The Advanced Remote Display Station (also referred to as the ARDS) was a desktop storage-tube-based

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and

text terminal A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display ...

produced by Computer Displays, Inc. starting in 1968. It was announced at the 1968

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and available by August 1968 for $12,750 (about $114,675 in 2024). The ARDS was the first commercial product to include a

computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice; also mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the Cursor (user interface)#Po ...

as an optional peripheral as early as April 1968 for an additional $1200 (about $10,793 in 2024). The ARDS was capable of connecting to a computer remotely through a

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, or locally through an

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cable. Computer Displays, Inc. also offered optional graphical input peripherals for the ARDS including a mouse and

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. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

Development

The ARDS began development in early 1965 jointly by

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

's Electronic Systems Laboratory and

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at MIT's

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, with prototypes named the ARDS-I and ARDS-II prior to becoming a commercial product. The first ARDS-I prototype was completed in 1965; an early ARDS-II prototype was functional by May 1967, and was updated in August 1967 with the larger, final display

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Hardware

Display

The display of the commercially produced ARDS was a

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Type 611 direct-view storage tube, meaning that once graphics or text were drawn onto the screen, they could not be erased individually without erasing the entire screen. This was attributed to the terminal's relatively low cost and intended remote use over narrow-bandwidth telephone lines. Filling the entire display with 4000 alphanumeric characters took about 33 seconds.

Mouse

The ARDS's mouse did not use a rolling ball to track movement, but rather two perpendicularly mounted wheels on the bottom and three buttons on top, much like the mouse used during

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. File:ARDS Terminal Mouse.png, Top view of the ARDS's mouse. File:ARDS Terminal Mouse Underside.png, Bottom view of the ARDS's mouse.

Other models

The ARDS 100A was released as the successor to the ARDS in 1969. It was priced at under $8000, much lower than the original ARDS. Along with the original ARDS's mouse and joystick, it added a

graphics tablet A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, digital graphic tablet, pen tablet, drawing tablet, external drawing pad or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand draw or paint images, animations and graphics, w ...

as an input option. Computer Displays, Inc. was acquired by

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, another graphics terminal manufacturer, in 1970. By 1971, another ARDS model was being sold under Adage as the ARDS 100B.

References

External links

* Th
ARDS Reference Manual
of December 1, 1968 * An MI
paper describing a graphical circuit drawing and editing program for the ARDS
from October 1969 (source code listed on pp. 62–94) Graphical terminals {{computer-stub