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File: TERMS, Node: Top, Up: (DIR), Next: Buyer's Guide
This file attempts to describe a few of the numerous display
terminals on the market. If a terminal is supported by either ITS
directly, or by CRTSTY indirectly, then it should be described herein.
We may choose to describe other terminals as well.
This file does not deal with all aspects of display terminals.
This survey only has an eye for those features which pertain to using
the terminal as an ITS console. Many of the terminals we will describe
have features which would be of note if we were considering other
applications, such as filling out forms. However these features do not
generally affect the usefulness of the terminal as an ITS console; if
anything, they tend to degrade it.
This file is also distributed with Twenex EMACS as a terminal
buying guide. A terminal can be supported by Twenex EMACS if it has
cursor positioning, CLEOL and CLEOS; insertion and deletion of lines
and characters are recommended.
* Menu:
* Buyer's Guide:: What to look for when buying a display terminal
* Sample:: Sample terminal entry; Read this First!
* ACT-IV:: MicroTerm ACT-IV A & B
* ACT-V:: MicroTerm ACT-V
* ADM2:: Lear Siegler ADM-2
* ADM3A:: Lear Siegler ADM-3A
* ADS980:: ADDS Consul 980
* Ambassador:: Ann Arbor Ambassador
* Bantam:: Perkin Elmer Bantam 500
* CDC713:: Control Data 713
* C100:: Human Designed Systems Concept 100 & Concept APL
* DD4000:: Delta Data 4000
* DD5200:: Delta Data 5200
* DM1520:: Datamedia Elite 1520
* DM2500:: Datamedia Elite 2500
* DM3025:: Datamedia 3025
* DM3052:: Datamedia 3052
* DM4000:: Datamedia 4000
* DM-DT/80:: Datamedia DT-80
* FOX:: Perkin-Elmer FOX-1100
* H19:: Heathkit H19
* H80: Hazeltine Executive 80
* H1500:: Hazeltine 1500
* H2000:: Hazeltine 2000
* HP2621:: Hewlett-Packard 2621
* HP2640:: Hewlett-Packard 2640
* HP2645:: Hewlett-Packard 2645
* IBM3101:: IBM 3101
* IMLAC:: Imlac PDS-1 and PDS-4
* I100:: Infoton 100
* I400:: Infoton 400
* LP:: NLS Lineprocessor
* MB:: Beehive Mini-Bee
* MIME:: Microterm MIME
* MOD1:: Hazeltine "Modular One"
* OMRON:: Omron something
* OWL:: Perkin-Elmer OWL-1200
* SB:: Beehive Super-Bee
* SWTPC:: SWTPC CT-82
* Tek4020:: Tektronix 4025 series
* T1061:: Teleray 1061
* TVI:: Televideo 912 and 920
* VT:: DEC Video Terminal
* VT50:: DEC VT-50
* VT50H:: DEC VT-50H
* VT52:: DEC VT-52
* VT55:: DEC VT-55
* VT61:: DEC VT-61
* VT100:: DEC VT-100
* VT132:: DEC VT-132
* VT4800:: VTT VT-4800
File: TERMS, Node: Buyer's Guide, Up: Top, Previous: Top, Next: Sample
This section was completely rewritten by CBF late August 1978, and last
updated about June 1979. The opinions expressed herein are wholly his
own. This is not a complete survey of all available terminals (the
following section is closer to that), it is not even a comprehensive
buyer's guide. Rather it is designed to point people quickly toward what
I, after what I hope is extensive survey, deem to be the most reasonable
terminals to purchase at this time.
This is a quick reference section for those groups or individuals looking
for the proper terminal to buy. The user is specifically presumed to be
interested in a terminal for use with a display editor such as Emacs.
Although, this review started does point out whether a terminal is supported
by ITS the review of a terminals features is not limited to those that
ITS takes advantage of. Thus, hopefully, Multics and TOPS-20 Emacs users
and those contemplating any application that contemplates the use of
display terminals in the fashion pioneered by ITS should be able to benefit
from this file. Stanford WAITS criteria are deliberately ignored, since
I consider their ideas and requirements irrational.
