Відео

see my other reply about where I got the data. I used our Tektronix 4051 Emulator set to 100x speed (about 10x faster than my 4054A) and a BASIC program to convert BASIC MOVE/DRAW commands into R12 format of 3 bytes per MOVE or DRAW format. That conversion took almost an hour on my PC. It displays in seconds on my 4054A because R12 is a Fast Graphics option ROM that can handle a whole string of MOVE/DRAW commands. My BASIC program reads a data block from my GPIB Flash Drive and CALLs a single R12 RDRAW command to display that block. I use R12 for all of my latest 4050 BASIC programs including a MONOPOLY game I started in 1979 on a 4051 at work and was unable to finish because the program ran out of 32KB of RAM in the 4051. My finished MONOPOLY program runs in 32KB of RAM on a 4051, 4052 or 4054 because all the graphics data is moved out to 90KB of R12 data files - accessed by BASIC on demand from my Flash Drive. Check out my MONOPOLY video on my channel.

Tektronix took storage CRT burn-in into account on all their products with storage CRTs including oscilloscopes, monitors, terminals, and the 4050 series computers. On the 4050 series computers like my 4052 and 4054A - the hardware has automatic screen clearing after being idle past the inactivity timeout.

@@TEK-Vectors I just watched your VCF 2024 video and was blown away at the point where you said that even after the screen has been cleared when idle, turning on the "flood guns" immediately shows the display where it left off. I had presumed the electrons at each pixel were being replenished by the flood guns, but clearly there is some other Tektronix magic going on.

@@BenInSeattle - the storage tube magic is the green phosphor on the faceplate is charged by the writing beam and that charge is maintained continuously by the flood guns until the screen is erased with the PAGE key or BASIC PAGE command. When the screen dims due to inactivity after 2 minutes - the flood guns power is reduced to dim the glow of the energized green phosphor, but leaving just enough flood gun power to maintain the phosphor charge (and you can barely see the stored image). That is why when you wake up the display by pressing any key - the entire screen brightens immediately due to the flood guns being powered at high power.

I manually timed the Death Star video from my 4052 and 4054A and got about 3.2X speedup of the 4054A versus the 4052. The Michelangelo was displayed about 3.9X faster on the 4054A versus the 4052. Both 4052 and 4054 were released in 1979 as the second generation of 4050 vector graphics computers about 10x faster than the original 4051 introduced in 1975 with a Motorola 6800 CPU running at 800KHz clock speed. The 4052 had the same display board - simple 10-bit X&Y D/A with 1024x780 vector resolution as the 4051 and targeted business and scientific applications. The 4054 targeted CAD (computer aided design) with its 19-inch CRT and 12-bit X&Y D/A with 4096x3072 vector resolution. The 4054 graphics required a small backplane containing a set of display boards. For more details including the boards inside the 4054 check out my video taken at Vintage Computer Festival in Dallas Texas - June 2024 on how the Tektronix 4054A with Color Storage CRT works: ua-cam.com/video/-95wvTbX5uc/v-deo.html

​@@TEK-Vectors Thanks for all the details and the fascinating VCF video! I hadn't known that Battlestar Galactica was made using an actual computer and in real time! A sharp display animating smoothly seemed like technology from far in the future. I had always presumed it was all fake, maybe sliding an overhead transparency of a cylon over another of a target. If they had wanted to show it was actually a computer, what could the 4054A do that transparencies couldn't have? Can the display list be transformed in real time? Or could a 4054A render the cylon as multiple display lists and use those to show it "breaking apart" into fragments when hit?

@@BenInSeattle - the Tektronix computer used for the animated scenes in Battlestar Galactica was the 4081 introduced in 1977. The 4081 had a 19-inch CRT, same as used on the 4054 introduced in 1979 attached to an Interdata minicomputer with Tektronix storage tube display boards. The 4054 and 4054A had an Option 30 Dynamic Graphics coprocessor board which can display a list of objects in refresh mode - with the positions of each object controlled by the BASIC program. See my Cylon Attack game video and my Asteroids work in progress videos to watch Option 30 in action.

