guest@lirux:~$ man history

NAME

history - why the LX-128 draws surfaces

SYNOPSIS

A Commodore 128 at home, a VT220 in the school computer lab and a film from 1983. This page is made of those three memories.

THE 128 AT HOME

Why a 3D function plotter? Because when I had my Commodore 128 (I still have it!) plotting mathematical surfaces was one of my favourite nerd projects: a few lines of BASIC, a formula, and then a long wait while the wireframe slowly appeared on the screen, line after line.

This page is the same idea, only much faster. It boots into 128 mode, with the 80 column hi-res screen and the light green on dark grey colours, and like the real machine it drops into 64 mode with GO64.

THE VT220 AT SCHOOL

The amber terminal is a tribute to the VT220, heir of the VT100: the terminal I used at school, in the computer lab, as a window on the Unix machines of the time. Type TERM on the plotter to dial in.

THE FILM

In 1983 WarGames put a teenager, a modem and a military computer on the big screen. Its echo lives on the time sharing box, for whoever knows the right name.

SEE ALSO

Commodore 128

the 128 mode, with its 80 column screen and GO64

Commodore 64

the 64 mode, light blue on blue, with its famous startup banner

VT220 and VT100

the serial terminals behind the amber screen

WarGames

the 1983 film behind the easter egg

plot(1), privacy(7), licence(7)

the plotter itself and its notices

The names of these machines and of the film belong to their owners. This page only remembers them fondly.

guest@lirux:~$