To begin with any terminals that do not use the ASCII character code, any
that do not display all printable ASCII graphics (ie. upper and lower case)
will not be given serious consideration in this review. In addition it
is essential that there be a way of generating all 128 possible character
codes from the keyboard. Sometimes, an otherwise decent terminal seems to
miss a code or two, in which case it will usually be mentioned in the review.
To be used for display editing purposes a terminal must have certain
capabilities of cursor movement and screen modification. In addition to
the required capabilities there are some desirable capabilities which
generally serve to improve the bandwidth of an editing session. Different
system software may be prepared to compensate for various missing
capabilities. For example on ITS the CRTSTY program is capable of using a
terminal with the most minimal capabilities, whereas direct ITS operating
system support (sometimes called :TCTYP) support, demands certain minimum
functions be available. Multics Emacs and Twenex Teco terminal will both
attempt to support nearly as minimal a terminal as ITS CRTSTY, however,
Twenex Teco does not try nearly as hard to send the absolute minimum
number of characters to acomplish the job.
The most minimal capabilites necessary for support by ITS CRTSTY are
simply the ability to randomly position the terminals cursor anywhere on
the screen and the ability to use the cursor to erase or replace
characters on the screen. Note that random cursor motion does not mean
the terminal needs a code to specifically position to some absolute place
on the screen; it is sufficient if there are codes to move the cursor in
any of the 4 directions. The system can figure out how to get anywhere it
needs using this. Of course "absolute positioning" capability is a
desired feature, since it often takes fewer characters to get someplace
that way (ie. improves "bandwidth"). Similarly, there needn't be any
commands to specifically erase portions of the screen. CRTSTY knows how
to use spaces to erase characters if the terminal has no erasure commands.
However this is extremely poor in terms of bandwidth and is only for the
most patient people, preferably connected at high speed. For support by
the system, the terminal should have minimum of the ability to clear from
the cursor to the end of a line (called "CLEOL"), and the ability to clear
from the cursor to the end of the screen (called "CLEOS"). CRTSTY usage
puts an extra load on the system and slows down user typeout and response
in general [*Note CRTSTY: (INFO;CRTSTY)Top.].
In addition to these rudimentary features, there are 4 features commonly
found for shifting text on the screen which are greatly desired for
improving bandwidth. They should be considered essential for anyone
operating 2400 baud or less, especially 300 baud! These are the
ability to insert a line in the middle of a screen and have the rest of
the lines on the screen "ripple" downward (the bottom line disappears),
the ability to delete a line and have all lines beneath move up one
line (the bottom line should preferably be blank then) and the analagous
operation for characters, inserting a character and having all characters
to the right of the cursor shift rightward one character (and hopefully
disappear if the right edge overflows, not wrap to the next line!) and
the ability to delete a character in a line and have the rest of the
characters in the line shift left 1 column (but not the next line!).
These are usually called line insert, line delete, character insert
and character delete (I may often just say line/char ins/del). It
used to be that these functions only appeared in the more expensive
terminals, however lately terminals costing apx. $1000 have begun to
have these features.
Similarly, some of the cheapest terminals on the market (for example, the
ADM-3A) lack some of the features mentioned, such as CLEOL. DON'T BUY
ONE. As has been mentioned already, it is only barely usable, and only
through a special program that puts a heavy load on the system and
degrades response time and throughput, not to mention requiring divine
patience to update a screen. There are reasonable terminals cheaper or as
cheap that do have the features.
With this introduction, I am going to list, in order of increasing price,
ONLY THOSE TERMINALS WHICH I BELIEVE ARE WORTHWHILE LOOKING INTO. I will
list few details here, you should peruse the individual entry for each
terminal that interests you. There is a second section on terminals I do
not recommend buying, but which are listed because many people have asked
me about them and I want to explain the reasons for a non-recommendation.
