Below, a few pictures of a DEC Writer III (LA120-DA), Televideo terminal, as well as other hardware from the 1970's early 1980's.
DEC LA120-DA, also known as DEC Writer III, with an 8 bit processor and 4k of RAM, was used to communicate with mini and mainframe computers in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
The print head is held by a metal assembly and driven by a relatively powerful motor (towards right with the warning label on it).
DEC connected to my Mac Pro (OS X 10.7.5) with a null modem cable and a RS-232 to USB converter. I downloaded and compiled an interpreter (Frotz) that can load Zork as well as Aventure, shown above in dumb terminal mode.
Keyboard close up
DEC Printer rear panel circuit, with CPU, memory and discrete devices.
The 100lb printer hosted by a sub-ounce 'mainframe', a small board running Linux (lower left).
At the time the DEC terminal was made, it would have reached a machine taking up a room.
A Televideo dumb terminal, introduced in 1981, driven by the computer on the left.
Welcome to Zork.
Commodore PET 8032 computer.
IBM Selectric III Typewriter with its ball element.
IBM Selectric III Typewriter close up.
© 2014 John Miranda