[Simh] Rainbow100

[Timothe Litt]

On 20-Jul-17 13:47, Hunter Goatley wrote:
> On 7/20/2017 12:31 PM, Timothe Litt wrote:
>>
>> Gigi was sold - and used - primarily as a graphics terminal, though
>> it does have a BASIC interpreter.  It was used on the DECSYSTEM-20
>> and VAX.  There was some software support; Scribe had a driver for it.
>
> My graphics class in college used Gigi terminals connected to a PDP
> 11/44. We were all amazed at what you could do with it. Which was a
> lot, compared to the VT100s we had. That was in 1984 or 1985.
>
I didn't mean used EXCLUSIVELY with the the -20 & VAX.  They were sold
there because of their price point, but would happily talk on any ASCII
RS232 line.  Perhaps your college got a good deal - or a donation.

By 84/85 there were a lot better options for graphics; the VT240(241),
VT340, VAXstation I/II were available, and PCs and Macs all had better
graphics.    The DEC items all spoke ReGis, so you could move your
software painlessly. 

GiGi's only unique feature was its BASIC interpreter, which was crippled
by its lack of mass storage and limited (even for its time) memory. 
Given that, a VT125 was a better deal (and IIRC, the graphics was faster).

Still, GiGi was a neat toy, and would have seemed impressive against a
backdrop of VT100s...




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