Older DEC manuals

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Fri Feb 16 07:42:25 2001

At 08:11 AM 2/16/01 +0000, you wrote:
>> VT55 Programming Manual (AA-4949B-TC)
>
>I would love to see a scan of this. I've never seen a VT55, but I'd love
>to know how the "waveform graphics" were controlled.

Ah, that brings back memories. I so badly wanted to
write computer graphics programs back in 1979 or so.
My high school had an 11/03 with two VT-55 and an LA-36.
Everyone thought the VT-55 were VT-52 until I read
the fine manual and tried to make them sing with
those "waveform graphics": two lines of pixels that
could be addressed vertically but that were locked
horizontally. This forced me to try to write generic
line-drawing routines that re-used pixels. Eventually
I think my subroutines consumed all the memory that
BASIC had to offer, and I was left with no room for the
Star Wars-ish video game I wanted to write. :-)

- John
Received on Fri Feb 16 2001 - 07:42:25 GMT