[cctalk] Re: Silly question about S-100 and video monitors

/115,200 in the S100 era was also rare. It was usually 9600 or 19200 at the top end/ That is true.  I remember setting my serial board for external baud rate and the SWTPC CT-82 terminal to generate the baud rate and I think it was like 38,400 maximum. My VT-220 maxes out at 9600 and my VT-330+ maxes out at 19,200. Remember the teletypes ran at 110 baud or slower.  The decwrite and GE Terminet were speed demons at 300 and 1200 baud. On 8/30/2023 3:02 PM, Warner Losh wrote: > > > On Wed, Aug 30, 2023 at 1:52 PM Mike Katz via cctalk > <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote: > >     I had a video board and keyboard on my Gimix SS-50 system. > >     Why? > >     1.  The video board/monitor is much faster than a terminal even at >     115,200 baud. > > > 115,200 in the S100 era was also rare. It was usually 9600 or 19200 at > the top end. > >     2.  A Video board, keyboard and monitor was way cheaper back then >     than a >     terminal (Yes there was the SWTPc CT64 and the Lear Siegler ADM-3A >     kits, >     but fully loaded they weren't all that cheap). >     3.  If the video board supports any kind of graphics that is another >     reason.  The Gimix video board supported graphics with a RAM >     character >     generator. > > > 4. It's a lot less code to directly splat characters into memory than > to generate > all the escape sequences you need to 'draw' anything interesting (be > it a game, > a graph or just an emacs buffer). > > I got into this just after the S100 era, and I opted for the Rainbow > because it > was both a terminal I could connect to other systems, and a system > with an > internal graphics card. The terminal had completed the move inside the > computer > after starting out life as a computer added onto the terminal. DECs > terminals > followed this path. Many of the S100 systems that had graphics cards > were also > chasing after newish workstations that were just starting to be built. > > Warner > >     On 8/30/2023 2:38 PM, W2HX via cctalk wrote: >     > Hi all, >     > >     > I recently acquired an S-100 computer, and it came with a video >     card and a keyboard (3rd party products, not originally equipped >     with these). I am trying to figure out the benefits of having a >     video card and keyboard vs just using a serial port and terminal. >     Certainly if the video card supported graphics, that would be a >     reason to go that route over a terminal. As for the keyboard, >     ok-maybe you need specific keys for a specific application. But I >     don't understand the video monitor. I could understand maybe if >     there was an RF modulator so that you could use a standard TV. >     That would save the builder some money. But this computer just >     provides composite. >     > >     > Other than graphics (and maybe some special function keys for an >     application on a keyboard), why would an S-100 builder in those >     days opt to buy a video card instead of a terminal? >     > >     > Thanks for the bandwidth. >     > >     > 73 Eugene W2HX >     > Subscribe to my Youtube Channel: >     https://www.youtube.com/@w2hx/videos >     > >