ACL will take delivery of an Information International Inc FR80 microfilm recorder in the Spring of 1975. The existing SD4020 microfilm recorder at the Laboratory will gradually be phased out during 1975 with the current plotting load being transferred to the FR80. It is expected that this will be completed no later than the end of 1975 and preferably earlier.
The exact delivery date of the FR80 is uncertain at the moment. It is unlikely to arrive before the end of February 1975, but should arrive before 1 April, although it is possible that one or two major peripherals will not be delivered until May.
There are some essential software changes that need to be made before any service can be offered. The current aim is to start a guaranteed service some time in the second quarter of 1975.
The FR80 is the most powerful recorder currently available. There should be a considerable improvement in the quality of output and there will be a number of additional facilities which should be of great value to the majority of our users.
This User Note describes the hardware of the FR80. Full details of the software that can be used will be given as it becomes available.
The FR80 machine has been in operational use since 1969. However, a considerable number of enhancements have been added in the last few years, and a number of options that will be available on the ACL model will be relatively untried. In particular, only two sites other than ACL have the colour recording capability.
Basically, the FR80 consists of a high-speed computer that accepts and buffers digital graphical information provided on magnetic tape. This data is processed and displayed as either vectors or alphanumeric characters on a high-precision cathode ray tube. An interchangeable camera system allows the information displayed on the tube to be recorded on a variety of different cameras.
The configuration available at ACL will be:
The model numbers given above are from III's standard catalogue. The microfiche camera is being loaned to ACL for a year. At the end of that period, the aim is to purchase the camera if sufficient demand for microfiche has arisen to warrant its retention.
The III15 computer is derived from the DEC PDP15 to which it has a strong resemblance. Apart from the IOT (Input-Output Transfer) instructions, its order code is almost identical. In fact, earlier FR80's used PDP15 computers. The core store of the III15 can be used to store background information to be output to a number of frames. This is equivalent to a software 'forms flash'. As the background information is being produced by the same process as the other information, accurate registration between the two will be obtained.
The disc on the III15 will be used mainly for storing the set of programs and fonts required to drive the various cameras.
The FR80 uses a precision cathode ray tube which is optically flat and has a 3.33 in square plotting area. This is divided into a raster of 16384 points in each direction. The basic drawing commands are:
characters can be displayed at any raster position. Instead of a hard-wired character set, the character forms are stored in the III15 core store in a compact form. The standard character generator cycle steals the compacted character representation from core, interprets and displays the character. Up to 256 characters are available at anyone time and these can be displayed at 64 different character sizes. For the standard fonts, which are defined on a 10 × 14 grid, the height varies from 12 to 277 raster positions.
The form of the output can be varied by the following parameters:
The standard hardware for character drawing requires the character to be made up of lines in a limited number of directions. Horizontal and vertical lines can be used together with lines at three different angles between the vertical and 45°. The dual character generator changes the set of possible directions to allow better quality character fonts to be used.
The standard FR80 character generator draws characters one at a time. The High-Speed Page Print Facility allows a complete string of characters to be drawn by the character generator before interrupting the III15. Using this feature, it is possible to draw characters at a rate of 40,000 per sec. If this facility is used, the characters are drawn equally-spaced (sometimes called mono-spaced). If proportionately-spaced characters are required, these must be drawn one at a time.
This feature also provides the variable vector drawing speed. Full screen vectors can be specified as taking 1, 2, 4 or 8 millisecs. By using a small spot size and the slowest drawing speed, high quality textual output can be produced.
This option allows lines, points and characters to be drawn at one of 256 different intensities. The difference between each intensity level and its neighbour is not linear. However, it is possible to choose 64 intensity levels (out of the 256) which have equal intervals between them. Fuller details will be given after the FR80 has been installed and tests have been made.
Unlike the SD4020, only one camera can be used at a time on the FR80. To ensure accurate mounting, when the camera is in position it is securely bolted to the cathode ray tube. For this reason and because of the physical size of some of the cameras, the aim will be to keep camera-changing to a minimum.
One big advantage of the FR80 is that accurate abutting of frames will be possible on 16 mm, 35 mm and hardcopy.
