Author_Institution :
4 Brook Lane, Wells, ME, USA
Abstract :
This article recounts the development of a stand-alone CAD platform, the IDIIOM. The IDIIOM was developed during the mid-1960s at Information Displays, Inc. (IDI), then in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. According to its creators, the IDIIOM was the first general-purpose design workstation, the first commercial CADD platform, and the first software drafting package to operate on its own computer without communication links to a mainframe computer. The article follows IDI´s startup, the company´s evolution into the fledgling computer graphics field, IDI´s development of stand-alone CADD hardware and software, and IDI´s unwillingness to accept the emerging technology of the Direct View Storage Tube
Keywords :
CAD; engineering graphics; engineering workstations; history; software packages; Direct View Storage Tube; IDIIOM; Information Displays; commercial CADD platform; computer graphics; general-purpose design workstation; mainframe computer; software drafting package; standalone CAD platform; Cathode ray tubes; Character generation; Computer aided manufacturing; Computer displays; Computer graphics; Control systems; Costs; Lighting control; Production; Switches;