DEC VRE01 terminal documentation
Tom Uban
uban at ubanproductions.com
Thu Aug 13 16:29:35 CDT 2020
Thanks Aaron. The DEC display is quite a bit newer than the old Plato design. I had one of the Plato
terminals at one time and am quite familiar with them. I also had a digivue standalone display at
one time, but don't recall what I did with it over the course of the years. At that time, I did have
a full manual for it, including schematics, but I'm sure that went with the display to it's new home.
I need to open the DEC VRE01 to see what the design looks like. The newer design allowed it to be
very compact...
--tom
On 8/13/20 3:53 PM, Aaron Woolfson wrote:
> Here's a photo of one of the restored PLATO terminals (which had the plasma display)
> Does the power supply for the PLASMA look like the one in this photo of one of the terminals with
> the covers off?
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Aaron Woolfson <mailto:woolfson at telswitch.com>
> *To:* paulkoning at comcast.net <mailto:paulkoning at comcast.net> ; uban at ubanproductions.com
> <mailto:uban at ubanproductions.com> ; cctalk at classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, August 13, 2020 1:50 PM
> *Subject:* Re: DEC VRE01 terminal documentation
>
> Hi Tom.
>
> Thanks for your message. Well, the Plasma panels use a pretty unique. I'm attaching the
> precise waveforms that the Plasma Panel expects to see in order to achieve the illumination of
> the dot. And while this may not be exactly or precisely what you're looking for, this will
> explain much about the technology involved. The fact that you can see any illumination at all
> is perhaps the most important part - beacuse the gas is probably there, and the "actuation"
> voltage might just not be high enough, or the sustainer voltage might have an issue.
>
> The power supplies were manufactured by Electro Plasma and were typically separate from the
> actual unit itself. I am going to see whether I can find the schematics for those power
> supplies, which discuss the characteristics .
>
> Also, check to see whether the back of the plasma panel itself has an edge connector that is
> similar to the attached TYCO specified connector. That might give you some insights into where
> to go.
>
> When I gave all my equipment and test gear to the LCM up in Seattle, I am pretty sure that they
> also got a lot of the original manuals and notes that had been hand written. But I typically
> had scans of most everything. I will see what I can find....
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> Subject: Re: DEC VRE01 terminal documentation
> Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2020 16:38:39 -0400
> From: Paul Koning <paulkoning at comcast.net <mailto:paulkoning at comcast.net>>
>
> You may want to see if the PLATO terminal documentation is any help, look on Bitsavers under
> University of Illinois. Those plasma display power supplies are hairy devices; the panel is
> actually a memory device and the power supply produces a high voltage AC waveform to make that
> work. Those panels normally light up around the rim; the fact you see that briefly but not
> sustained gives some hope that adjusting may be all that is needed.
>
> That's quite a display; the usual plasma panels were 8 inches square, 512 by 512 pixels. I'm
> guessing this is a 1k by 1k pixel display, which I have seen once or twice, at SAI in San Diego
> in some military displays.
>
> I know a plasma terminal expert; I've forwarded your message to him.
>
> paul
>
> > On Aug 13, 2020, at 3:23 PM, Tom Uban via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org
> <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>> wrote:
> >
> > I have a DEC VRE01 terminal that I bought NIB years ago. For those who don't know about this
> model,
> > it has a flat plasma (orange/black) display of about 17". It worked when I bought it, but now,
> years
> > later, I tried powering it up and the light comes on for a moment and goes out. I suspect a power
> > supply issue, but bitsavers does not seem to have this one.
> >
> > Does anyone have schematic (or other) documentation for it?
> >
> > --tnx
> > --tom
>
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