Datapoint 3300

Last updated
Datapoint 3300
Type Computer terminal

The DataPoint 3300 was the first computer terminal manufactured by Computer Terminal Corporation, later renamed Datapoint, announced in 1967 [1] and shipping in 1969. [2] Since this terminal was intended to replace a teleprinter such as those made by Teletype Corporation it was one of the first glass TTYs (glass for the screen, TTY as the abbreviation for "Teletype") ever produced.

Contents

As well as being sold under its own name, it was also sold as the DEC VT06 and the HP 2600A (introduced in 1972). [3]

Details

The Datapoint 3300 emulated a Teletype Model 33, but went beyond what a Teletype could achieve with its paper output. It supported control codes to move the cursor up, down, left and right, to the top left of the screen, or to the start of the bottom line. The 3300 could also clear to the end of the current line, or clear to the end of the screen.

It did not, however, support direct cursor positioning. It also had 25 rows of 72 columns of upper-case characters, rather than the 80 x 24 that would become more common in subsequent years.

Hardware

Like most terminals designed up until the mid-1970s, the Datapoint 3300 was implemented using TTL logic in a typical mix of small-scale and medium-scale integrated circuits, [4] i.e. in a very similar way to how many minicomputers of the 1970/80s (such as the Digital VAX-11) were built. Later terminals (such as the VT100) typically used a microprocessor to implement large parts of the user interface and general logic.

At the time of its introduction, RAM was expensive (it would not be until 1970 that Intel released the 1103, the first DRAM semiconductor memory chip making RAM affordable). Thus, the terminal stored its display of 25 rows of 72 columns of upper-case characters using fifty-four 200-bit shift registers, arranged in six tracks of nine packs each, providing shift register memory for 1800 6-bit characters. [4] The shift-register design meant that scrolling the terminal display could be accomplished by simply pausing the display output to skip one line of characters.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Datapoint 2200</span> Personal computer and terminal

The Datapoint 2200 was a mass-produced programmable terminal usable as a computer, designed by Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC) founders Phil Ray and Gus Roche and announced by CTC in June 1970. It was initially presented by CTC as a versatile and cost-efficient terminal for connecting to a wide variety of mainframes by loading various terminal emulations from tape rather than being hardwired as most contemporary terminals, including their earlier Datapoint 3300. However, Dave Gust, a CTC salesman, realized that the 2200 could meet Pillsbury Foods's need for a small computer in the field, after which the 2200 was marketed as a stand-alone computer. Its industrial designer John "Jack" Frassanito has later claimed that Ray and Roche always intended the Datapoint 2200 to be a full-blown personal computer, but that they chose to keep quiet about this so as not to concern investors and others. Also significant is the fact that the terminal's multi-chip CPU (processor)'s instruction set became the basis of the Intel 8008 instruction set, which inspired the Intel 8080 instruction set and the x86 instruction set used in the processors for the original IBM PC and its descendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Datapoint</span> Computer company

Datapoint Corporation, originally known as Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC), was a computer company based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Founded in July 1968 by Phil Ray and Gus Roche, its first products were, as the company's initial name suggests, computer terminals intended to replace Teletype machines connected to time sharing systems.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">VT05</span> 1970 free-standing CRT terminal from Digital Equipment Corporation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teletype Model 33</span> 1963–1981 ASCII communications/computer terminal device

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">HP 2640</span> Serial computer terminal

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">HP 9800 series</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ADM-3A</span> Early video display terminal

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The Hazeltine 2000 is one of the first general-purpose "smart" computer terminals, introduced in October 1970 at a price of $2,995. While earlier terminal systems included "smart" editing features, notably the IBM 2260, the Hazeltine 2000 was the first that used a standard RS-232 interface and sent its control sequences in the data stream. It could be attached to any contemporary minicomputer or mainframe that had a serial port and used ASCII-standard character sets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazeltine 1500</span> Computer terminal

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References

  1. The History of the TV Typewriter, Michael Holley
  2. Alan Weinkrantz (June 2, 2009). "San Antonio Has Claim As The Birthplace of the Personal Computer. Read All About It". Archived from the original on January 13, 2014.
  3. HP Computer Museum page on HP 2600A, access Dec 26, 2010
  4. 1 2 DataPoint 3300 Maintenance Manual, December, 1976.