Mark Regarding the readability of characters on the surface of a display device surface:
Back in 1982 or 3, I participated in an exhibition in Geneva. The stand was sponsored by the La Gaude laboratories and the objective was to show off the 386X modems with their fancy self-diagnosis functions called "Link Problem Determination Aid" (LPDA). Naturally, I wanted easily to be able to point out things on the NCCF/NPDA panels relevant to the LPDA functions. At this time the 3290 was relatively new and I insisted that we take the opportunity to use these devices[1] so that the dozen or so people attending a demonstration could more easily all see the panel data. I had imagined that, by using the whole 3290 surface for a single display, rather than the standard 4 displays configuration, the font size would scale up to present larger characters. It doesn't. When the character sizes were compared to that on a normal 3278 Model 2 (24x80) display, there was, in fact, no difference. The 3290 displays configured for a single 24x80 display were however, as I had anticipated, suitably legible for demonstration attendees on the stand. This must have been due to the characters having been "spread out" rather than size - obviously. <g> [1] I had some problems one day with an Italian journalist who was fascinated with these enormous display devices and was convinced it was the purpose of the stand to demonstrate 3290s. Another difficulty I had was that La Gaude insisted on placing a 3725[2] on the raised floor of the stand as if there was any purpose in having an anonymous metal box present in a demonstration area. It just got in the way. However, to be fair, it was a requirement of the demonstration setup that a 3725 was within a cable length of the "local" modem so it needed to be in the vicinity - and, as always in exhibitions - space was at a premium[3]. [2] It was link-attached to another 3725 in a hut in the car park along with the 4381. [3] This is an entirely optional and barely connected story so, if you're in a hurry, skip - assuming you haven't already. I was also involved with an exhibition in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in 1974. An IBM 370/145 was to be the heart of the raised floor stand supporting a number of demonstration points. Beforehand there was a planning meeting in Vienna attended by the VP in charge of the unit working in the Soviet Union. He made just one contribution: "What colour will it be?" Someone answered "Blue, I suppose." "We need it to be red." said the VP. My colleague from Texas, an Andy Thomas in case anyone reading knows him, happened to be observing the guy in charge of hardware matters. Andy noticed that the pencil he was twirling in his fingers broke. The system was standing proudly on the stand in the exhibition hall overlooking the Bay of Finland. The typical Russian exhibition crowd pressed around it. (This is the connection with the previous story.) It was October and the sea breeze was cold. People tended to be wearing coats. The coats brushed against the red panels of the 145 system units. Unfortunately they had only been spray painted and the colour was wearing off onto the coats. The panels were becoming a patchy pink. "Never mind," said Andy "it was Chinese red anyhow!" Chris Mason ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Zelden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, 16 October, 2006 4:20 PM Subject: Re: Defining a display LU so the user can choose the terminal type > On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:14:32 -0700, Edward Jaffe > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > >That's just sad. And, they probably have email clients running on the > >very same desktop displaying large amounts of text using a relatively > >tiny font. > > Funny... everytime I show someone my 62 x 142 screen they say "how can > you see that - it's so small" and I have to point out the same thing about > their email client. Of course I used to get the same response when I > would ask why they were using mod 2 and not a mod 5. I guess it just > seems foreign because they are not used to looking at the 3270 with > the smaller fonts. Some people just aren't open to change. :-( > > Mark ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
