Those Fridens are heavy. The logistics of getting it across country must have
been difficult. They were electo-mechanical monsters. I'm sure it will be fun.
When I was in High School I was the photographer for the local weekly
newspaper, the Columbia Press. While they had a Linotype (hot lead) the owners
were experimenting with using the Fridens to set justified type, i.e.,
newspaper columns.
First you would punch the type into the paper tape with no carriage returns.
This would generate a long strip of tape full of holes. This could be edited
with a razor blade, cut and tape, yes they make transparent tape with holes in
it.
You would then mount the tape in the reader. Set the line width and spacing by
adjusting the machine. Switch it over to "Justify" and run the tape. With luck
the Friden would generate a column of text, flush right and left. Usually it
took a fair amount of setup and several trials before you were ready to print
out the final text on a special coated paper.
Of course the biggest disadvantage was these machines only came with one font.
If you wanted type one point larger (say 9 Pt. instead of 8 Pt.) you had to
get another expensive machine in the larger point face. They worked for
justified boilerplate. The old machines the Columbia Press had were always
breaking down.
This was 1963. Cold type was in it's infancy. Most shops in Astoria were
setting type on a Linograph or Intertype with hot lead. You then took a galley
proof and pasted that up. Then the copy went to the process camera to have a
negative made, so you could burn a printing plate. Now it is computer direct
to printing plate. Process cameras are Dodos. As a printer I love it; as a
photographer I am sad to see the passing.
Fridens didn't last long, too expensive and too much down time. By the time I
laws in collage they had gotten an AM CompSet Typesetter that was much easier
to run, in large part because the CompSets were computerized.
Thanks for all your help.
Paxton
PS I am interested in all process cameras that are being surpluses out, the
larger the more interesting. Please email me at whoagiii(a)aol.com if you know
of any surplus Process Cameras.
Hi all,
Clutching at straws here I know, but following the recent postings
regarding Tektronix hardware and UTek I thought I'd give it a shot
again...
Does anyone happen to have a copy of UTek V for an 88k CPU?
(specifically, for an XD88/10 Unix workstation?). I tried Tek a few
years back but they said they wouldn't support it any more, and the
total running number of XD88's in the world seems to reach the grand
total of 0!
I didn't think that anything else other than the XD88 ran UTek, but as
it does I may be able to get hold of enough data to get a basic system
running - maybe any 88k distribution of UTek was generic enough to get
my system to boot with console only (my guess is that the graphics
hardware's sufficiently complex to need it's own tape for install). The
disk in my XD88 was pretty dead as far as the machine was concerned when
I got it, in that there's a lot of filesystem errors, but if I could get
another disk running in parallel to boot off I *might* be able to
reconstruct a full system (failing being able to find the 'proper'
install tapes!).
Some kind soul put a basic root system from the original UTek install
media onto an ftp site for me a few years ago (several MB on a 1200baud
modem was a pain!) - I just got the file from the remote site before it
- and the person who put it there for me - disappeared off the face of
the earth, at which point I found there was an error in my local copy
and it wouldn't extract - arghghgh!
cheers for any help or info,
Jules
>In DEC systems there are three things I can say, Supported, Unsupported
>and unimplementable. Of the three the last one is least common. An
>example of the last one is connecting a DHV11 to a pdt11/150. It's
>doable but, near unimplementable do to the lack of Qbus. The more common
>situation is unsupported, IE: DEC didn't consider it marketable or test
>it exactly that way. Two RDxx disks in a ba123 is an example. The yabut
>is that a TK50 eats as much power as a RDxx. The assumption then was
>one disk and floppy or tape for backup/installs. Later on external TK50s
That also worked for software... if we had the hardware to test a specific
configuration, it was supported. If we didn't have the hardware to test,
it was unsupported. If it happened to work, it was 'latent support'. If
it didn't work, *it was unsupported*... :-)
Of course, we did our best at making things work even if they weren't
supported (and made use of 'latent support' a number of times)...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
>I have not tried using 2 RD5x drives in a BA23 because the power supply
>can't handle it according to the manuals.
I have a BA23-based home system with an RD54, and RD33 and an RX33.