At the end of each entry I state whether a terminal is supported by ITS or
not. Unless it is stated otherwise, one can assume that a particular
terminal is either supported, or presumed to be easily supportable by
CRTSTY. If there is a particular problem CRTSTY has in supporting a
terminal though, I will mention it, because only a gross misfeature could
make CRTSTY give up on something. There is a problem insofar as many of
the terminals I have listed as being most cost-effective are fully
supported by ITS right now. This will clearly have to change in the
future. Clearly whichever of these terminals becomes popular will become
candidates for full support. If the terminal you choose does not become
popular it will likely not be supported because each supported terminal
takes up a considerable amount of space in the resident system.
$800 Microterm ACT-V and MIME
This is not a clear cut recommendation. Microterm is a company that has
produced interesting cheap terminals for the hobbiest market for some
years. The ACT-V and MIME are replacements for their popular ACT-IV. The
MIME is probably the more interesting, having the ability to emulate
several other terminals (ADM3A, H1500, VT52 and the ACT-IV). The H1500,
and the native mode MIME, each have line insert/delete, but not character
i/d. An interesting set of switches inside though, allow one to still use
a feature (like line insert/delete) even when emulating a terminal that
doesn't have the feature (like a VT52).
$900? General Terminal Inc 100 series (formerly Infoton 100)
The original Infoton 100 had some glitches, like non-standard keyboard
layout; also char i/d was a $50 option. The glitches mostly seem to
have fixed, though I still don't like their keyboards much. There is now
a family of GTI 100, 101 etc. and I'm no longer sure of the pricing
options. They might be worth looking at nowadays.
$695-$995 Heath H-19
The $695 is for the kit, $995 assembled. It is another VT52 superset
terminal. Adds line/char insert/delete. Has fairly respectable keyboard
(not detachable) with 2+ key rollover. Sensible mechanical construction.
Also, has an "ANSI" mode that corresponds to the new ANSI standard (BSR
X3.64-1976). Problems with padding at high speeds though, see detailed
writeup. This seems to be the best bet in this price range nowadays.
$1000-$1095 Teleray 1061
VT52 superset with char/line insert/delete. Is completely supported by
ITS, including optional Meta key (:TCTYP T1061,+%TPMTA). The company
has been highly responsive to suggestions. You probably want to order the
"SIPB Proms" with it. Send mail to T1061-FANS@MIT-MC to get the latest
story before you order one.
$1300 Ann Arbor Ambassador
One of the first "real" (reasonably-sized screen of 48-60 lines, very
little padding requirements, etc.) terminals to appear on the market.
See the writeup for more details.
$1400 Human Designed Systems Concept-100
Has lots of features. Has an interesting underlining hack. Currently, it
difficult to take advantage of character insert feature of the terminal
due to excess of hair. This has been fixed in the later release of
firmware, which for some reason by default only gets shipped with
multi-page versions. Keytronics keyboard with a clicker has good feel
however their packaging of the keyboard seems somewhat flimsy. This
terminal would seem particularly desirable for those also into
forms-filling lossage. Is supported by ITS without char insert/delete
currently.
$1450 Hewlett Packard 2621
Has all the useful features. Worst problem is Delete being shift Escape.
There have been conflicting reports about the feel of the keyboard.
$1350-$1520 IBM 3101
The higher price is with insert/delete. Worst problem is location of
control key (called "Alt") to the right of the space bar. Otherwise, a
very good quality keyboard, as you might expect from IBM. Also, a very
legible display, although Green (P39) phospher. Note this IS an ASCII
terminal.
$1995 DEC VT-100
The MIT price is around $1250. Dealers used to sell it cheaper, but
demand has been outrunning supply. Big feature is 132 column capability
(only 14x132 unless you buy "Advanced Video Option" $270). However, no
line/char ins/del though ability to shift screen around vertically can
serve for line ins/del capability. Somewhat arbritrary division of
features not controllable from host computer, which means the user must
manual set terminal in correct modes. Supported by ITS only in VT-52
emulation mode, which lets you get at none of the new features. VT-132
due out someday will have direct line/char insert/delete and a lot of
forms filling features, if you're into that. Will sell for about $300
more. The VT-100 series uses the new ANSI standard for terminals (BSR
X3.64-1976).
$1895 Datamedia 80/1
Datamedia's VT100 emulator. "Advanced video option" is standard.
