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Telidon
Telidon (from the Greek words τῆλε, ''tele'' "at a distance" and ἰδών, ''idon'' "seeing") was a videotex/teletext service developed by the Canadian Communications Research Centre (CRC) during the late 1970s and supported by commercial enterprises led by Infomart in the early 1980s. The CRC referred to Telidon as a "second generation" system, offering improved performance, 2D colour graphics, multilingual support and a number of different interactivity options supported on various hardware. With additional features added by AT&T Corporation, and 16 other contributors in North America and supported by the Federal Government, Telidon was redefined as a protocol and became the NAPLPS standard. Initially in multiple tests, Telidon failed to demonstrate compelling functionality, and the auxiliary equipment costs remained high. Although projects like GRASSROOTS for the Province of Manitoba, SOI for Venezuela, Compuserve, LA Times in California, EPIC for General Motors, NOVAT ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NAPLPS
NAPLPS (North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax) is a graphics language for use originally with videotex and teletext services. NAPLPS was developed from the Telidon system developed in Canada, with a small number of additions from AT&T Corporation. The basics of NAPLPS were later used as the basis for several other microcomputer-based graphics systems. History The Canadian Communications Research Centre (CRC), based in Ottawa, had been working on various graphics systems since the late 1960s, much of it led by Herb Bown.Cynthia Boyko"Telidon" Friends of the CRC, 14 October 1997 Through the 1970s they turned their attention to building out a system of "picture description instructions", which encoded graphics commands as a text stream. Graphics were encoded as a series of instructions (graphics primitives) each represented by a single ASCII character. Graphic coordinates were encoded in multiple 6-bit strings of XY coordinate data, flagged to place them in the print ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Videotex
Videotex (or interactive videotex) was one of the earliest implementations of an end-user information system. From the late 1970s to early 2010s, it was used to deliver information (usually pages of text) to a user in computer-like format, typically to be displayed on a television or a dumb terminal. In a strict definition, videotex is any system that provides interactive content and displays it on a video monitor such as a television, typically using modems to send data in both directions. A close relative is teletext, which sends data in one direction only, typically encoded in a television signal. All such systems are occasionally referred to as ''viewdata''. Unlike the modern Internet, traditional videotex services were highly centralized. Videotex in its broader definition can be used to refer to any such service, including teletext, the Internet, bulletin board systems, online service providers, and even the arrival/departure displays at an airport. This usage is no longe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communications Research Centre Canada
The Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC; french: Centre de recherches sur les communications Canada) is a Canadian government scientific laboratory for research and development in wireless technologies, with a particular focus on the efficient use of radio frequency spectrum. Its mission is as follows: * To perform wireless telecommunications research and development (R&D) that advances the efficient use of the radio spectrum, and serves as the government's leading source of scientific knowledge and technical advice for spectrum management, regulation and policy purposes; * To support critical wireless telecommunications operational requirements of Government of Canada departments and agencies, such as National Defence and Public Safety; * To take part in strategic R&D collaborations that leverage CRC's activities, resulting in knowledge and technology transfer that benefit Canadian industry, the economy and Canadians. History Officially established in 1969, CRC's roots can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Computer Museum
The Personal Computer Museum was located in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, in a building formerly owned by the municipal government. The building was built with bricks reclaimed from the Brantford Opera House. Over fifty interactive personal computers were on display, from a wide variety of manufacturers, including Apple, Atari, Commodore, IBM, Radio Shack, Timex, Mattel, and others. The museum also had a large library of original software and a huge archive of computer-related magazines. The museum's mandate was to preserve computer technology and, more importantly, to offer interactivity with older machines. It welcomed private tours from schools and other groups. It was open to students, to study the origins of computers and the various technologies involved. Parents were welcome to bring children, to see computers which the parents may have once used, to get a sense of the ancestry of today's technology. Admission was free. The museum first opened to the public in September, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NABTS
NABTS, the North American Broadcast Teletext Specification, is a protocol used for encoding NAPLPS-encoded teletext pages, as well as other types of digital data, within the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of an analog video signal. It is standardized under standard EIA-516, and has a rate of 15.6 kbit/s per line of video (with error correction). It was adopted into the international standard CCIR 653 (now ITU-R BT.653) of 1986 as CCIR Teletext System C. History NABTS was originally developed as a protocol by the Canadian Department of Communications, with their industry partner Norpak, for the Telidon system. Similar systems had been developed by the BBC in Europe for their Ceefax system, and were later standardized as the World System Teletext (WST, aka CCIR Teletext System B), but differences in European and North American television standards and the greater flexibility of the Telidon standard led to the creation of a new delivery mechanism that was tuned for speed. N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prodigy (online Service)
