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* [TUHS] cathode
@ 2019-09-18  1:40 William Corcoran
  2019-09-18  3:27 ` Lars Brinkhoff
                   ` (3 more replies)
  0 siblings, 4 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: William Corcoran @ 2019-09-18  1:40 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs

Hello TUHS on Tues.,

Warren Toomey suggested I let the group know about a utility that exists at least for iMacs and IOS devices.  

It’s called “cathode” and you can find it on the Apple App Store.   Please forgive me if this has already been mentioned. 

This utility provides for an xterm window that looks like the display an old *tube.   You can set the curvature of the glass, the glow, various scan techniques, 9600 speed, and so on.   

It adds that extra dimension to give the look and feel of working on early UNIX with a tube. 

I would love to see profiles created that match actual ttys.  My favorite tube is the Wyse 50.   Another, one I remember is a Codex model with “slowopen” set in vi.  

Remember how early UNIX terminals behaved with slowopen, right?   The characters would overtype during insert mode in vi, but when you hit escape, the line you just clobbered reappears shifting the remaining text as appropriate to the right.

Cathode adds a little spice, albeit artificially, to the experience of early UNIX.

Truly,

Bill Corcoran

(*) For the uninitiated, we used to call the tty terminal a “tube.”   For example, you might hear my boss say, “Corcoran, that cheese you hacked yesterday launched a runaway that’s now soaking the client’s CPU.  Go jump on a free tube and fix it now!”


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  1:40 [TUHS] cathode William Corcoran
@ 2019-09-18  3:27 ` Lars Brinkhoff
  2019-09-18 14:01   ` Clem Cole
  2019-09-18  8:31 ` Angelo Papenhoff
                   ` (2 subsequent siblings)
  3 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Lars Brinkhoff @ 2019-09-18  3:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: William Corcoran; +Cc: tuhs

William Corcoran wrote:
> I would love to see profiles created that match actual ttys.

I would love it if they matched actual teletypes.  But that's for
another program.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  1:40 [TUHS] cathode William Corcoran
  2019-09-18  3:27 ` Lars Brinkhoff
@ 2019-09-18  8:31 ` Angelo Papenhoff
  2019-09-18 10:24   ` Hugh Pyle
  2019-09-18  9:05 ` Andy Kosela
  2019-09-18 15:35 ` Paul Winalski
  3 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Angelo Papenhoff @ 2019-09-18  8:31 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs

On 18/09/19, William Corcoran wrote:
> Hello TUHS on Tues.,
> 
> Warren Toomey suggested I let the group know about a utility that exists at least for iMacs and IOS devices.  
> 
> It’s called “cathode” and you can find it on the Apple App Store.   Please forgive me if this has already been mentioned. 
> 
> This utility provides for an xterm window that looks like the display an old *tube.   You can set the curvature of the glass, the glow, various scan techniques, 9600 speed, and so on.   

For the non-OS Xers there's cool-retro-term:
https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term

Personally I think it could look more realistic. Looks like they went
for more of a movie-terminal look, but it's not easy to emulate a CRT
convincingly.

And I agree with Lars, I want cool-retro-asr33 (or 37)


aap

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  1:40 [TUHS] cathode William Corcoran
  2019-09-18  3:27 ` Lars Brinkhoff
  2019-09-18  8:31 ` Angelo Papenhoff
@ 2019-09-18  9:05 ` Andy Kosela
  2019-09-18  9:12   ` Steve Nickolas
  2019-09-18 15:45   ` Adam Thornton
  2019-09-18 15:35 ` Paul Winalski
  3 siblings, 2 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Andy Kosela @ 2019-09-18  9:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: William Corcoran; +Cc: tuhs

On 9/18/19, William Corcoran <wlc@jctaylor.com> wrote:
> Hello TUHS on Tues.,
>
> Warren Toomey suggested I let the group know about a utility that exists at
> least for iMacs and IOS devices.
>
> It’s called “cathode” and you can find it on the Apple App Store.   Please
> forgive me if this has already been mentioned.
>
> This utility provides for an xterm window that looks like the display an old
> *tube.   You can set the curvature of the glass, the glow, various scan
> techniques, 9600 speed, and so on.
>
> It adds that extra dimension to give the look and feel of working on early
> UNIX with a tube.

I used to run it, but I noticed it sucks battery like crazy.  In the
end I compromised on running X with good ol xterm on my MacBook.  It
is much more lightweight.

