@brouhaha @argv_minus_one i know of the 3270 by way of the 3270 font; never seen one IRL
I have in my head the idea that the first interactive displays were the cold war radar warning system, whirlwind, some kind of CRT + pen
Correct?
@stevel @argv_minus_one
Yes. Those weren't really available as a "terminal" for attachment to anything else. They were fundamentally designed as an integral part of SAGE.
The IBM 2250 was probably heavily influenced by SAGE, which itself had been heavily influenced by Whirlwind.
There were earlier IBM graphic displays for the 700/7000-series "scientific" computers, but they weren't coupled with keyboards for textual interaction.
(The 2250 keyboard was optional.)
@stevel @brouhaha @argv_minus_one The SAGE screens were real HtG radar screens.
@alderson @stevel @argv_minus_one
As was the DEC Type 30 on the PDP-1 etc., and the Type 338/339/340 on PDP-8/9/10. The tubes were 16ADP7, with a mix of slow and fast phospors, magnetically deflected. In normal radar use, deflection coils for a single axis would be spun about the neck of the tube by a motor, but for the IBM and DEC displays, there were deflection coils on two fixed orthogonal axes, similar but not identical to a television.