Does anyone have the Techtronix

[jjrakman]

software they used for targeting and scanners in TOS? Or software that simulates it?

Was Techtronix the correct name?

[LucianG]

I drew graphics on Techtronics machines using FORTRAN in the early 80's. They were state of the art at the time. On the screen, it looked basically like what you saw on the episodes.

Then MicroStation and AutoCAD came along....

[thomas7g]

At the time I remember the term "vectorgraphics" for that style of putting images on the screen. :D

[Dawg]

Proper name: Tektronix, Inc.

Location: at the time BSG was made, they were headquartered in their manufacturing campus in Beaverton, Oregon - several years ago the headquarters itself was moved to Wilsonville, Oregon. The manufacturing facility in Beaverton has been downsized and sublet in recent years as manufacturing has been farmed out overseas and to "strategic partners".

At the time of BSG, they were almost exclusively into electronics test and measurement equipment - oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers and the like - and were pioneers in the CAD industry. Tektronix also got into printers for a while; Xerox and HP had bought into much of the company at the point I stopped paying attention.

Tektronix also owns (or owned) an outfit called "The Grass Valley Group", whose TV equipment was (or is) much sought after. There were Emmy awards displayed in the headquarters building in Beaverton for a long time.

Unfortunately, I have no clue about how the graphics were done; remember, those units are 25 years old now - ancient for electronic equipment (not that I really knew in the first place, but you understand).

I am
Dawg
:warrior:

[michaelfaries]

When I get BP.com relaunched, I'll see about posted an article (hoping I archived it) which discussed Textronics and their involvement in the original 1978 BG show. (Lorne Greene is on the cover of said article.)

Michael
:colwar:

[jjrakman]

Here's a pic from Bishop. But does anyone have the actrual software, or something that simulates it on a PC?

[Muffit]

Originally posted by Dawg
Proper name: Tektronix, Inc.

Location: at the time BSG was made, they were headquartered in their manufacturing campus in Beaverton, Oregon...

I am
Dawg
:warrior:

Beaverton??? :beaver: Cool Dawg!!! :D

[thomas7g]

awesome image!!! BST you see it!?

[Dawg]

Originally posted by Muffit
Beaverton??? :beaver: Cool Dawg!!! :D

Thought that might get your attention, Muffit! :laugh:

I am
Dawg
:warrior:

[Westy]

program to do?

[LucianG]

But does anyone have the actrual software, or something that simulates it on a PC?

Techtronix may have had proprietary software, but if they did, I wasn't aware of it. Using FORTRAN, we had to tediously program it to draw the desired output, but it was great for interpreting data and turning out plans, graphs, etc. Almost all graphic images were extremely simple by today's standards. Note the little triangles representing the incoming Cylon ships and the asterisks representing the fleeing Vipers at teh beginning of Saga of a Star World. The same image (or a slight variation thereof) was used again later when the Cylons were closing on the Galactica. The asterisk that had represented Zak's ship is still on the monitor, with Apollo's ship far ahead, even though the Vipers were launching from Carillon at the time.

Vanderbilt trashed the old card reader system in favor of a mainframe just before I arrived, so I never had to deal with that like some of my friends at other universities. We could program everything on the terminal, run the program, and then print the output to the monitor or a pen plotter. The plotters were a modern wonder. The arm-type pen plotter was pretty exciting to watch for a little while, drawing one line at a time, sometimes over and over again if you programmed something wrong. And you could draw in color, again, one color at a time, one line at a time. After that very LITTLE while noted, watching paint dry was almost as exciting, especially considering we needed things done quickly.

Today's large graphics plotters are a true wonder in comparison.

[Westy]

this took me 5 minutes in c++, what kind of interface should it have?

http://groups.msn.com/BattlestarGalactica/fanart.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=199

[Sept17th]

Where does Peter get these pics...awsome baby.

On another note, JJ do they let any shmoe mod this place now?:D

[jjrakman]

On another note, JJ do they let any shmoe mod this place now?

Yeah looks like it.

:D


As far as what I'd want the simulation to do, gee I don't know, I just wondered if anyone had ever done anything like it.

[jjrakman]

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TAD9AsEXLqR92PuLKQSUO4MxO!3!

Check it out, courtesy of Westy! Cool man, I'll be cool to see what you do next with it.

[Westy]

That link doesn't work for me....is that the same one?

http://groups.msn.com/BattlestarGalactica/fanart.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=199

try that one instead.

I've never seen a targeting sim before...or a warbook one...be cool though. I can do it, but i'd need direction on what you want it to do and how you'd want to control it. Pics would help too. Sounds too...I could throw those in. Anyone got any .wav files of the sounds?

[peter noble]

http://www.tekscope-museum.de/4050_Stuff/4050_stuff.html

[Westy]

Wonder if there's any old legacy code for those machines floating around anywhere.

[Westy]

The Cylon target follows the movement of the mouse cursor. Here's a screen shot. Any ideas what this is good for? Mabey a screen saver? The Cylon taget is a simple .bmp file that the app loads, anyone could change it to whatever they wanted it to be.

http://groups.msn.com/BattlestarGalactica/fanart.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=200

[jjrakman]

A screen saver would be cool. Anyone else have any thoughts?

[Westy]

I can do it, the API is simple enough. JJRackman any clue where some BSG sounds could be found? I can make it optional...on/off in a settings type dialog.