Difference between revisions of "AT&T Blit"
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The [[wikipedia:folk etymology|folk etymology]] for the ''Blit'' name is that it stands for ''Bell Labs Intelligent Terminal'', and its creators have also joked that it actually stood for ''Bacon, Lettuce, and Interactive Tomato''. However, Rob Pike's paper on the Blit explains that it was named after the second syllable of ''[[wikipedia:bit blit|bit blit]]'', a common name for the bit-block transfer operation that is fundamental to the terminal's graphics.<ref>{{cite journal | The [[wikipedia:folk etymology|folk etymology]] for the ''Blit'' name is that it stands for ''Bell Labs Intelligent Terminal'', and its creators have also joked that it actually stood for ''Bacon, Lettuce, and Interactive Tomato''. However, Rob Pike's paper on the Blit explains that it was named after the second syllable of ''[[wikipedia:bit blit|bit blit]]'', a common name for the bit-block transfer operation that is fundamental to the terminal's graphics.<ref>{{cite journal | ||
| − | + | | first = Rob | |
| − | + | | last = Pike | |
| − | + | | title = The Blit: A Multiplexed Graphics Terminal | |
| − | + | | url = http://doc.cat-v.org/bell_labs/blit/ | |
| − | + | | journal = AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal | |
| − | + | | volume = 63 | |
| − | + | | number = 8 | |
| − | + | | date = 1984 | |
| − | + | | pages = 1607–1631 | |
| − | + | | doi = 10.1002/j.1538-7305.1984.tb00056.x | |
| − | + | | s2cid = 34062559 | |
| − | + | | url-access = subscription | |
| − | + | }}</ref> Its original nickname was ''Jerq'', inspired by a joke used during a demo of a Three Rivers' [[wikipedia:PERQ|PERQ]] graphic workstation and used with permission.<ref>{{cite web | |
| − | + | | url = https://inbox.vuxu.org/tuhs/CAKzdPgz37wwYfmHJ_7kZx_T=-zwNJ50PhS7r0kCpuf_F1mDkww@mail.gmail.com/ | |
| − | + | | title = Re: [TUHS] Blit source | |
| − | + | | last = Pike | |
| − | + | | first = Rob | |
| − | + | | date = December 19, 2019 | |
| − | + | | website = TUHS | |
| − | + | | accessdate = October 29, 2020 | |
| − | + | | quote = The name, originally coined for a fun demo of the Three Rivers Perq by folks at Lucasfilm, was borrowed with permission by us | |
}}</ref> | }}</ref> | ||
| Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
==Window systems== | ==Window systems== | ||
Pike wrote two window systems for the Blit, ''mpx'' for [[wikipedia:Research Unix#Versions|8th Edition Unix]] and ''mux'' for 9th Edition, both sporting a minimalistic design. The design of these influenced the later [[wikipedia:Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9]] window systems [[wikipedia:8½ (Plan 9)|8½]] and [[wikipedia:Rio (windowing_system)|rio]]. When the Blit was commercialized as the DMD 5620, a variant of mpx called "layers" was added to [[wikipedia:UNIX System V#SVR3|SVR3]].<ref>{{cite web | Pike wrote two window systems for the Blit, ''mpx'' for [[wikipedia:Research Unix#Versions|8th Edition Unix]] and ''mux'' for 9th Edition, both sporting a minimalistic design. The design of these influenced the later [[wikipedia:Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9]] window systems [[wikipedia:8½ (Plan 9)|8½]] and [[wikipedia:Rio (windowing_system)|rio]]. When the Blit was commercialized as the DMD 5620, a variant of mpx called "layers" was added to [[wikipedia:UNIX System V#SVR3|SVR3]].<ref>{{cite web | ||
| − | + | | title = AT&T 5620 (and Related Terminals) Frequently Asked Questions | |
| − | + | | first = Eric | |
| − | + | | last = Smith | |
| − | + | | accessdate = August 25, 2005 | |
| − | + | | url = http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/att/5620/5620_faq.html | |
}}</ref> | }}</ref> | ||
9front (a Plan 9 fork) contains a Blit emulator that runs its original firmware,<ref>{{cite web | 9front (a Plan 9 fork) contains a Blit emulator that runs its original firmware,<ref>{{cite web | ||
| − | + | | title = Blit emulator source code | |
| − | + | | url = http://git.9front.org/plan9front/plan9front/HEAD/sys/src/games/blit/f.html | |
| − | + | | website = 9front Git Repository | |
| − | + | | accessdate = February 17, 2026 | |
}}</ref> which can be used with mux (available in recently released [[wikipedia:Research Unix|Research Unix]] v8<ref>{{cite web | }}</ref> which can be used with mux (available in recently released [[wikipedia:Research Unix|Research Unix]] v8<ref>{{cite web | ||
| − | + | | title = [TUHS] 8th Edition Research Unix on SIMH | |
| − | + | | url = http://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2017-March/009440.html | |
| − | + | | accessdate = December 20, 2017 | |
| − | + | | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20170730032618/http://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2017-March/009440.html | |
| − | + | | archivedate = July 30, 2017 | |
| − | + | | url-status = dead | |
}}</ref>). | }}</ref>). | ||
| Line 68: | Line 68: | ||
;Notes | ;Notes | ||
*{{citation | *{{citation | ||
| − | + | | url = http://www.osnews.com/story/26315/Blit_a_multitasking_windowed_UNIX_GUI_from_1982 | |
| − | + | | title = Blit: a multitasking, windowed UNIX GUI from 1982 | |
| − | + | | first = Thom | |
| − | + | | last = Holwerda | |
| − | + | | website = OSNews | |
| − | + | | date = August 29, 2012 | |
| − | + | | accessdate = September 15, 2012 | |
}} | }} | ||
Latest revision as of 19:08, 17 February 2026
Blit is a programmable raster graphic computer terminal designed by Rob Pike and Bart Locanthi Jr. of Bell Labs and released in 1982.
