26 Jan
2023
26 Jan
'23
10:29 p.m.
On Thu, Jan 26, 2023 at 10:58 AM Paul Ruizendaal <pnr(a)planet.nl> wrote:
As a result of the recent discussion on this list I’m trying to understand
the timeline of graphical computing on Unix, first of all in my preferred
time slot ’75 -’85.
When it comes to Bell Labs I’m aware of the following:
- around 1975 the Labs worked on the Glance-G vector graphics terminal.
This was TSS-516 based with no Unix overlap I think.
- around the same time the Labs seem to have used the 1973 Dec VT11 vector
graphics terminal; at least the surviving LSX Unix source has a driver for
it
- in 1976 there was the Terak 8510; this ran primarily USCD pascal, but it
also ran LSX and/or MX (but maybe only much later)
In the famous picture of Ken and Dennis you see a Tek display connected to
the 11/20.
Simply during that time there were a number of graphics systems from the
DVST (storage tubes) like Tek 4014 to Raster Systems like the GDPs we had
at CMU. There really are too many to list.
- then it seems to jump 1981 and to the Blit.
- in 1984 there was MGR that was done at Bellcore
Outside of the labs (but on Unix), I have:
- I am not sure what graphics software ran on the SUN-1, but it must have
been something
Again - W was the windowing system for the Sun board, running on the V
kernel. It was original envisioned as a very smart terminal to bigger
systems. Remember it did not have an MMU to start with. Andy added and
MMU and then eventually changed it to a 68010. VLSI Tech was born and
eventual became Sun Micro Systems but that was a few years later. I have
to believe W as moved to UNIX on the SUN Terminal and that would have been
what Chris Kent and folks started with for the microVax - but I do not know
for sure.
- Clem just mentioned the 1981 Tektronix Magnolia
system
1979/1980 actually -- Roger and I started that in summer of '79 and he
wrote that a year later when we go Tek money. It was originall as 'g-job'
we were building for ourselves. Our boss saw what were were doing and
Roger got $10K to do a proposal -- that document was the result.
I already had the basics of a compiler working by them (well sort of) and
the beginning of a Unix port on the test board. Jon Steinhart may be
remember some of this as they all visited us in the labs to see what we
were doing.
- Wikipedia says that X1 was 1984 and X11 was 1987; I’m not sure when it
became Unix centered
- Sun’s NeWS arrived only in 1989, I think?
Outside of Unix, in the microcomputer world there was a lot of cheap(er)
graphics hardware. Lot’s of stuff at 256 x 192 resolution, but up to 512 x
512 at the higher end. John Walker writes that the breakout product for
Autodesk was Interact (the precursor to AutoCAD). Initially developed for
S-100 bus systems it quickly moved to the PC. There was a lot of demand for
CAD at a 5K price point that did not exist at a 50K price point.
Not completely true... 1-4K for BW was possible (expensive) but
available. I tend to believe that systems like E&S could do that. Many
raster systems went to 1K -- again is was about cost. I've forgotten the
resolution of the GDP2 but is was much higher -- it used a rather expensive
HP display. The price of memory and price of the monitor tneded to
dominate. Also the processor was not cheap -- a GDP2 had a dedicated
PDP-11/20, but that was also try of things like GT40 and the
similar systems of the time.
ᐧ