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TI 914 terminal

J

jbdigriz

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
67
Have a possible lead on one of these. Looking for good pics of this term so the seller has something to go by in the search. Don't see anything on the webs. Also manuals to download or scan.

thx,
jbdigriz
 
Chuck(G) said:
Are you sure that this is a TI product and not a rebadged TVI one? The model number rings a bell.
Click to expand...

Definitely not. Not that I wouldn't mind getting one of those, too.

Here's a pic of the keyboard,

https://deskthority.net/download/file.php?id=22403&sid=2fef7a7369e3a1a1b8205281d0f6fd76

which appears identical to a TI DXS-CRT kbd, except for the color:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/wyEAAOSwEbhgOd4~/s-l1600.jpg

So, not 100%, but I'm thinking that terminal, the DXS-CRT,, is the same as a 914. It may look something like a 913, which was used with early 990s, but that's what I'm trying to determine Given the name of the DXS-CRT, it likely requires a controller board on the host, like a 911. Nice to know what machine either was used with, too.
 
Oh, okay. The only TI terminals that I've ever seen and worked with have been their Silent 700 series. I remember lugging one of those things home with me on multiple occasions. Always one with the built-in acoustic coupler. Now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing any 900 series terminals when I visited a site hosting the ASC, though there must have been some tucked away there.

This photo of an ASC installation shows a terminal, but it doesn't look like any of the usual suspects
 
I strongly suspect that the big boxy terminal is hardware-specific and geared toward running maintenance tasks. We had such beasts on the STAR also--the Maintenance Control Unit (MCU) which was a dedicated 16 bit mini, complete with drum, with tentacles reaching deep into the CPU. It initiated system startup, among other things--you could modify any register or memory location, trigger various events, etc. One of my projects at CDC was development of an RS232 interface so that the system could be tinkered with remotely.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I strongly suspect that the big boxy terminal is hardware-specific and geared toward running maintenance tasks. We had such beasts on the STAR also--the Maintenance Control Unit (MCU) which was a dedicated 16 bit mini, complete with drum, with tentacles reaching deep into the CPU. It initiated system startup, among other things--you could modify any register or memory location, trigger various events, etc. One of my projects at CDC was development of an RS232 interface so that the system could be tinkered with remotely.
Click to expand...

Cool, didn't realize you were involved with the STAR. Yes, that's possible, or it might be a relatively dumb peripheral processor console. I'll ask one of my contacts who worked on the ASC about the terminals in those pics. Also, 980 minis were used as channel controllers for the later, secondary PAD storage on the ASC. The suspected 914 could be a terminal into one or more of them, but I've drawn a blank so far on 980 terminal info.

Don't want to go off-thread, but any quick pointers to STAR info?

Thanks,
jbdigriz
 
Probably, it's nothing like any other CDC machine. Thank heavens for that--given the time, it was a remarkable effort that pushed IC technology pretty far, but also full of mistakes. I've never checked--do you also have an ETA 10 subdirectory--that was the last of the line, logically? Most CDC employees of the time were unaware of the project's existence.

It was fun while it lasted, however. You can see some of the thought in modern CPU vector extensions.
 
Thermal and power issues were big with the ASC, I'm told.

Forget my caveat above. This is informative.
 
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