Plus it is impossible to create a realistic CRT experience on LCD,
especially in widescreen.  All terminals were 4:3 and rather small
from today point of view, but the sizes were just perfect for full
screen text modes.

I have tons of old terminals and CRT VGA monitors just so I can work
on a real thing.  There is something magical about the glow of
phosphor on those old tubes.

--Andy

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  9:05 ` Andy Kosela
@ 2019-09-18  9:12   ` Steve Nickolas
  2019-09-18 15:45   ` Adam Thornton
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Steve Nickolas @ 2019-09-18  9:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Andy Kosela; +Cc: tuhs

On Wed, 18 Sep 2019, Andy Kosela wrote:

> Plus it is impossible to create a realistic CRT experience on LCD,
> especially in widescreen.  All terminals were 4:3 and rather small
> from today point of view, but the sizes were just perfect for full
> screen text modes.
>
> I have tons of old terminals and CRT VGA monitors just so I can work
> on a real thing.  There is something magical about the glow of
> phosphor on those old tubes.

Nothing like the real thing.  Man, I'd kill for another 5151 monitor (and 
something to use it with).

Second to that I'd settle for an Apple monochrome display (either the 
Monitor ][ or the Monitor ///).

-uso.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  8:31 ` Angelo Papenhoff
@ 2019-09-18 10:24   ` Hugh Pyle
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Hugh Pyle @ 2019-09-18 10:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs

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> And I agree with Lars, I want cool-retro-asr33 (or 37)

There's a nice 33 emulator here, with 10cps speed, overstrike, and other
features
https://github.com/Random832/ttyemu

If you have the Teletype fonts installed, use my fork
https://github.com/hughpyle/ttyemu
Sound and smell are not yet implemented.



>

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  3:27 ` Lars Brinkhoff
@ 2019-09-18 14:01   ` Clem Cole
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Clem Cole @ 2019-09-18 14:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Lars Brinkhoff; +Cc: tuhs

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Lars, I agree but, you can't get the distinct smell of machine oil without
something like  'smell-a-vision
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision>'

Bill, I've had Cathode since it first released it to try to demonstrate to
some the younger set a little what it was like.  I set up a Wyse-60, an H19
and my Mac running Cathode and let them play on a my simh based PiDP-11
running v6.

Clem

On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 11:28 PM Lars Brinkhoff <lars@nocrew.org> wrote:

> William Corcoran wrote:
> > I would love to see profiles created that match actual ttys.
>
> I would love it if they matched actual teletypes.  But that's for
> another program.
>

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  1:40 [TUHS] cathode William Corcoran
                   ` (2 preceding siblings ...)
  2019-09-18  9:05 ` Andy Kosela
@ 2019-09-18 15:35 ` Paul Winalski
  3 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Paul Winalski @ 2019-09-18 15:35 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: William Corcoran; +Cc: tuhs

On 9/17/19, William Corcoran <wlc@jctaylor.com> wrote:
>
> I would love to see profiles created that match actual ttys.

Can they duplicate that distinctive "raspberry" sound that the VT52
had for its bell?

-Paul W.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] cathode
  2019-09-18  9:05 ` Andy Kosela
  2019-09-18  9:12   ` Steve Nickolas
@ 2019-09-18 15:45   ` Adam Thornton
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Adam Thornton @ 2019-09-18 15:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs



> On Sep 18, 2019, at 2:05 AM, Andy Kosela <akosela@andykosela.com> wrote:
> I used to run it, but I noticed it sucks battery like crazy.  In the
> end I compromised on running X with good ol xterm on my MacBook.  It
> is much more lightweight.


I’m a big fan of iTerm2 (if I don’t need X).  It doesn’t do any CRT emulation stuff, but it’s very configurable, Python-scriptable, has built-in tmux, very configurable mouse and wheel support, decent contextual highlighting, et cetera.

Adam 

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2019-09-18 15:45 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 9+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2019-09-18  1:40 [TUHS] cathode William Corcoran
2019-09-18  3:27 ` Lars Brinkhoff
2019-09-18 14:01   ` Clem Cole
2019-09-18  8:31 ` Angelo Papenhoff
2019-09-18 10:24   ` Hugh Pyle
2019-09-18  9:05 ` Andy Kosela
2019-09-18  9:12   ` Steve Nickolas
2019-09-18 15:45   ` Adam Thornton
2019-09-18 15:35 ` Paul Winalski

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