[cctalk] Re: Odd IBM mass storage systems

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Apr 12, 2024, at 5:54 PM, CAREY SCHUG via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> ...
> my favorite terminal 3190 that was neon gas, so monochrome, but could take 5 
> addresses, and flip between 62 lines of 160 characters (always there), to 4 
> terminals of 62x80 any two visible at a time, or 4 terminals of 31x160 
> characters, any 2 visible at a time, or 4 terminals of 31x80 all visible at 
> once.  when given a choice, my new boss was surprised that I chose that 
> instead of the color 3279 with graphics that everybody else wanted.  Great 
> for running virtual systems...

Sounds like the plasma panel displays that were invented for the PLATO system, 
by Don Bitzer and a few others, at the U of Illinois.  Inherent memory: if you 
lit a pixel it would stay lit, to turn it off you'd feed it a pulse of the 
opposite polarity.  So it was a great way to do 512x512 bitmap graphics with 
very modest complexity, no refresh memory needed.

        paul