Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!uc!shamash!timbuk!raphael!wws
From: wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cdc
Subject: Re: The Design of the CDC 6600
Message-ID: <130414.16782@timbuk.cray.com>
Date: 17 Jun 91 21:07:37 GMT
References: <25400@well.sf.ca.us> <1991Jun13.175819.573@ultra.com> <204102.21677@timbuk.cray.com> <1991Jun15.012141.1107@ultra.com>
Reply-To: wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Lines: 37

In article <1991Jun15.012141.1107@ultra.com>, shj@ultra.com (Steve Jay) writes:
|> In <204102.21677@timbuk.cray.com> wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector) writes:
|> >Also, has anyone duplicated the font of the old 6000 operator console for
|> >use with X?  'Chippewa 12 point' anyone?  :-)
|> 
|> No way to duplicate it exactly.  The characters were not bit-maps.  The beam
|> actually traced the curves for each character.  You got true curves, and
|> each console would be a little bit different.  The movements were controlled
|> by the controller in the CPU chassis.

Yes, I remember the old DS2 diagnostic the hardware guys used to line things
up.

|> The logic prints did contain diagrams of each character on a 9 x 9 grid,
|> or something like that, along with the analog movements required to get
|> the character.  It would be possible to replicate what the characters
|> were SUPPOSED to look like, but that kind of misses the point, IMHO.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the A..Z (three different sizes) for posterity.
Those whispy characters were great!  I think it would be possible to replicate
on a bit map, but you are right - you would lose some of the nuances of the
whisps.

I sometimes think the biggest supporters of CDC at our site (U. of Nevada)
was the Operations staff, because of all the nifty things you could do at
'The Console'.

BTW, 'A Few Good Men From Univac' is in print and is fun reading.  (I got
mine from Computer Literacy.)  It has some nice photos and a copy of the
infamous Watson letter.

Walt
-- 
Walt Spector                        Oh, you can hack anything you want
(wws@renaissance.cray.com)               With DIS and 026!
Sunnyvale, California               (No apologies to "Alice's PDP-10",
_._ _._ _.... _. ._.                     I've used TECO and DDT too...)