My Battlestar Galactica Demo for Tektronix 4050 computers

[nikola-wan]

I have had my Tektronix 4052 and 4054 computers since 2000, and I had found websites that proclaimed the Tektronix 4051 computer was used for the Battlestar Galactica screenshots of Cylon and BaseStar attacks.

There was also the rumor that a Battlestar Galactica demo tape contained programs for those screenshots.

I have not found any of those programs in my recovery of the files on over 100 4050 computer tapes.

Vintagetek.org has a webpage showing Tektronix equipment in the movies and TV shows: https://vintagetek.org/tektronix-in-movies-shows/
They have a June 16, 1978 TekWeek article featuring Battlestar Galactica and showing that Tektronix 4051 computers (introduced in 1977) were displayed on the bridge.

In addition, the next article is a post from Curt Coleman, the Tektronix 4081 Product Line Manager setting the record straight and indicating the Tektronix 4081 generated the battle display images for the show. The Tektronix 4081 was introduced in 1977 and was a Tektronix 19" storage tube graphics screen connected to an Interdata 32-bit minicomputer with custom Tektronix operating system and application programs.

So, I have begun writing a Battlestar Galactica demo program to run on my Tektronix 4052 and 4054A computers. I believe these computers (introduced in 1979) may come close to the performance of the 4081 as they are about 10x the performance of the 4051 with their 16-bit bit-slice CPU with microcoded floating point. In addition, the 4052R12 Enhanced Graphics ROM pack increases the graphics performance another 10x, and allows objects to be moved, scaled and displayed in refresh mode like the 4081 computer.

I began writing my demo program today and started with programming the screen that shows targeting a Cylon fighter. This is my screen capture of targeting a Cylon from my BluRay collection of the entire TV series.





Here is my mockup of that screen - captured from the Tek 405x web-browser emulator for the 4051.

It took a couple of hours to digitize the Cylon fighter, but now I can use that data with the Enhanced Graphics ROM Pack to create a fast graphics object that can be moved around, scaled and displayed in refresh mode.

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[nikola-wan]

There were lots of Battlestar Galactica computer screens with vector text, clearly the 4081. Here is one BluRay screen capture I found in the series clearly showing the 4081 monitor with it's large curved screen and its vector text and graphics:



I suspect that most of the computer photos were done off the set in a dark room due to the relatively dim storage tube graphics. Particularly for the shots where refresh graphics was used to show a ship moving without storing the image. Refresh graphics is not as bright as stored graphics. Note the "67.03" text at the bottom of this image has just been drawn in storage mode, which is brighter when it is first drawn, then the stored intensity is the same as the other vector text on this screen.

 

[nikola-wan]

Here is the Tektronix 4081 photo from the 1978 Tektronix catalog:

 

[ScutBoy]

Very cool! It's exactly these kind of images I remember from the original BSG that make me want a TEK terminal (or good emulation) today!

 

[whartung]

How do you do animation on a storage tube? I thought the fundamental basis was that, somehow, once displayed, it was static until the entire display was erased. I always thought any actual animation done in the show was, you know, frame by frame animation done by cameras.

 

[Agent Orange]

How do you do animation on a storage tube? I thought the fundamental basis was that, somehow, once displayed, it was static until the entire display was erased. I always thought any actual animation done in the show was, you know, frame by frame animation done by cameras.

Don't know about animation, but my experiences with storage scopes was HP and the storage feature was a selectable function.

 

[tradde]

This is seriously cool.

 

[VERAULT]

Frak'n Cylons!

Kill all toasters!

 

[nikola-wan]

Looking through my Battlestar Galactica screencaps I found an example of the 4051 computer being used for a personnel search.

Here is the view of the 4051 search report:



Here is Aurora printing the screen with a Tektronix 4631 and handing the print to Colonel Tigh:



And here is the printout screenshot:



So the Tektronix 4051 was really used on the Battlestar Galactica original TV series!!

 

[nikola-wan]

Very cool! It's exactly these kind of images I remember from the original BSG that make me want a TEK terminal (or good emulation) today!

Check out this site for a great Tektronix terminal emulator:
https://github.com/rricharz/Tek4010

And don't forget the Tek 405x emulator. I used it to test my Cylon targeting screen in the first post.
https://github.com/jonbstanley/Tek405xEmulator

This emulator is a javascript web application - you run it in Chrome.
I have lots of 4050 programs posted on my github site:
https://github.com/mmcgraw74/Tektronix-4051-4052-4054-Program-Files

 

[nikola-wan]

Don't know about animation, but my experiences with storage scopes was HP and the storage feature was a selectable function.

Typically storage tubes are used in storage mode in which the charge on the front plate inside the CRT maintains the image until it is erased by changing the front plate voltage.

In refresh mode - the beam is fainter and the front plate does not maintain the image. You can see this in the TV screencap of Cylon targeting - the Cylon image was drawn in refresh mode and could be moved around without affecting the targeting circles that were drawn in storage mode.

 

[ScutBoy]

Check out this site for a great Tektronix terminal emulator:
https://github.com/rricharz/Tek4010

And don't forget the Tek 405x emulator. I used it to test my Cylon targeting screen in the first post.
https://github.com/jonbstanley/Tek405xEmulator

This emulator is a javascript web application - you run it in Chrome.
I have lots of 4050 programs posted on my github site:
https://github.com/mmcgraw74/Tektronix-4051-4052-4054-Program-Files

Bravo - thanks!

