Unidentified peripheral in Tektronix PDP-11/20 system

jim stephens jwsmail at jwsss.com
Sun Jan 26 04:43:52 CST 2020


They demoed a system with an exotic sampling system similar to that in 
that time frame at the university I went to.

Jon Elson may recall it.  Might have been as late as 73.

It had a dual ended CRT with what was essentially a high speed scope 
shooting a silicon charged target from one side.

On the other side once a scan was made on the silicon target, which was 
about the size of a scope tube display, the other side would
scan in a manner similar to how the printing process worked with the 
storage tube terminals or displays, and the trace was either
printed or digitized.  The 11s were used for analysis software.

I just sold a Tektronix 11/34 last fall that was pulled from a much 
later system, which was the computing element they supplied
with elaborate testing systems.

The systems for the most part are all scrap but for the cabinet with the 
11/34.  A friend I know bought the 11/34 for me, an
passed on the analog crap in 4 other bays.  Most of it  is junk as they 
were custom systems, with little trace of the operational
software, and it wasn't generic.

thanks
Jim

On 1/25/2020 5:46 PM, Steve Malikoff via cctalk wrote:
> I was idly browsing some old electronics magazines on archive.org and saw this
> Tektronix testing system from 1972 that clearly has an 11/20 and TU-56. Just curious
> as to what the piece of gear is sandwiched between the two. It sort of looks like a
> paper tape reader, but for the two white buttons or whatever they are at the lower right
> and the white bit at top right.
> It seems to be in a DEC bezel(?) It doesn't seem to match the bespoke Tek gear at right
> which looks quite different. I'm guessing it really is just a paper tape reader.
>
> http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/4173/Tektronix_S-3260_automated_test_system_PDP-11_20_Electronic_Design_23Nov1972_reduced.png
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Steve
>



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