Re: Every day emulation

["James H H Lampert" <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> The grand daddy of them all.
> Often called a boat anchor because it weighed so much.
>
> Definitely JHHL's kind of instrument.  No synthesied 
> sounds.  The keyboard "box" contained a genuine solenoid
> clicker for both notification messages and keyboard effects.


Tell me: I've seen references in the 5250 data stream 
manual to a 5252, the first 5250 terminal with two "sides" 
-- but I understand that unlike InfoWindows and 
Yestations, with their figurative "sides," the 5252 had 
two LITERAL sides, two physical screens and keyboards 
facing opposite directions.

Is that some kind of a put-on, or was there really such an 
animal?

Likewise, were there really once 5250 screen formats with 
fewer than 24 lines or fewer than 80 columns?

-----

Back in high school, we had 2 multiplexed phone lines 
going to an IBM 370/135 (running McGill University's MUSIC 
operating system) at the district office. We had mostly 
Lear ADM-1s, Datamedia Elites, and Decwriters. We got word 
that we were getting a new printing terminal, one made by 
Teletype. I groaned when I first heard it, imagining a 
bulky, noisy beast limited to 110 Baud (when everything 
else in the room was at 300). Turned out it wasn't a 33; 
it was a 43. Same terminal you might have seen on Quincy, 
attached to one of the analytical machines. Compact, and 
no noiser or slower than the Decwriters.

The keyboard, though otherwise all electronic, had 
mechanical keyclick (not to mention a really nice feel). 
And the "bell" on it was a literal, mechanical bell. Being 
high school students, we immediately wrote trivial little 
programs that made it sound like a telephone was ringing. 
I even wrote a silly little online short story about 
Maxwell Smart and his shoephone (complete with sound 
effects).

--
JHHL