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Vector monitor

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   Type of display device
   A 24-hour clock displayed on an oscilloscope configured as a vector
   monitor in X-Y mode with dual R2R DACs to generate the analog voltages.

   A vector monitor, vector display, or calligraphic display is a display
   device used for computer graphics up through the 1970s. It is a type of
   CRT, similar to that of an early oscilloscope. In a vector display, the
   image is composed of drawn lines rather than a grid of glowing pixels
   as in raster graphics. The electron beam follows an arbitrary path
   tracing the connected sloped lines, rather than following the same
   horizontal raster path for all images. The beam skips over dark areas
   of the image without visiting their points.

   Some refresh vector displays use a normal phosphor that fades rapidly
   and needs constant refreshing 30-40 times per second to show a stable
   image. These displays, such as the Imlac PDS-1, require some local
   refresh memory to hold the vector endpoint data. Other storage tube
   displays, such as the popular Tektronix 4010, use a special phosphor
   that continues glowing for many minutes. Storage displays do not
   require any local memory. In the 1970s, both types of vector displays
   were much more affordable than bitmap raster graphics displays when
   megapixel computer memory was still very expensive. Today, raster
   displays have replaced nearly all uses of vector displays.

   Vector displays do not suffer from the display artifacts of aliasing
   and pixelation--especially black and white displays; color displays
   keep some artifacts due to their discrete nature--but they are limited
   to displaying only a shape's outline (although advanced vector systems
   can provide a limited amount of shading). Text is crudely drawn from
   short strokes. Refresh vector displays are limited in how many lines or
   how much text can be shown without refresh flicker. Irregular beam
   motion is slower than steady beam motion of raster displays. Beam
   deflections are typically driven by magnetic coils, and those coils
   resist rapid changes to their current.
   [ ]

Contents

     * 1 History
     * 2 Examples
     * 3 Color displays
     * 4 See also
     * 5 References
     * 6 External links

History[edit]

   In 1963, Ivan Sutherland at MIT first used a vector graphic display for
   Sketchpad, his pioneering CAD program. In 1968, he and his team again
   used a vector monitor to display wireframe images of 3D models. This
   time the display was head mounted. The obviously heavy system was held
   up by a support arm structure called The Sword of Damocles. The system
   is widely considered to be the first computer-based virtual reality.

   In 1970, at the UK Farnborough Airshow, Sperry Gyroscope (Bracknell,
   England) exhibited the first ever vector graphic video display from a
   UK company. It featured an analogue monochrome display with special
   electronics, designed by Sperry's John Atkins, that allowed it to draw
   vectors on screen between two pairs of coordinates. At Farnborough the
   display was used to demonstrate the capabilities of the new Sperry 1412
   military computer - it was shown running software that drew, in real
   time, a wire-frame rotating cube that could be speed-controlled in any
   of its three dimensions. That demonstration created significant
   interest in the Sperry 1412 computer, which then went on to be at the
   heart of a number of major projects for the French Navy and the Royal
   Navy during the period 1972 to 1992.

Examples[edit]

   Notable among vector displays are Tektronix large-screen computer
   terminals that use direct-view storage CRTs. (The CRT has at least one
   flood gun, and a special type of display screen, more complicated in
   principle than a simple phosphor.) But that permanent image cannot be
   easily changed. Like an Etch-a-Sketch, any deletion or movement
   requires erasing the entire screen with a bright green flash, and then
   slowly redrawing the entire image. Animation with this type of monitor
   is not practical.

   Vector displays were used for head-up displays in fighter aircraft
   because of the brighter displays that can be achieved by moving the
   electron beam more slowly across the phosphors. Brightness was critical
   because the display needed to be clearly visible to the pilot in direct
   sunlight.
   A free software Asteroids-like video game played on an oscillograph
   configured in X-Y mode

   Vector monitors were also used by some late-1970s to mid-1980s arcade
   games such as Armor Attack, Asteroids, Omega Race, Tempest, and Star
   Wars,^[1] and in the Vectrex home videogame console.

   Hewlett-Packard made a series of large-screen X-Y (vector) displays,
   the first of which was the 20 MHz 8x10" model 1300. The CRT had an
   internal, specially contoured, very fine mesh operating at low
   potential, which was placed after the deflection plates at the gun
   exit. The 17KV electrostatic field between this mesh and the separate,
   conductive coating charged to final accelerating potential inside the
   CRT funnel, accelerated the electron beam axially as well as radially,
   expanding the possible image size to cover the 8x10" screen of the
   17.75" long CRT. Without the mesh, the 8x10" CRT would have had to be
   almost three times as long.^[2] Expansion mesh technology was developed
   in the early 1960s^[3] by the need to drive deflection plates at high
   frequencies in compact high-brightness CRTs operating at high
   acceleration voltages, to take advantage of the then-new transistor
   technology which was limited to only low voltages. The much bulkier and
   less efficient vacuum-tube electrostatic deflection amplifiers were
   able to operate at hundreds of volts.

Color displays[edit]

   Some vector monitors are capable of displaying multiple colors, using
   either a typical shadow mask RGB CRT or two phosphor layers (so-called
   "penetration color").

   Atari used the term color quadrascan to describe the shadow-mask
   version used in their video arcade games.^[4]^[5]

   In the penetration tubes, by controlling the strength of the electron
   beam, electrons can be made to reach (and illuminate) either or both
   phosphor layers, typically producing a choice of green, orange, or red.

   Tektronix made color oscilloscopes for a few years using penetration
   CRTs, but demand for these was low.^[citation needed]

   Some monochrome vector displays were able to display color using
   peripherals such as the Vectrex 3-D Imager.

See also[edit]

     * Vector graphics
     * Vectrex
     * Raster scan

References[edit]

    1. ^ Van Burnham (2001). Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame
       Age, 1971-1984. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-52420-1.
    2. ^ Russell, Milton E. (December 1967). "Factors in Designing a
       Large-Screen, Wideband CRT" (PDF). Hewlett-Packard Journal. 19 -
       Number 4: 10-11.
    3. ^ Peter A. Keller (December 2007) Tektronix CRT History Part 6 -
       CRTs for Solid-State Instruments
    4. ^ "Atari's New Color Quadrascan (X-Y) Monitor" (PDF) (Press
       release). Atari Incorporated. 1981-09-24. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
    5. ^ "Wells-Gardner 6100 Vector Monitor FAQ and Guide" (PDF).
       2002-03-01. Retrieved 2012-05-06.

External links[edit]

     *

   Retro Game Mechanics Explained (2021-01-27). Atari's Quadrascan
   Explained (video). Archived from the original on 2021-12-15.
   Retrieved from
   "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vector_monitor&oldid=111945
   9618"

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