9 Feb
2004
9 Feb
'04
4:47 a.m.
Has anyone ever seen one of these ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2785574420&categ…
9 Feb
9 Feb
5:28 a.m.
On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Keys wrote:
Has anyone ever seen one of these ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2785574420&categ…
Oh, very cool.
I've never seen it before but basically it's a cheap terminal to the CDC
Plato system which was fairly popular in from the mid-1970s through the
early 1980s. Normally you had to have a fancy terminal to access all the
advanced features of Plato. This is a TI 99/4a re-branded as CDC and sold
with a terminal program carthridge to emulate a Plato terminal.
Neat.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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6:23 a.m.
His fonts aren't large enough. There's still a few pixels available on
my monitor.
--jc
Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Keys wrote:
Has anyone ever seen one of these ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2785574420&categ…
Oh, very cool.
I've never seen it before but basically it's a cheap terminal to the CDC
Plato system which was fairly popular in from the mid-1970s through the
early 1980s. Normally you had to have a fancy terminal to access all the
advanced features of Plato. This is a TI 99/4a re-branded as CDC and sold
with a terminal program carthridge to emulate a Plato terminal.
Neat.
6:32 a.m.
Atari actually hired in a bunch of former CDC managers, they released a
Plato Network cartridge for the Atari 800. It used the graphics mode 8
(192X320) mode and I remember signing up in 84-85 for the service and it
was incredible to see animated screens and simple music come up from the
service.... too bad it closed, it was a spectacular
pre-today's-internet look at what would come down the road.
Curt
J.C. Wren wrote:
His fonts aren't large enough. There's still
a few pixels available
on my monitor.
--jc
Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
--
Curt Vendel & Karl Morris
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Atari Museum
http://www.atarimuseum.com
The Atari Explorer
http://www.atari-explorer.com
On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Keys wrote:
Has anyone ever seen one of these ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2785574420&categ…
Oh, very cool.
I've never seen it before but basically it's a cheap terminal to the CDC
Plato system which was fairly popular in from the mid-1970s through the
early 1980s. Normally you had to have a fancy terminal to access all
the
advanced features of Plato. This is a TI 99/4a re-branded as CDC and
sold
with a terminal program carthridge to emulate a Plato terminal.
Neat.
7:12 a.m.
On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Curt Vendel wrote:
Atari actually hired in a bunch of former CDC
managers, they released a
Plato Network cartridge for the Atari 800. It used the graphics mode 8
(192X320) mode and I remember signing up in 84-85 for the service and it
was incredible to see animated screens and simple music come up from the
service.... too bad it closed, it was a spectacular
pre-today's-internet look at what would come down the road.
Setting up a Plato network would be a neat exercise. I wonder what would
be involved?
Is the server-side software still around anywhere? Just what was the
server (some CDC mainframe I assume)? Can it be emulated? Running on the
original hardware would of course be preferable but mayeb not practical.
I think at least one person here has a Plato terminal. How many are still
out there?
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
7:28 a.m.
Hey I'm up for it, I guess we'd need a system with some serial ports or a
few modems attached, there is a website:
Plato People: http://www.platopeople.com/about.html
That seems to have some good history, I wonder if they have salvaged any of
the code or even a working system, it would be a great collective project to
try and get going and to see back on-line. I have a few brand new sealed
Plato packages for the Atari 800/XL/XE line if anyone is interested, contact
me off-list.
Curt
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf(a)siconic.com To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and
Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Sent: Monday,
February 09, 2004 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: Control Data Computer At $66.00
On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Curt Vendel wrote:
Festival
Atari actually hired in a bunch of former CDC
managers, they released a
Plato Network cartridge for the Atari 800. It used the graphics mode 8
(192X320) mode and I remember signing up in 84-85 for the service and it
was incredible to see animated screens and simple music come up from the
service.... too bad it closed, it was a spectacular
pre-today's-internet look at what would come down the road.
Setting up a Plato network would be a neat exercise. I wonder what would
be involved?
Is the server-side software still around anywhere? Just what was the
server (some CDC mainframe I assume)? Can it be emulated? Running on the
original hardware would of course be preferable but mayeb not practical.
