Wikipedia notes: The system will "draw" images by filling in areas of the screen with color one line at a time; it is not known whether this is an effect employed for the student's enjoyment or if it is due to the slow processing time of the system.
Similar to how Pixar made their first movie about toys because CG made everything look plasticky back then and they realized they couldn’t get away with making a movie with humans or animals on screen for the whole movie.
The best creative people lean into the limitations of technology.
That said, I find it grating when I watch programs like Microsoft Teams draw themselves visibly, like old Windows 1.0 programs.
[0] The graphics logic is entirely custom, implemented in a Toshiba gate array, and it isn't something well-known like a TMS9918A or something else based on that design.
My dad also had got a Tatung Einstein which never worked. Last time I went back to India (I moved to the US for higher ed) I opened it up and was excited to see that they are a bunch of chips that they taught me in Comp 101 (they were basic TTL flip flops). I brought it back with me.
I still have it, and one day I hope to have enough time and space to open it up and translate it into an FPGA as a way to brush up on my basic digital signal knowledge.
nubinetwork•10h ago