• NetBSD/hpcmips Project Page
• LinuxMIPS Wiki
• Linux-VR Project