3 ms·

That film is fantastic. Does anyone know what terminals they're using at the end? It looks like they have two types. At lest one of the computers looks like i

by tivert 3y ago

That film is fantastic. Does anyone know what terminals they're using at the end? It looks like they have two types. At lest one of the computers looks like it's some kind of Data General machine. There's also a shot of what looks like an IBM System 370 front panel like this one: (https://old.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/7l79hs/rare_ibm_370_controller_looking_for_info_and_value/ https://old.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/7l79hs/ra..., https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102668095 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10266809...).

shrubble 3y ago
Data General made some graphics display terminals. Judging from the rows of extra function keys they look very similar and some of the backend hardware also is DG.
ghaff 3y ago
Probably a Nova 1200 or something like that though there's a lot of other specialized equipment in that film as well. ADDED: It wouldn't surprise me if the terminals were something specialized for the purpose. Pretty sure they're not DG terminals.
- tivert 3y ago
  > Probably a Nova 1200 or something like that though there's a lot of other specialized equipment in that film as well. I'm more interested in the terminals. Here are some screenshots from the movie of what I'm talking about: https://imgur.com/a/Vm0LGw4 https://imgur.com/a/Vm0LGw4
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Hmm. It looks like there are a couple of different models there. I can't make out the specifics too clearly but they don't look to my eye like standard minicomputer terminals like DG would have sold. There are too many extra blocks of keys and lights. FWIW, a few years later, the Post brought in a system that Raytheon designed for them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/06/posts-new-look-reflects-era-of-computerization/392125a6-dea7-447b-a6e6-7daa422edd93/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/06/p... So I'm guessing they're something either custom or from one of the early phototypesetting companies. This is pretty early days though. It was very common in the late 70s for editorial at small papers to still be working on typewriters and the final copy was re-inputed into phototypesetting equipment.
    - tivert 3y ago
      > So I'm guessing they're something either custom or from one of the early phototypesetting companies. That was the clue I needed. I think I found a brochure describing somewhat later models. The AM Verityper Comp/Set 4800 area composition terminal seems to have the same font and similar graphics capabilities of the integrated-keyboard terminal in the close ups: https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_with_full-page_disp_20171101_0059/page/n9/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_wi... The AMtext 425 seems to have a similar keyboard layout to the two-piece terminals only seen in the wide shots: https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_with_full-page_disp_20171101_0059/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_wi... Looks like they were made by a company called AM Jacquard Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_Jacquard_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_Jacquard_Systems The post has a interesting picture that shows correspondence between the screen display and printed output: https://creativepro.com/scanning-around-gene-back-when-typesetting-was-craft/ https://creativepro.com/scanning-around-gene-back-when-types...
      - ghaff 3y ago
        The student newspaper I worked for in the late 70s, we did all the front-end writing and editing on (manual) typewriters and then production staff typed into a big terminal that could output paper tape for the phototypesetter. It looked a lot like that ULTRASystem photograph. Pretty sure I remember the trackball. (It may also have been hooked up directly through some franken-mess of an Imsai 8080 and other stuff.) Don't remember the details and I never used it directly. Headlines were typed into a different system. Then everything was pasted up on a light-table. I think we shot the negatives ourselves as well. At the time, infrequent publications had someone like ourselves do the production work for them or farmed it out to some local company.
        tivert 3y ago
        > It looked a lot like that ULTRASystem photograph. I was a little confused, before I realized that name only appeared in one of photos. After trying to resolve my confusion, I found this, which appears to be a document from 1985 enumerating all these types of systems then in existence: http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2018/09/102740425-05-02-acc.pdf http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/201... It says the > AM Varityper 4800 (a Harris 2200 product) There's a few stock image of those in use at the Austin American-Statesman newspaper: https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa-1980-newspaper-employee-typing-ad-typing-advertising-copy-into-computer-system-in-backshop-production-room-bob-daemmrich-image349060336.html?imageid=BA8478A5-122D-492D-A6C7-5FCBAE91F34D&p=86492&pn=1&searchId=11e1e93d3385308187ce50c72105bd07&searchtype=0 https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa-1980-newspaper-... https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa1983-backshop-at-the-austin-american-statesman-newspaper-where-a-typesetter-uses-a-harris-corp-video-display-terminal-vdt-for-electronic-page-makeup-or-pagination-newsrooms-across-the-country-were-replacing-typewriters-with-electronic-systems-in-the-newsrooms-lead-type-slugs-with-phototypesetting-systems-in-the-composition-rooms-bob-daemmrich-image437470502.html https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa1983-backshop-at... The hardware is different than in the movie, but the software appears to be similar. Scanning the document, I saw a mention of Interleaf, which some people at my employer were still using until recently (http://www.computernostalgia.net/articles/Interleaf.htm http://www.computernostalgia.net/articles/Interleaf.htm). The comments on that page about the file format ring true, since we decided to not even try conversion and just have the users re-key their documents into our home-grown system for that content.
Photogrammaton 3y ago
Some newspapers in the 1970s used the Atex publishing system. The now-defunct Dallas Times Herald, a daily, used it when I worked there, roughly 1978 to 1980. The Atex system there relied on custom terminals--that is, supplied by Atex, not off-the-shelf from another manufacturer--and Atex terminals could be among those shown in the screenshots. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about how the Atex terminals looked, and (call me lazy) I haven't looked for photos.

