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.)
wiki file: https://hypertwins.org/mw/index.php?title=Category:Tektronix&oldid=20779