They seem willing to beat DEC's prices by quite a bit. Also offers
printer control, and a 1 year warrenty that DEC does not offer (and is
just generally much tougher, though no one has had much experience
with them). See detailed writeup for more info.
There are other VT100 emulators in the works, MicroTerm-100 ($1795),
Visual Technology, Visual-100 ($1995), and DataGraphix 132-1D ($2250).
The Datagraphix terminal features a very high legibility 132 column
stroke drawn display, but may not have all the VT-100 features.
There are many terminals available beyond this price range, but it is my
opinion that they offer no readily discernible advantages over the ones
presented here WITH RESPECT TO THE CRITERIA OUTLINED ABOVE. If you feel
you need special capabilities for some reason, then other factors may well
outweigh the ones judged important here. For example, none of these
terminals offer graphics capabilities. If you are looking for something
dual purpose of that nature, you will probably need to scan all the
terminal descriptions, and even that may not be complete enough or
enlightening enough.
Various others ranging from NOT RECOMMENDED to PERHAPS WORTH LOOKING INTO:
$800 or so. Perkin-Elmer Bantam PERHAPS WORTH LOOKING INTO
Does not have any insert or delete operations. Probably better than
FOX though. The official quantity 1 price may be higher than this, but
I don't believe many customers actual pay it.
$850 TVI-912 and TVI-920 PERHAPS WORTHWHILE
This company widely advertised a terminal that listed all features back in
September 1978. They apparently took a long time actually getting working
models on the market. The complaints mostly center around the keyboard
now, which has a very light touch and typamatic.
$900 or so. Intertube NOT WORTHWHILE
Again, widely advertised for a long time. This one was actually built
eventually. Most of the terminals functions are useful only locally, not
remotely. I have also heard more reports of vendor being uncooperative,
terminlas not working etc. on this than any other terminal.
$900 or so. Hazeltine 1400 NOT WORTHWHILE
Has practically no features including no lower case.
$1000 Hazeltine 1410 EH?
Falls in features, price and worthwhileness between to 1400 and 1500?
$1100 or so. Hazeltine 1500 PERHAPS WORTHWHILE
Has most features, incl line insert/delete, but not char insert/delete.
Has a non-standard and somewhat mediocre quality keyboard though. Mostly,
just doesn't as cost-effective as other alternatives.
$??? SouthWest Technical Products CT-82 NOT WORTHWHILE
This terminal is very bizzarre. Has 128 different control functions
(wonder where that number came from), most of them useless. Funny screen
sizes (choice 16x82, 20x82, or 22x96 upper case only?) on a minicscule
screen (9" diagonal). The denser arrangements are reputed to be unreadable.
Keyboard has no rollover.
File: TERMS, Node: Sample, Up: Top, Previous: Buyer's Guide, Next: ACT-IV
SAMPLE Sample Terminal to show format of terminal documentation.
Status: Says whether terminal is supported by system, CRTSTY or just
here for informational purposes.
Users: Those people who actively use the terminal and can probably
supply more information about it.
Price: The best guess as to the current purchase price.
Screen: size of screen, color of phospher if known etc.
Chars: size of dot matrix used for characters
Keybrd: Evaluation of keyboard feel. Should say if detachable, how much
rollover, and if it is typeamatic (repeats when a key is held down).
Might also mention whether keyboard layout corresponds to either
bit paired (model 33 Teletype, ADM-3A) or typewriter paired
(VT-52, HP2621, C100, Office Selectric Typewriters) layouts.
Most keyboards use one of these two layouts for the keys closest
to home position. There is unfortunately far less standardization
on the placement of keys like Return, curly brackets, rubout, tab,
or the control key.
Speeds: Communications speeds in baud; mention if split.
Has: Those features that the terminal supports with hardware operations;
can be:
Random Random cursor movement (really a necessity)
Addr Direct Cursor Addressing
Tabs Fixed or settable 8 column tabs
CLEOL Clear to End of Line
CLEOS Clear to End of Screen
InsChar Insert Character
DelChar Delete Character
InsLine Insert Line
DelLine Delete Line
Standout Some form of highlighting text on screen.
