RFC 225
Rand/UCSB network graphics experiment
RFC 225: RAND/UCSB Network Graphics Experiment 🎀
Okay bestie, this one is from 13 September 1971 and it's a Category D.6 doc from the Network Working Group (NIC 7624). The author is E. Harslem of Rand, and UCSB is listed too 🦋. It updates RFC #74 and doesn't list anything it obsoletes. It's basically a progress report on a graphics experiment that came out of the Network Graphics Meeting in July, so it's giving early-internet history ✨.
Introduction ✨
So at the Network Graphics Meeting in July, a bunch of experiments got outlined to explore graphics over the Network 🌈. One of them was using the UCSB On-Line System (OLS) from graphic consoles at Rand. Iconic idea, honestly 💅.
The connection got completed in the latter half of August and has been used on an experimental basis ever since. OLS users from UCSB and TRW (in Los Angeles) came to Rand and accessed OLS through Rand consoles over the Network, so yay, phase one was done in August 🎉.
We're still in the middle of phase two, which is the cleanup era 🧹. That means tidying up the first implementation and reviewing and modifying the initial strategies for the OLS connection. Not glamorous, but necessary, no cap.
Implementation of the Experiment
UCSB
UCSB has had a Network interface on the OLS for some time 🍓. If you want the backstory, check out RFC #74. The descriptions in RFC #74 got modified so they match current Network protocols (NCP and ICP), and also so they fit what the team considered a general graphics description.
Basically, the OLS takes in an EBCDIC-like input byte stream and spits out an unstructured graphical output stream 🧚. These protocols are going to be documented once the experimentation is done, and they'll be presented at the Network graphics meeting in October.
The Rand Video-Graphics System (VGS) was used to access the OLS over the Network. You can read about the Video-Graphics System and its consoles in R-753-ARPA, which is available from the Rand Reports Department 📚.
VGS consoles had already been connected to the Network through the Rand Network Services Program (NSP). Originally, NSP was designed to afford NCP checkout features, logging in to and using remote systems, and accessing UCSB RJE and UCLA RJS. An extra module was easily added to access the OLS 💜.
Input to the OLS was done through a Rand tablet on a VGS console. To input to the OLS module in NSP, you move the tablet cursor (not shown in the attached figures), which shows up as a little dot on the screen, over to the function button you want, then press the tablet pen down on the tablet 🖊️✨.
Figure 1 shows the initial display from the OLS module. The top of the screen has a feedback line, the rest of the upper half is the output display from the OLS, and the lower half is a big sensitive area with a bunch of function buttons (pic-table) 🫶.
The sensitive areas fall into three classes:
- The right most column (CALL, CLOSE) connects and disconnects to OLS over the Network. The third function (COPY) generates hardcopy via an SC 4060. (The figures are, in fact, SC 4060 hardcopy.)
- The grid area contains the OLS function buttons that normally live on a special function keyboard. (See RFC #74.)
