
The computer keyboard and
VDU
The light pen
This device, made in the shape of a pen, is used to point
at some object of interest on the VDU screen. Because of
the way in which the display is produced (the basic elec-
tron beam scanning process), there is a known time
relation between the commencement of the scan and the
position of the point at which the light pen is aimed. This
makes it possible to identify what exactly the light pen
is looking at. Provision for the light pen facility may be
included in a special cathode ray tube controller IC, such
as the 6845.
As an example of its use, suppose that a number of op-
tions in a program are represente ...