27 Oct
2018
27 Oct
'18
9:45 p.m.
Clem Cole <clemc(a)ccc.com> writes:
* In '64 Xerox invented 'long distance
xerography' (LDX) - which was a
FAX system that used a monochrome CRT to draw a single line of pixels
on a xerographic 'drum.' Xerox loaned/gave one to CMU, Stanford and
MIT in '72. CMU spliced on to a PDP-11 and had it running my March
'72 [BTW, I recently found pictures of the original toilet paper
diploma printing hack using it]. Stanford and MIT duplicated the CMU
trick, with Stanford's XGP coming online Jan '73 and MIT sometime
thereafter].
Thanks, that goes into my records. Can we see the pictures?
MIT attached a PDP-11/10 or 11/20, we don't quite know which. But we
have the code that ran on it.
MIT later got a Dover, also from Xerox. I'll share this artistic work
from the AI lab file HUMOR; DOVER POEM.
Dover, oh Dover, arisen from dead.
Dover, oh Dover, awoken from bed.
Dover, oh Dover, welcome back to the Lab.
Dover, oh Dover, we've missed your clean hand...
And now your toner's toney,
And your paper near pure white,
The smudges on your soul are gone
And your output's clean as light..
We've labored with your father,
The venerable XGP,
But his slow artistic hand,
Lacks your clean velocity.
Theses and papers
And code in a queue
Dover, oh Dover,
We've been waiting for you.
Disk blocks aplenty
Await your laser drawn lines,
Your intricate fonts,
Your pictures and signs.
Your amputative absence
Has made the Ten dumb,
Without you, Dover,
We're system untounged-
DRAW Plots and TEXage
Have been biding their time,
With LISP code and programs,
And this crufty rhyme.
Dover, oh Dover,
We welcome you back,
Though still you may jam,
You're on the right track.