Open Web Linked Browser-based Anachronistic Terminal is a library for a fantasy computer that never existed; based on the PLATO computer system circa the 1970's and 80's.
Before the internet, before personal computers, before Pac-Man, before Atari... there was the PLATO system.
The Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations system was a state-of-the-art terminal system created in the 1960s, that gained popularity in the 1970s. It featured a 512 x 512 monochromatic plasma display, touchscreen sensor, keyboard, and was networked via a mainframe. Although primarily intended for education, it was nonetheless the birthplace of some of the first computer games ever - including the first CRPG "dnd" (1974-75), and the first multiplayer games.
The OWLBAT (Open Web Linked Browser-based Anachronistic Terminal) is a retro "fantasy console" (in the vein of PICO-8) that attempts to recreate the PLATO system experience (circa PLATO IV-V) in a web browser. Keyboard input is sent to a "sever", which responds with a list of basic commands (inspired by PLATO's TUTOR language and the PLATO specs) which determine what gets displayed on the terminal screen.
Thanks to cyber1.org for providing a PLATO terminal experience, and int10h.org for the font.
It would be great to expand OWLBAT to accomplish a few different goals:
- Showcase the PLATO functionality as an interactive historical novelty
- Play actual PLATO programs in the browser?
- Provide a platform for making retro - especially terminal-based - games
- Allow multiplayer functionality in the browser