History
The first light pen was created around 1952 as part of the Whirlwind project at MIT.
During the 1960s light pens were common on graphics terminals such as the IBM 2250, and were also available for the IBM 3270 text-only terminal.
The light pen found use during the early 1980s. It was notable for its use in the Fairlight CMI, and the BBC Micro. IBM PC compatible CGA, HGC and some EGA graphics cards featured a connector for a light pen as well. Even some consumer products were given light pens, such as the Thomson MO5 computer family as well as the Atari 8-bit home computers.
Because the user was required to hold his arm in front of the screen for long periods of time or to use a desk that tilts the monitor, the light pen fell out of use as a general purpose input device.
Read more about this topic: Light Pen
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