Difference between revisions of "Category:Tektronix"

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These were plotted using a Tektronix graphics computer sometime between 1975 and 1978 or so.
[[Category:Computers]]
These were plotted using a Tektronix graphics computer<ref name=note1 /> starting sometime after 1975 or so<ref>One of the plots is dated 1983; not sure if this is accurate.</ref>.


I think the model number was something like 3017, though Wikipedia indicates that it was the [[wikipedia:Tektronix 4010|401x series]] which was active at that time -- so maybe it was 4017, 4016, 4015? I don't know if there are any photos...
All of the designs are based on wide-interval samplings<ref name=note2 /> of sine waves plotted in various different ways. This was a technique I discovered more or less by accident when I mistakenly had the trig functions set to "RAD" (radians) with a plotting program that was designed to work in degrees.


[[Category:Hardware|Tektronix]]
I wrote the plotting program in BASIC, because that's what was available (I think that was probably the first programming language I actually used successfully<ref name=note3 />.) I wrote the program in the first place because I wanted to see what shapes you get when plotting various sine functions using polar coordinates. (Sine waves are fun. Polar coordinates are also fun.)
==Footnotes==
<references>
<ref name=note1>Based on what's in Wikipedia, I'm pretty sure it was a [[wikipedia:Tektronix 4050|model 4051]] (see also [https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/Tektronix_4051 Terminals wiki]). It had an integrated QIC tape drive, and the screen was a bit smaller than the ones used on the original version of ''Battlestar Galactica''.</ref>
<ref name=note2>Feel free to ask me to explain what I mean by this.</ref>
<ref name=note3>: I had tried to write in {{l/wp|FOCAL-69}} in 1972, second grade, but I misunderstood the line-numbering system and my programs all executed out of order... and it's difficult to create any output worth looking at when your output device is a teletype. (A {{l/wp|VT52}} was later added, for those occasions when you don't actually need a complete printed record of your entire debugging session.)</ref>
</references>

Latest revision as of 15:36, 26 December 2019

These were plotted using a Tektronix graphics computer[1] starting sometime after 1975 or so[2].

All of the designs are based on wide-interval samplings[3] of sine waves plotted in various different ways. This was a technique I discovered more or less by accident when I mistakenly had the trig functions set to "RAD" (radians) with a plotting program that was designed to work in degrees.

I wrote the plotting program in BASIC, because that's what was available (I think that was probably the first programming language I actually used successfully[4].) I wrote the program in the first place because I wanted to see what shapes you get when plotting various sine functions using polar coordinates. (Sine waves are fun. Polar coordinates are also fun.)

Footnotes

  1. Based on what's in Wikipedia, I'm pretty sure it was a model 4051 (see also Terminals wiki). It had an integrated QIC tape drive, and the screen was a bit smaller than the ones used on the original version of Battlestar Galactica.
  2. One of the plots is dated 1983; not sure if this is accurate.
  3. Feel free to ask me to explain what I mean by this.
  4. : I had tried to write in FOCAL-69 in 1972, second grade, but I misunderstood the line-numbering system and my programs all executed out of order... and it's difficult to create any output worth looking at when your output device is a teletype. (A VT52 was later added, for those occasions when you don't actually need a complete printed record of your entire debugging session.)