[GreenKeys] Very long shot - AN/USQ-69 terminal

[Nick England]

Many thanks for that interesting forecast report link.

Well, in some fairness, it isn’t just a commercial dumb terminal and that
Cadillac price tag includes all of the associated Data Terminal Group
equipment (I’ll have to look that up. Maybe includes the militarized
minicomputer too) and probably includes spare parts acquisition also.

FWIW The USQ-69 includes Mil-STD-188 interface, character memory, onboard
editing, back-up power, TEMPEST, and a high level of mil-spec
ruggedization. So you have to include a lot of hardware and software
development that went into it plus mil-spec qualification on all the
components and manufacturing process. And maybe even guaranteed spare parts
availability for 20 years. All accompanied by excruciating piles of
paperwork. And probably an initial low quantity buy with no guarantee of
higher quantities later.
Sometimes the requirements might be overkill but sometimes you really do
have to pay for a gold-plated toilet seat.

The later change to using COTS technology when possible certainly was
beneficial even though getting Amazon to deliver a replacement unit to a
ship mid-ocean might be problematic.

My 2/100ths worth.
Nick

On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 12:46 AM David I. Emery <die at dieconsulting.com>
wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 12:18:47AM -0400, Jeff G wrote:
> > A quick google search for this finds some docs that describe it as a
> basic
> > 80x25 terminal. Not sure if it would be outfitted with something like
> > RS-232 or something else. Prob the most durable dumb terminal ever made,
> > and cost $53,000 new!
> >
> >
> https://www.forecastinternational.com/archive/disp_old_pdf.cfm?ARC_ID=1416
> >
> > http://vipclubmn.org/cpothers.html
>
>         Another $1200 toilet seat has been found if that price
> is anywhere near real....
>
>         Back in the day (of serial 80 by 25 terminals) about $2K was pretty
> much the Caddilac price... most were less than that.
>
>         25 times that much is an EXPENSIVE toilet seat.
>
> --
Nick England K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com
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