VT640
TheVT640 Retro-Graphics,originally known as theVT100 Retro-Graphics,is anexpansion boardthat was developed byDigital Engineering, Inc.,forDigital Equipment Corporation's popularVT100terminal, allowing it to be used as agraphics terminalcapable of a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. Digital Engineering introduced the VT640 in September 1980 as the second in their line of Retro-Graphics text-to-graphics-terminal conversion boards.[1]
Specifications
[edit]The VT640 board displays graphics at a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels on the VT100's monochrome, green-phosphorCRT.The board boasts full graphical compatibility with theTektronix 4010and featured the ability to plot individual points on the screen as well as solid, dotted, and dashed lines based onvectorinstructions, as well as the ability to selectively erase portions of the screen and change the size of text characters on the fly. The VT640 could work withTektronix'sPlot 10CADsoftware andISSCO'sTellagrafchart-making software andTellaplanreport generator.[2]An optionallight penallows the VT100 with the VT640 board installed to emulate the 4010 in the latter's graphic input mode.[1]
History
[edit]Digital Engineering reportedly sold millions of dollars worth of the VT640 and other Retro-Graphics products within the first year of availability.[1]A large institutional user of the VT640 in 1983 was theLos Alamos National Laboratory(LANL), who retrofitted 200 of their VT100s with VT640 boards. LANL used the VT640 to render geometrically complex models of technologies such asnuclear reactorsand check for visually obvious errors in the models before they are ready to be subjected to simulations.[3]Another large customer of the VT640 was theLockheed Missiles and Space Company,who used it to display the output ofinterferometersduring mechanical stress and strain measurements conducted on the materials used as theskinof their aircraft.[4][5]In around 1983,New England Digitalbegan equipping theirSynclavier IImusical sampler–synthesizer workstation with VT640-equipped VT100s.[6]
Digital Engineering released an update to the VT640 in 1981 in the form of theVT640S,spread across three expansion boards.[7]Digital Engineering went out of business by 1986.[8]: 64
References
[edit]- ^abc"Retro-Graphics Enhances VDTs".Digital Design.11(8). Benwill Publishing: 101. August 1981 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^"Converted DEC VT100 Video Display Terminal".Computer Design.19(12). PennWell: 183. December 1980 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^"Graphics Boosting of Terminals Erases Researchers' User Logjam".Computerworld.XVII(17). IDG Publications: 46. April 25, 1983 – via Google Books.
- ^"Enhancing Photomechanical Data".Machine Design.56.Endeavor Business Media: 22. November 8, 1984 – via Gale.
- ^"Computer Graphics System Eases Stress and Strain Analysis".Defense Electronics.16.PennWell: 104et seq.November 1984 – via Gale.
- ^"Synclavier Early History".Synclavier European Services. 2006. Archived fromthe originalon June 11, 2023.
- ^"Graphics Converter Out for DEC VT100 Terminal".Computerworld.XV(35). IDG Publications: 42. August 31, 1981 – via Google Books.
- ^"Diversified Computer Systems, Inc. EM4010".Hardcopy.6(5). Seldin Publishing: 52–54. May 1986 – via Google Books.
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