The Model 8020 is a 35 mm camera with a sprocketed pin-registered movement. It is possible to replace the standard film movement with a 16 mm one. However, as the lens is not changed, the frame area for the 16 mm is a much smaller part of the plotting area on the tube face (see Appendix I).
The FR80 to be installed at ACL will have the colour recording facility. Instead of the standard blue phosphor (P11) tube, the machine will be equipped with a 'white' phosphor (P24) tube, which has a larger spectral range. Black-and-white output can still be produced but with a slight degradation in resolution (about 10%). Colour output is produced using a filter system which is incorporated into the combined 16/35 camera. This consists of three filters (CYAN, MAGENTA and YELLOW) which can be inserted in the light path from the tube to the film. The filter system is built into the camera itself. The user can specify that more than one filter appears in the light path. Consequently, the primary colours can be generated by the following combinations of two filters:
CYAN-MAGENTA : BLUE MAGENTA-YELLOW : RED YELLOW-CYAN : GREEN
By defining different intensities and line overstrikes, it is possible to produce a large range of different colours.
As well as the combined camera, the FR80 will have a pin-registered 16 mm camera for high quality output. The frame area on this camera is equivalent to a larger part of the plotting area than is available on the combined camera. Consequently, higher resolution output can be produced using this camera.
The hardcopy camera on the FR80 is capable of taking roll paper up to 12 ins wide. A vacuum inside the camera positions the paper accurately so that abutting of consecutive frames is possible. It is likely that all lines will have to be drawn at least twice to obtain a good image on the paper. Consequently, it is likely that hardcopy will take longer to produce on the FR80 than the alternative forms of output.
The 105 mm microfiche camera normally records in columns. However, the row format can be used but this will increase the recording time and decrease the positioning accuracy. Output is generated at either 42X or 48X. It is possible to produce over 400 frames on a single microfiche. It is likely that special programs will be available on both the 360/195 and 1906A for outputting large quantities of textual information to microfiche.
The III Model 5010 film processor produces good quality negative or full reversal processed film (16,35 and 105 mm). The standard film magazines for the FR80 cameras fit directly on to the processor so that there is a minimum amount of delay before processing can start. The speed of processing is about 15 feet per min.
Hardcopy will be processed using our existing Bell and Howell processor.
A small colour film processor is being purchased to allow single frames and short film sequences to be processed locally. Large quantities of output will be processed externally.
The complete FR80 plotting area has coordinates 0 to 16383 in both the X and Y directions. Each camera is capable of photographing only part of the plotting area - the aperture plate ensures that plotting outside its bounds is not recorded. However, if output is produced over the complete area allowed by the plate, the images on consecutive frames overlap. Consequently, it is usual to restrict plotting to at least an area such that the consecutive frames abut. For 16mm and 35mm cine film, the frame area is even smaller with a gap between consecutive frames. Where appropriate, the three areas given above are defined.
