31 Jul
2002
31 Jul
'02
4:53 p.m.
Certainly, screen dimensions were modelled after punched cards: There
were 80 columns on a punched card, and once everybody was used to that
line length, it was an obvious choice to make the screen just as wide -
except for a couple of clever guys who made the screen 64 columns wide,
which happens to be a power of two.
I've seen 132 column screens too (why 132???) but did anyone ever try to
make a 128 column screen (or printer)? It would seem to be a logical size
to make it, but I've never seen one.