by tivert 3y ago

shrubble 3y ago

Data General made some graphics display terminals. Judging from the rows of extra function keys they look very similar and some of the backend hardware also is DG.

ghaff 3y ago

Probably a Nova 1200 or something like that though there's a lot of other specialized equipment in that film as well. ADDED: It wouldn't surprise me if the terminals were something specialized for the purpose. Pretty sure they're not DG terminals.

tivert 3y ago
> Probably a Nova 1200 or something like that though there's a lot of other specialized equipment in that film as well. I'm more interested in the terminals. Here are some screenshots from the movie of what I'm talking about: https://imgur.com/a/Vm0LGw4 https://imgur.com/a/Vm0LGw4
- ghaff 3y ago
  Hmm. It looks like there are a couple of different models there. I can't make out the specifics too clearly but they don't look to my eye like standard minicomputer terminals like DG would have sold. There are too many extra blocks of keys and lights. FWIW, a few years later, the Post brought in a system that Raytheon designed for them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/06/posts-new-look-reflects-era-of-computerization/392125a6-dea7-447b-a6e6-7daa422edd93/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/06/p... So I'm guessing they're something either custom or from one of the early phototypesetting companies. This is pretty early days though. It was very common in the late 70s for editorial at small papers to still be working on typewriters and the final copy was re-inputed into phototypesetting equipment.
  - tivert 3y ago
    > So I'm guessing they're something either custom or from one of the early phototypesetting companies. That was the clue I needed. I think I found a brochure describing somewhat later models. The AM Verityper Comp/Set 4800 area composition terminal seems to have the same font and similar graphics capabilities of the integrated-keyboard terminal in the close ups: https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_with_full-page_disp_20171101_0059/page/n9/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_wi... The AMtext 425 seems to have a similar keyboard layout to the two-piece terminals only seen in the wide shots: https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_with_full-page_disp_20171101_0059/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TNM_AMtext_425_word_processor_wi... Looks like they were made by a company called AM Jacquard Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_Jacquard_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_Jacquard_Systems The post has a interesting picture that shows correspondence between the screen display and printed output: https://creativepro.com/scanning-around-gene-back-when-typesetting-was-craft/ https://creativepro.com/scanning-around-gene-back-when-types...
    - ghaff 3y ago
      The student newspaper I worked for in the late 70s, we did all the front-end writing and editing on (manual) typewriters and then production staff typed into a big terminal that could output paper tape for the phototypesetter. It looked a lot like that ULTRASystem photograph. Pretty sure I remember the trackball. (It may also have been hooked up directly through some franken-mess of an Imsai 8080 and other stuff.) Don't remember the details and I never used it directly. Headlines were typed into a different system. Then everything was pasted up on a light-table. I think we shot the negatives ourselves as well. At the time, infrequent publications had someone like ourselves do the production work for them or farmed it out to some local company.
      - tivert 3y ago
        > It looked a lot like that ULTRASystem photograph. I was a little confused, before I realized that name only appeared in one of photos. After trying to resolve my confusion, I found this, which appears to be a document from 1985 enumerating all these types of systems then in existence: http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2018/09/102740425-05-02-acc.pdf http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/201... It says the > AM Varityper 4800 (a Harris 2200 product) There's a few stock image of those in use at the Austin American-Statesman newspaper: https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa-1980-newspaper-employee-typing-ad-typing-advertising-copy-into-computer-system-in-backshop-production-room-bob-daemmrich-image349060336.html?imageid=BA8478A5-122D-492D-A6C7-5FCBAE91F34D&p=86492&pn=1&searchId=11e1e93d3385308187ce50c72105bd07&searchtype=0 https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa-1980-newspaper-... https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa1983-backshop-at-the-austin-american-statesman-newspaper-where-a-typesetter-uses-a-harris-corp-video-display-terminal-vdt-for-electronic-page-makeup-or-pagination-newsrooms-across-the-country-were-replacing-typewriters-with-electronic-systems-in-the-newsrooms-lead-type-slugs-with-phototypesetting-systems-in-the-composition-rooms-bob-daemmrich-image437470502.html https://www.alamy.com/austin-texas-usa-circa1983-backshop-at... The hardware is different than in the movie, but the software appears to be similar. Scanning the document, I saw a mention of Interleaf, which some people at my employer were still using until recently (http://www.computernostalgia.net/articles/Interleaf.htm http://www.computernostalgia.net/articles/Interleaf.htm). The comments on that page about the file format ring true, since we decided to not even try conversion and just have the users re-key their documents into our home-grown system for that content.

Photogrammaton 3y ago

Some newspapers in the 1970s used the Atex publishing system. The now-defunct Dallas Times Herald, a daily, used it when I worked there, roughly 1978 to 1980. The Atex system there relied on custom terminals--that is, supplied by Atex, not off-the-shelf from another manufacturer--and Atex terminals could be among those shown in the screenshots. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about how the Atex terminals looked, and (call me lazy) I haven't looked for photos.