12 Jul
2001
12 Jul
'01
12:22 a.m.
I wouldn't mind trying to join in on that, can you supply dial-up #'s and
settings??? I think it would be interesting to see if we can all communicate
with one another using Plato access, I have one of the original Plato Terminal
ROM's developed by CDC for use on the Atari 800 computer system using Graphics
Mode 8 (320 X 192)
Curt
Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
This is two
years late, but the terminal the original poster describes
sounds like an IST (model 1), a CRT-based CDC product, vintage about 1978.
There was a later edition called the IST-II, also CDC. It had two 8" drives
and a Z-80 CPU, as well as connectivity to CDC PLATO mainframe systems,
either by dialup modem (1200 bps) or multiplexer.
Actually, I was the original poster; a reply to me mentioned the
terminal you're describing.
The IST is not the oldest PLATO terminal, but it
is the oldest that CDC
manufactured, I suspect. Even my PLATO IV (Magnavox, 1971) is not the
oldest, but only the first mass-produced machine. The earliest ones date to
about 1961 and there are probably only two or three still in existence, if
we're lucky enough to have that many. A precursor to these would be Norman
Crowder's Auto-Tutor, vintage about 1958, which has characteristics very
similar to the PLATO terminals (though it is not a computer terminal, it
operates on filmstrip media), and PLATO's mechanisms are said to have been
influenced by this machine.
It's one of the mid-70s Magnavox plasma displays I'm looking for...
Say, are you able to connect to NovaNET with the magnavox terminal? if
so, we should meet for a game of Empire or Avatar some time (although
I'm sure you'll wipe me out).... or maybe a more civilized game of chess...
Regards,
-doug quebbeman