I don't know if it stresses the power supply the way two RD5x series
drives would, but I know it also works solidly...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
Richard,
I'm not sure if you intended to include the username/password information
on how to get into your "secret" area on the classic computers web site or
not, but the information was not included in your message. I tried a
couple of ideas but didn't find one that worked.
Gerald
Tony Duell wrote:
>> I don't know much about the Tektronix, except that it's a very old
4051
>> Graphics computer. I got two Tek 4097 8" disk drive cabinets with it.
One
>
> Now, I'm digging into the depths of my brain, so much of this is going to
> be wrong...
>
> The 4051 was supposed to be Tektronix's answer to the DEC GT40 - in other
> words an intellegent vector graphics terminal. It's sort-of like a
> standard Tektronix storage display terminal (you know, the 4000-series)
> with a 6800 board in it. The later 4052 used a set of 2901s to make a
> fast 6800-a-like with extra instructions (I kid you not).
>
> There's a reasonable BASIC in ROM - and somewhere I have the quickref
> card. I think, though that Tektronix can still supply copies of some of
> the manuals for these machines. Be warned they're expensive, though.
>
> Anyway, it's quite a find. Tekky 405x machines are not at all common.
Tony, you zog. It was my job to say all that.
I have a Tek 4052 with plenty of manuals. If you need help with anything
on the software side, I'm happy to look things up.
The 4097 is very rare AFAIK. I've never before heard of one surviving.
All I have for it is some Tek marketing bumf printed out from microfilm..
Anyway, I like the 4050 series and want to keep it alive, so I will help
all I can...
Philip.
FYI:
For those who want to access the ClassicCmp "private" area on my
ClassicCmp web site, it is now accessible through a hidden link; you know,
to keep the general riff raff out :-)
In the Contents bar on the left side, in my copyright notice, you'll
find the link.
BTY, I also posted the table of contents for the Altair article.
[ Rich Cini/WUGNET
[ ClubWin!/CW7
[ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking
[ Collector of "classic" computers
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/pdp11/
<================ reply separator =================>
>< The keyboard should now work. Mine does -- I typed this on it.
>
>You forgot one step in the disassembly...
>
> NOTE where each key is removed from.
>
> Otherwise
>
> I typed this on it.
>
> becomes
>
> Y riowd kida no wq,
>
> ;)
>
>Allison
>
Allison you must type like I do - semi hunt and peck. I know some people
that it would not bother for the "normal" typewriter keys. They would not
even notice.
Dan
< (I was thinking of VMS -- which I thought was pretty strict. You mentio
< that it was tolerant. That must mean that my emulators are even worse t
< I thought. Or perhaps the editors are stricter than the os itself.)
Ah, yes and editors other than EDT. Some apps are real hard on
compatability.
Also under VMS run "help set term/device" as VMS supports a large load
of devices.
< If I were writing a spec, I would try to cover all the cases.
Actually the pathological case is something you don't document, your not
supposed to do that or expect an particular behavour or it would be
documented. Convoluted, yep.
< One of the admins here mentioned that we have a big secret binder of VT1
< stuff. I haven't seen it yet. Was the firmware source code ever availa
< That would be neat to look at.
Firmware may have been available but meaningless. The tech manual and
the then user manual (5/8" thick!) were more than enough to write apps
for it.
< If the two sets of circuitry ran in parallel, that explains how a rather
< CPU could provide characters and graphics at the same time. :)
has nothing to do with cpu speed. It was a artifact of the VT100 having
the ability to mix RS170 video and data along with needing a bit map
for the graphics stuff that a character teminal would not have.
< Unfortunately, I have two specific programs I want to see. One of them
< DECRITE from DECUS (a ReGIS text editor -- runs on VMS). The other is E
< (The Wargame of the Century), version 5.0 (?) which is on magica.update.
Eewww DECRITE, gag. Never checked out the games.
< Even DEC's terminal emulator for DECWindows (which I would *hope* would
< very good, and actually does seem to be very complete) barfs at DECRITE
< I think I need a VT125 for that.
decwin doe work for regis if set up right. some apps will squawk as if
they interrogate terminal type they get the wrong thing back if set worng.
Under DECwin you have to create a DECTERM session as a vt125.
Allison
