5

We know from the Datapoint 3300 Maintenance manual the characters were formed on a 5x7 grid, and on page 2-55 we have an "A". But is it known what the rest of the characters looked like? According to the Instructions manual, the 3300 had old ASCII style ↑ and ← instead of ^ and _, which doesn't match the TI datasheets.

EDIT: I'm adding a picture of the character generator ROM from the schematics.
enter image description here

EDIT: This is from the 1971 TI datasheet.
enter image description here

Improve this question
8
  • 3
    Page 2-51 of the maintenance manual seems to indicate that the character generator ROM was an off-the-shelf part and varied depending on whether the terminal was an -801, -802, -803, -804, or -805 model. For example, the -805 model used an MOS MCS1005 chip, while the earlier models used TI chips (at least I assume that's what the TMS prefix means). If you can find datasheets for any of them, they might include bitmaps. I haven't been able to find any datasheets myself, though. – Ken Gober Feb 28 '20 at 15:39
  • @Ken That comment is worth turning into an answer, with a link to the manual. – cjs Feb 29 '20 at 6:34
  • @cjs, there's a link in the question. – Lars Brinkhoff Feb 29 '20 at 13:20
  • @KenGober, I have also searched for those datasheets, to no avail so far. – Lars Brinkhoff Feb 29 '20 at 13:35
  • 1
    I've been limiting myself to comments on this because it's still possible that the ROM was a custom part -- it was not uncommmon for manufacturers of such parts to allow a customer to provide their own custom bitmaps. The data sheets would clarify whether custom bitmaps were an option and if so what the part numbers would be, if different versions were denoted by, say, different suffixes on the same base part number. – Ken Gober Feb 29 '20 at 23:29
4

This answer may not contain a good enough image( although the last link may also be useful since it seems to use identical font ), here is part of an image on the following catalog -

enter image description here

That catalog can be downloaded at -
https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102646159

https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Computer_Terminal_Corporation/ComputerTerminalCorporation.Datapoint3300.1969.102646159.pdf

The following videos uploaded by one person may help -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juuM6jvu2a0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5r9jkoIPVQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqg8L6G077w

Also, paste the name of the catalog detailed above, into google-search - "computerterminalcorporation.datapoint3300.1969.102646159"
and some sites for interesting reading result.

Here's a restored one, but they did not upload a photo of the screen on. https://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=455

http://www.vintagecomputer.net/ctc/3300/
____________________________________
The following is part of a screen image for the Datapoint 1100 which seems to have identical font-
enter image description here
The link for the image is -
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/datapoint/1100/Dataform_1100_Brochure_1974.pdf

Improve this answer
1
  • Thank you, this is very helpful! I'm already in contact with Bill Degnan. – Lars Brinkhoff Mar 2 '20 at 5:15

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.