Questions tagged [terminal]
For questions related to terminals such as WYSE, VT100 and Teletype.
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Which historical Unixes supported terminal I/O with five or six bits per character, and with what character sets?
The specification for termios.h includes a facility for controlling the number of bits per character sent over the serial line, the CSIZE and CSn constants. You can request five, six, seven, or eight ...
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What was the last terminal to include a physical bell?
Drew asks:
… what was the latest terminal produced which rang a physical bell rather than beeping through a speaker?
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Was there ever a monospace display system (eg terminal) that used a vertical cursor?
Related to my earlier question about IBM PC cursors, I am now wondering if there has ever been a monospaced character display system (such as a terminal) that would've implemented a vertical cursor in ...
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Dumb Terminal Access to Tandy TRS-80 Model 100?
How do I setup the TRS-80 Model 100 to use an external 80col. 30 row dumb terminal so I can control the TRS-80 Model 100 ... BASIC from the dumb terminal?
I have a VersaTerm connected to a VGA monitor ...
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Write fault error writing device COM1
I’m trying to send data between a no-name Celeron PC running MS-DOS 6.22 and a Digital VT520 serial terminal. I have connected COM1 to the terminal’s COMM1, but can’t get data to flow in either ...
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Was there a system with customarily backspaced prompts?
Nowadays, a default prompt in a Unix shell might look like % _ or $ _ (with the underscore indicating the cursor location), or, on other systems, a more elaborate string, like C:\>_.
On the besm-6, ...
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Micro-Term ERGO 301 (C134) Terminal Keyboard compatibility
I dug up my old ERGO 301-C134 Terminal, but in the various house-moves, the keyboard has gone missing. I searched and searched the roof-cavity, but it has probably been lost.
Click to embiggen
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How should I set CCGMS on my Commodore 64 to login to a Linux machine?
I have a Strikelink WiFi modem for the C64 (see here and here) and I can connect to a BBS without issues using CCGMS 2017 v4 and the following settings:
Baud = 9600
Modem Type = UP9600 / EZ232
For ...
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How to send and receive messages between modern computer and Commodore 64 via WiFi? [closed]
I want to be able to connect from my Commodore 64 to a Linux Raspberry Pi.
The ideal solution would be something like ssh that allows me to use the linux machine using the c64 as a terminal but the ...
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Small format X terminal with EL screen
I remember an ad for a small-format (about as wide as a 60% keyboard) dark-ish grey colored X terminal that had a 12" (?) yellow electroluminescent screen similar to the Grid laptops but higher ...
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What was the first OS with the type-ahead capability from a dumb terminal?
In a command-line environment of a contemporary Unix-like system, it is possible to "type ahead", that is, for example, to start a process which runs for a while and does not require any ...
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How did early video terminals convert ASCII into font graphics?
I'm building a Z80-based breadboard computer from scratch to learn more about simple processors, and I'm a bit stumped when it comes to the base concepts of building a text-based terminal.
I've got an ...
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WY85 terminal with WY60/ASCII keyboard
Some time ago I've found a working Wyse WY85 terminal, and a keyboard that can (physically) connect to it, marked WY60/ASCII. I was now trying to make the terminal work, but noticed that none of the ...
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What is a Dumb Terminal?
There seems to be some confusion what a 'Dumb' terminal is as visible in answers and comments to this question about portable dumb terminals. So:
What is a Dumb Terminal?
Points that would help to ...
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Were there ever any dumb terminals in a portable form factor?
I’m curious if there was ever a case of a company making some sort of serial ASCII terminal, but in a portable factor, such as a laptop or even reasonable luggable. I’ve seen plenty of portable ...
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What were the characteristics of the Siemens 8160 and 9750 terminals?
An answer to a recent question https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/22332/4274 referred to the Siemens 8160 and 9750 terminals, which struck me as interesting enough to ask about separately in ...
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How and what did it mean to connect to ARPANET from home?
In the iWoz biography, I read:
Now, TV terminals I already knew a little about. […] I'd already built a terminal that could access the ARPANET, the government-owned network of computers that was the ...
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What keyboard protocol do IBM 3151 Terminals speak over RJ45
I've recently acquired an IBM 3151 Terminal without keyboard and I'm not willing to spend any money on an original keyboard. This is why I've tried searching Google for any datasheets of the IBM RJ45 ...
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Can anyone help identify this old terminal and printer found in an abandoned nuclear power plant?
I was watching a video on Youtube of some guys exploring an abandoned nuclear power plant(I believe to be in the US or Canada) that was decommissioned around 1991, and noticed this equipment at one ...
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Did communication between a PLATO terminal and mainframe use pushes?
I'm trying to learn more about how the PLATO system worked with respect to communications. I've read some of the specs, but coming from a web-background I'm unfamiliar with the underlying way that the ...
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Behavior of DECDHL on single lines
The escape sequences ESC # 3 and ESC # 4 (DECDHL) are meant to be used on pairs on adjacent lines to request double height lines. As an example:
echo -e "\e#3DOUBLE HEIGHT LINE\n\e#4DOUBLE HEIGHT ...
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What did order processing on a teletype look like?
The earliest business data processing systems were based on batch processing of punchcards. Prepare cards off-line, feed a batch of them through the computer. (Why does one so often hear of payroll, ...
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How did SABRE work interactively without screens?
The SABRE airline reservation system went online in 1964, astonishing the world by being among other things the first large-scale interactive computing system.
Once the IBM 3270 video terminals were ...
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Why was the VT05 resolution 72×20?
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT05
the VT05 presented the user with an upper-case only ASCII character display of 20 rows by 72 columns.
At first glance this seems a reasonably natural ...