I think at least one person here has a Plato terminal. How many are still
out there?
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage
mputers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at
http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
7:46 a.m.
Is the server-side software still around anywhere?
Just what was the
server (some CDC mainframe I assume)? Can it be emulated?
Running on the
original hardware would of course be preferable but mayeb not practical.
The servers ran on CDC mainframes. There are several emulation projects "in
progress", most noteably is Tom Hunter's Desktop Cyber. The emulator is
available for free, but the OS software is harder to get. There is a handful
of people who have been "allowed" to use older versions of the OS software
for hobbyist use by the current copyright holder (Syntegra), but this is not
an "everyone who wants it can get it" thing. Also, I'm not sure if any
versions of Plato OS are included. Tom Hunter does claim that the Plato OS
will run on his emulator, but he has not released the OS.
The CDC "cyber" mainframes are VERY complex, much harder to emulate than
other systems. And the OS's are cryptic, at best.
Real CDC "cyber" mainframe hardware is very rare. There is one system
operating and open to the general public for use (not running Plato, but
running NOS) at www.cray-cyber.org.
I do know that some of the (very intelligent) individuals involved in the
Cyber emulation projects are quite interested in making Plato work. I
believe the hurdles are (1) Finding surviving copies of the OS tapes and
courseware, (2) Emulating the hardware to run them (mostly working now I'd
guess), and (3) getting permission to actually use the software, as the
Plato trademark or whatever is still owned by a company that isn't too free
about it's use.
Hopefully some of this information is helpful.
- Bob
9:08 p.m.
Wow. Good story on Plato/CDC. In these days of image/marketing-driven
drivel it's good to recall these sorts of deeply, seriously strange
systems and people. Big Iron indeed!
On Mon, 2004-02-09 at 10:46, Bob Lafleur wrote:
Is the
server-side software still around anywhere? Just what was the
server (some CDC
mainframe I assume)? Can it be emulated? Running on the
original hardware would of course be preferable but mayeb not practical.
The servers ran on CDC mainframes. There are several emulation projects "in
progress", most noteably is Tom Hunter's Desktop Cyber. The emulator is
available for free, but the OS software is harder to get. There is a handful
of people who have been "allowed" to use older versions of the OS software
for hobbyist use by the current copyright holder (Syntegra), but this is not
an "everyone who wants it can get it" thing. Also, I'm not sure if any
versions of Plato OS are included. Tom Hunter does claim that the Plato OS
will run on his emulator, but he has not released the OS.
The CDC "cyber" mainframes are VERY complex, much harder to emulate than
other systems. And the OS's are cryptic, at best.
Real CDC "cyber" mainframe hardware is very rare. There is one system
operating and open to the general public for use (not running Plato, but
running NOS) at www.cray-cyber.org.
I do know that some of the (very intelligent) individuals involved in the
Cyber emulation projects are quite interested in making Plato work. I
believe the hurdles are (1) Finding surviving copies of the OS tapes and
courseware, (2) Emulating the hardware to run them (mostly working now I'd
guess), and (3) getting permission to actually use the software, as the
Plato trademark or whatever is still owned by a company that isn't too free
about it's use.
Hopefully some of this information is helpful.
- Bob 
7:16 a.m.
remember there was also a cdc institute that would teach you to program
too....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf(a)siconic.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 9:28 AM
Subject: Re: Control Data Computer At $66.00
On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Keys wrote:
> Has anyone ever seen one of these ?
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2785574420&categ…
Oh, very cool.
I've never seen it before but basically it's a cheap terminal to the CDC
Plato system which was fairly popular in from the mid-1970s through the
early 1980s. Normally you had to have a fancy terminal to access all the
advanced features of Plato. This is a TI 99/4a re-branded as CDC and sold
with a terminal program carthridge to emulate a Plato terminal.
Neat.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
Festival
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage
mputers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at
http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
7449
days inactive
7450
days old
8 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
bob_lafleur＠technologist.com -
curt＠atarimuseum.com -
esharpe＠uswest.net -
jcwren＠jcwren.com -
jrkeys＠concentric.net -
tomj＠wps.com -
vcf＠siconic.com