Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
Brian, thank you very much for the scans. The scan is very nice and the document looks very interesting. I would like to make some experiments to learn how the system works, but first I have to obtain the missing keyboard for my HP 700 terminal. Just replaced the line filter capacitors to avoid the WIMA-RIFA-sound-n-smell (TM). I have also read out the EPROMs with the operating system and sent them to bitsavers if they want to archive them. Martin (Germany) > -Original Message- > ... > 3. Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information? (Brian L. Stuart) > ... > -- > > Message: 3 > Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:06:59 + (UTC) > From: "Brian L. Stuart" > To: , Al Kossow > Subject: Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information? > Message-ID: <651900294.1493946.1536602819...@mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > On Wed, 9/5/18, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > > Martin and I thank you! > > Al and Martin, > I've run the standard though our fancy copier > at the office and had it scan at 400dpi, bilevel > directly to PDF. A quick look with xpdf seems > to be a pretty decent scan. I've put it up here: > > http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/alphawindows.pdf > > I also had a sales slick from ADDS for their > 4000/AWT terminal that supported AlphaWindows. > I went ahead and scanned that one in color: > > http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/adds_4000awt.pdf > > Hope that helps, > BLS > > > --
Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
On Wed, 9/5/18, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > Martin and I thank you! Al and Martin, I've run the standard though our fancy copier at the office and had it scan at 400dpi, bilevel directly to PDF. A quick look with xpdf seems to be a pretty decent scan. I've put it up here: http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/alphawindows.pdf I also had a sales slick from ADDS for their 4000/AWT terminal that supported AlphaWindows. I went ahead and scanned that one in color: http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/adds_4000awt.pdf Hope that helps, BLS
Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 11:57 AM Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > > > On 9/5/18 5:17 AM, Martin Hepperle via cctalk wrote: > > In the 1990s a computer terminal standard "AlphaWindows" was proposed by > the > > Display Industry Association (DIA). > > Sort of X-Windows for the poor. > > Very poor... only text in the windows. > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.terminals/ielBYV-mNLM > > This is kind of interesting to me, because I helped get TVI 990/995 > working in MAME. > We obviously never had the windowing protocol information either. > > I wondered why a terminal needed a 68000 inside it. > > I'm obviously interested in anything you come up with. > > I guess a place to start is getting a copy of Multiview Mascot and > watching the > serial protocol between it and a terminal. > > > -- > > Related.. I worked on a similar product in the mid-80's, except it could > do Tek 4015 > graphics in terminal windows. A friend just revived one of the board sets > over the weekend. > > http://bitsavers.org/pdf/aed/colorware_cards/pictures/screen.jpg > > This was a board-level VME or Qbus product you talked to directly through > a shared memory > queue of virtual terminal connections. > > > Interesting stuff. I just (a few weeks ago) saw a boxed copy of FacetTerm for Unix at a store with a lot of old electronics and computer stuff. I see now that FacetTerm worked with the AlphaWindows standard (although I think it could do its own thing too). Looks like it's still available for Linux. -- Eric Christopherson
Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
On 9/5/18 8:59 AM, Brian L. Stuart via cctalk wrote: > I'll see what I can do about scanning it for you. > Martin and I thank you! I'll try getting something to go on my real TVI 990 and 9089!
Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
On Wed, 9/5/18, Martin Hepperle via cctalk wrote: > In the 1990s a computer terminal standard "AlphaWindows" was proposed by the > Display Industry Association (DIA). Sort of X-Windows for the poor. > > Does anyone have a manual with escape sequences for one of the terminals > mentioned? Or other material describing this protocol? It so happens that I do have a copy of the standard. I suppose I'm one of only a few who paid the $99 to DIA to get a copy. Back in the early '90s I started writing an implementation for the Mac, but ended up not getting very far before other projects pushed it down onto the stack. I'll see what I can do about scanning it for you. BLS
Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
a little more info here ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/shuford/terminal/alphawindows_news.txt On 9/5/18 7:39 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > > > On 9/5/18 5:17 AM, Martin Hepperle via cctalk wrote: >> In the 1990s a computer terminal standard "AlphaWindows" was proposed by the >> Display Industry Association (DIA). >> Sort of X-Windows for the poor. > > Very poor... only text in the windows. > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.terminals/ielBYV-mNLM > > This is kind of interesting to me, because I helped get TVI 990/995 working > in MAME. > We obviously never had the windowing protocol information either. > > I wondered why a terminal needed a 68000 inside it. > > I'm obviously interested in anything you come up with. > > I guess a place to start is getting a copy of Multiview Mascot and watching > the > serial protocol between it and a terminal. > > > -- > > Related.. I worked on a similar product in the mid-80's, except it could do > Tek 4015 > graphics in terminal windows. A friend just revived one of the board sets > over the weekend. > > http://bitsavers.org/pdf/aed/colorware_cards/pictures/screen.jpg > > This was a board-level VME or Qbus product you talked to directly through a > shared memory > queue of virtual terminal connections. > >
Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
On 9/5/18 5:17 AM, Martin Hepperle via cctalk wrote: > In the 1990s a computer terminal standard "AlphaWindows" was proposed by the > Display Industry Association (DIA). > Sort of X-Windows for the poor. Very poor... only text in the windows. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.terminals/ielBYV-mNLM This is kind of interesting to me, because I helped get TVI 990/995 working in MAME. We obviously never had the windowing protocol information either. I wondered why a terminal needed a 68000 inside it. I'm obviously interested in anything you come up with. I guess a place to start is getting a copy of Multiview Mascot and watching the serial protocol between it and a terminal. -- Related.. I worked on a similar product in the mid-80's, except it could do Tek 4015 graphics in terminal windows. A friend just revived one of the board sets over the weekend. http://bitsavers.org/pdf/aed/colorware_cards/pictures/screen.jpg This was a board-level VME or Qbus product you talked to directly through a shared memory queue of virtual terminal connections.
AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?
In the 1990s a computer terminal standard "AlphaWindows" was proposed by the Display Industry Association (DIA). Sort of X-Windows for the poor. A few terminals appeared which supported multiple text windows following the this standard. Some limited global facts can be found in Wikipedia. I learned that for example the TeleVideo 995 and 9089 or the HP 700/70 terminals supported AlphaWindows. Obviously there were several implementation levels like: (1) Basic AlphaWindow (2) Mouse Operations (3) Decorations (4) AlphaWindow Credits Flow Control Unfortunately I cannot find any information on the protocol resp. escape sequences and the DIA is long gone. Does anyone have a manual with escape sequences for one of the terminals mentioned? Or other material describing this protocol? Note that other terminals of the similar types (e.g. HP 700/71) do not support this feature. Martin
