Knight TV system - Revision history

Jnc: typo

2025-09-24T09:56:47Z

typo

Jnc: Add digital recreation of Knight keyboard

2025-09-24T09:32:04Z

Add digital recreation of Knight keyboard

Jnc: Avoid redir

2025-04-09T15:19:33Z

Avoid redir

Jnc: /* External links */ typo

2024-03-20T16:06:25Z

‎External links: typo

Jnc: /* External links */ +HARDOC 464

2024-02-06T20:21:53Z

‎External links: +HARDOC 464

Jnc: /* External links */ +TVHARE MIL640

2024-02-06T20:12:36Z

‎External links: +TVHARE MIL640

Jnc: Add some images, and a retrospective comment

2024-02-06T16:06:48Z

Add some images, and a retrospective comment

Jnc: /* External links */ +user doc

2024-02-05T17:43:55Z

‎External links: +user doc

Jnc: A good start

2024-02-05T17:15:45Z

A good start

New page

The '''Knight TV system''' was one of the very first [[bit-mapped display]] systems. It consisted of two [[UNIBUS]] [[device]]s, built onto a [[PDP-11/10]] (the 'TV-11'), which was connected to the MIT-AI [[time-sharing]] [[KA10]] system, through the [[Rubin 10-11 interface]] to the [[PDP-10]].

One was the bit-mapped display unit, which contained a large amount of [[Dynamic RAM|DRAM]] (using the then-new [[Intel 1103]] [[integrated circuit|chips]]), enough to provide 16 independent [[frame buffer]]s. The outputs from these were run into a [[video switch]], which could drive up to 63 stations (about 30 were actually installed, on the 3rd, 8th and 9th floors of the [[Technology Square]] building), each consisting of a relatively square [[cathode ray tube|CRT]] ([[resolution]] 576x454 [[pixel]]s) [[display]]s. Associated with each display was a [[keyboard]]; these were all connected to the other device in the system, a keyboard [[multiplexer]].

The code running in the PDP-11 read keystrokes, and fed them to the PDP-10. The PDP-10 could either send text to the TV-11, which wrote the appropriate pixels into the frame buffers to display it; alternatively a frame buffer could be mapped into the [[address space]] of a [[process]] on the [[Incompatible Timesharing System|ITS]] machine, which could then write directly into the hardware frame buffer.

==External links==

* [https://github.com/PDP-10/its/blob/master/src/system/tv.147 TV 147] - source for the PDP-11 code
* [https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102803892 Knight TV Controller] - perhaps the only image of the hardware left
* [http://pdp-6.net/knight-tv/knight-tv.html Knight TV resurrection]
* [https://github.com/PDP-10/its/wiki/Knight-TV-and-keyboard Knight TV and keyboard]
* [[MIT]] Knight TV videos:
** [http://projects.csail.mit.edu/video/history/aifilms/x05-graphics.mp4 GRAPHICS bkph]
** [https://www.media.mit.edu/videos/144-lisp-logo-demonstration-henry-liberman/ LISP LOGO Demonstration]

[[Category: PDP-10 Peripherals]]
[[Category: UNIBUS Display Controllers]]
[[Category: UNIBUS Peripherals]]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 This may all seem commonplace to modern computer users (i.e. essentially everyone), but it was a revelation to computer professionals at the time; no other contemporary display technology, not even [[vector graphics]] displays, could produce the kind of detail seen in images such as the world map (to the left; the simulation is a very good approximation of what a contemporary user would have seen on an actual Knight TV display).
-[[Image:Knight-keyboard.png|thumb|right|240px|Digital recreation of the keyboard used with the Knight TV system (and later, with [[CADR]]s]])
+[[Image:Knight-keyboard.png|thumb|right|240px|Digital recreation of the keyboard used with the Knight TV system (and later, with [[CADR]]s]]
 <br clear=all>

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 This may all seem commonplace to modern computer users (i.e. essentially everyone), but it was a revelation to computer professionals at the time; no other contemporary display technology, not even [[vector graphics]] displays, could produce the kind of detail seen in images such as the world map (to the left; the simulation is a very good approximation of what a contemporary user would have seen on an actual Knight TV display).
 ==See also==
 * [[:Image:KnightTVKeyboard.jpg|Actual Knight TV keyboard]]
 ==External links==

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 * [https://github.com/PDP-10/its-vault/blob/master/files/tvhare/tvhare.632 TVHARE 632] - "a package of lisp functions" to manipulate HAREs on a Knight TV display; source has some comments that talk about the interface from the PDP-10 side
 ** [https://github.com/PDP-10/its-vault/blob/master/files/tvhare/hardoc.464 HARDOC 464] - user documentation
-* [[MIT]] Knight TV videos:
+* Knight TV videos:
 ** [http://projects.csail.mit.edu/video/history/aifilms/x05-graphics.mp4 GRAPHICS bkph]
 ** [https://www.media.mit.edu/videos/144-lisp-logo-demonstration-henry-liberman/ LISP LOGO Demonstration]

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 * [https://github.com/PDP-10/its/wiki/Knight-TV-and-keyboard Knight TV and keyboard]
 * [https://github.com/PDP-10/its-vault/blob/master/files/tvhare/tvhare.632 TVHARE 632] - "a package of lisp functions" to manipulate HAREs on a Knight TV display; source has some comments that talk about the interface from the PDP-10 side
-** [https://github.com/PDP-10/its-vault/blob/master/files/tvhare/hardoc.464 HARDOC 464] - used documentation
+** [https://github.com/PDP-10/its-vault/blob/master/files/tvhare/hardoc.464 HARDOC 464] - user documentation
 * [[MIT]] Knight TV videos:
 ** [http://projects.csail.mit.edu/video/history/aifilms/x05-graphics.mp4 GRAPHICS bkph]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 The '''Knight TV system''' was one of the very first [[bit-mapped display]] systems. It consisted of two [[UNIBUS]] [[device]]s, built onto a [[PDP-11/10]] (the 'TV-11'), which was connected to the MIT-AI [[time-sharing]] [[KA10]] system, through the [[Rubin 10-11 interface]] to the [[PDP-10]].
 One was the bit-mapped display unit, which contained a large amount of [[Dynamic RAM|DRAM]] (using the then-new [[Intel 1103]] [[integrated circuit|chips]]), enough to provide 16 independent [[frame buffer]]s. The outputs from these were run into a [[video switch]], which could drive up to 63 stations (about 30 were actually installed, on the 3rd, 8th and 9th floors of the [[Technology Square]] building), each consisting of a relatively square [[cathode ray tube|CRT]] ([[resolution]] 576x454 [[pixel]]s) [[display]]s. Associated with each display was a [[keyboard]]; these were all connected to the other device in the system, a keyboard [[multiplexer]].
 The code running in the PDP-11 read keystrokes, and fed them to the PDP-10. The PDP-10 could either send text to the TV-11, which wrote the appropriate pixels into the frame buffers to display it; alternatively a frame buffer could be mapped into the [[address space]] of a [[process]] on the [[Incompatible Timesharing System|ITS]] machine, which could then write directly into the hardware frame buffer.
 ==External links==
-* [https://github.com/PDP-10/its/blob/master/doc/sysdoc/tv.100 TV 100] - documentation
+* [https://github.com/PDP-10/its/blob/master/doc/sysdoc/tv.100 TV 100] - user documentation
 * [https://github.com/PDP-10/its/blob/master/src/system/tv.147 TV 147] - source for the PDP-11 code
 * [https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102803892 Knight TV Controller] - perhaps the only image of the hardware left