Aucbvax.4641
fa.info-terms
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!info-terms
Sat Oct 24 00:51:41 1981
Favorite terminals
>From purdue!cak@Berkeley Sat Oct 24 00:16:30 1981
Up until yesterday, I would have said my favorite terminal is the HP 2648;
the graphics model. Of course, this is a pipe dream, because they cost
>$5K, even now, 3 or 4 years after their introduction. But I worked with
one for a couple of summers and fell in love; silky keyboard,
truly programmable function keys (a pet peeve of mine), and
3 screenfuls of memory accessible at a keystroke. The layout is
clean, the graphics crisp, the font excellent.....it even has a separate
keyboard!
Anyway, that was until yesterday. Then our BitGraph came in. It's
really close, and after we develop some software, I think I will be
convinced. Imagine this, if you haven't seen one; 85 columns by
64 rows, all visible at once, in a really crisp font. My biggest
gripe is the keyboard; it's the standard VT100 keyboard, which has
the overly sensitive CAPS LOCK button right next to A, where you always
hit it when reaching for CTRL (for example for a backspace). I
fixed this (as I have done to vt100s and HP2621s in the past) by
cutting out a small square of closed cell packing foam and putting
it under the key. It makes it too stiff to press easily with the
pinky, but you can nail it with your thumb if you want lock.
Of course, the BitGraph doesn't have the fancy built in graphics
software that the HP does (yet...)
On a more down to earth level, I like the HP2621, except for its
brain damaged function keys. HP has rumored/announced a
product called the Shadow, which was a 15" cube terminal plus
detached keyboard for about $1700. I haven't seen one yet, but
I suspect they will be quite nice. There are also rumors
that they will introduce a 262X family tube with graphics, including
graphics printer. That should be nice.
I detest DEC crts. They are overpriced and underfeatured, and each
model has at least one basic design flaw (to my mind). I worked
with a Teleray only once, trying to do block mode transfers,
and it was awful. We have a lot of Adds Regent 40s here, and
they are pretty good, but have some brain damage too. The regent 20s
should be avoided.
So, I guess I don't have a favorite cheap (oops, inexpensive) terminal;
but I wish I did so I could buy one for myself.
Chris Kent (Purdue Univ. CS)
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