22 Apr
2020
22 Apr
'20
12:27 p.m.
Hi all,
was just fishing in old memories & graphics systems. We had in the
1980's a big fridge from Grinnell Systems as a frame buffer on a 11/34.
Anybody remember those? Links to any documentation?
Cheers!
22 Apr
22 Apr
3:40 p.m.
On 04/22/2020 02:27 PM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote:
Hi all,
was just fishing in old memories & graphics systems. We had in the
1980's a big fridge from Grinnell Systems as a frame buffer on a 11/34.
Anybody remember those? Links to any documentation?
Yes, the Earth and Planetary
Science group at our University
had a Grinnell frame buffer on an 11, not sure
exact model, but could have been an 11/34. They used it
with Mini-VICAR software from NASA.
RSX-11M OS, I think. That was the only Grinnell I ever saw.
Jon
3:54 p.m.
Hi Emanuel,
I remember them well, I was their manufacturer's rep in Houston, and sold several to
petrochem, NASA and universities.
It was a big ticket item, selling for upwards of 40K when loaded up with all the options.
NASA was using it for animation, the petrochem guys for geology visualizations in oil
exportation. A&M bought one for LANDSAT imagery.
I see if I can find some old ads, they were in the IEEE computer graphics mags quite a
bit.
Randy
________________________________
From: cctech <cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of emanuel stiebler via
cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 12:27 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Grinnell Systems
Hi all,
was just fishing in old memories & graphics systems. We had in the
1980's a big fridge from Grinnell Systems as a frame buffer on a 11/34.
Anybody remember those? Links to any documentation?
Cheers!
23 Apr
23 Apr
6:46 a.m.
I?m fairly sure there was one at University of Texas Center for Space Research, circa 1980
(+/- a year or 4). It would have been in a separate room from the PDP-11 I normally used.
I got to ?fly? a space-suit with a manned maneuvering unit around a wire-frame space
shuttle representation on it for about 3 minutes. I turned upside down, and everyone
thought I was out of control, but I sailed right in through the cargo bay air-lock door as
planned. The author of the sim shrugged, and commented, ?I guess in space, nobody knows if
you are upside down."
On Apr 22, 2020, at 5:54 PM, Randy Dawson via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
[EXTERNAL EMAIL]
Hi Emanuel,
I remember them well, I was their manufacturer's rep in Houston, and sold several to
petrochem, NASA and universities.
It was a big ticket item, selling for upwards of 40K when loaded up with all the
options.
NASA was using it for animation, the petrochem guys for geology visualizations in oil
exportation. A&M bought one for LANDSAT imagery.
I see if I can find some old ads, they were in the IEEE computer graphics mags quite a
bit.
Randy
________________________________
From: cctech <cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of emanuel stiebler via
cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 12:27 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Grinnell Systems
Hi all,
was just fishing in old memories & graphics systems. We had in the
1980's a big fridge from Grinnell Systems as a frame buffer on a 11/34.
Anybody remember those? Links to any documentation?
Cheers!
22 Apr
22 Apr
8:51 p.m.
Emanuel Stiebler wrote:
was just fishing in old memories & graphics
systems. We had in the
1980's a big fridge from Grinnell Systems as a frame buffer on a 11/34.
Anybody remember those? Links to any documentation?
MIT Plama Fusion had one, made by John Kulp. It was connected to MIT-MC
and was kind of a remake of Tom Knight's TV system for MIT-AI. (Kulp
also made the "space-cadet" keyboard primarily for this system, but it
was also more famously used with the CADR Lisp machines and the
Symbolics and LMI machines.)
The "Plasma TV", as it was called, was first connected through a serial
line from Tech Square to Building 38. It was later updated to Chaosnet.
Grinnell was a spinoff from Ramtek.
23 Apr
23 Apr
2:20 a.m.
This has some interesting information.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a086098.pdf
5:53 a.m.
On 2020-04-23 05:20, Lars Brinkhoff via cctalk wrote:
This has some interesting information.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a086098.pdf
GREAT FIND! I think it is the fridge I was talking/thinking about.
Ours was on a 11/34 running RSX ...
THANKS!!!
8:28 a.m.
Emanuel Stiebler
GREAT FIND! I think it is the
fridge I was talking/thinking about.
I think it's an early generation from Grinnell. Note the year ~1977.
The MIT one was from 1976, but maybe the same model GMR-27(0?).
The DTIC document describes an interface based on DR-11, same as MIT.
And the commands seem to match.
I have made emulators for more obscure hardware than this.
12:19 p.m.
On 2020-04-23 11:28, Lars Brinkhoff wrote:
Emanuel Stiebler
You've written an emulator for it?
GREAT FIND! I think it is the
fridge I was talking/thinking about.
I think it's an early generation from Grinnell. Note the year ~1977.
The MIT one was from 1976, but maybe the same model GMR-27(0?).
The DTIC document describes an interface based on DR-11, same as MIT.
And the commands seem to match.
I have made emulators for more obscure hardware than this.
12:50 p.m.
emanuel stiebler <emu at e-bbes.com> writes:
No... not yet. But now it's on my to-do list.
Here are some notes I made about the MIT system:
https://github.com/PDP-10/its/issues/1837
I have made
emulators for more obscure hardware than this.
You've written an emulator for
it? 
12:45 a.m.
On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 10:31 PM emanuel stiebler via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hi all,
was just fishing in old memories & graphics systems. We had in the
1980's a big fridge from Grinnell Systems as a frame buffer on a 11/34.
Anybody remember those? Links to any documentation?
Remember them? I have one. A rackmount box (quite tall, possible 12U
or more) with 2 PSUs at the bottom and mostly wire-wrapped boards in
the top part. Links to a DR11-B.
Alas I don't have any documentation for it.
-tony
5:57 a.m.
On 2020-04-23 03:45, Tony Duell wrote:
Remember them? I have one. A rackmount box (quite
tall, possible 12U
or more) with 2 PSUs at the bottom and mostly wire-wrapped boards in
the top part. Links to a DR11-B.
Alas I don't have any documentation for it.
Which one exactly do you have? Attached to which CPU?
Would you mind talking some pictures?
Suddenly, I'm looking for Old Frame Buffers (actually, they also had
some intelligence in them too ..)
8:39 a.m.
On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 1:57 PM emanuel stiebler <emu at e-bbes.com> wrote:
On 2020-04-23 03:45, Tony Duell wrote:
I'll have to get round the back of it and see what's on the nameplate.
I can take some pictures but won't be able to upload them while the
current lockdown carries on.
It's currently not linked to anything. I think it was once on an
11/34, I've had it on my 11/45
Remember them? I have one. A rackmount box (quite
tall, possible 12U
or more) with 2 PSUs at the bottom and mostly wire-wrapped boards in
the top part. Links to a DR11-B.
Alas I don't have any documentation for it.
Which one exactly do you have? Attached to which CPU? Would you mind talking some pictures?
Suddenly, I'm looking for Old Frame Buffers (actually, they also had
some intelligence in them too ..)
I also have a PPL frame buffer which uses a hard disk as the video
memory (rotates once every frame time, the video signal is recorded as
analogue FM) with a Unibus interface. And 3 I2S (International Imaging
Systems) video display/processor systems -- a Model 70/E with 6
planes, a Model 70/F4 and a Model 75. I do have a lot of
documentation, including schematics, for those.
-tony
1704
days inactive
1705
days old
12 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
ard.p850ug1＠gmail.com -
elson＠pico-systems.com -
emu＠e-bbes.com -
lars＠nocrew.org -
mark.tapley＠swri.org -
rdawson16＠hotmail.com