(Eg. reverse video, blinking, differing intenstity)
Overstrike Actual overstriking of characters.
Lacks: Presumably whatever from the list doesn't appear under Has:
Misfeatures: "Extra" goodies that manage to get in the way.
There may follow a few lines of comment, followed by perhaps the culprit(s)
most responsible for the entry and the date on which is was last updated.
File: TERMS, Node: ACT-IV, Up: Top, Previous: Sample, Next: ACT-V
Microterm ACT-IV A & B
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY ACT-IV"
Users: RAM
Price: ACT-IV A: $550 (A is without monitor)
ACT-IV B: $880 (B is with monitor)
Screen: 24 x 80
Chars: 5 x 9 (in a field of 6 x 10)
Keybrd: fair
Speeds: ...,19200
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, Standout
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Overstrike
Misfeatures: no insert/delete line/character commands
in standard unit.
a) For $50, they are willing to supply a new ROM with the control-
codes reassigned. Note that they ARE willing to include remote
functions for insert/delete char and line, and for tab (it's a
fixed 8 column tab ... but still better than naught.)
b) The engineer (Tom) warned me, and I saw it for myself, that the
insert/delete line functions are rather slow. Depending on the
amount of data on the screen, you can sometimes actually see
the data "scroll" down or up over a finite interval (100 ms or
so?) The explanation for this is lengthy, but technically
acceptable as a questionable design decision. He admits that there
are othe ways of doing it, and understands the problem with the
current method. He implys that in a month or so he'd be willing
to supply with a new control ROM (they apparently use 2708s
throughout) which would implement a different system as a test of
feasibility. (The basic problem is that they didn't want to
blank the display, so they use the current method to avoid the
screen from "flashing" with the change. Since the ins/del operation
would be about 100 times faster under the easiest alternative, it
is unclear whether or not the overall effect would be disconcerting
or not. They never tried it. However, as I say, he seems pretty
reasonable about the whole thing.
c) The unit uses an F8 microprocessor. The code is in F8 assem.
For 25 bucks, they'll sell a complete technical manual with all
the schematics, timing diagrams, logic flows, program listing with
comments, etc. Right now the program is in 1K with about 20 bytes
free, though supposedly in 3 months or so they will come out with
a new board which will have 2K capacity. (Obviously, the dedicated
hacker could add another K now if he really wanted to.) The
willingness to give out the program listing and discuss modifications
is really pretty rare in my experience. The 2K version will also
have protected fields (useless to me.)
d) The unit appears to have virtually no serious speed problems in
its basic state (not counting the ins/del stuff mentioned above,
which is not basic state.) I believe that one or two operations
require one null of padding at 19,200 baud or some such. The
processor apparently uses a UART for character disassembly instead
of doing it in code (a definite win, as the superbee experience
proves) and simply ignores data from the UART while working on
internal operations. Thusly, padding causes no problems (and
shouldn't be too bad for ins/del either ... though it would have
to be calculated if you wanted the minimum delay.)
e) Glitch. The unit I saw had a typical cursor glitch. Whenever the
cursor is in the lefthand column (col. 0) a small, rather faint
image of the cursor appears over on the right (about two dots wide,
not full cursor width.) Apparently they all do it. When I asked
about it, Tom offered two explanations for me to choose from:
the sales explanation and the truth. The sales explanation is that
it provides verification that the cursor is all the way at the
lefthand column. (If anyone wants to buy that, I have some swampland
in Jersey I'd like to talk to them about.) The truth: it's a
glitch! It's a hardware problem, a bear to solve (I know the feeling,
I've fought them myself) and not worth it for a terminal which is,
after all pretty damn inexpensive. Basically it was not particularly
annoying, but I did see it.
The preceeding evaluation is from Lauren@UCLA-Security.
I've used one at home for 3 months with surplus monitor and
speed aside I'm content.But negotiations for quantity 3-10 purchase
leave me with impression that they're still in the little leagues.
.... RAM 2/13/78
File: TERMS, Node: ACT-V, Up: Top, Previous: ACT-IV, Next: ADM1
ACT-V Micro-term ACT-V
Status: not yet supported.
