13 Dec
2020
13 Dec
'20
7:34 p.m.
On Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 7:49 PM Nigel Johnson via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I'm pretty sure the DEC VT100 didn't have it.
It was very memory
-limited - the standard was 80x 24 and if you wanted 132 x 24 you had to
buy the advanced video option.
I'm sure it did not have scroll back. I used a lot of these terminals back
in the day.
Warner
There was a demo program that made it look like it recovered data that
had been scrolled off the top of the screen, but I
think it was just
re-sent form the computer.
cheers,
Nigel
Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, MCSE VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU
Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept!
Skype: TILBURY2591 nw.johnson at ieee.org
On 2020-12-13 9:37 p.m., Stan Sieler via cctalk wrote:
Hi,
First, apologies if I asked this years ago (I've searched my archives, no
hits :)
When was the concept of memory "above" the screen invented for terminals?
I.e., previously displayed data that had scrolled up and off the screen
...
but could be retrieved (usually by scrolling
down).
(Sometimes called "scrollback", or "offscreen memory".)
(BTW, I'm talking about terminal-local memory, not a scrollback
implemented
by the computer to which the terminal is
connected.)
The HP 2640A, 1974, had (IIRC) several pages of memory available ... the
user could scroll
backwards and see what had been on the screen before it scrolled off (as
long
as it hadn't been lost by having too much subsequent output).
I suspect the DEV VT100, 1978, had it, but I can't find definitive proof
online (sure, I can find VT102 emulators that have scrollback, but
reading
an old VT102 manual doesn't make it clear
that it has it.)
thanks,
Stan