22 Mar
2005
22 Mar
'05
4:52 a.m.
My Tektronix magnetism is still working. Yesterday I got a call from one
of my sources to tell me that they had a new load of stuff but they added
that they thought it was all "crap". Went out there anyway and they first
thing that I found was a Tektronix 4052 computer :-). Dug a little further
and found a Tektronix 4631 Hardcopy unit and two Tektronix 8" disk drives
:-) :-) :-)
AFIK this is the first set of disk drives that anyone has ever found for
a 4052 and only the second set of disk drives for ANT 405x computer.
Eveything was in surprisingly good condition. One key had been knocked
off the keyboard but I found it in the pile and it didn't look like the
keyswitch was broken. I didn't find the interconnecting cables but the 4052
uses a regular GP-IB cable to talk to the master disk drive and a straight
through cable to connect the two disk drives. I haven't looked to see what
the hardcopy unit uses.
Joe
22 Mar
22 Mar
5:18 a.m.
On Tue, 2005-03-22 at 07:52 -0500, Joe R. wrote:
My Tektronix magnetism is still working. Yesterday
I got a call from one
of my sources to tell me that they had a new load of stuff but they added
that they thought it was all "crap". Went out there anyway and they first
thing that I found was a Tektronix 4052 computer :-). Dug a little further
and found a Tektronix 4631 Hardcopy unit and two Tektronix 8" disk drives
:-) :-) :-)
Nice. We've got one of those 4631 hardcopy units, but nobody with any
knowledge about them (is there any particular Tek they're supposed to be
used with?)
We've got a 4052, but the faceplate's smashed. I've not investigated
whether it's just a piece of coloured glass / perspex (and so easily
replaceable) or whether it's far more serious and may write off the
whole unit :-(
AFIK this is the first set of disk drives that
anyone has ever found for
a 4052 and only the second set of disk drives for ANT 405x computer.
What model? We've got a Tek 4097 GPIB disk unit. Twin drives IIRC, but
I'm not at the museum to check and I don't think I have any photos here
on local disk.
<fx: checks>
Nope.
keyswitch was broken. I didn't find the
interconnecting cables but the 4052
uses a regular GP-IB cable to talk to the master disk drive and a straight
through cable to connect the two disk drives.
Hmm, interesting. Maybe I'm misremembering our unit having twin drives.
I haven't seen any kind of slave disk unit though, just this 4097.
cheers
Jules
9:03 a.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Nice. We've got one of those 4631 hardcopy units, but nobody with any
knowledge about them (is there any particular Tek they're supposed to be
used with?)
any way to get the consumables for these. I recall some special roll of paper,
plus
a liquid fixing material. didnt they come out wet?
The ones I saw had a special crt with one bright line that displayed the contents
of the line being read from the master display, as the storage crt was flooded
to read back its phosphor.
maybe these units are newer or didnt have the storage tube and instead had
graphical display memory to do the same work.
The displays were were always interesting, but in my experience the phosophor
would wear out and not work as sharp.
jim
4 p.m.
On Tue, 2005-03-22 at 07:52 -0500, Joe R. wrote:
If it's the one I am thinking of, it connects up via a DA15 cable. It
should work with any Tekky storage terminal (or 4051, 4052, which are
based on storage termainals), although I think for some systems the hard
copy connector (and a little PCB inside with some electronics on it) was
actually an option that may not be installed.
The hard copu unit contains a sepecial 1-dimensional CRT (if you see what
I mean ;-). The image on the storage target in the terminal is read out
by raster-scanning it (!), and fed to said CRT. A piece of sensitised
paper is moved past the front of the CRT, and thus the image is built up
on the paper. There's some chemical fixing and heat drying too, but
that's not too complicated.
I seem to rememebr the main problem is getting -- and affording -- the
special paper.
My Tektronix magnetism is still working.
Yesterday I got a call from one
of my sources to tell me that they had a new load of stuff but they added
that they thought it was all "crap". Went out there anyway and they first
thing that I found was a Tektronix 4052 computer :-). Dug a little further
and found a Tektronix 4631 Hardcopy unit and two Tektronix 8" disk drives
:-) :-) :-)
Nice. We've got one of those 4631 hardcopy units, but nobody with any
knowledge about them (is there any particular Tek they're supposed to be
used with?)
We've got a 4052, but the faceplate's smashed. I've not investigated
whether it's just a piece of coloured glass / perspex (and so easily
replaceable) or whether it's far more serious and may write off the
whole unit :-(
What ever you do, don't throw out _any_ 405x parts. There are people
looking for spares, options, etc.
That said, the front plate is just plastic. If the CRT is OK, it can be
replaced. It _is_ the implosion guard for the CRT, so take care! If the
CRT is damaged, you may well find one from a 4000-series storage terminal
will work.
-tony
7215
days inactive
7216
days old
3 comments
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participants (4)
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
jwstephens＠msm.umr.edu -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com