 

[jltursan]

That SpaceLab screenshot is ubercool!!. Thanks for sharing all this info!

 

[bladamson]

That is exceptionally cool, man.

 

[WaveyDipole]

Nice. Would like to give the demo a try once I get my 4051 fixed!

 

[nikola-wan]

I finished my Battlestar Galactica "Cylon Attack" game for Tektronix 4051/4052/4054 computers - pictures and youtube video links in this thread:

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/tektronix-4054a-with-option-30-cylon-attack-work-in-progress-game.1244262/post-1344134

Here is my 4052 playing the R12 Enhanced Graphics version of Cylon Attack with the program and data loaded from my Tektronix GPIB Flash Drive plugged into the GPIB cable to the right of the tape drive slot - and the game uses my Vectrex gamepad interface joystick and buttons to close in on the Cylon and fire the Viper's lasers!

This screenshot from my Tektronix 4054/4054A with Option 30 vector graphics refresh coprocessor and Option 31 Color Dynamics direct-view-storage-tube shows me playing the same game with Vectrex gamepad!

 

[nikola-wan]

I was searching the web for Battlestar Galactica sound effects and ran across a high resolution Battlestar Galactica promo picture of Athena sitting in front of a Tektronix 4051 desktop computer and I was able to zoom into the picture and see a tape inserted in the 4051 tape drive and read the label: "Galactica Demo Frames"!

Potentially this tape was inserted on the various 4051 computers on the Battlestar Galactica bridge - and used to display static images.




This may have been the "Galactica Tape" mentioned in the (now-archived) Jim's Computer Museum article on "Computers in the Media"



Here is the Viper plot from this article - I digitized the largest Viper in 2000 using my 4662 plotter with digitizing pen connected to my Tektronix 4052 computer - and used the data to create my Vipers on Patrol BASIC program for the 4052 and 4054.



Now I need to create some of the Battlestar Galactica screens displayed on the computer in the TV show!

The entire TekWeek article featuring Lorne Greene on the cover in front of a Tektronix 4051 in the "Computers in the Media" article - can be found on the vintagetek.org page on Tektronix equipment in the movies:
https://7vmc31.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/BattlestarGalactica_TW_060291978.pdf

 

[nikola-wan]

I also see that I posted the link to the original @daver2 and @Philcogrump Tektronix 405x web-browser emulator - but @Philcogrump's github site for the 405x emulator has not been updated in the last 3 years and @Philcogrump has not posted on vcfed in the last 3 years (I hope he is ok).

@WaveyDipole has forked the Tektronix 405x emulator to his github repository and has been actively improving the emulator adding many features at my request including:

• GPIB Flash Drive support- his latest experimental version supports Flash Drives, which I have been using heavily on my BITMAP and PLOT10 image creation and testing - one Flash Drive for the input file and a second Flash Drive for the output file! This support has been updated in his latest experimental version for the huge (>500KB) bitmap images I have been creating.
  • Storage is a new button on the emulator which allows you to drag and drop files or import a set of files into the emulator as GPIB device @5:
  • Flash Drive support allows you to Import an entire directory of files from my Flash Drive zip image into the emulator - like the PICTURES or BITMAP directories, so you are able to run the Picture Menu and select a single picture or all of them - emulating a cartridge tape!
  • Multiple Flash Drives are also supported I use the emulator with two Flash Drives to create my BITMAP and PLOT10 pictures, one drive for the input file, second drive for the output file - as most of these are larger than even the 64KB RAM in the 4052/4054. You add the second GPIB Flash Drive by clicking the new GPIB button on the emulator.
• 4051 Option ROMs - he has added all the 4051 Option ROMs including the 4051R12 Enhanced Graphics ROM Pack that I have used heavily to speed up PICTURES, BITMAPs and GAMES like Michael Cranford's Invader I and my Cylon Attack
• Simulate speed of a 4052 or 4054 - or adjust the the speed of the emulator to match a real 4051. As PCs grow faster, I have adjusted the 405x emulator speed. The emulator mc6800.js file contains a speed variable on line 68 that can be increased or decreased before you launch the emulator in a Chrome or Firefox browser tab. For creating my BITMAP and PLOT10 R12 image files, I reduce the speed variable 100x to get approximately 10x the performance of my 4054A or 4052
• Adjustable display size - some monitors may be too small to display the emulator, just click the top left corner symbol on the emulator to change the display size.

Where is the updated 405x Emulator? I recommend downloading the LATEST experimental version in this directory as it is what I work with almost daily (@WaveyDipole updated it 3 days ago as of this post):
https://github.com/Twilight-Logic/Tek405xEmulator/tree/master/experimental

I always start the emulator by pressing the Mute button, then the Start button and you should see the blinking cursor in the emulator window.

My latest (and archived) versions of my FlashDrive.zip file is here:
https://github.com/mmcgraw74/Tektronix-4051-4052-4054-Program-Files/tree/master/Flash_Drive

The latest Flash Drive zip file contains all the programs I have converted from tapes I have recovered to add @5: to all the FIND, OLD, INPUT, PRINT, READ and WRITE commands that retrieved programs or data or wrote programs or DATA to an internal tape drive.

Simply unzip all the files to your PC, then use the emulator storage button then select 4050 GPIB Flash Drive file format and press the import button to select individual programs or all the files in a single unzipped Flash Drive directory. Then close the storage popup by pressing the Cancel button and type into the emulator:

FIND@5:1
OLD@5:
RUN

You change the file number in the FIND@5: command from 1 to whatever program file number you imported or want to run.