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From: Pezely@udel.edu (Cowboy Dan)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: We Need A New Name
Message-ID: <15537@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 31 Jan 91 04:55:28 GMT
References: <15454@milton.u.washington.edu>
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Organization: HITL, R+D Cowboys (EntityOS Group at U of Delaware)
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Approved: cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu




Lance Norskog writes in article <15454@milton.u.washington.edu>:
>
>We need a new terminology for this new technology we're building.
>
>The William Gibson vocabulary of "deck" and "cyberspace" have been
>swiped by Autodesk.  

For `deck,' some use `workstation.'  I prefer `terminal.'

Why invent a new name to only add to the jargon?

Also, second-generation VR systems have a lot in common with distributed
operating systems.   Amoeba and Plan 9 use `terminal' to mean the hardware
to interface the system to the person but is usually something like an X
terminal or low-end workstation like a Sun 3-50.  Such terminals are meant
to be cheap: slightly more than today's graphic tty terminals.

>From a hardware point of view, a cyberspace deck only needs (for today's
technology) a few serial ports to talk to the various 3-space trackers,
a serial port for a tty terminal (you don't want to read text through
EyePhones and you may need a keyboard once and a while), 2+ NTSC ports,
more serial ports for communication with any force-feedback system you
might have, etc.   You get the point...

-Daniel