13 Apr
2024
13 Apr
'24
1:23 a.m.
On Apr 12, 2024, at 5:54 PM, CAREY SCHUG via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
...
my favorite terminal 3190 that was neon gas, so monochrome, but could take 5 addresses,
and flip between 62 lines of 160 characters (always there), to 4 terminals of 62x80 any
two visible at a time, or 4 terminals of 31x160 characters, any 2 visible at a time, or 4
terminals of 31x80 all visible at once. when given a choice, my new boss was surprised
that I chose that instead of the color 3279 with graphics that everybody else wanted.
Great for running virtual systems...
Sounds like the plasma panel displays that were invented for the PLATO system, by Don
Bitzer and a few others, at the U of Illinois. Inherent memory: if you lit a pixel it
would stay lit, to turn it off you'd feed it a pulse of the opposite polarity. So it
was a great way to do 512x512 bitmap graphics with very modest complexity, no refresh
memory needed.
paul