<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Hi,<div><br></div><div><div><div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I got interested in UI design and often study some historical aspects of it as I work on software. It’s hard not to notice how fast/usable Text User Interfaces are—ncurses and its siblings are still alive and well. From the ergonomy point of view, not needing a mouse in those interfaces if perfect. </div></div></div><div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br></div></div><div>Question: where did TUIs come from originally, and what were their earliest instances?</div><div><br></div><div>Many pages state that Vi was the first, but I’ve been looking through some old hardware photos, and things capable of more sophisticated interactions existed before Vi:</div><div><br></div><div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pen">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pen</a></div></div><div><br></div><div>Some terminals with block display:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3270">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3270</a></div><div><br></div><div>^ ’71. Wiki says Vi showed up in ’76, but I suspect IBM mainframes may have had TUIs before.</div><div><br></div><div>Question 2: were there any manuals talking about TUIs? I’m thinking some of those spiffy IBM things mandating certain design.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks,</div><div><br></div><div>Adam</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></body></html>