Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!kan
From: kan@dg-rtp.dg.com (Victor Kan)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: computers shown in PBS' "This Old House"
Summary: paper tape, high speed plotters, CAD stations
Keywords: bizarre mix
Message-ID: <2201@xyzzy.UUCP>
Date: 14 Jan 90 00:35:18 GMT
Sender: usenet@xyzzy.UUCP
Reply-To: kan@tom.dg.com ()
Distribution: usa
Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
Lines: 40


Did anyone watch "This Old House" this week?

They toured a stairway factory with a curious mix of automation.

A three-headed router used to cut spiral stair steps was controlled
by a huge computer (the size of a Vax 11/780 at least) with a paper 
tape reader for program input.  I think there was even a hex keypad 
on the front.

Where do you think these paper tape control programs were generated?
An MS-DOS machine (AT class) was running a high resolution, color
CAD application which spit out paper tape descriptions of the image
on the CAD screen.  The MS-DOS machine also generated drafts on a
high speed rolling plotter (for lack of a better word, not flat-bed).

When the hardcopy of the design was finished, it was transferred to
a large electronic drafting table controlled by a Compaq 386.  
Attached to this table is a special mouse which included a numeric 
keypad and a magnifying glass with cross hairs.  This was used to 
transfer the hardcopy image to another computer.

This was perhaps the strangest arrangement of computers and data
transfer methods I have ever seen.  

The question I must ask is "Why?".  The factory has been in business
for decades so I can understand that they started with automation 
early, when paper tape was a common data medium.  If the three-headed
router is tied to the old computer, I can understand their use of
the PC to generate paper tapes from CAD screens.

But why use the electronic drafting table to transfer the image to a
modern computer (the 386 was next to the table so I assume it was
the host device), rather than just swap diskettes?  It can't be that
hard to write a data conversion program between their CAD program and
their manufacturing program.

| Victor Kan               | I speak only for myself.               |  ***
| Data General Corporation | Edito cum Emacs, ergo sum.             | ****
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