Users: ?? Based on preliminary information - no users yet.
Price: $865 quantity 1, $650 quantity 25 - add $30 for non-glare screen.
Screen: 24 x 80 or switch selectable to two columns 24 x 39.
Chars: 5 x 9 matrix, true descenders.
Keybrd: see comments.
Speeds: 110...19200
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, Standout (intensity), Underline.
InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine are available from the keyboard.
It is not clear yet, if they are available from the host computer.
(see the ACT-IV on this same issue).
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: see comments.
Available from: Micro-Term, Inc.; P.O. Box 9387; St. Louis, MO.; 63117
Comments:
Thus far, the reports have been somewhat conflicting:
RPOOR 10 Nov 1978
It appears that MicroTerm is breaking out of the hobbyist market.
This terminal comes in a reasonable looking case. It has lots of features:
printer interface, transmit line, transmit screen, numeric keypad, cursor
control keys, request character at cursor, display control codes.
Some folks at SLAC have been in posession of MicroTerm's MIME-I, and
were impressed with the feel of the keyboard and the clarity of the display.
MicroTerm keyboards seem pretty good. This one has auto repeat on the
space, period, and cursor keys, and a separate repeat key for the others. For
IBM keypunch fans, has 'NUM' key which puts the numerics above the j,k,l,u,i,o
keys (of dubious value). If that's not to your liking, it does have a separate
keypad. It can produce all 128 ASCII codes (I approve).
Haven't seen a ACT-V yet (07-Nov-78), but a demo is coming soon and I
will report further then.
-------
Date: 13 Dec 1978 1310-PST
From: Mo at SRI-KL
Subject: Micro Term Act V
These are some of the obvious problems we saw with the current design:
1) All features which work in local mode only should work in remote
mode.
2) Underlined lowercase letters with descenders look horrible -- j,g, q
They didnt do it quite right. Either take the feature out or do it right-
doing things half assed is silly.
3) Num key is the most incredibly stupid idea I have ever seen in 8 years
of computer work, especially with the separate pad right there. Gas.
4) The graphics on the keytop for unshifted = looks like an underline
when in fact it is a minus (-) sign.
5) The keypad should either have a comma or a space key nearby, or both.
How are you going to separate numbers without using the other hand?
6) The screen wavers with the insert/delete features. A little is acceptable,
but the amount these things wiggle is very distracting.
7) Bell should not end character insert mode.
8) The lowercase character set is a bad choice.
Now, things that should be done to make it acceptable as a Datamedia replacement
include:
An Edit key. Prefer two of them, near the space bar, double length.
Pay the extra dollars and use a better keyboard. Cherry or Micro switch
keyboards feel much better and last longer.
The internal layout is the worst. Why did they put the board right next
to the crt yoke when it looks like to mount the thing on the side would
have required no additional anything-- just a remount.
Use a better lowercase -- Datamedia's is the nicest I've seen.
File: TERMS, Node: ADM1, Up: Top, Previous: ACT-V, Next: ADM2
Lear Siegler ADM-1
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY ADM2".
Users: ETC
Price: about $1500
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, apparently old ones available 12 x 24
Chars: 5 x 7, lower case optional, may be standard nowadays.
Keybrd: ?
Speeds: 110,150,300,600,1200,2400,4800,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs,
"Edit option": CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Lacks: Standout?, Overstrike
Misfeatures: Escape key does not transmit until 2nd character is pressed.
2 Escapes however will transmit as one.
Vendor: Lear Siegler Inc;Data Equipment;Aneheim, CA 92803;(714)774-1010
Escape misfeature is found annoying, otherwise users seem
to like it. Is priced competitively for features.
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: ADM2, Previous: ADM1, Up: Top, Next: ADM3A
ADM2 Lear Siegler ADM-2
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY ADM2".
Users: LRH, CFFK
Price: somewhere in the $1600 range, you should probably negotiate.
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor
Chars: 5 x 9 (in a 7 x 11 field)
Keybrd: Apparently good.