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Advantage of RS-232 over 20mA current loop
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT52
Like other early DEC terminals, the VT50 series were equipped with both an RS-232 port as well as a 20mA current loop, an older serial standard used ...
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PET as a terminal
While reading about the SuperPET I just recalled another PET modification. My uni had an 11/780 that I learned FORTRAN on. It used modified PETs as input terminals.
This took the form of a modified ...
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Emulate a text-mode DOS program using a Unix terminal
Is it possible to run a text-mode DOS program in an emulator under a Unix-like operating system (Linux/*BSD/macOS) such that DOS text-mode input and output is done on a Unix terminal instead of a ...
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What monitor could render APL2 characters in 1985?
BACKGROUND:
In 1985, I took an evening class in APL at the local IBM as part of a high school Explorer Post (which was really cool, these guys giving up their time to teach us programming). Other ...
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What 1970's terminal was black on white and had an orange keyboard?
In high school, I programmed on a terminal that was retro THEN, and I need help remembering make and model.
White screen, black text (seemed very unusual to me), no lowercase, 24x80, and I have this ...
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Why did IBM develop 5250 block mode terminals when 3270 already existed?
IBM introduced the 3270 family of block mode terminals in 1971, for use with IBM mainframes (System/370 and successors). Then, in 1977, IBM introduced the 5250 family of block mode terminals for use ...
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How did control characters work in real teletypes?
Emulated terminals can accept control characters, being able to move the position of cursor, to delete a char or a word or even to clear all screen, change foreground and background colors, etc. ...
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Overstriking for APL on 3270s?
This question addressed the question of APL overstrikes on printing terminals. However, IBM also had 3270 video display terminals that supported APL, as well, and those, too, handled overstriking. How?...
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What mid-1970s to mid-1980s home computers had their graphics characters added to Unicode 13?
The Unicode 13.0.0 release notes mention among the symbol additions:
214 graphic characters that provide compatibility with various home computers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s and with early ...
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What did the Datapoint 3300 character font look like?
We know from the Datapoint 3300 Maintenance manual the characters were formed on a 5x7 grid, and on page 2-55 we have an "A". But is it known what the rest of the characters looked like? According ...
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What do the DIP switches in a Perkin-Elmer 550 terminal do?
I have here a Perkin-Elmer “Bantam” 550 serial terminal. This terminal has a flap above the keyboard below which you can find a Baud rate selection slider, a switch for “transparent mode” (whatever ...
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What is the history of the Intel 8275 video controller?
The highly popular at the time build-it-yourself home computer Radio 86RK, designed in the Soviet Union, contained a rather mysterious video controller chip КР580ВГ75. It had a high end, feature rich ...
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Using only one terminal, can I interrupt a process that's hung on very early Unix versions?
Within modern shells, I am able to leave a process via one of two control sequences:
Usually Ctrl+C will directly send SIGINT to the majority of shell commands (e.g. ping, echo, cat)
A few processes ...
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Role of Termcap under contemporary unices
A word of caution regarding this question: I'm more a userland than kernel person but have this nagging concern which I think belongs to kernel.
When configuring a system one decides on peripherals ...
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Using MAI DT4315A as a terminal for RaspberryPI or other linux system
I have an old MAI DT4315A that my company was going to throw out.
I'd love to get it setup as a terminal for a linux based system or raspberry pi, just for fun. However, I've never completed anything ...
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Does the TELCOM program on the Tandy Model 100 support any Unix terminal–like control codes?
I've been connecting my Tandy Model 100 to a serial port on a Linux box via the TELCOM program with some success. The main downside is that in whatever the default terminfo/$TERM setting it gets, a ...
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Exactly what color was the text on monochrome terminals with green-on-black and amber-on-black screens?
I am wondering what were the color shades and brightness of the text appearing on classic monochrome terminals?
If I were to recreate approximately the green-text-on-black-screen or amber-text-on-...
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ASCII ASA X3.4-1963 and Finite State Machines?
I'm reviewing the historical original ASCII standard. There are many control characters. Does anyone know the history of them and where finite state machines that made use of them may be documented?
...
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Can I use the DEC VT220 composite output to connect it to a TV?
I have a DEC VT220 from 1986, it has a composite output. Works great in all its max-19200Kbps monochrome glory.
The composite output plug is a BNC, and it looks like BNC-to-RCA composite jack ...
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Restoring a self-inking printer cartridge
I've seen people ask about restoring printer or typewriter ribbons, but my situation's a little different. I have a self-inking ribbon for a DECwriter Correspondent. It's easy to open up the casing, ...
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How to setup a teletype to a unix shell
So, recently I've been researching old tech because I want to write some fiction about some typewriter that can access the command line(yep) that shows up in many youtube videos like This one. I want ...
user15049
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How did console flexowriters connect to their computers?
Several early computers (e.g., KDF9, LGP30) used Friden Flexowriters for console functions.
What was the nature of the connection between the Flexowriter and the computer? Was this something we ...
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How was the blinking terminal cursor invented?
I was just staring at my blinking terminal cursor:
And was wondering where it comes from.
Does anybody have some piece of history about the blinking cursor? I couldn't find much online.
E.g.:
when/...
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Different escape codes for the same keyboard keys -- where did they come from?
While debugging uart on some microcontroller board, I've made a simple firmware that simply responds on every byte received dumping that byte in HEX like "0x**". Then, using different terminal ...
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What was the largest resolution supported by terminal escape codes?
Terminal escape codes can be used for various functions such as positioning the cursor or querying the size of the screen. What was the largest resolution (in columns and rows of characters) ...
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What happens when a terminal (like a VT100) is connected to a computer?
I'm wondering what's the sequence of actions when a terminal (like a VT100) is plugged into a serial port of a computer? Especially, how the connection of this terminal is detected, and how the ...
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