- The lower area lets you enter numbers, characters and punctuation.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
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| |-+
| UCSB OLS INIT STATS | |Feed-
| |-+back
| |-+
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| | |
| | |OLS
| | |Dis-
| | |play
| | |Area
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| | |
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| |-+
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |-+
|| 0 | I | II|III|IV | V |VI |VII|REL|CMX|SYS|USR|TYP|LST|CALL | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
||PLS|MIN|TIM|DIV|SQ |SQT|CNJ|INV|DIF|SUM|PRD|SOR|PRD|TST|CLOSE| |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |Input
||LS |RS |REF|UP |DWN|EVL|SUB|MAX|MOD|NEG|CTX|ENL|CON|RPT|COPY | |But-
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |tons
||SIN|COS|LOG|EXP|PWR|ATN|ARG|DEL|CNV|ID |LOD|STO|ENT| | | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
||CAS| | | | | | |DIS|<<<|BEL| |ERS|RST| | | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
| ABCDEFG + = / # 12345 | |
| HIJKLMN , ; = . 67890 | |
| OPQRSTU <-<-<-<- ()? | |
| VWXYZ b ' \ \ |-+
+--------------------------------------------------------------+Figure 2 shows the login sequence to OLS, and Figure 3 shows the SIN and COS curves from -PI to +PI generated by OLS 🌸.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
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| |-+
| UCSB OLS CONNECTED | |Feed-
| |-+back
| ENTER USER NUMBER 196 |-+
| ID NUMBER= | |
| USER NAME= ARPA | |
| JOB NAME= RAND/RFC | |
| AUTOSAVE CODE = 3 | |
| LOAD MOLSF | |
| FILE LOADED | |
| | |
| | |
| | |OLS
| | |Dis-
| | |play
| | |Area
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| | |
| | |
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| | |
| | |
| | |
| |-+
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |-+
|| 0 | I | II|III|IV | V |VI |VII|REL|CMX|SYS|USR|TYP|LST|CALL | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
||PLS|MIN|TIM|DIV|SQ |SQT|CNJ|INV|DIF|SUM|PRD|SOR|PRD|TST|CLOSE| |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |Input
||LS |RS |REF|UP |DWN|EVL|SUB|MAX|MOD|NEG|CTX|ENL|CON|RPT|COPY | |But-
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |tons
||SIN|COS|LOG|EXP|PWR|ATN|ARG|DEL|CNV|ID |LOD|STO|ENT| | | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
||CAS| | | | | | |DIS|<<<|BEL| |ERS|RST| | | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
| ABCDEFG + = / # 12345 | |
| HIJKLMN , ; = . 67890 | |
| OPQRSTU <-<-<-<- ()? | |
| VWXYZ b ' \ \ |-+
+--------------------------------------------------------------++--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| ___ ___ |-+
| / \ / \ | |
| / \ / \ | |
| / \ / \ | |
| / \/ \ | |
| / /\ \ | |
| / / | |
| / \ \ | |
| / \ \ | |
| / / | |
| \ \ | |
| / / \ \ | |
| ___________________________________________ | |
| | |
| \ | | \ | |OLS
| / / | |Dis-
| \ \ | |play
| / / | |Area
| \ / \ | |
| / \ | |
| \ / / | |
| \/ / \ | |
| \ / \ | |
| / \ / \ | |
| / \ / \ | |
| __/ \___/ \__ | |
| |-+
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |-+
|| 0 | I | II|III|IV | V |VI |VII|REL|CMX|SYS|USR|TYP|LST|CALL | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
||PLS|MIN|TIM|DIV|SQ |SQT|CNJ|INV|DIF|SUM|PRD|SOR|PRD|TST|CLOSE| |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |InputCompletion of the Experiment
🚨 Heads up: this part of the doc is continued in part 2, so the wrap-up is coming next.
We plan to present the experiment at the October graphics meeting in two forms. First, there's a description of the protocols and techniques used to implement the remote network connection, along with conclusions 📝. Second, we're going to make a film showing the use of the OLS from Rand and present it at the meeting 🎬💖.
okay bestie, this part is literally just the last chart 🎹💖 it's a character grid with a little machine-readable note at the bottom, so I kept every line exactly as it is ✨
||LS |RS |REF|UP |DWN|EVL|SUB|MAX|MOD|NEG|CTX|ENL|CON|RPT|COPY | |But-
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |tons
||SIN|COS|LOG|EXP|PWR|ATN|ARG|DEL|CNV|ID |LOD|STO|ENT| | | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
||CAS| | | | | | |DIS|<<<|BEL| |ERS|RST| | | |
|+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | |
| ABCDEFG + = / # 12345 | |
| HIJKLMN , ; = . 67890 | |
| OPQRSTU <-<-<-<- ()? | |
| VWXYZ b ' \ \ |-+
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by Mark Davidson 1/00 ]and that's the whole thing 🦋 the chart is the grand finale, no cap 👑
📦 where this page comes from
- ietf: rfc225 1971-09
- 💖 girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms