HP data terminal
A keyboard and display for interacting with a host computer.
A terminal provides the user interface to another system. It belongs in a workstation collection because the transition from shared hosts to individual computers changed where processing took place.
All photographs of this object
HP data terminal
| Maker | Hewlett-Packard |
|---|---|
| Type | Serial data terminal with integrated tape cartridge drives |
| Front panel | “DATA TERMINAL, HEWLETT·PACKARD” |
A terminal gives a distant computer a screen and keyboard. For many people in the 1970s, this was the computer’s visible presence: a serial line connected the desk to a shared machine elsewhere. Beside a workstation, it shows how the place where computation happened changed.
Record & provenance
A terminal provides the user interface to another system. It belongs in a workstation collection because the transition from shared hosts to individual computers changed where processing took place.
Reference: ATX-OBJ-HP-DATA-TERMINAL
Source: collection inventory, photographs, and notes accompanying Serious Machines (Amir Husain, 2024).