611

Manuals – Specifications – Links – Pictures

The Tektronix 611 is a storage display monitor introduced in October 1967. It was the monitor included in Tektronix' first graphics terminal, the 4002.

Regarding 611 development, Dan Denham recalls:

I joined a small group in 1964 working on a new storage tube product destined to become the 611. We were, Norm Winningstad, who reported to Howard Vollum and I think the President at the time, Phd. Carlo Infante, Engineer Stuart McNaughton, Technicians Walt Lowy, Leo Heineck and myself. We worked with CRT Engineering as they developed the 11" Anderson Storage CRT. The 611 product was not immediately successful. We learned customers wanted software to make it become a terminal, and some means of hard copy. Thus began the Terminal group. We always had "Display" in our title, but really were a computer terminal group.

The group was expanded to include Digital Engineers and Software Engineers. John Griffin was placed in charge of terminal development and Chuck Gibson headed up a group to design a printer. The 611 became the core of a storage tube computer terminal. In 1968 I left the group temporarily and moved to Corvallis. I attended OSU for 2 years at Tektronix's expense. The group developed and introduced to the world the storage tube terminal. I returned to Tek in 1970 as an Engineer and was assigned to Chuck's group working on several different projects. This was the beginning of the real fun years for me.

We tried all kinds of ideas while Chuck and a few folks introduced the printer using 3M's Dry Silver paper printer. None of this work had much digital circuitry, it was basically all analog circuitry. In those days memory came in 2k memory chips.

Key Specifications

• please add

The 611 uses a magnetic deflection storage CRT with a viewable area of 21 cm by 16.2 cm.

It is specified as supporting 300 by 400 line pairs, roughly equivalent to 600 by 800 pixels.

It uses a maximum of 250 watts and has a fan.

Links

• Service Scope 47, December 1967
• Discussion of the Tek 611 on the Classic Computers mailing list
• DEC Manual Discussing the Tek 611
• Type 1100 Storage Display Unit @ vintagetek.org

Pictures

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  Standard vertical 611

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  Horizontal version 611 Mod 162C

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  611 in Service Scope 47, December 1967

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