| Image | XWIDTH | YWIDTH | XMIN | YMIN | XMAX | YMAX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8020 Combined 35mm | ||||||
| Aperture | 16383+ | 13376 | 0 | 1504 | 16383 | 14880 |
| Abutment | 16383 | 12510 | 0 | 1937 | 16383 | 14447 |
| Cine | 16383 | 12290 | 0 | 2047 | 16383 | 24337 |
| 8020 Combined 16mm | ||||||
| Abutment | 6938 | 5016 | 4723 | 5684 | 11661 | 10700 |
| Cine | 6938 | 4930 | 4723 | 5727 | 11661 | 10657 |
| 8021 16mm | ||||||
| Aperture | 10172 | 8579 | 3106 | 3902 | 13278 | 12481 |
| Abutment | 10172 | 7353 | 3106 | 4515 | 13278 | 11868 |
| 8060 Hardcopy | ||||||
| Aperture | 16383+ | 12547 | 0 | 1918 | 16383 | 14465 |
| Abutment | 16383 | 11866 | 0 | 2259 | 16383 | 14125 |
| 8025 105mm Microfiche | ||||||
| Image | 13539 | 16383 | 1427 | 0 | 14957 | 16383 |
If the limits of the complete plotting area are defined as (0,0) and (1,1), the visible parts of the area for each device are:
| Camera | XMN | YMN | XMX | YMX | Ratio Y/X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8020 combined 16mm (cine) | 0.2883 | 0.3495 | 0.7117 | 0.6505 | 0.7106 |
| 8020 combined 35mm (cine) | 0 | 0.1249 | 1 | 0.8751 | 0.7501 |
| 8021 16mm (cine) | 0.1896 | 0.2794 | 0.8104 | 0.7206 | 0.7106 |
| 8025 105mm microfiche | 0.0871 | 0 | 0.9129 | 1 | 1.2109 |
| 8060 hardcopy | 0 | 0.1379 | 1 | 0.8621 | 0.7242 |
| Model 8020 35mm |
Model 8021 16mm |
Model 8032 105mm |
Model 8060 hardcopy |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aperture (mms) | 20.3×25.4 | 8.9×10.5 | 22.4×102.1 | 228.6×301.6 |
| Aperture (ins) | 0.8×1.0 | 0.35×0.415 | 0.88×4.02 | 9.0×11.88 |
| Raster points per mm film | 658 | 965 | 1820 | 55 |
| Raster points per in film | 16722 | 24510 | 1820 | 55 |
| Frame advance time (msecs) | 74 | 74 | 750 | |
| Magazine capacity (metres) | 180 | 180 | 60 | 107 |
| Magazine capacity (feet) | 600 | 600 | 200 | 350 |
| Accuracy drame advance (mms) | ±0.01 | ±0.01 | ±0.127 | |
| Accuracy drame advance (ins) | ±0.004 | ±0.004 | ±0.005 |
| Character size |
Height in raster positions |
Character size| |
Height in raster positions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 12.6 | 32 | 147.0 |
| 1 | 16.8 | 33 | 151.2 |
| 2 | 21.0 | 34 | 155.4 |
| 3 | 25.2 | 35 | 159.6 |
| 4 | 29.4 | 36 | 163.8 |
| 5 | 33.6 | 37 | 168.0 |
| 6 | 37.8 | 38 | 172.2 |
| 7 | 42.0 | 39 | 176.4 |
| 8 | 46.2 | 40 | 180.6 |
| 9 | 50.4 | 41 | 184.9 |
| 10 | 54.6 | 42 | 189.0 |
| 11 | 58.8 | 43 | 193.2 |
| 12 | 63.0 | 44 | 197.4 |
| 13 | 67.2 | 45 | 201.6 |
| 14 | 71.4 | 46 | 205.8 |
| 15 | 75.6 | 47 | 210.0 |
| 16 | 79.8 | 48 | 214.2 |
| 17 | 84.0 | 49 | 218.4 |
| 18 | 88.2 | 50 | 222.6 |
| 19 | 92.4 | 51 | 226.8 |
| 20 | 96.6 | 52 | 231.0 |
| 21 | 100.8 | 53 | 235.2 |
| 22 | 105.0 | 54 | 239.4 |
| 23 | 109.2 | 55 | 243.6 |
| 24 | 113.4 | 56 | 247.8 |
| 25 | 117.6 | 57 | 252.0 |
| 26 | 121.8 | 58 | 256.2 |
| 27 | 126.0 | 59 | 260.4 |
| 28 | 130.2 | 60 | 264.6 |
| 29 | 134.4 | 61 | 268.8 |
| 30 | 138.6 | 62 | 273.0 |
| 31 | 142.8 | 63 | 277.2 |
The table below gives the standard microfiche layouts provided by III. It is possible that the standard layout used at ACL may differ from those given here. The total number of pages per microfiche is given on the assumption that one full row of the microfiche is used for titling.
| LAYOUTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magnification | 48 | 48 | 42 | 42 |
| Columns across fiche | 28 | 18 | 25 | 16 |
| Rows down fiche | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 |
| Pages per fiche | 420 | 270 | 325 | 208 |
| Lines per page | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 |
| Characters per line | 70 | 132 | 70 | 132 |
