31
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between the "Return" and "Enter" keys in the VT100 terminal?
Under normal circumstances, there is no difference (RETURN and ENTER will send CR or CR LF as configured by the New Line Mode). However, there is a mode called "keypad application mode" ...
- 6,387
30
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
Different terminals didn’t (and don’t) use different kernel-level drivers. In Unix-style systems, the kernel does provide some terminal-related features, called line disciplines and the TTY layer ...
- 114k
23
votes
Accepted
Computers with integrated monitor (all-in-one form factor)
It's a little cheaper to build all-in-one units because you only need one cabinet and one power supply, and you need fewer cables and connectors and supporting electronics.
And back then, people didn'...
- 17.3k
14
votes
What happens when a terminal (like a VT100) is connected to a computer?
Does this mean that everything must be already set up for the user login on this port? Like a TTY driver already listening on the port, the login process already running,
Exactly. In every system I'...
10
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
This was not done by a “driver” at the OS level as you are thinking of it.
In Unix, there were drivers that dealt with the RS232 interface and these were surfaced as /dev/tty* devices and dealt with ...
- 3,264
10
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
"It depends".
I'm answering this in the context of DEC timesharing systems, since that's the natural habitat of a DEC VT100.
There's a hardware device such as a DZ11 terminal multiplexer (8 lines) ...
- 31.9k
10
votes
Could we change the baud rate for the two serial ports on a terminal and on a computer?
The short answer is yes. You can change the baud rate of a VT100 talking to a PDP-11.
On the VT100, this is simply done using the Set Up facility. This is entered using the Set Up key on the top ...
- 7,923
7
votes
Computers with integrated monitor (all-in-one form factor)
Most of the problems that you list were simply not considerations in the mid-70's.
The Commodore PET was not hard to lift safely. Its monitor (in the 40 column variety at least) was tiny and didn't ...
- 11k
6
votes
Can escape sequences be entered directly from keyboard to terminal for VT100 and similar?
Well, as usual with complex matter the answer is a mixture of Yes/If.
First of all, are these assumptions correct?
Yes, the assumptions stated are perfect good and correct. In general. In detail ...
- 199k
6
votes
Accepted
Behavior of DECDHL on single lines
What did real VTxxx do?
Certainly the VT220 does the same as what xterm does. It just shows the top or bottom half of the character. I don't recall this behaviour depending on the emulation mode.
I'm ...
- 36.8k
5
votes
Accepted
Using MAI DT4315A as a terminal for RaspberryPI or other linux system
The RJ45 standard just defines which RS232 signal is on which pin of the connector.
If your RPi has a genuine RS232 output interface, you don't need to do any more level shifting because that will ...
- 6,625
5
votes
What happens when a terminal (like a VT100) is connected to a computer?
First of, this question is impossible to be answered in a general context, so the assumption of a Unix(oid) system will prevail. Second, even in a Unix(oid) environment variations are way too large ...
- 199k
5
votes
What happens when a terminal (like a VT100) is connected to a computer?
If the line is using modems, then the modem knows when you've called it (carrier detect), and after some handshaking, signals the host OS that the line is now connected. Alternatively, for hardwired ...
- 31.9k
5
votes
What does bold reverse video look like on a VT100/VT102?
The approach I remember liking on some terminals of that era that I liked (not sure if I noticed DEC ones doing this, or some other company's) was that there were four intensity levels (including off)....
- 32.9k
5
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
Two more slightly different situations from the past (well, everything in Retrocomputing is from the past...):
3270 Emulation
When I was at the University of Maryland, College Park in the early 1980s, ...
4
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
I guess that's a field one can come up with many views - and all presented answers so far give a valid view with lots of additional information. This is intended to break it down to a more general ...
- 199k
4
votes
Computers with integrated monitor (all-in-one form factor)
Indeed, the PET likely took a lot of design ideas from "dumb" (actually semi-intelligent - very few of these weren't simple microcomputers inside!) terminals of the 70s, and kept the non-detachable ...
- 5,550
4
votes
Behavior of DECDHL on single lines
Text-based VT-series terminals divide the screen into horizontal stripes whose height is that of a single text line, and generate the video output for each stripe independently. Once a stripe is ...
- 32.9k
3
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
The DEC VT100 itself did not have a driver. When you connect a terminal like a VT100 to a serial port it was a just tty device.
VAX/VMS used a utility to configure devices for the operating system. ...
3
votes
Computers with integrated monitor (all-in-one form factor)
Three other reasons are conserving space, design aesthetics, and portability. The original Macintosh was an example of how to use the form factor for portability, you could get a fabric carrying case ...
3
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
We have to distinguish between different cases, but in most cases the answer seems to be "no":
In "early" systems (like the Altair 680 in home computing or 1960s professional computers) programs ...
- 3,369
2
votes
Can escape sequences be entered directly from keyboard to terminal for VT100 and similar?
Originally, the escape character was used to initiate multi-character sequences when it was necessary to support more functions than could be accommodated in 31 active control characters (codes 0x00 ...
- 32.9k
2
votes
Can escape sequences be entered directly from keyboard to terminal for VT100 and similar?
Short answer is yes.
https://www.pcjs.org/devices/pc8080/machine/vt100/ has a vt100 emulator.
Once you've selected the "emulator" screen press:
F9 - Enter setup
4 - Toggle local/online to local (...
- 5,195
2
votes
Could we change the baud rate for the two serial ports on a terminal and on a computer?
If the DTE and DCE are physically connected (i.e. a serial cable between them) and those endpoints support changing speeds then the speeds can definitely be changed mid-stream. The example would be ...
- 211
2
votes
What happens when a terminal (like a VT100) is connected to a computer?
The TTY port must be set up to handle the terminal otherwise it will not respond. It does not normally detect the connection of a terminal.
When you connect or power on a terminal to a RS232 port you ...
- 5,347
2
votes
Did terminals (e.g. VT100) require a terminal driver on the host computer?
Back in the day I always added the DCL command "$Set Term/Inquire" to my login.com script to let VAX/VMS figure out the type of terminal I was using. I find it interesting that it seems at least once ...
- 21
2
votes
What happens when a terminal (like a VT100) is connected to a computer?
It depends. There were several different things done over the ages.
Some system had automatic baud rate detection. Here the port adjusted itself to the baud rate of the terminal. After hitting some ...
- 11.8k
1
vote
What happens when a terminal (like a VT100) is connected to a computer?
RS232 is a very simple protocol. In most basic form it just sends character data back and forth and there's very little more over that. Think of VT100 as a keyboard + monitor pair. You can unplug your ...
- 6,745
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible