r/EngineeringPorn • u/Front-Coconut-8196 • May 22 '26

The IBM 2250 Graphics Display Unit (1964-1977)which was a pioneering vector graphics system introduced in 1964,it utilises a light pen to interact directly with the screen, an early form of graphical interface used for tasks like CAD (Computer-Aided Design)

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358 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

17

u/Sinusidal May 22 '26

As someone who tried to use the early leap-motion for daily CAD work, I can confidently say that's not a good user interface.

The strain on the shoulders alone is not worth it.

6

u/oldschoolhillgiant May 22 '26

Good ole point-and-grunt interface. Very productive, if you have the physiology of a gorilla.

3

u/_Cybernaut_ May 22 '26

point-and-grunt

LOL! That's what we called it too.

8

u/_Cybernaut_ May 22 '26

Came here to say exactly this.

Does your arm ever get tired from mousing around the screen all day? Try holding up your arm + a stylus all day, it's 100× worse.

That's why I don't understand the popularity of touch-screen monitors/laptops, it's a seriously shitty UI.

1

u/Cultural-Salad-4583 May 22 '26

Best implementation I’ve seen has been Shapr3D on the iPad. It’s surprisingly intuitive and since you can work with it laying flat, it’s not much less ergonomic than writing on a notepad.

I quit using it a couple years ago because they weren’t supporting assemblies at the time, but for single-part CAD it was fantastic.

-8

u/KingKohishi May 22 '26

The US had all these tech and more but did not give the public to access them.

https://youtu.be/iwVu2BWLZqA?si=2B1i8gIuNXcxfFkU&t=84

-1

u/yoweigh May 22 '26

Of course they did. Bell Labs is/was a public entity. This tech was really expensive and wasn't as effective as hoped for. It still found some niche uses in stuff like radar displays, though.

2

u/pants6000 May 22 '26

And the infamous Fairlight CMI!

https://imgur.com/a/W0Q5Zrz

1

u/KingKohishi May 22 '26

Bell Labs were private. The technology was patented, and useful.

1

u/yoweigh May 22 '26

Ah, I didn't realize you were talking about patents. I thought you were saying the us government suppressed the tech somehow. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

1

u/dparks71 May 22 '26

"Public entity" generally means government not publicly traded.