The Tektronix 4050 is a series of three

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...

s produced by Tektronix in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. The display technology is similar to the

Tektronix 4010 The Tektronix 4010 series was a family of text-and-graphics computer terminals based on storage-tube technology created by Tektronix. Several members of the family were introduced during the 1970s, the best known being the 11-inch 4010 and 19-inc ...

terminal, using a storage tube display to avoid the need for

video RAM Dual-ported video RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM (DRAM), which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in graphics adapters. Note that most computers and game consoles do not use this form of memory, and dual-porte ...

. They are all-in-one designs with the display, keyboard, CPU and DC300 tape drive in a single desktop case. They also include a

GPIB Glycoprotein Ib (GPIb), also known as CD42, is a component of the GPIb-V-IX complex on platelets. The GPIb-V-IX complex binds von Willebrand factor, allowing platelet adhesion and platelet plug formation at sites of vascular injury. It is deficie ...

parallel bus In data transmission, parallel communication is a method of conveying multiple binary digits (bits) simultaneously using multiple conductors. This contrasts with serial communication, which conveys only a single bit at a time; this distinction i ...

interface for controlling lab and test equipment as well as connecting to external

peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

s. A simple

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

and

BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...

interpreter are included in

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * R ...

. A key concept of the systems is the use of a storage tube for the display. This allows the screen to retain images drawn to it, eliminating the need for a framebuffer,

computer memory In computing, memory is a device or system that is used to store information for immediate use in a computer or related computer hardware and digital electronic devices. The term ''memory'' is often synonymous with the term ''primary storage ...

devoted to the display. Most systems of the era had limited resolution due to the expense of the buffer needed to hold higher resolution images, but this is eliminated in the 4050s and allows the resolution to be as high as the hardware can handle, which was ostensibly 1024 by 1024 but limited by the physical layout of the screen to 1024 by 780. It also allows the machine to dedicate all of its memory to the programs running on it, as opposed to partitioning off a section for the buffer.

Models

The first model, the 4051, was based on

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...

Motorola 6800 running at a 1 MHz. It normally shipped with 8 KB of RAM and was expandable using 8 KB modules to 32 KB. The remaining 32 KB of

address space In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a network host, peripheral device, disk sector, a memory cell or other logical or physical entity. For software programs to save and retrieve st ...

was reserved for ROM, which could be expanded using two external

ROM cartridge A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, electroni ...

of 8 KB each. It included six character sets in ROM and an extended dialect of BASIC that included various vector drawing commands. The 4051 was released in 1975 for the base price of . Adding the optional

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such a ...

interface allowed it to emulate a Tektronix 4012 terminal. The second model was the 4052, which in spite of the similar name was a very different system. This had a CPU based on four AMD 2901 4-bit bit-slice processors used together to make a single 16-bit processor. It could also be used in a 6800-compatible mode, allowing it to run software from the 4051, although it did so much faster than the original 4051. Released in 1978, it came with a full 32 KB of RAM for , and could be expanded to 64 KB for another . The 4054 was a version of the 4052 built around the 19" screen from the 4014 terminal rather than the 11" screen from the 4012, increasing resolution to 4096 by 3072.

Peripherals

External storage units were available: * The 4924 was an external version of the internal DC300 tape drive. * The 4907 used single or dual Shugart 851R 8-inch

floppy drives A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

with 64 KB floppies. * The larger, 2-drawer-filing-cabinet-sized 4909 storage unit used a CDC 96 megabyte hard drive with the first 16 megabytes in the form of a removable disc-pack. Two sizes of the 4956 graphics tablet (20"x20", 36"x48") offered a slow process for inputting from paper drawings. The 4952

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

was used for graphics input.

Software

The graphic display software was based upon software originally developed in the 1960s by

Corning Glass Works Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company that specializes in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The co ...

for their Type 904 graphics terminal. The display for this system had characteristics to the similar to those of Tektronix storage tube display. It used small pixel regions composed of

photosensitive glass Photosensitive glass, also known as photostructurable glass (PSG) or photomachinable glass, is a crystal-clear glass that belongs to the lithium-silicate family of glasses, in which an image of a mask can be captured by microscopic metallic par ...

, which could be darkened (forming a black line image) by writing, and would display this persistently until the entire display was erased. When Corning left the market this software base was sold to Tektronix. The original demo included an

artillery game Artillery games are two or three-player (usually turn-based) video games involving tanks (or simply cannons) trying to destroy each other. The core mechanics of the gameplay is almost always to aim at the opponent(s) following a ballistic trajec ...

which was later adapted by high school students at Lindbergh High School in

Renton, Washington Renton is a city in King County, Washington, and an inner-ring suburb of Seattle. Situated southeast of downtown Seattle, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Cedar River. As of the 2020 census, the ...

to the HP 9830, and also adapted by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

for the

HP 2647 The HP 2640A and other HP 264X models were block-mode "smart" and intelligent ASCII standard serial terminals produced by Hewlett-Packard using the Intel 8008 and 8080 microprocessors. History The HP 2640A was introduced in November 1974 at a l ...

intelligent graphics terminal demo tape and eventually similar games in Microsoft BASIC for the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...

. Other games for the Tektronix included ''Weather Wars'', with users directing lightning bolts and tornados against opponents in an environment affected by wind.

Theatrical Use

Because the direct view storage tubes do not flicker as do conventional CRTs, and because the

programming interface allowed simple, rapid rendering of vector graphic displays, the 405x series were used in many theatrical contexts. In particular, 405x computers can frequently be seen in early ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...

'' sets.

References

External links

A Creative Computing Equipment Profile -- Tektronix 4051 Graphics SystemDrawing lines on 4052 videoDescription of a 4051 BASIC and graphics simulator for WindowsDemo video for the 4051 BASIC and graphics simulator for Windows
{{Tektronix Tektronix Computers using bit-slice designs 68xx-based computers