--- Tom Uban <uban_at_ubanproductions.com> wrote:
> At 02:23 PM 3/5/02 -0800, you wrote:
> >The printer inside the VT-50 case
> >was... an "electrolytic copier"
>
> That sounds like a Versatec printer, which used an electrostatic process
> to attach the carbon suspended in the liquid toner...
Not the same thing, but thinking of odd and forgotten printing
technologies,
I am reminded of a 16-gray-scale plotter device that used special multi-
layer paper that was ablated in differing amounts by a spark. The stronger
the spark, the deeper the coating was removed, the darker the pixel.
We used it to print digitized images of industrial parts that were scanned
in an ultrasonic tank at about 1/1000" resolution (1/2" diameter part
displayed on a 512x512 "hi-res" monitor). The whole shooting match was
driven by a PDP-11/73 running TSX-11 from a Fuji Eagle. ISTR it was about
$20K worth of computer and disk (including 4MB RAM, disk controllers,
RLV12/RL02, serial cards, etc.), plus scanner plus plotter in 1987.
The pictures of internal flaws were pretty cool. Unfortunately due to
NDA issues, I didn't get to take any with me to hang on the wall after
the project was done.
-ethan
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Received on Wed Mar 06 2002 - 11:39:31 GMT