I have an old Tektronix Type 611 Storage Display sitting in storage, which I would some day like to get working again. I have the full repair manual on microfiche from Tek.
It is essentially an electronic Etch-a-Sketch, and the screen is cleared by "flashing" it. There is also a screen-saver function to darken the screen but retain the stored image.
It is bi-level, so that a dim electron beam will not be stored, so it is possible to use it both as a normal CRT and as a storage tube at the same time.
When it turns on, there is a pattern of six "flood beam fields" that appear which keep the written image active, along with burned-in areas from decades of prior use. When flashed for normal use the screen is completely black and writable.
It looked like this using the original drive control systems:
There's a "simple" version with only X/Y/Z BNC connectors for steering and turning the write beam on and off, and a more automated version with a DB-25 connector which also passes the screen-clearing and dimming control.
Based on my own research it appears these were used as components of the Tektronix 4002, and the Type 611 looks pretty much exactly like this big green rectangular box in the top of the 4002 chassis:
http://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/File:Tektronix_4002A_Rear_View_Case_Removed.jpg
http://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/File:Tektronix_4002A_Monitor_Circuit_Overview.jpg
I did not get the 4002 guts to go with it, so the only way I know to make it work is for some electronics genius to build a new one.
Does anyone know of such a thing capable of driving a device like this?
