Tektronix 4051 BASIC Simulator

[Kj -]

Hi, all.  Can't believe I just found out about the SRCS.  Anyway, I worked with the Tektronix 4051
series long ago, and in the last couple years developed a moderately complete BASIC simulator
complete with the graphics.  I'd like to connect with anyone local that either has a 4051 (and can
help me run some spec tests - I see a post a while back from a "Josh" who has one?) or is just
interested in trying and/or testing it.  It runs on Windows.

[B 9]

That's a pretty cool picture you attached. Is the 4051 related to the
Tektronix 4015 terminal? I never used an actual one, but back in the
day one serial terminal program (Columbia University's Kermit) had
4015 emulation built in. I remember writing a program that could
convert a Compuserve GIF to 4015 escape codes so that people could
view images from the Unix command line when connecting with their PC
as a serial terminal. Ah, the good old days, when people with 300 baud
modems had the fortitude and patience for the image of a clown to
slowly trickle line by line onto the screen.

The thing that stuck with me from that experience was that the 4015's
display resolution was 4096x4096! Of course, Kermit was actually
munging the image down to CGA which looked pretty awful. I remember
wondering if I would ever have a computer that could actually display
such an amazing resolution. We're getting closer, but I'm still
waiting for the future to catch up...

--b9

On 9/11/13, Kj - <kjo...@gmail.com> wrote:
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[Josh Dersch]

On 9/17/2013 9:17 PM, B 9 wrote:
> That's a pretty cool picture you attached. Is the 4051 related to the
> Tektronix 4015 terminal?

Related only in that they shared some similar technology -- primarily a
storage tube display used to display vector graphics.

The 4051 was a full computer (6800 CPU, up to 32k RAM, tape drive, GPIB,
BASIC in ROM, etc.), whereas the 4015 was merely a terminal (but a very
cool one).

> I never used an actual one, but back in the
> day one serial terminal program (Columbia University's Kermit) had
> 4015 emulation built in. I remember writing a program that could
> convert a Compuserve GIF to 4015 escape codes so that people could
> view images from the Unix command line when connecting with their PC
> as a serial terminal. Ah, the good old days, when people with 300 baud
> modems had the fortitude and patience for the image of a clown to
> slowly trickle line by line onto the screen.
>
> The thing that stuck with me from that experience was that the 4015's
> display resolution was 4096x4096! Of course, Kermit was actually
> munging the image down to CGA which looked pretty awful. I remember
> wondering if I would ever have a computer that could actually display
> such an amazing resolution. We're getting closer, but I'm still
> waiting for the future to catch up...

Why wait for the future to catch up? 4015's aren't impossible to find,
even today :). A 4K-resolution computer could be yours sooner than you
think!

- Josh

[B 9]

On 9/17/13, Josh Dersch <ders...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 9/17/2013 9:17 PM, B 9 wrote:
>> That's a pretty cool picture you attached. Is the 4051 related to the
>> Tektronix 4015 terminal?
>
> Related only in that they shared some similar technology -- primarily a
> storage tube display used to display vector graphics.
>
> The 4051 was a full computer (6800 CPU, up to 32k RAM, tape drive, GPIB,
> BASIC in ROM, etc.), whereas the 4015 was merely a terminal (but a very
> cool one).

Neat! Did the 4051 have the 4096x4096 addressable display?

> Why wait for the future to catch up? 4015's aren't impossible to find,
> even today :). A 4K-resolution computer could be yours sooner than you
> think!

Heh! I don't think I want to try sending a 16 megapixel raster image
over a 9600 baud link. What I want is an alternate history where
bitmap displays were a fad and we all got snazzy vector graphics
terminals with user interfaces to match.

If I got a Tek 4051 my first step, would have to be to implement a
Display Postscript interpreter in Motorola 6800 assembly. (Second
step, build time machine...) ;-)

--b9

P.S. I know that Mac OS X's graphics are based fundamentally on a
vector description language with bitmap additions. I wonder what it
would look like with all the bitmaps stripped out.

[franz-micha...@t-online.de]

If you are interested, I have a Tektronix 4015 terminal to sell.

Please contact me by mail to:

Franz-Micha...@t-online.de