28 Sep
2007
28 Sep
'07
6:39 p.m.
I have hung on to something that might be useful it this sort of project. Its some code
I've always wanted to revive, because it was so cool when I first used it.
Its the Versatec Versaplot package. I'm sure its long dead and abandoned by the
company, (do they even exist, it got sucked up by Xerox I think) but perhaps the group can
advise how we go about getting clearance to post code on bitsavers or some such similar
archive.
Its a really cool massive Fortran vector plotting library, with a back end rasterizer
(Laing-Barsky algorithm for clipping into mannageble bands, or bitmap arrays)
Ive ported this to the PC a few times, and it was pretty simple task with Ryan McFarland
Fortran, should be a snap with GNU.
I also have the updated follow on to Brigham Young University MOVIE.BYU. Its a c
Xwindows app for 3d raytracing and animation. I paid for it, ($$$$) a license from BYU,
but they never really supported me so I dont feel too guilty about releasing this one
either. It was Sun, SGI, HP workstation code, but I got it ported to PC unix (real SYSV)
and later Linux.
If anybody knows of any other leading edge graphics from the past, I would be interested
in hearing from them.
Randy
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:38:39 +0200
From: erik at baigar.de
To: dave at kaleidosoft.com
CC: cctalk at classiccmp.org; sellam at vintagetech.com
Subject: RE: Looking for "Programming CalComp Electromechanical Plotters" book
Hi Dave,
thanks for your email. Given this information, I think
my stuff is not of use for your project...
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form…
We have an IBM 1627 plotter which is really just
a private-labelled CalComp
565 plotter. It has a 220mm width plot area and uses presurized ball point
pens.
Yes, this is an early ancestor of the 1038/1039 I have got up and
running.
We have the schematics for the IBM controller,
but don't have one. We'll
need to build our own to connect between the IBM 1620 computer and the
plotter.
I do not know the details on this, but maybe it is easier to
rip an other plotter using stepper motors and connect the clock
and direction signals to the 565 directly. There should be quite
a lot plotter out there suitable for this.
What kind of processor does the IBM controller use? In somewhat
later Calcomp plotters (as mine from 1972) a OPC (online plotter
controller) was included. The original Calcomp PCB contains a
6800 processor which interprets signals from a RS232C interface.
This PCB generates the signals needed to drive the plotter (i.e.
step and direction pulses). Since this OPC was optional it might
be easier to obtain than the IBM part? Maybe they are identical?
For the Calcomp OPC I have got schematics and ROM dumps. It has
the same name as the language it understands "PCI906" and of
course includes a character generator...
The information we are looking for is: 1)
detailed descriptions of the
CalComp HCBS [basic plot] library; 2) the algorithms used by CalComp to
implement the plotting functions; and 3) the vector character font data
that CalComp used.
Sorry, I do not have anything of the mentioned...
We have no application programs for the IBM 1620
that do plotting [although
we have 200,000 punched cards of programs and data]. We'll be writing the
demo application in addtion to the basic plot library.
That sounds great - I wish
you the very best for this
project,
best regards,
Erik.
-----Original Message-----
From: Erik Baigar [mailto:erik at baigar.de]
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 10:33 PM
To: Sellam Ismail
Cc: Classic Computers Mailing List; dave at kaleidosoft.com; Erik Baigar
Subject: Re: Looking for "Programming CalComp Electromechanical Plotters"
book
Dear Sellam Ismail,
I have got a 1039 plotter which I got from a engineering company years ago.
They used it in the 90ies with DOS based software and they had certain
libraries (I think it was fortran) from Calcomp to use the plotter. These
libraries contained commands for e.g. drawing mathematial diagrams,
characters and so on.
Maybe I somewhere have got the documentation (a few
pages) listing the commands which are implemented in the library.
Is this the kind of stuff you are looking for? What type of plotter do you
have got? Has this one got a digital interface (like e.g. PCI907 or PCI906)?
Do you have got any application software on your 1620?
Best regards,
Erik.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
The IBM 1620 Restoration Team at the Computer
History Museum needs a
copy for a project they are working on to interface a CalComp plotter
to the 1620.
If you've got a copy you can provide (all they need is a photocopy or
scan) please contact Dave Babcock <dave at kaleidosoft.com>.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
Festival
International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
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