Computer History Lexitron Word Processing Computer Origin & History 1969-1984 Raytheon Microcomputer
Ғылым және технология
The following focuses on “Word Processing” and the Origin of the LEXITRON Videotype word processing computer. A unique tribute to the historic Lexitron Videotype Word Processing computer, from its conception in 1969 to its production in 1972, and its successful growth and eventual purchase by Raytheon Company. Models: Lexitron 911, Lexitron VT 1202, Lexitron VT 1303. (Runs 10 mins, plus 3 min Photo Gallery)
With sincere thanks to the following for their invaluable historical input and support: Stephen L. Kurtin and Carver A. Mead (Founders) Brad Tallent, a former Senior Lexitron technician.
Chet Michalak, Raytheon Historian, Raytheon Company Ms. Brandie Gerrish, Corporate Public Relations, Raytheon (Raytheon Data Systems, Raytheon Computer History).
With additional thanks to: Bill Degnan - Vintage Computer.net
www.vintagecomputer.net
Rhode Island Computer Museum
www.ricm.com
Hack42 Museum gallery, Netherlands
In the late 1960’s engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs Stephen L. Kurtin, Arnold J. Goldman, and Carver A. Mead developed ideas for major improvements in word processing. They conceived a breakthrough concept built around a full page text display. In 1969, they co-founded AutoScribe, the company that was to market the first electronic word processing machine. In addition to many other advancements, including direct-interactive editing, the machine used a new “hybrid vector display” cathode ray tube technology. * * On October 7, 1971, AutoScribe changed its name to Lexitron, and moved to a large facility at 9600 De Soto Avenue, Chatsworth, California.
The “Videotype 900” series was introduced in 1972, with the “Videotype Model 911. Thousands of Lexitron’s were sold, with the U.S. Government, law firms, and large businesses being some of the best customers. Competition from other major vendors, a series of economic recessions, and the rise of home computers with word processing software, proved a major challenge to the dedicated word processing industry. Raytheon sold Lexitron to TELEX Corporation in 1984.
* * ADDED: Additional Technical Info:
The 9xx systems all used Assembler as the programming language and many PROMS to store the assembled binary code. Even when they used an 8080 processor for the coms cards (“Interact”), they still used Assembler. The VT series all continued with assembler. It was Intel 8080 based, so porting over the time-tested coded blocks was pretty straightforward. It is also interesting to note that the memory card in the VT-11xx and VT-12xx machines came with 32 Kb (not Gb) of RAM and only upgradeable to 64 Kb (64 Kb was the maximum addressable by the 8080 microprocessor). That was for both program and data (the displayed page) concurrently. So that means that program storage in RAM had to be very efficient. There was a later version of the VT-1303 that that had a paged-96 Kb RAM board for their “advanced” records management system (RMS).
Video Compiled by the Computer History Archives Project (CHAP)
PLEASE JOIN US in Preserving Computer History with a small contribution to our channel. www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted... Your contribution greatly helps us continue to bring you educational, historical, vintage computing topics. Thank you! ~ Computer History Archives Project
(see also, the 1972 “Lexitron” articles)
sites.google.com/site/compute...
and www.1000bit.it/ad/bro/lexitron...
Several Viewer Comments from prior version:
(Please note: This video was revised and re-uploaded due to changes in YT audio music track copyright restrictions. Unfortunately, YT is unable to allow transfer of comments from one uploaded video to a revised version. We selected a few of the comments and re-posted them here. The originals are archived.)
“I was so surprised when I found this video. Thank you for gathering the information to put this together. Working for Lexitron was the best working experience I ever had. I still talk with friends I made working at Lexitron. Lexitron folks were the best of the best. The Videotype was a game changer for the front office. Replacing typewriters with a monitor was not an easy transition for some. We were a dynamite team of sales and support, the best in the business. :-) “
“I loved watching this video. It brought back so many memories. My father, Richard Gaffney became president of Lexitron in February 1980 after Richard Baily, chairman and president passed away. We had a Lextron in our home so I learned how to use it and eventually got a job in the Raytheon word processing department. I was hooked by computers! That lead to a job at Atex, a company that produced computerized systems for newspapers and magazines. I have stayed in the technology industry every since.”
Music clips in the video:
Lilac Skies - Corbyn Kites
Love Aside - Patrick Patrikios
Straight Fuse - French Fuse
Spring Field - Godmode
Пікірлер: 43
This is a cool history. I worked on the IBM Selectric mag until 1977, when the Dept of Interior in Menlo Park CA bought me Lexitron. It was incredible. I loved it. It wasn’t long before the others in the office had one, too. Thank you for this.
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
7 ай бұрын
Hi @karenwindeler9368, very glad you enjoyed this bit of history. Thanks very much for your feedback too! ~ Victor, at CHAP
My dad worked for Lexitron assembling those early VT 91 series which used cassette tapes for document storage. He liked the company but the wage rate wasn't that good so he moved on to Pertec (mag tape drives) and then to Data Products (line printers and card punches). The area where those companies were located in Chatsworth CA was called "Peripheral Gulch" for a while but since almost all the firms made products for minicomputers it was a temporary phenomenon.