Prodigy Communications Corporation (Prodigy Services Corp., Prodigy Services Co., Trintex) was an online service from 1984 to 2001 that offered its subscribers access to a broad range of networked services, including news, weather, shopping, bulletin boards, games, polls, expert columns, banking, stocks, travel, and a variety of other features. Prodigy was described by the ''New York Times'' as "family-oriented" and one of "the Big Three information services" in 1994. Initially, subscribers using personal computers accessed the Prodigy service by means of copper wire telephone "POTS" service or X.25 dialup. For its initial roll-out, Prodigy used 1,200 bit/s modem connections. To provide faster service and to stabilize the diverse modem market, Prodigy offered low-cost 2,400 bit/s internal modems to subscribers at a discount. The host systems used were regionally distributed IBM Series/1 minicomputers managed by central IBM mainframes located in Yorktown Heights, New York. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by modulating one or more carrier wave signals to encode digital information, while the receiver demodulates the signal to recreate the original digital information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded reliably. Modems can be used with almost any means of transmitting analog signals, from light-emitting diodes to radio. Early modems were devices that used audible sounds suitable for transmission over traditional telephone systems and leased lines. These generally operated at 110 or 300 bits per second (bit/s), and the connection between devices was normally manual, using an attached telephone handset. By the 1970s, higher speeds of 1,200 and 2,400 bit/s for asynchronous dial connections, 4,800 bit/s for synch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Industry Canada
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; french: Innovation, Sciences et Développement économique Canada; french: ISDE, label=none)''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Industry (). is a department of the Government of Canada. ISED is responsible for a number of the federal government's functions in regulating industry and commerce, promoting science and innovation, and supporting economic development. The department was known as Industry Canada (IC) prior to 2015. The department is led by the minister of innovation, science and industry (currently François-Philippe Champagne), who also serves as the registrar general of Canada and is responsible for the department to Parliament. Several other ministerial portfolios are associated with the department. While the minister is head of the department, and provides policy/political direction, the day-t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minicomputer
A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ''The New York Times'' suggested a consensus definition of a minicomputer as a machine costing less than (), with an input-output device such as a teleprinter and at least four thousand words of memory, that is capable of running programs in a higher level language, such as Fortran or BASIC. The class formed a distinct group with its own software architectures and operating systems. Minis were designed for control, instrumentation, human interaction, and communication switching as distinct from calculation and record keeping. Many were sold indirectly to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for final end use application. During the two decade lifetime of the minicomputer class (1965–1985), almost 100 companies formed and only a hal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acoustic Coupler
In telecommunications, an acoustic coupler is an interface device for coupling electrical signals by acoustical means—usually into and out of a telephone. The link is achieved through converting electric signals from the phone line to sound and reconvert sound to electric signals needed for the end terminal, such as a teletypewriter, and back, rather than through direct electrical connection. History and applications Prior to its breakup in 1984, Bell System's legal monopoly over telephony in the United States allowed the company to impose strict rules on how consumers could access their network. Customers were prohibited from connecting equipment not made or sold by Bell to the network. The same set-up was operative in nearly all countries, where the telephone companies were nationally owned. In many households, telephones were hard-wired to wall terminals before connectors like RJ11 and BS 6312 became standardized. The situation was similar in other countries. In Austra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Cable
Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previous analog-based cable by the mid 2010s. During the late 2000s, broadcast television converted to the digital HDTV standard, which was incompatible with existing analog cable systems. In addition to providing high-definition video, digital cable systems provide more services such as pay-per-view programming, cable internet access and cable telephone services. Most digital cable signals are encrypted, which reduced the incidence of cable television piracy which occurred in analog systems. History In 1990, General Instrument (acquired by Motorola and now owned by ARRIS Group) demonstrated that it was possible to use digital compression to deliver high quality HDTV in a standard 6 MHz television channel. Using the same technology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