I will think about your idea for texturing.

@@TEK-Vectors It might even speed it up as it looked like sometimes the filling algorithm might have been painting the same pixels twice.

@@BenInSeattle - yes I noticed the same thing. I got the Michelangelo vector drawing file from another vintage computer enthusiast who had created a 3D engine for the Commodore computers. His program converted a 3D printer STL file into the flattened X/Y data - which was likely where the duplication was introduced.

thanks Alan!

Quite a bit more hardware than a PC graphics board! The Tektronix 4052 and 4054 had a custom 16-bit bit-slice CPU which had 6800 opcodes plus 16 sixteen-bit registers with double-precision 8-byte floating point opcodes plus 16-bit data bus with 64KB of BASIC ROM and 64KB of RAM which increased the speed of running Tektronix first generation 4051 BASIC programs from 7x to over 10x! The 4054 had 4096x3072 12-bit D/A with much faster vector speed than the 4052 and 4051 using a set of four display boards with discrete TTL logic. My Cylon Attack game uses both the main bit-slice CPU for BASIC and programs the Option 30 Write-Thru Vector Graphics coprocessor - a 16-bit bipolar Signetics 8x300 CPU which displays up to 1000 vector objects created by the BASIC program. The Option 30 coprocessor was similar to the Atari Asteroids arcade Digital Vector Generator coprocessor which handled continual refresh for all the vector objects on the vector CRT - which could NOT store any vectors. The Option 31 Color Dynamic Graphics CRT had both green phosphor for stored graphics written by BASIC and red phosphor for the write-through graphics displayed by Option 30. Here is a photo of the 4054 Option 30 board on top of the 4054 bit-slice CPU set of four boards: forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/amazing-tektronix-4054-with-option-30-and-31-dynamic-graphics.1239131/post-1263974 There are six more boards in a card cage next to the CRT!

I think the Color DVST storage tube was only in the 4054 and 4054A as Option 31 - and Option 31 required Option 30 the Dynamic Graphics coprocessor board like I have in my 4054A. You should watch my 5-Colors on my 4054A video for how I programmed the Option 30 Dynamic Graphics coprocessor board to get five different colors: Red Orange Lime-Green Yellow and Green! ua-cam.com/video/rg31JF5iG08/v-deo.html

Yes, check out my TEK Vectors channel 5-COLOR demo: ua-cam.com/video/rg31JF5iG08/v-deo.html and Battlestar Galactica Cylon Attack game: ua-cam.com/video/CLi_ZxPFvqA/v-deo.html I also have a work-in-progress Asteroids game video

I never saw one, but wikipedia has an article on a 1970 Vector General VG3D terminal that fetched vector graphics data from a PDP minicomputer using DMA to refresh the non-storage vector CRT display at 60Hz. The article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_General indicates this terminal was used to create the Star Wars Death Star animation, one frame at a time!

Do you have a Tektronix 4051, 4052 or 4054? They are incredibly rare because they targeted commercial engineering, scientific, military and education markets from 1975 to 1985. If you don't - I highly recommend our Tektronix 4051 Emulator: github.com/mmcgraw74/Tektronix-4051-Emulator That link includes links to programming manuals and includes my GPIB Flash Drive zip file of dozens of curated 4050 programs including my MONOPOLY program (video posted in my channel). The 4051 Emulator cannot run my Asteroid program as the 4051 and even 4052 did NOT have the same vector graphics as the 4054, nor did they have an Option 30 refresh graphics coprocessor - but there are lots of other programs that do run on the 4051 Emulator in addition to running on the actual 4051, 4052 and 4054 computers - since the 4051 Emulator emulates the hardware including the BASIC ROMs.

No. These images were in Tektronix PLOT 10 401x vector graphics terminal format that I found here: github.com/rricharz/Tek4010/tree/master/pltfiles/ICEMD_pltfiles I wrote a Tektronix 4050 BASIC program to convert them to 4050R12 Fast Graphics/Graphics Enhancement ROM Pack binary format to draw them quickly on my 4054A computer from 1979.

The Tektronix 4054A computer only has a 2MHz CPU clock rate. This computer runs BASIC in ROM but I found BASIC drawing commands very slow. I'm using a Tektronix R12 Option ROM which has much faster drawing commands in this video. My BASIC program draws each line of dots with a single command to the R12 option ROM.

Great question. I just added a link in this video description to my github repository for Tektronix 4050 computer programs that I have recovered from original tapes and programs that I have created that should answer your question. I designed a Tektronix GPIB Flash Drive using an Arduino board with microSD card that emulates the Tektronix external GPIB tape drive and plugs into to my 4054A GPIB connector. I design my Tektronix BASIC programs on my PC with a Tektronix 405x Emulator and then copy the program and data files to the microSD and then plug the microSD into my Flash Drive. This video shows my bitmap picture program menu - which shows the list of pictures and you only have to type the picture number to display that picture.

I sure do 🤣

Yes - the source code is on my github repository for all my Tektronix 4050 BASIC programs and dozens of 4050 tapes that I have recovered over the years: download the zip file in this folder for my latest MONOPOLY program files (file 1 is the main program in ASCII): github.com/mmcgraw74/Tektronix-4051-4052-4054-Program-Files/tree/master/Games/Monopoly also check out my previous comment on how to play this MONOPOLY game on your PC or MAC with the 405x Emulator

@@TEK-Vectors Thanks! I found the comment you were talking about. May I suggest putting the information in the video description since UA-cam comments are ephemeral and there's no good way to search them.

@@BenInSeattle great idea - I will add that info to the video description!

I think so 😁

I will check that out. I used windows Clipchamp to process the video - it could have changed the framerate.

Yes - we have a web-browser based emulator Tek 405x that I use heavily for developing programs like MONOPOLY. Follow my instructions in this post: forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/tek-405x-web-browser-emulator.62548/post-1343836 with updated links to the 405x emulator and my Flash Drive zip file with Monopoly here: forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/tek-405x-web-browser-emulator.62548/post-1357155

@@TEK-Vectors ♥♥♥♥♥♥

Since my 4052 and 4054A computers both have 64KB of RAM - I could create a second MONOPOLY program limited to those computers that could add additional game features.

That means adding a network adapter with multiplayer software 🤔 My BASIC program is at the limit of the 32BK of RAM of the 1975 Tektronix 4051. My 4052 and 4054A have 64KB of RAM - but there is likely less than a dozen of these computers still working. Maybe if I just used the RS-232 serial interface on the Tektronix computer - connected to a PC with a program to connect to the other players on the internet ... 🤔

@@TEK-Vectors well, I am not too versed in tech this old, what if you were to use it as a main frame system? Make it so you can use multiple displays and key boards, and use something like a raspberry or Arduino to give the inputs and outputs an IP address you can connect to?

​@@TEK-Vectors that's sad that so few computers are still working. If they were more popular, there would be a production of new equipment, I've heard about new nixie tubes being made, for example. I can try to convert some big screen storage tube oscilloscope into something similar using MCU board, though.

The Tektronix 4050 vector graphics are mesmerizing!

Check out this website: vintagetek.org/tektronix-in-movies-shows/ page 1 and page 2 contain the 4051 and 4052 among other Tektronix equipment that has been in movies and TV like the Battlestar Galactica late 1970's TV series and the movie D.A.R.Y.L and others.

@@TEK-Vectors Nice! Thank you

Tektronix began production of their own storage tubes in the 1960's - when their two suppliers cut back on their storage tube capacity. Their storage tube oscilloscopes and monitors were designed for commercial, scientific, and military applications and used with mainframe and minicomputers in the 1960's and 1970's as premier graphics terminals. The Tektronix 4050 computers inherited the best of their storage tube technology - and were designed for continuous daily use. They learned how to eliminate storage tube burn-in by automatically clearing the CRT after 15 minutes of keyboard inactivity. I used a Tektronix 4051 at my first job in the 1970's and fell in love with its integrated vector graphics, sophisticated BASIC and used it to learn and write my first BASIC programs for work. It wasn't until 1999 that I acquired a 4052 from a medical school auction and 2000 that I acquired a 4054 with a Caltech sticker from an EBAY auction. I only found about three other people with working 4051 computers at that time and we swapped a tape cartridge with BASIC games. I stopped using both computers soon after until 2018 and found a couple of guys working on a 4051 emulator on the web. I got both my computers running again - so I believe they will last a very long time 😁

I've developed a couple of 3D printable STL pen holder files to use fine point felt tip pens with my 4662. I have received some Pilot G2 gel roller pens and need to design a pen holder to try them with my 4662. It is on my to-do list 😊

I'm not familiar with the penetron CRT - but a quick look at the wikipedia article on penetron tells me there is some similarity with my Tektronix 4054A Option 31 Color Dynamic Vector Graphics. If I understand the penetron correctly - the writing beam must write all the vectors of one color at one energy level and then write all the other color vectors at a different energy level. Biggest difference I see in the penetron and this CRT is the green phosphor in this CRT is written once by a high energy writing gun and then is continuously illuminated by low energy flood guns near the face of the CRT - which is how all the Tektronix storage tubes work. The red phosphor in this CRT is being illuminated by the using the writing gun at a slightly lower energy (too low to energize the green phosphor), and it is refreshed 37 times a second by the Option 30 graphics coprocessor from a vector list in its memory. The writing gun is now only being used to write the 'red' vectors.

The Tektronix 4662 plotter uses simple MOVE and DRAW commands to plot vector images - described in this manual: www.bitsavers.org/pdf/tektronix/466x/070-1932-01_Rev_A_4662_Interactive_Digital_Plotter_User_Manual_Nov_1976.pdf You will likely not be able to use the GPIB interface to control the plotter - so you need to follow the instructions for using the RS-232 serial interface instructions starting on page 3-4. I created and posted several BASIC programs for Tektronix 4050 computers to plot files in this folder - github.com/mmcgraw74/Tektronix-4051-4052-4054-Program-Files/tree/master/4114-Plot-Files Check out the snoopy-RedBaron.bas BASIC program for the raw data to send to the plotter for Snoopy Red Baron. This program is for a 4050 computer connected to the plotter with GPIB - so the PRINT @3,21: is telling the plotter to MOVE and the two numbers are X and Y. PRINT @3,20: is telling the plotter to DRAW and each pair of numbers represents the X,Y point to draw to. For RS-232 operation - you will have to send ESC character sequences as described in the manual. Hope this helps.

@@TEK-Vectors Hi, thank you for reply, need to study all that what you wrote. I read that is RS232 C, you say RS232 , is that same thing?

@@zmajmr yes. You will likely need a USB to RS-232 adapter. I use a Tripp-Lite Keyspan USA-19HS adapter. You will also need to get or make a 9-pin RS-232 to 25-pin RS-232 cable to connect from the RS-232 adapter to the plotter.

You should check out my Battlestar Galactica "Cylon Attack" game video on my channel which uses the Option 30 Dynamic Graphics coprocessor to draw the Cylon and player HIT/MISS scores in orange vector refresh mode with the targeting circles in green storage mode: ua-cam.com/video/CLi_ZxPFvqA/v-deo.html Also my work-in-progress Asteroids game video where every object and score is drawn by the Option 30 in refresh mode: ua-cam.com/video/9yvnffajpjc/v-deo.html

@@TEK-Vectors I was more thinking about objects that are changing, like rotating wireframe 3D models, hair, etc. More like Elite game from ZX Spectrum and other 8-bit computers, but vector

anemoia

Thank you! Now that my 4054A is repaired, I've started work on my Asteroids game again 🎇

@@TEK-Vectors Looking forwards to seeing your progress with that game.