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From: bennet@gymble.UUCP (Tom Bennet)
Newsgroups: net.bizarre
Subject: Re: Problem with Datamedia DT80/1 terminal
Message-ID: <210@gymble.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 3-Aug-85 02:22:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: gymble.210
Posted: Sat Aug  3 02:22:28 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 06:08:28 EDT
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Maryland, Laboratory for Parallel Computation, C.P., MD
Lines: 40

>From fred@gymble.UUCP (Fred Blonder) Fri Aug  2 18:05:18 1985
>Newsgroups: net.bizarre
>Subject: Problem with Datamedia DT80/1 terminal
>Message-ID: <207@gymble.UUCP>
>
>Has anyone else had this problem, and specifically, does anyone have a
>solution? I've been having algae growing on the screen of my DT80/1-a.
>This has been getting thick enough to interfere with visibility, and
>has gotten quite annoying lately. I've tried turning the brightness up
>all the way, but it doesn't kill the algae. In fact it seemed to grow
>faster. Can anyone suggest anything else?

I've used several DT80/1-a and DT80/1-am model terminals, and such problems
have arisen.  We've had good luck with snails.  They're cheap, reproduce
quickly, and eat lots of algae.  There are a number of things to watch out for,
though:

  1. Since they are so prolific, once you start using them, it's hard to get
     rid of them later.

  2. Some of our snails have developed an affinity for certain characters, and
     will therefore tend to cover them.  The snail colony on one terminal
     became so fond of ~ that we had to stop using it.  Every time someone
     tried to reference their home directory, all the snails would try to cover
     the command line.

  3. We've also had some trouble with a local animal-rights group.  They are
     concerned about radiation and psychological effects.  The physics dept.
     says the radiation is insignificant, and God alone knows if snails have
     a psychology, but I sure don't want to have to take this thing to court.

  4. Occasionally one manages to crawl out, and then someone usually manages to
     step on it.  This is unplesant, but at least it's better than a slug :-).

Anyway, snails have been good to us.  They're even kind of fun to have around
and can be pleasant to watch.  The undergrads have even named some of them.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A balanced diet is important: one must | Tom Bennet @ U of MD Comp Sci Dept
occasionally change pizza places.      | ..!ihnp4!seismo!umcp-cs!gymble!bennet