dan@rna.UUCP (10/25/83)
Has anybody had any experience with the CIT-500 full page terminal ? How does it compare with other full page (80col by 66line) terminals, like the Microterm or the Ann Arbor ? I just got a CIT-500 for trial use for a week. It has a VT200/DEC PC low profile keyboard which seems pretty good. The claim from CIE is that a Tektronics graphics board will be available shortly and full bit-mapped capabilities available later (they were vague). At about $1800, it seems like a good deal, but does anyone have other opinions ? The goal is a bitmapped terminal (at least eventually) like the Blit or the Bitgraph, both are too expensive and software seems like a problem also. I know about the Companion Computer Metaphor workstation ($3500) which is also in the same class. Any other possibilities ? Thanks. Cheers, Dan Ts'o ...cmcl2!rna!dan
phil@amd70.UUCP (Phil Ngai) (10/27/83)
I used a Micro-Term ergo 4000 (?) which had a full page display but
considered it to be hopelessly fuzzy.
The Ann Arbor ambassador's characters were very small at 60 lines.
The Guru looked nice but expensive.
How do other users feel?
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Phil Ngai (408) 988-7777 {ucbvax|decwrl|ihnp4|allegra}!amd70!philjdb@mordor.UUCP (John Bruner) (10/27/83)
I'm using two Ann Arbor terminals, an Ambassador and a Guru, side by side. I've been very happy with the Ambassador in 60-line mode although when my eyes get really tired I sometimes will switch to 30 lines. It also seems to be very susceptible to RFI and static. I'm using the Guru on a trial basis and I must say it has been a disappointment. The screen is (physically) the same size as on the Ambassador but in 60-line mode the characters are shorter and harder to read. (They also are "fat", they appear to be about right when I set it to 60 lines and 97 columns.) I cannot use it in 60-line mode for any period of time without my eyes bothering me. I've also noticed that (at least on this particular terminal) the Guru requires longer screen-erase delays than the Ambassador for identical screen sizes (e.g. 60X80). I programmed the power-up string to preset some function keys on both terminals; the Ambassador works well but the Guru seems to skip about half of the presets. My overall impression is that the Guru isn't worth the extra money unless you *really* need the extra lines or columns (the Guru will display up to 178 columns and can be configured to "scroll" horizontally up to 255 columns). John Bruner S-1 Project/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory