DESIGN OF A LOW-COST CHARACTER GENERATOR FOR REMOTE COMPUTER DISPLAYS
Abstract
A requirement exists for a low-cost remote display terminal with alphanumeric and line-drawing capabilities for use with time-shared computer systems. A survey of existing devices and character generation techniques was carried out, and a design approach was chosen which takes advantage of mass- fabrication techniques. This includes using a five-by-seven dot matrix raster and a resistor array 'read-only' character memory for the 96 printable symbols of the Revised Proposed ASCII Code. Circuits designed included a dot matrix generator, and a resistor array memory with selection logic sense amplifiers, and a shift register output buffer. An experimental character generator with an eight-word memory was built, largely using integrated circuits and was found to work as desired. It is concluded that the design approach will yield a character generator that is of low enough cost to find wide use in remote computer terminals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0631269
Entities
People
- Thomas B. Cheek
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology