On Fri, 10 Nov 2017, William Corcoran wrote:

> It could also be that the 80 column display with 24 rows using 8 bit 
> characters fit nicely within a 16k memory chip (or four (4) 4K chips). I 
> wonder if that fact eventually helped OEM’s settle in on the ubiquitous 
> 80x24 terminal size?

Perhaps.  I still have horrible memories of the VT-05, flogged as the 
console for the PDP-11.  It was 72x20 (yes, really!), upper-case only (but 
flipping a switch caused it to transmit lower-case as well), lacked a few 
characters, etc...  It probably used even smaller chips.

And yes, I'm a crusty dinosaur who won't adapt to the modern times; my 
windows are 80x24, with the occasional 80x40, but occasionally using wide 
screens for side-by-side diffs ("sdiff" is a wonderful tool), etc.  I also 
have poor eyesight, so I can't use small fonts.

-- 
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU)  "Those who don't understand security will suffer."