UNIXPC trivia

[Dave Levenson]

In article <1244 at icus.ICUS.COM>, lenny at icus.ICUS.COM (Lenny Tropiano) writes:
...
> Well I forget the model, but AT&T had a telephone, computer terminal pair
> (was it the 510?) that looked like a minature PC7300, with a builtin-phone.
> They (CT) even had a version of "TAM" called "Touch TAM", that would 
> convert the touching of the screen on that machine to TAM-equivalent
> escape codes.  Imagine that, touching the "Filecabinet" to open it up, and
> then touching the "file" to edit that ...  Reminds me of the days of
> light-pens! ;-)

Yes, it was the 510.  Two models: the 510-A and the 510-D.  The -A
model was analog, and could connect with two telephone lines.  One
was normally used for speaking, the other with the internal modem.
The -D was the digital model, which would connect only with the AT&T
System 85 and System 75 PBXs.  It uses DCP (a proprietary digital
link similar to but not compatible with ISDN) and provides 64 kbit
voice and data connectivity with other PBX endpoints.  It could
provide up to four call-pickup buttons, and a number of feature
buttons, as well.

The screen (and optional keyboard) emulated a VT-100, including
132-col mode, and smooth-scroll.  The handset and internal
speakerphone emulate a 2500 set on the 510-A, and a 7400 digital set
on the 510-D.  On the -D, if your PBX had all of the optional
features working, the screen normally shows pictures of line, hold,
conference, and speed-dial buttons.  You touch them, and place a
call.  When someone calls you, a button-symbol blinks and the
caller's number or name are displayed next to the blinking button.
If you invoke the internal directory, names are displayed on the
screen.  You "reach out and TOUCH someone" and it dials their
number.

And yes, if you used it to log into a UNIX-PC running TAM, you got
"Touch Target TAM" on your 510 screen.  The touch screen, actually,
used optical techniques very much like a light-pen.  When you
touched the screen, your finger-pressure dimpled a transparent
flexible piece of plastic.  Some transparent jelly was sandwiched
between this piece of plastic and another, against the CRT face.
The dimple would reflect light from the CRT screen toward some photo
detectors at the corners of the screen.  The sense electronics
connected thereto would receive a pulse of light and correlate it
with the position of the raster scan, and determine what you had
touched on your screen.

A very neat terminal, as I recall.  Probably one of the most
expensive telehpones ever offered for sale.  Also, a rather costly
VT-100 emulator.  But, like the flying submarine, it was a better
telephone than most data terminals, and a far better data terminal
than most telephones!

-- 
Dave Levenson			Voice: 908 647 0900  Fax: 908 647 6857
Westmark, Inc.			UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Warren, NJ, USA			AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]