Canon Cat

The Canon Cat was a focused information appliance designed around Jef Raskin’s ideas for simple, modeless interaction. It combined a 68000 processor, monochrome display, keyboard, floppy drive, modem and printer connection in a compact all-in-one office machine.

Documents formed one continuous searchable workspace rather than separate files and applications. Special Leap keys moved quickly through text, while communications and calculation functions were available without leaving the document environment.

Notable Features

• Modeless text environment used Leap keys for rapid navigation.
• Built-in modem and communications functions treated remote text as part of the same workspace.
• Forth-based software ran from ROM and hid conventional files and applications from the user.

Historical Significance

• Created by Jef Raskin’s Information Appliance team after his work on the original Macintosh concept.
• A notable experiment in simplifying personal computing around documents rather than applications.

Collector’s Notes

• The dedicated software and keyboard are inseparable from the machine’s historical significance.
• Production lasted only briefly, making complete working systems uncommon.

Specifications

Technical Information
Name	Canon Cat
Manufacturer	Canon
Launched	Wednesday, July 1, 1987
Launch Price	$1,495
Country	United States
CPU	Motorola 68000 at 5 MHz
Units Sold	Approximately 20,000
Operating System	Canon Cat document environment based on Forth
I/O	Built-in 300/1200-bps modem, printer and communications ports
Keyboard	Integrated keyboard with dedicated Leap keys
Storage	Built-in 3.5-inch 256KB floppy drive
Sound	Internal beeper
Graphics	672 x 344 monochrome pixels
Display	Built-in 9-inch monochrome display; 80 x 24 text
ROM	System and Forth-based application environment in ROM
RAM	256KB
CPU Speed	5 MHz