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Hi Dale, thanks for the info on that nick name "Peripheral Gulch". Had never heard that before! I bet it was an interesting time for your dad back on the VT 91. : )
I worked for IBM in Oslo, Norway from 1969 till 1975 and was part of the Word Processing revolution. We were sent to IBM's own education school located in Stockholm where we were given lessons on the IBM typewriter, composer and mag card editing consol. Especially for the shipping companies and the oil tanker brokers and insurance word processing became extremely useful. I sold many systems to these companies myself. Thank you from Oslo.
I remember working in an institution many years ago where two of the clerk typists had Lexitrons with the dual 5-1/4" disk drives. Probably one of the most reliable pieces of electronic equipment I have ever seen to this day- I don't EVER recall those word processors going down!! And they were very heavily used as well!
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Yes, you are right! I used one for years. I bet if you found one today, it would still work. Built like a tank!
@dalecomer5951
Жыл бұрын
The early VT 91 series in the office where I worked at a major university was down frequently and sometimes for days waiting for parts. Maybe a lemon or just teething issues. They bought a second one for redundacy. That also mostly solved the problem of secretaries competing for seat time when they only had one.
The Lexitron VT 1303 was the first word processor I came in contact with in 1980 aboard ship in the Navy. It's hard to believe how far we've come since those days.
I used a Lexi in the mid 80s when I worked for Raytheon in Amsterdam. At the time, it seemed wonderful, writing documentation was almost a pleasure!
One BIG downside when PCs became word processors in the 1980s was with the proliferation of 'dot-matrix printers.' I absolutely hated those printers, not so much for the obnoxious noise they generated, but for the fuzzy; and most of the time, light print they generally made on paper. In addition, if cheap printer ribbons were used, the pins on the dot-matrix printers could get jammed in the fabric of those printer ribbons. I swore when I got into PC word processing in the latter 1980s that I'd do what I could to avoid a dot-matrix printer with my PC. Luck would have it that HP came out with the first generation inkjet printer at that time, at a price of $700 (in 1987 US dollars), which, when looked upon what inkjet printers are priced nowadays, was an astronomical price. Ah! But the inkjet printing was far-away better than dot-matrix. It was well-worth the money. That inkjet printer held up remarkable well and was adaptable with the succeeding generations of MS OS systems: From DOS up to Windows 98.
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Hi Bloqk-16, thanks very much for the reminder on how annoying the dot matrix printers were. I absolutely agree. (I can still hear that machine-gun-like buzzing in my head of their back and forth print head.) The ink jet printers were a great advancement. I loved even more the HP Laserjet II workhorse that lasted me 10 years. HP was great at printers. I don't know what happened with their PC's the past few years. Not so hot.... Thanks again! ~ Victor
4:30 Ah, I remember the Diablo Daisy Wheel printer well. I can still "hear" the sound it made.
I'm thinking of doing some electronic word processing myself, later today.
I always admire the research in these videos. It's so great to hear about these machines
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Thank you. More to come very soon!
0:43 The Data Cassette HAD to be supplied by Memorex. They used that style of case in the 1970s.
This is very USA-centric. Elsewhere in the world, other manufacturers were also seeing great success in this area. In the 1980s and into the 1990, Olivetti word processing systems were highly valued.
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Hi Nicole, thank you very much for your feedback on the video. Actually, this particular video is meant to be specific to the Lexitron system and its introduction and history. It is not meant to be an overview of all WP models at that time. You are very correct that Olivetti was very much a player as well during the early days of WP systems. Hopefully, we may be able to do a video report on the history of Olivetti itself, that would be quite fascinating! Thank you again. ~ CHAP
Interesting. All those early word processors, and office computers, weighed a ton back then. Not only did you need good technical support, they also had to be in good shape to lift all that stuff. 😮💨
@Rob2
Жыл бұрын
No wonder the technical support guy was very popular with the secretaries!
@roachtoasties
Жыл бұрын
@@Rob2 :)
Thats Crazy; It makes the Alto look like a Compact
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Yes, the 1303 was a monster!
Love these vids 🤙 are you just one person or is there a video team?
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
rmb250, thanks very much, we appreciate your feedback! ans: Teamwork, dedication, and lots of espresso. : )
PLEASE JOIN US in Preserving Computer History with a small contribution to our channel. www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LCNS584PPN28E Your contribution greatly helps us continue to bring you educational, historical, vintage computing topics. Thank you! ~ Computer History Archives Project
Excelent!!!
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Your feedback is always appreciated! Thanks! ~ Vk
I wonder if "videotype" was in some part homage to the linotype?
Is there more technical information about how the early machines worked? Like what kind of logic technology, and what CPU and memory capacity?
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Hi Rob, yes, excellent question. I just added some additional technical info in the "Description" section on YT. Hopefully that helps give you an idea of their operation. ~
@Rob2
Жыл бұрын
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject Thanks!
I miss Electric Pencil.
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Now that's a name we have not heard in a long time!
@lohphat
Жыл бұрын
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject I worked for a software house in the early 1980s which ported it to the TRS-80 line.
@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
Жыл бұрын
Interesting.... I heard the TRS 80's were not so reliable... True?
@lohphat
Жыл бұрын
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject LOL WUT? I still have my Model I from 1979. Before the IBM PC landed the Model II was very popular for business. They were tanks.
@Rob2
Жыл бұрын
@@lohphat Was Electric Pencil the software on those Lexitron machines? I remember it only from my TRS-80...