[GreenKeys] Teletypes in Portal 2

[Christian Gauger-Cosgrove]

On 11 July 2017 at 19:00, Jordan Spencer Cunningham <js at cunni.co> wrote:
> It's a very interesting storyline as far as games go, but what
> surprised me is that I found some teletypes in the bottommost condemned
> testing area (circa ~1950s), four or five kilometers below the Earth's
> surface.
>
I'd be nice to get input from the rest of the list, but I think the
Teletype they were going for in their model is based on the Model 15
and related developments.


> The closer to the surface you go, the newer the testing facilities are, and
> the newer the technology in them becomes. Teletypes morphed into giant
> mainframes with amber CRT terminals, which morphed into Apple ][-like
> desktop computers with what appear to be 5-1/4-inch floppy drives. It's
> always fun to see old technology portrayed in modern popular culture, even
> if it's inaccurate or completely made up. Most players I'm sure have no clue
> what these are, nor do they care. Those darn millennials [shakes cane at
> passers by].
>
Yeah, the 1970s Aperture labs, the computers seem to be hinting toward
IBM mainframe design patterns especially from the late 7000 series and
early System/360 eras. The tape drives are vaguely based on the IBM
7330, and the big CPU cabinets are reminiscent of the IBM 7090 series
system units. The printer looks like a System/360-era 1403-N1, and the
terminals though are much akin to a DEC VT240. (I think I know the
reason that the company was doing terribly financially... mixing and
matching hardware into a giant pile of "no".)

1980s Aperture? I think the computers were more like the IBM PC than
anything else.


> The game designers either didn't realize or didn't care that they only put
> 20 keys on their teletype model. I won't say I know for sure that there's
> never been such a thing, but I highly doubt it.
>
Reduced keyboard size? There's been machines like that, meet the
M-130: <http://scz.bplaced.net/m130.html> Though the machine in that
link specifically is a cipher machine, there was also a version made
without the ciphering bits, which was the T-130.

It was used for sending numbers only weather reports.


Also, I realized, more useful to any interested parties would be the
English language page on it on the CryptoMuseum site:
<http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/ussr/m130/index.htm>


-- 
Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove
STCKON08DS0
Contact information available upon request.