Tektronix terminals [was: Re: Re: Humpty Dumpty]

[Richard]

In article <20070209172403.IJIL8793.ibm67aec.bellsouth.net at mail.bellsouth.net>,
    "Brian L. Stuart" <blstuart at bellsouth.net>  writes:

> Rick Bensene wrote:
> > The coolest Tektronix terminal, if you ask me, was the original Tek
> > 4002.
> > ...
> > There also was a 'write through' mode,
> > again, not sure if it was a hack, or part of the production terminals,
> > that would (within the limitations of the RS-232 port) could do simple
> > dynamic (non-stored) vector graphics.
> 
> Don't know about the 4002,  but I'm pretty sure it was standard
> on the 4014. [...]

It is also on the 4010.  The 4010 and the 4014 have a card cage into
which you can insert your own cards.  I've had the idea to create a PC
system by putting an entire PC on to the plugin card and using the
terminal as the display.  There's easily room to mount a hard drive
inside the cabinet :-).  At the very least it would be interesting to
add a USB port to the Tektronix this way to give it a higher serial
transfer rate.  The number and complexity of the dynamic vectors that
you can draw is currently limited by the baud rate on the port, but I
assume that if you get a faster communications channel, then there's
probably a limit based on how fast they can slew the electron beam.
-- 
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