Advent of Computing Episode 70 - The oN-Line System, Part 2
Nov 29, 2021
They dig into the real development story of NLS, from tiny CDC hardware limits to later SDS-940 upgrades. Hear about custom workstations with an early mouse and chorded input, novel timesharing and CCTV remote-display hacks, and layered meta-languages used to build and bootstrap the system itself. The episode focuses on NLS’s structure, linking model, and how ARC balanced portability with steep complexity.
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Custom Workstation With Mouse And Chorded Keyset
- ARC built a custom workstation with a round CRT, mouse, keyboard, and a chorded keyset for one-handed high-speed input.
- The chord set used up to five keys (32 chords) and required practice, while the mouse was a three-button design.
NLS Was A Hybrid Command And Graphical Interface
- NLS combined a graphical display with a command-driven model: the top screen line accepted typed commands while the rest showed hypermedia.
- Users typically chorded commands with the keyset then used the mouse to select arguments, making it a hybrid UI not pure point-and-click.
NLS Offered Bidirectional Hypermedia Links
- NLS supported bidirectional, fine-grained links and hypermedia statements that could be text, images, or mixed vector drawings.
- Vector and text generators let NLS place crisp diagrams next to text and link directly into graphics.