Plato terminal

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Thu Aug 1 22:51:00 2002

On Thu, 1 Aug 2002, Claude.W wrote:

> Id love to see the old Plato running again.
>
> Does anyone here know anyone that worked or was involved in Plato closely
> and might be able to get some kinda "emulator" project going off the ground?

Well, when someone comes up with a CDC-110 smart termmiinal or emulator,
I will be pleased to supply copies of the CP/M-2.2 and Diagnostics disks
for it.
                                                - don

> Writing up a terminal emulator might not be dramatic but emulating the
> cybers that ran plato might be more of a challenge...
>
> This would be totaly wild and while I dont have a lotta time for stuff like
> this...this one would probably get some attention from me...
>
> And if I could find listing of some games I had written, Id go totaly
> wild...SPACE ATTACK was one of them.
>
> Seems TELUQ (Tele-Universitee here in Quebec) was very involved in Plato.
> But I have yet to find some people from "back then"....
>
> Claude
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Curt Vendel" <curt_at_atarimuseum.com>
> To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 11:00 AM
> Subject: Re: Plato terminal
>
>
> > Doug,
> >
> > Besides collecting it, is there anything you can do with it??? Has
> anyone
> > found any of the original CDC Plato servers and been able to restore them
> to some
> > functionality so that Plato terminals could be connected and tried out???
> >
> > I own several of the Atari 800 Plato carts that turn an Atari into a
> Plato
> > Terminal using the Graphics 8 mode with animated graphics. I remember
> first
> > signing up and trying it out in 1984-85 or so I was was amazed at the
> speed in
> > which code was sent to the computer to draw graphics, create animations
> and so
> > forth.
> >
> >
> > Curt
> >
> >
> > Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
> >
> > > > This is two years late, but the terminal the original poster describes
> > > > sounds like an IST (model 1), a CRT-based CDC product, vintage about
> 1978.
> > > > There was a later edition called the IST-II, also CDC. It had two 8"
> drives
> > > > and a Z-80 CPU, as well as connectivity to CDC PLATO mainframe
> systems,
> > > > either by dialup modem (1200 bps) or multiplexer.
> > >
> > > Actually, I was the original poster; a reply to me mentioned the
> > > terminal you're describing.
> > >
> > > > The IST is not the oldest PLATO terminal, but it is the oldest that
> CDC
> > > > manufactured, I suspect. Even my PLATO IV (Magnavox, 1971) is not the
> > > > oldest, but only the first mass-produced machine. The earliest ones
> date to
> > > > about 1961 and there are probably only two or three still in
> existence, if
> > > > we're lucky enough to have that many. A precursor to these would be
> Norman
> > > > Crowder's Auto-Tutor, vintage about 1958, which has characteristics
> very
> > > > similar to the PLATO terminals (though it is not a computer terminal,
> it
> > > > operates on filmstrip media), and PLATO's mechanisms are said to have
> been
> > > > influenced by this machine.
> > >
> > > It's one of the mid-70s Magnavox plasma displays I'm looking for...
> > >
> > > Say, are you able to connect to NovaNET with the magnavox terminal? if
> > > so, we should meet for a game of Empire or Avatar some time (although
> > > I'm sure you'll wipe me out).... or maybe a more civilized game of
> chess...
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > -doug quebbeman
> >
>
>
>
Received on Thu Aug 01 2002 - 22:51:00 BST