Uniscope
| Company type | Product line |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer terminals |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Founder | Univac Division of Sperry Rand Corporation |
| Products | Computer terminals (Uniscope 100, 200, 300; UTS 10, 20, 30, 40; UTS 60; UTS 4000 series) |
| Parent | Sperry Rand Corporation |
Uniscope constituted a series of computer terminals developed by the Univac Division of Sperry Rand Corporation starting in 1964, mainly designed to interface with Univac mainframe systems. These terminals succeeded various models from Teletype and were frequently referred to as green screen terminals due to their characteristic green-colored text display.
In contrast to Teletype devices, Uniscope terminals minimized I/O interrupts by sending extensive data segments through a proprietary high-speed connection employing coaxial cable and multiplexers. Users input data offline, which was then transmitted in a single batch, resulting in just one interrupt per transmission on the mainframe. The mainframe would respond with either brief or full-screen information, enabling streamlined communication cycles.
Models
The Uniscope name, officially trademarked on October 13, 1969, covered a variety of Sperry Univac dumb terminal products such as the Uniscope 100, 200, 300; UTS 10, 20, 30, 40; the color-capable UTS 60; and the UTS 4000 series of cluster controllers. The UTS 10 through UTS 60 models were classified as "intelligent terminals," utilizing 8-bit microprocessor technology. Display configurations across models included formats like 16x64, 12x80, and 24x80 characters. The UTS 4000 incorporated a COBOL compiler to facilitate local processing within cluster controllers, while the UTS 60 offered programmability features. This product lineup was comparable to IBM’s IBM 3270 terminal series. A specialized variant, the UTS-400-TE, featured firmware-based text editing originally targeted for newspaper copy editing and later adapted into an early word processing system equipped with 8-inch floppy disk drives and letter-quality daisy wheel printers.
Technical details
Uniscope terminals universally employed a modified version of the Binary Synchronous Communications protocol. Connections were established via multiplexers over shared communication channels with each terminal identified by unique remote and station numbers. Peripheral devices such as printers or storage units received distinct device identifiers on these lines. Terminal communication was managed through sequential polling or general polls to regulate data flow.
The proprietary protocol for data presentation allowed application developers to design screen layouts with fields designated for numeric or alphanumeric input; certain fields could be locked against user modification. Formatting capabilities included color usage and cell border customization—features roughly analogous to those found in ANSI X3.64 standards.
Initial Uniscope 100 displays supported either 12x80 or 16x64 character arrangements in uppercase only, with characters rendered using spline technology derived from military aircraft cockpit displays. Subsequent models advanced to raster displays supporting 24x80 characters in both uppercase and lowercase alphabets, along with multiple national code sets accommodating European accented characters and Japanese Katakana.
UTS 60
Introduced in 1984 alongside desktop computers equipped with EGA monitors, the UTS 60 terminal incorporated dual Motorola processors. Market response suggested it was overly complex and priced too high for its intended market niche. Eventually, the creation of emulation software for running Uniscope functionality on desktop PCs led to the discontinuation of Uniscope hardware manufacturing.
Emulators
During the early 1990s, Unisys launched INFOConnect, a series of terminal emulators for personal computers that supported Uniscope communication protocols. Providers of terminal emulation solutions continue to cater to this specialized sector.