[TUHS] Graphic Systems C/A/T phototypesetter

[Clem Cole]

+1  Clem


On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Larry McVoy <lm at bitmover.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 09:45:22AM -0500, Doug McIlroy wrote:
> >
> > >  The wikipedia description
> > >  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAT_(phototypesetter)>
> > > seems pretty accurate although I have never seen the beast myself.
> >
> > I can confirm the wikipedia description. At Bell Labs, however, we
> > did not use paper tape input. As soon as the machine arrived, Joe
> > Ossanna bypassed the tape reader so the C/A/T could be driven
> > directly from the PDP-11. The manufacturer was astonished.
> >
> > The only operational difficulty we had was with the separate
> > developer. If you didn't hand feed the end of the paper perfectly
> > straight into that machine, the paper would tear. Joe Condon
> > fixed that by arranging for the canister to sit on rollers so
> > it could give when the paper pulled sideways.
> >
> > The first technical paper that came off the C/A/T drew a query
> > from the journal editor, who'd never seen a phototypeset
> > manuscript before: had it been published elsewhere?
> >
> > Doug
>
> I'm extremely jealous of you.  I'm a long time troff fan and would have
> loved to have been there during that time.  I'm sure it was far less
> pleasant than my rose colored glasses have it, but it sure seems like
> it was fun.  I'd like to have met Joe Ossanna - care to share any stories
> about what sort of person, programmer, etc he was?
>
> That's perhaps a whole different thread, I'd love to shove a beer into
> each and every bell labs guy hanging around here and get them talking.
> Bell Labs was a huge influence on me, be good to have Bell-labs-stories.com
> or something filled with your memories.
> --
> ---
> Larry McVoy                lm at bitmover.com
> http://www.bitkeeper.com
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