NB-ROM-shenanigans are very traditional. The Tektronix 7000 readout (1969) managed to encode the stroke of an entire letter with just a few transistors. Here's

NB-ROM-shenanigans are very traditional. The Tektronix 7000 readout (1969) managed to encode the stroke of an entire letter with just a few transistors. Here's the letter 3, encoded in 24 transistors: https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/e/e0/7000-readout-chargen-circuit-1.jpg https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/e/e0/7000-readout-chargen-ci... This uses multi-emitter transistors to encode discrete current ratios (which are then interpolated across groups by smoothly ramping base currents between points, turning them into strokes), all connections done in the metal layer, so the silicon was the same for all ROM chips. https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/7000_series_readout_system https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/7000_series_readout_system