🚀 go-pugleaf

In all this folderol about the Teletype DMD 5620, I noticed one
interesting point fly by and disappear.  Guido Bertocci (twitch!guido)
mentions that the 5620 can run at 19.2 Kbaud.  In my experience this is
misleading -- flow control and protocol overhead limit the throughput
to ~300 cps in layers.  My beat-up old Ann Arbor Ambassador gets 1900+
cps at 19.2 Kbaud.  This is one reason why I have a triple-A in my
office instead of a 5620.

Another problem with the 5620 has been lack of software.  Rob Pike
demonstrated features of the Blit software at the Santa Monica Usenix
back in 1982 which I still haven't seen on a 5620.  (I understand
through the grapevine that the situation has improved recently,
although (of course?) we haven't encountered anyone who is actually
running the new stuff.) The expense of the 5620, the limitations of the
software and the slow speed have combined to kill off any interest our
user community might have developed.  The only way someone here might
conceivably buy another 5620 would be if (a) the speed improved to
handle 19.2 Kbaud without flow control, (b) the price dropped to the
same as an Ann Arbor terminal, and (c) someone put X windows up on it
(:-).

I wouldn't mind hearing that (a) and (c) are in a $10 upgrade kit,

Donn Seeley    University of Utah CS Dept    donn@utah-cs.arpa
40 46' 6"N 111 50' 34"W    (801) 581-5668    decvax!utah-cs!donn