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hold over 1.18 megabytes of information.
This coxrpares to the 210
kilobyte capacity of a magnetic tape.
Aside from data storage, the disk drives are used to store the
progr2uns controlling each of the operations performed by the system.
Due to the limited memory of the conputer, the software was configured
into a set of stand-alone progreuns. Each progreuii controls a particular
operation; for exanple, there is a program for controlling the Tektronix
7612D.
Since the software was developed as a set of programs, the time
advantage of the disk drive again became apparent.
floppy disk can be loaded and run much faster.
Programs stored on a
The disk drives can
transfer data at an average rate of 23 kilobytes per second.
In
comparison, the tape drive can transfer data at a mere 650 bytes per
second.
Thus, the disk drive proved to be indispensable in the function
of the system.
Since the disk drive has two (2) units, one is
designated as the program drive and the other is designated as the data
drive.
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Hardcopy Output Capabilities
A necessary support component for the data acquisition and storage
capabilities was the HP7470A Plotter.
speed and accuracy.
This plotter was chosen for its
The plotter served to complement the hardcopy
capabilities of the computer.
The computer has an on-board thermal printer/plotter.
plotter is used primarily for its print capabilities.
This printer/
In several of the
software packages, the printer is used to create hardcopy output for the
operator.
In addition, the graphic display can be dumped to the
printer/plotter.
However, the graphic display performs a direct dump to the printer/
plotter.
Therefore, the resulting plot was limited to the resolution
obtainable on the computer's small screen.
In contrast, the plots which can be generated on the HP7470A Plotter
are high resolution.
the plotter.
Therefore, all hardcopy plots are created using
Also, the plotter is used as a slow printer.
The software