Speeds: 110,150,300,600,1200,2400,4800,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout (Reverse; blinking & half intensity available but not used)
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Escape key does not transmit until 2nd character is pressed.
2 Escapes however will transmit as one.
There seems to be an option available from the manufacturer
that might fix this, but it is reported the fix has
side effects worse than the bug.
Vendor: See ADM1
Escape misfeature is found annoying, otherwise users seem
to like it. It used to be priced competitively for features.
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: ADM3A, Previous: ADM2, Up: Top, Next: ADS980
ADM3A Lear Siegler ADM-3A
Status: :CRTSTY ADM3A tries real hard, but at slow speeds you might
be happier with :TCTYP GLASS
Users: Lots of people. Its cheap.
Price: about $800, look for ads in Byte etc.
Screen: 24 x 80
Chars: 5 x 7 without descenders.
Keybrd: actually sort of usable
Speeds: ...,19200
Has: Cursor, Addr
Lacks: CLEOL, CLEOS and everything else.
Misfeatures: interprets some control code to lock keyboard. (Diasablable
by a physical switch on the terminal).
Is missing enough features to qualify as misfeatured.
Vendor: See ADM1, also every computer store, Byte magazine.
Two virtues are being cheap and fast. On the scale of things its not as cheap
as it used to seem. However, there still aren't many terminals that can
stand up to a continues 19,200 data rate. Also, being made out of a lot of
discrete parts improves chance for doing ones own maintainance or extension.
However, useing as an ITS display at less than 4800 baud is an excercise for
the infinitely patient.
CBF 5 March 1978
CBF 8 March 1980
File: TERMS, Node: ADS980, Previous: ADM3A, Up: Top, Next: Ambassador
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY ADS980".
Users: BYRON
Price: About to be discontinued and replaced by new "Regent" series.
Screen: 24 x 80
Chars: ?
Keybrd: Poor-to-fair. TTY-style keyboard but advantageously has
all controllifiable characters on separate keys so that
<CTRL>-<SHIFT> is never necessary.
Speeds: ?
Has: Random, Addr (not supported), Tabs (5 columns!),
CLEOL (CR clears to end of line and does carriage return),
r InsLine, DelLine, Standout.
Lacks: DelChar, InsChar, CLEOS, altmode key (!)
Misfeatures: DEL and underscore exchanged
The terminal also has "graphics" capability with 160 by 72 resolution,
and two local "editing" modes which are useless on ITS, but are useful
on line-at-a-time systems. The number pad may be selected to send
escape sequences rather than digits: <alt>-<digit> is sent instead of
<digit>. This is used by CRTSTY to simulate Altmode, Meta-, Ctrl, Top-,
and Call, as well as to toggle the graphics and standout features.
File: TERMS, Node: Ambassador, Previous: ADS980, Up: Top, Next: Bantam
Ann Arbor "Ambassador"
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY AAA", and TED (the TOPS-20 CLU based editor).
Users: No one we know yet; we had one here for a week at MIT-EECS, during
which time CRTSTY and TED were used with it. The following
comments are the result of this experience and lots of phone
conversations with Ann Arbor.
Price: Compact box, $1300 single unit; bigger box, $1430 (no difference
inside); compact box is designed to be carried.
7 terminals get you a 5% discount, 16 gets 10%, 31 gets 15%,
etc. That makes 25 terminals cost $1170 each, for example (I'm
referring to the cheaper box version only; it's more compact and
less Captain Marvel-looking). MIT price: $1170 in any quantities
(we worked out a special deal).
Screen: 60 lines max by 80 characters; P39 high-retention green phosphor;
large 15" diagonal screen; very readable even at 60 lines.
Has "zoom" feature, allowing 60x80, 48x80, 40x80, 36x80, 30x80,
28x80, 24x80, 20x80, 18x80 (maybe one or two more) format (it
changes from non-interlaced to interlaced at some level like
36x80). At 60 and 48 lines, I think there's only one scan line
between lines, which makes it seem a bit cramped, but it's still
quite readable. Inverse video mode makes it more readable at high
densities.
