From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: nw@retrocomputingtasmania.com (Nigel Williams) Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2017 06:40:22 +1100 Subject: [TUHS] First CRT terminal on Unix? In-Reply-To: References: <2B43893B-29EA-460C-9426-9C0127B7F5D8@retrocomputingtasmania.com> <1511368433.1204138.1181170712.5C35EA76@webmail.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: On Thu, Nov 23, 2017 at 4:55 AM, Henry Bent wrote: > On 22 November 2017 at 11:42, Ben Greenfield via TUHS > wrote: >> > On Nov 22, 2017, at 11:33 AM, Random832 wrote: >> > As far as I know (and I've gone looking for this specifically, oddly >> > enough, out of idle curiosity), no version of termcap/terminfo has >> > contained a description for the VT05. The VT05 needed a delay added on CR as it was slow to scroll the screen buffer, so every logon would have required: stty cr3 I amused to see that stty cr3 still works on Linux but on my desktop there is no visible effect on scrolling speed. >> For those who are reading about this as history and didn’t live it this >> experience this statement needs more background. >> >> I will look up the VT05, but hope that you may add some to color as to >> this stands out. I suspect the VT05 was not popular as it was slow, uppercase only, 72 characters x 20 lines, and not cursor addressable (much like Teletypes of that time). I also think the VT05 never sold in significant numbers, certainly to this day there are only a small number in the hands of collectors (despite being much sought after). > There is a pretty good overview of the VT05 at > https://vt100.net/dec/vt05.html and This caught my eye: "It is completely portable, weighing only 55 pounds...". The VT05 is a beast, it is so deep (Depth 76cm / 30 inches) and heavy, although one person could lift it, the size and shape really make it a two person lift. In searching for images on the Internet I'm not finding as many images of DEC PDP-11 installations from the 1970s as I hoped, mostly the usual DEC marketing photos. This suggests a todo item is to compile photos of early Unix installations sequenced in time. At my local university I recall the early CRT terminals connected to Unix systems were: GTC GT-101, ADM 3a, VT100 [1] and Tek 40xx. The first CRT as output displays (these arrived before the terminals) were Matrox graphics card connected monitors. [1] The DEC VT100 was rare as it was expensive at the time and the usual reason anyone had one was it shipped as the console bundled with a PDP-11.