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1970’s vintage portable remote computer terminal.

G

GADFRAN

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Dec 1, 2007
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Location
Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States
Hi !REMOTECOMPUTERTERMINAL.jpg

While doing some other projects, I recently found this picture and thought some may be interested in it.

Around 1974 I was involved with a National Science Foundation [NSF] program to bring computing into academe – students / faculty.

This was a portable remote computer terminal that was as large as a small suitcase that you could connect to a phone with an acoustic coupler.

It connected to nearby Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA USA that had a mainframe CDC 6400.

As you can see, it could print out on special computer paper.

Big loud teletypes were used for permanent installations. We had two [2] at the small college I taught at.

For us “old-timers” it brings back many memories.

For those younger, they may have wondered how we did it all back then.

Enjoy !

Frank

P.S.

That is my wife, an English major, trying to figure it all out ! She taught at the college also and we met there.

It shows more detail than another one of me I posted some time ago.
 
One of my father's friends related a story to me, after discovering that I was into vintage computers...apparently he used a similar terminal while working with MITRE to access ARPANET. Of course, the most memorable part of his experience with the terminal and mainframe connection was playing Adventure!

I'd seen a similar unit somewhere that had a pop-up CRT screen. The screen didn't appear to be very large (maybe 5-6"), and the unit had the same form factor.
 
Thanks for info Chuck !

I never knew the model and at that time I just did not think of making note of it, probably because I was " so new " to it all that I thought they all were the same !"

I will add it to my documentation on my computing adventures.

Frank
 
50/50 being a real question but yes that's a telephone handset sitting on top of the terminal. The early modems were speakers and microphones in a box that you would pick up your your phone and put it physically on the modem. Pretty advanced stuff for it's time ;-)

Actually there's a similar but newer terminal I've been eying on epay that someone local wants $40. It's neat though since it interfaces with so many connects (some Panasonic model) but it would be a bit cumbersome since the only output is paper, no video display.
 
It's called an acoustic coupler. If you weren't the owner of the telephone system, you weren't permitted to attach anything to the wires of the system. In the early days, this is how competing telephone systems linked up.

Before the Carterfone decision in 1968, this was the only way a third-party modem could be used, before telcos started leasing the "Data Access Arrangement" or DAA to hook your equipment to the phone lines. It wasn't unusual to decide that with the cost of the DAA lease and the cost of the third-party modem, it was cheaper to lease a dataphone from Ma Bell.

The DAA and hookup restrictions made sense, as everything right up to the telephone you held in your hand was owned by the telco, even the wiring in your house.
 
And remember, even back then we could have "almost unlimited data storage - on paper tape and computer cards ! "

Not practical and bulky !

No floppies yet, much less hard drives for the average personal computer user !

I still have boxes in my attic from my statistical research of paper tapes and computer cards !

Just thought I would mention this since apparently the "acoustic modem" with a phone being inserted is now getting lost in vintage computing history !

Frank
 
Unlimited storage was 7- or 9-track mag tape. I could comfortably fit 6 10" reels in my Samsonite briefcase. That and a plane ticket embodied the idea of broadband.
 
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