5 Feb
2012
5 Feb
'12
12:09 p.m.
------ Original Message:
Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:00:55 -0800
From: Eric Smith <eric at brouhaha.com>
Richard wrote:
> If so many InteColor terminals were sold, where
did they all end up?
In the landfill, just like everything else that was
made in the 1970s.
Even in the 80s ;-) We scrapped several hundred of several later models that
had been sitting on bond traders' desks; might still have some manuals
somewhere if anyone's interested.
m
5 Feb
5 Feb
2:18 p.m.
In article <DD5E138F93114B8DA50BCA6D617F2BB6 at vl420mt>,
"MikeS" <dm561 at torfree.net> writes:
------ Original Message:
Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:00:55 -0800
From: Eric Smith <eric at brouhaha.com>
Richard wrote:
Lots of stuff from the 70s and 80s survived, otherwise we wouldn't
have any PDP-11s, VT100s, etc.
It just seems surprising that if these terminals were made in large
quantities that there aren't any around in collections.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 version available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
> If so many InteColor terminals were sold,
where did they all end up?
In the landfill, just like everything else that
was made in the 1970s.
Even in the 80s ;-) We scrapped several hundred of several later models that
had been sitting on bond traders' desks; might still have some manuals
somewhere if anyone's interested. 
3:16 p.m.
Over at old-computers.com, there's a comment by an ISC-er that the
keyboards were a photoelectric affair--i.e. using leds/lamps and
photocells/phototransistors.
Are there any other keyboards of this type around?
--Chuck
3:52 p.m.
On 2/5/2012 2:18 PM, Richard wrote:
It just seems surprising that if these terminals were
made in large
quantities that there aren't any around in collections.
The thing a friend in
the TV business said at the time was that a lot of
these were made with a commercial tv set display set, rather than having
a display that was better suited to terminal use (constant on, bit more
rugged so it could be moved around, etc.) They also tended to gas up
and go bad. He didn't want one back in the day (late 70's early 80's)
because of that.
Also these RCA CRT's were a very long old design, not the later ProScan
/ RCA design with the flat screen short neck tube. The older tubes that
you got to have flat fronts were very deep for their purpose. The value
added to these was the programming capability.
When I had one, it was expensive to obtain much to make the programming
useful, so I sold mine off. I guess I had the Open Source mentality or
disposition back then, that if I couldn't get a manual, why bother there
are a lot of other toys that could do useful things w/o hassle. I got
it for quite a lot of money, and sold it for a profit, so I was happy.
Jim
7:36 p.m.
Richard wrote:
Lots of stuff from the 70s and 80s survived, otherwise
we wouldn't
have any PDP-11s, VT100s, etc.
Only a tiny fraction of the PDP-11s, VT100s, etc. survived. The vast
majority were scrapped.
While there may have been a lot of ISC terminals made, for some value of
"lot", the number obviously was orders of magnitude fewer than VT100s.
6 Feb
6 Feb
10:44 a.m.
The ISC 8001 19" got lots of service in industrial control rooms. Several companies
rebadged it (USDATA, Dynapro, Allen Bradley). With character graphics and a special ISA
character set it did extremely well in fast screen updates and animation. (Think valves
and pipes turning red/green, tanks filling up, etc.) Impressive for a 2MHz 8080.
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2012 19:36:50 -0800
From: eric at brouhaha.com
To:
Subject: Re: ISC history
Richard wrote:
Lots of stuff from the 70s and 80s survived,
otherwise we wouldn't
have any PDP-11s, VT100s, etc.
Only a tiny fraction of the PDP-11s, VT100s, etc. survived. The vast
majority were scrapped.
While there may have been a lot of ISC terminals made, for some value of
"lot", the number obviously was orders of magnitude fewer than VT100s.
10:54 a.m.
The ISC 8001 19" got lots of service in
industrial control rooms. ?Several companies rebadged it (USDATA, Dynapro, Allen Bradley).
?With character graphics and a special ISA character set it did extremely well in fast
screen updates and animation. ?(Think valves and pipes turning red/green, tanks filling
up, etc.) ?Impressive for a 2MHz 8080.
Now that you mention that, I think Control Data had some early color
raster systems for industrial controls, I think before 1979. I think
they were semicustom jobs.
--
Will
10:57 a.m.
On 6 Feb 2012 at 12:44, Randy Dawson wrote:
The ISC 8001 19" got lots of service in
industrial control rooms.
Several companies rebadged it (USDATA, Dynapro, Allen Bradley). With
character graphics and a special ISA character set it did extremely
well in fast screen updates and animation. (Think valves and pipes
turning red/green, tanks filling up, etc.) Impressive for a 2MHz
8080.
I've seen several outfits on the web who offer servicing and repair
for the 8001, so they must still be around. It seems that it found
use both in control rooms, and apparently, in early CAD use.
Perhaps a few phone calls to said outfits might yield one sitting
around in a back room.
--Chuck
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