I used a 4014 -- 1976 or so. We had it connected to the mainframe via a newfangled Vadic modem that was four times faster than any other async modem available: 1200 baud when the others were all 110 or 300. It was blindingly fast, and worked well for graphic display. But you had to be careful with the modem:
- If it got shut off, you had to turn it on and leave it on for 4 hours to heat stabilize before using it.
- Never hold down the U key too long -- if it began auto-repeating, the modem would go nuts. (In ASCII, the "U" is 01010101.)
- Never, ever move the modem or touch it or put anything on top of it.
I could tell you about the first 5.25" diskette drive I'd ever seen: Shugart brand. It worked, as long as you kept the cover off the drive so you could reach into it and move the head back to track 0 with your finger. (The first diskette I ever saw was in 1975, an 8" model used to program an IBM 2880 storage control unit.)