IBM Selectric-based Terminals

Mike Ross tmfdmike at gmail.com
Tue Dec 15 14:05:51 CST 2015


On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 4:27 AM, Paul Koning <paulkoning at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> On Dec 15, 2015, at 12:54 AM, Paul Birkel <pbirkel at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ...
>> I believe that the Selectric came configured for remote operation, but presumably using an EBCDIC-based data stream.  I vaguely recall a DB-50 connector, but it's been an awfully long time ...
>>
>> Does this description sound familiar to anyone?
>
> For a while, RSTS/E supported 2741 terminals, which are Selectric terminals with a UART interface.  It wasn't EBCDIC -- instead, it had one of several possible conversion tables.  I forgot the  number of bits per character.  Also, the speed used was peculiar: 134.5 bits per second.  2741 support was dropped at some point; I think V7 has it but it disappeared by V9 if not sooner.

That IS interesting. I have two 2741s - one mostly working, needs a
little mechanical fettling, one untested but believed needing work. It
seems I could bring up a pre-V7 RSTS and incant the right runes at it
and the 2741 would Just Work.

What other OSes might have native 2741 support built in, anyone know?

Mike

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