Post Ahn4oUXmLL2vuRPm8e by wftl@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by wftl@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #Ahli0FoESZAza8n4c4 by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T03:05:03Z
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Here's a weird question: so Dynix made a text-based library catalog system that used Wyse terminals, and they shipped them with custom keyboards. They had four keys above the numpad: one of these keys was Start Over/New Search.Does anyone remember having used these terminals, and recall what those other keys were?
(DIR) Post #AhliBuVRUQjwzEYmCe by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T03:06:15Z
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Dynix is this system:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynix_(software)The menu system looked like this:
(DIR) Post #AhliBxVuJ9tWJXngqO by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T03:07:27Z
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And I've looked through all the pictures I can find of it and they're all like this: showing the keyboard, but cropped before you can see the buttons on the right.
(DIR) Post #Ahliaakw3cESyLZklk by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T03:09:20Z
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Here's a picture of the keyboard from a non-Dynix Wyse WY-30 terminal: you can see there's 4 function keys on top of the numpad. Those were customized for the Dynix version.
(DIR) Post #AhlmQl51DZznucXI6i by pearl@fedi.rrr.sh
2024-05-11T03:55:59Z
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@foone I’m guessing this is something you would have checked already, but are there manuals for the software? if there are, maybe the manual shows what the other buttons are (or at least mentions them?)
(DIR) Post #Ahlmxi2VXku02S4dKi by Pappy@thepit.social
2024-05-11T04:01:24Z
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@foone Actually, yes, I do remember using something like this.
(DIR) Post #AhlncmIUcMTf7J8Liq by Junco@mastodon.social
2024-05-11T04:09:07Z
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@foone my memory was that only the librarians got the special keyboards on their desks and all the publicly accessible terminals had regular keyboards
(DIR) Post #Ahlo3Dngz4IbwhKuP2 by phoenix@chaos.social
2024-05-11T04:14:11Z
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@foone That look sooo much like from Fallout 😄
(DIR) Post #AhloOrGnQtNWRIGaRc by genehack@dementedandsadbut.social
2024-05-11T04:17:43Z
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@foone feels like a question for @mwichary
(DIR) Post #Ahloq7VRAvG4c678tc by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T04:20:02Z
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@pearl yeah, sadly none of the manuals I can find list the keyboards. They were optional, so they probably came with some documentation, but I don't have it
(DIR) Post #Ahlpb70gpw6wga8jXE by indrora@furry.engineer
2024-05-11T04:30:06Z
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@foone The Abq/Bernallio county library system used these. I never encountered the custom keys because the terminals all had the stock Wyse keyboards. That was then moved to some web-based system that sucked :peach: but could be stumbled through.I have fond memories of those terminals.
(DIR) Post #AhlprFttYAS6tNewPw by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T04:31:19Z
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@neckspike nah, they're not in there. I've got a paper copy kd that book, and I've checked
(DIR) Post #AhlqB7F3S7ohpU1inw by artandtechnic@digipres.club
2024-05-11T04:32:48Z
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@foone I think we might have had them at our regional library back in the 90s.Next time I’m back there, I’ll have to see if any of the photos that they put up for their 40th anniversary have any shots of those systems in there.
(DIR) Post #Ahlqq867AwfiMAOzQW by rf@mas.to
2024-05-11T04:38:23Z
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@foone (Sent me down a rabbit hole re: Dynix. 190K lines of a data-centric flavor of BASIC! 😮)
(DIR) Post #AhlsM9uK59K7BritSC by clairely_undaunted@mastodon.triggerphra.se
2024-05-11T05:02:13Z
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@foone @pearl The manuals I could find said that you could put macros on the F keys (and that most users did) but didn’t suggest which functions for them. Funny, it makes me wonder if it was a default template or just for a particular installation that had that sticker on the fkey legend board
(DIR) Post #AhluGNVcnYvPXuXfcG by robobox@social.restless.systems
2024-05-11T05:23:45Z
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@foone When I first saw this in a book I thought it was some Gopher related thing
(DIR) Post #AhlvLQOxZUbtv2OXrc by valeg@mastodon.social
2024-05-11T05:35:51Z
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@foone it ran on top of Pick system
(DIR) Post #AhlztWV3ntk4UllNaq by dannotdaniel@mastodon.social
2024-05-11T06:25:00Z
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@foone parallel 486 memoriesvim compiled nicely on there but emacs wouldn't 💀
(DIR) Post #Ahmjbs7NHmUEDmCo76 by SpuriousInterrupt@mastodon.social
2024-05-11T14:58:45Z
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@foone I remember using something like this! I don't know if it was this exact system though.I was thinking about this style of menu system a couple of weeks ago. This is what I want search engines to look like. I was considering writing my own text interface for them. (How hard could it be?)
(DIR) Post #Ahn3UdTNKt31r9K6Bk by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T18:40:06Z
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@thatdawnperson @Canageek @wftl I'm fighting UniVerse right now! Interesting and weird software
(DIR) Post #Ahn4oS7pKr6CPNG1PU by wftl@mastodon.social
2024-05-11T15:34:18Z
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@thatdawnperson @foone @Canageek Ye gods! Keep in mind that you're asking me to trawl deep into ancestral memory here. As I recall, these were not off-the-shelf Wyse keyboards. Dynix worked with Wyse to create custom keyboards tailored specifically for their system. Besides the Start Over/New Search, there was also Help, Cancel, and Exit. The function keys also had custom function key caps, for both public and staff terminals. I remember some being colour-coded. Again, this is a long time ago.
(DIR) Post #Ahn4oTMkiqdGFxFSJU by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T18:54:58Z
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@wftl @thatdawnperson @Canageek thanks! That's a great bit of info.
(DIR) Post #Ahn4oUXmLL2vuRPm8e by wftl@mastodon.social
2024-05-11T15:53:39Z
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@thatdawnperson @foone @Canageek I just spent way too much time going back through various Web sites, looking for pictures or these Wyse 30, 50, and 60 keyboards. All I found is that everybody uses exactly the same pictures, usually with the num pad cut off, which isn't much help. Maybe I should ask some of the actual librarians who trained on these things.
(DIR) Post #Ahn4z3e8ggK7fqQbUO by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T18:55:11Z
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@wftl @thatdawnperson @Canageek that'd be great if you could!
(DIR) Post #Ahn5Qgw6iVWzLd0dou by foone@digipres.club
2024-05-11T18:55:54Z
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@SpuriousInterrupt oh that'd be a neat thing! I'd love to see web search results in this style