On 2018-06-06 2:08 PM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote: > > >> On Jun 6, 2018, at 9:48 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> >> wrote: >> >> Hi, I'm hoping someone here knows the low-level nitty-gritty on how the >> characters on the CDC 6600 console CRTs were generated. >> >> Thornton, "Design of a Computer", says "Control of the beam .. is provided by >> electrostatic deflection ... electronically converting from the symbol .. to >> deflection voltages", but alas, doesn't say how that conversion is done. And >> I >> looked in some CDC 6600 documentation online, alas, even less detail. >> >> But looking at the characters (reproduced on the dust jacket), the curves >> sure >> make it look like it wasn't anything simple (e.g. using display vectors, as >> one source indicated). Does anyone know? > > Yes. > > It is indeed a digital stroke generator, not a Fourier generator as someone > suggested. The reason for the odd shapes on the Thornton book cover is the > AC characteristics of the display electronics. >
The tweet did, but I found the suggestion surprising. > There are a couple of parts to the puzzle. > > One is the display controller ("synchronizer" in CDC terminology, the module > that connects to the 6000 I/O channel). The 60125000 manual that was > mentioned is the "block diagrams" manual for that (and several other) > controllers. The block diagrams show the overall data flow and the general > structure of the circuits, but they are not complete schematics. > > However, the full schematics also exist: > http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/cdc/cyber/cyber_70/fieldEngr/63016700A_6600_Chassis_Tabs_12_Apr65.pdf > > The block diagram manual shows the waveforms generated by the controller. As > you can see, they are pretty angular and straight lined. Each segment > (between the small marks on the stroke) corresponds to a 100 ms clock cycle, > with a one or two element step in X and/or Y. That must be closer to 100 ns? Typo? > > Incidentally, the 170 series display controller produces the same waveforms, > though using a completely different (ROM based) design. > > The other part of the puzzle is the DD60 console display. That is fed from > the 6602/6612 display controller by a bundle of coax cables. The waveforms > are generated by A/D circuits (quite primitive ones) in the 6602, and travel > in analog differential form to the DD60. There they go through a string of > amplifiers and a scaling circuit, for the small/medium/large character size > selection. Eventually they end up on the deflection plates of large > electrostatic deflection CRTs. Much of the signal chain is early 1960s > transistors; the final couple of stages are tubes. You can find the > schematics at > http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/cdc/cyber/cyber_70/fieldEngr/82100010_dd60a_Mar65.pdf > > What appears to be going on is that the signal chain in the DD60 has enough > bandwidth to draw the characters, but only barely. So there is distortion in > the path, resulting in character shapes on the screen that are not the same > as the nominal stroke patterns generated by the controller. > > I have converted the "chassis tabs 12" wire lists to a VHDL model, which you > can find on my Subversion server. Run on GHDL, it demonstrates the behavior > of the circuit and reproduces the documented waveforms. > > I have also attempted to create a SPICE model of the DD60 deflection signal > path. So far that hasn't been all that successful. I probably have bad > assumptions for the transistor models, and the CRT deflection plate > capacitance figures are also a complete guess. My hope was to reproduce the > actual screen patterns, but that hasn't worked yet. > > Finally, I did a much more primitive approximation of the DD60 signal path, > with a couple of IIR filters that very roughly imitate the RC elements in > that path. That was done as part of my console display emulator program for > Tom Hunter's DtCyber program. It was somewhat successful in that the > characters show some of the rounding and distortion that the real display > has, but unfortunately I can't claim that this is because it's an accurate > model. Nice work! --Toby > > By the way, the displays shown on the 170 series console (CDC 565) look > somewhat different. ... > > paul > >