alt.hn

4/28/2026 at 7:17:39 PM

Using a 1978 terminal in 2026 (DEC VT-100)

 https://nikhiljha.com/posts/vt100/

by ninjha

4/29/2026 at 8:29:24 PM

MAME will emulate several terminals. Among them is the vt240.

Here are my links for roms and docs:

http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/

https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/terminal-simulator/issues/1

https://www.mail-archive.com/simh@trailing-edge.com/msg09086...

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Num...

https://simh.trailing-edge.narkive.com/qgzCvrl8/dec-vt-emula...

I have a bunch of PDFs in along with this, and a vt240.zip that must have come from one of the above.

I also used this command line call to get the terminal running with "bitbanger."

  mame -rp . vt240 -window -nothrottle -host null_modem -bitb socket.localhost:2323

by chasil

4/28/2026 at 9:18:54 PM

I love old terminals and I still have a VT520 which is still very practicable, it can do up to 115200 instead of rhe VT-100's 9600.

But most programs ignore termcap these days which is a huge issue. Running stuff through tmux helps but it's not ideal.

by wolvoleo

5/1/2026 at 12:08:07 PM

I am sad to say that the latest release Neovim (0.12) no longer works properly with my VT420.

by cbm-vic-20

5/1/2026 at 9:45:52 AM

I didn't realize how much I had come to rely on Unicode until I created my own VT-100 emulator as part of the Forth language engine (https://github.com/Eccentric-Anomalies/AMC-Forth) in the spacecraft simulator game I'm building. The display is implemented as a shader with the original VT-100 display character set embedded in code, and there is absolutely no support for anything else. Things were going along swimmingly until I realized I just shot myself in the foot when it comes to translating the game to other languages. Sometimes the old ways really did suck. At least that part of the period "feel" is guaranteed to be correct!

by vertnerd

5/1/2026 at 7:43:59 AM

You can put two of these back to back with the transmit and receiver wires crossed, and type straight from one to the other. Did this as a kid to chat with my little sister in another room.

by JSR_FDED

5/2/2026 at 1:52:01 AM

I can't imagine how interesting your childhood must have been where you had not one but 2 VT-100s that were expendable enough to be used as the high-tech version of two tin cans and a string.

by kjs3

4/29/2026 at 12:18:50 AM

Back in college I ended up rooming with a bunch of unix neck beards and we used a vt320 as our "house control system." It controlled a rack in the basement hooked up to sound systems, tv remote controls for the living room entertainment systems which included a 70in crt monitor that played movie rips from network storage. Fun times.

by drzaiusx11

5/1/2026 at 8:02:55 AM

70in CRT monitor?? Wasn't 43in Trinitron largest CRT ever created?

by anovikov

5/3/2026 at 7:56:53 PM

It was a few decades ago so I'm probably misremembering the diagonal dimensions entirely. I recall it taking 3 large people to even lift it, and it was HUGE by all CRT standards I've seen since. It had glass so not a projection. It had come from the University where random computer shit got thrown before "recycling" (students usually grabbed it before it got anywhere though)

I apologize for my very faulting memory, likely was just the 45" Sony, otherwise it was a one off from the SGI labs.

by drzaiusx11

5/1/2026 at 8:24:49 AM

Yep. Either projector or rear projector or didn't happen. I think 70 was pretty big for a rear projection unit.

by raffraffraff

5/1/2026 at 9:53:24 AM

Probably a crt projection tv.

by somat

5/1/2026 at 11:00:17 AM

The problem with using a physical terminal for everyday computing in 2026 is that there is no model that provides a happy medium between sufficient bandwidth for a snappy experience while in use, and a cool retro feeling. Newer models one might have seen very recently, for example in a library, and older ones will feel sluggish.

by prvc

5/1/2026 at 8:30:59 AM

"generating SIGTERM on Control + C"

That'll be SIGINT, but I understand, he just tests whether we pay attention.

by guenthert

5/1/2026 at 11:20:57 AM

The article complains about the keyboard layout. And they are probably right.

But if you are going to use a VT-100 keyboard you might as well try an editor actually designed for that keyboard, which I remember really loving at the time. KED:

https://avitech.com.au/?page_id=959

Also, if you want efficient and fast displays on that screen, remember to use scrolling regions. They scroll the sections of the screen in hardware. By using them correctly you can insert and delete single lines without repainting the screen.

by raylad

4/28/2026 at 9:34:19 PM

Every now and then I look for a vt320 from my university days. Still miss the smell of hot dust on CRT electron guns.

by nickdothutton

5/1/2026 at 10:23:22 PM

I used old terminals like this to directly interface to the COM ports of older electronic instruments, well into the 2000's.

By that point the most common failure due to age was from cobwebs that had formed internally between the high-voltage CRT circuitry and the PCB containing the low-voltage logic.

For anybody reusing or restoring vintage CRT units, I would blow them out with compressed air to get rid of stuff like this.

Otherwise in a flash with a final scream and a slightly different smell than normal, it's an instant cadaver :(

by fuzzfactor

5/1/2026 at 9:34:28 AM

There's a VT520 at my local hackspace which I spent some time getting running with a Pi, it's surprisingly practical - though as the author says the DEC keyboards are atrocious, it's like typing into wet sand.

by lexicality