History
The Blit programmable bitmap graphics terminal was designed by Rob Pike and Bart Locanthi Jr. of Bell Labs in 1982. The Blit technology was commercialized by AT&T and Teletype. In 1984, the DMD (dot-mapped display) 5620 was released,[1] followed by models 630 MTG (multi-tasking graphics) in 1987 and 730 MTG in 1989. The 5620 used a Western Electric 32100 processor (aka Bellmac 32) and had a 15-inch green phosphor display with 800×1024×1 resolution (66×88 characters in the initial text mode) interlaced at 30 Hz. The 630 and 730 had Motorola 68000 processors and a 1024×1024×1 monochrome display at 60 Hz (most had amber displays, but some had white or green displays).
The folk etymology for the Blit name is that it stands for Bell Labs Intelligent Terminal, and its creators have also joked that it actually stood for Bacon, Lettuce, and Interactive Tomato. However, Rob Pike's paper on the Blit explains that it was named after the second syllable of bit blit, a common name for the bit-block transfer operation that is fundamental to the terminal's graphics.[2] Its original nickname was Jerq, inspired by a joke used during a demo of a Three Rivers' PERQ graphic workstation and used with permission.[3]
Functionality
When initially switched on, the Blit looked like an ordinary textual "dumb" terminal, although taller than usual. However, after logging into a Unix host (connected to the terminal through a serial port), the host could (via special escape sequences) load software to be executed by the processor of the terminal. This software could make use of the terminal's full graphics capabilities and attached peripherals such as a computer mouse. Normally, users would load the window systems mpx (or its successor mux), which replaced the terminal's user interface by a mouse-driven windowing interface, with multiple terminal windows all multiplexed over the single available serial-line connection to the host.
Each window initially ran a simple terminal emulator, which could be replaced by a downloaded interactive graphical application, for example a more advanced terminal emulator, an editor, or a clock application. The resulting properties were similar to those of a modern Unix windowing system; however, to avoid having user interaction slowed by the serial connection, the interactive interface and the host application ran on separate systems—an early implementation of distributed computing.
Window systems
Pike wrote two window systems for the Blit, mpx for 8th Edition Unix and mux for 9th Edition, both sporting a minimalistic design. The design of these influenced the later Plan 9 window systems 8½ and rio. When the Blit was commercialized as the DMD 5620, a variant of mpx called "layers" was added to SVR3.[4]
9front (a Plan 9 fork) contains a Blit emulator that runs its original firmware,[5] which can be used with mux (available in recently released Research Unix v8[6]).
See also
- 3B series computers, some of which also used the WECO 32000 processor, were often used with DMD 5620s
- rio
- Thin client
- X terminal
References
- ↑ AT&T/Teletype 5620 Dot Mapped Display Terminal
- ↑ Pike, Rob (1984). "The Blit: A Multiplexed Graphics Terminal". AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal 63 (8): 1607–1631. doi:10.1002/j.1538-7305.1984.tb00056.x. http://doc.cat-v.org/bell_labs/blit/.
- ↑ Pike, Rob (December 19, 2019). "Re: [TUHS] Blit source". https://inbox.vuxu.org/tuhs/CAKzdPgz37wwYfmHJ_7kZx_T=-zwNJ50PhS7r0kCpuf_F1mDkww@mail.gmail.com/. Retrieved October 29, 2020. "The name, originally coined for a fun demo of the Three Rivers Perq by folks at Lucasfilm, was borrowed with permission by us"
- ↑ Smith, Eric. "AT&T 5620 (and Related Terminals) Frequently Asked Questions". http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/att/5620/5620_faq.html. Retrieved August 25, 2005.
- ↑ "Blit emulator source code". http://git.9front.org/plan9front/plan9front/HEAD/sys/src/games/blit/f.html. Retrieved February 17, 2026.
- ↑ "[TUHS] 8th Edition Research Unix on SIMH". Archived from the original on July 30, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170730032618/http://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2017-March/009440.html. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
- Notes
- Holwerda, Thom (August 29, 2012), Blit: a multitasking, windowed UNIX GUI from 1982, http://www.osnews.com/story/26315/Blit_a_multitasking_windowed_UNIX_GUI_from_1982, retrieved September 15, 2012
External links
- Bart Locanthi, Rob Pike: Blit (MPEG) (YouTube), the classic animated short about the windowing terminal project (it was necessary to explain how mice worked back then; this was 1982, two years before the Mac) (MPEG)
- Source code (contains proprietary code) 5620