Chars: 7 x 7 when more than 40 lines on screen (not sure of boundary),
9 x 9 otherwise.
Keybrd: 2-key rollover, good tactile feel (highly subjective, of course).
(The next version will have n-key rollover, they claim.)
Detached keyboard, uses funny ribbon cable; typeamatic (*),
keyclick (*), typewriter-paired. (*) = can be disabled.
Non-typewriter keys well-laid-out, looks somewhat like:
-- function keys, local editing keys --
ESC - numerics, etc. - BREAK plus
TAB -standard qertyuiop- LF BS your
CTL CL - etc - RET RUB basic
PAU SHFT - - SHFT UP DN keypad
where CL is Caps Lock, PAU is Pause (sort of XOFF/XON toggle),
and UP, DN are explained below, I think.
Has 12 down-loadable shiftable function keys (for a total of
24 if I might be so bold to calculate) above the major grouping,
with another 3 settable on the keypad; total function key storage:
256 bytes (to be arbitrarily distributed among the keys).
The rest of the local editing keys aren't down-loadable.
Speeds: all standard to 19.2KB, doesn't seem to be splittable
Has: everything; ANSI standard with extensions.
Standout modes: reverse video, underlining, blinking, bold, blank,
in all combinations (this is implemented by storing 12 bits for
each character, so, e.g., you can't complement the screen easily).
However, any erasing operations (such as kill to end of line) set
the erased region to spaces in the current standout mode, so just
setting it to reverse video and typing ^L to your editor flips
the whole screen (unlike Heath's, which always kill to blanks).
A crude, probably useless, form of windowing (see below).
No padding requirements at 9600 baud for all functions we tried.
Flow control:
XON/XOFF, settable, but, interestingly enough, you can download
the characters that get sent for XON and XOFF (up to four for each
function).
Lacks: True overstriking.
Misfeatures:
Amazingly enough, I can't think of any. They actually seem to
have built a terminal without obvious lossages. The keyboard is
only a two-key rollover design (seems to actually be a hardware
limitation, not the result of software scanning).
Vendor: Ann Arbor Terminals, Inc., 6175 Jackson Road, Ann Arbor,
MI 48103. 313-663-8000. 10 sales regions, Boston area
rep is Digital Sales Assoc's, 9 Spring Street, Waltham,
617-899-4300 (ask for Art Dempsey). See below for service
information.
This terminal merits some comments (feel free to add); here are mine,
highly colored by the fact that this is the first terminal on the
market at a reasonable price with 60 readable screen lines, i.e., the
first terminal giving you a reasonable window for editing purposes.
It's a full ANSI-standard terminal, driven by a Z80, with a battery-
backed-up CMOS memory inside to store settings; it has a VT100-like
"setup" mode, the final version of which we didn't get to see on the
demo version. The 15-inch screen is truly nice; even at 60 lines, it
doesn't look too cramped; it does look extremely wide.
It has full print and copy features through an auxiliary port, if
you're into that kind of thing. It has block mode sending, etc. They
actually seem to have done it right, e.g., you can have nearly all
flavors of printing and copying happening through the printer port,
which operates asynchronously at any speed.
The screen format is pretty interesting: it's always 80 characters
wide, but as you step down from 60 to 48 to 40 to 28 to 24 to 18 (or
some such sequence, I forget), the lines get farther apart and the
characters get slightly bigger (they use two dot matrices: a 9x9 and a
7x7). The UP and DOWN keys next to the right SHIFT key are used in
conjunction with CTRL to shift the window (locally) up and down a line
or to zoom out and in when CTRLified (the host can also zoom). Don't
know how useful this is or how confusing it might get if you somehow
zoom around by mistake. It has some notion of 3 "screen areas" which
are totally settable; they refer to them as the "upper host area",
"middle operator area" and "lower host area"; I suppose they're useful
in some kind of special application mode. It does appear that you can
position the "operator" (middle) area and use insert/delete line to do
pretty much arbitrary region scrolling like the VT100. However, since
it has insert/delete line, it is probably not worth doing region
scrolling that way.
Nearly everything is settable from either the keyboard (in setup mode)
or from the other side of the communications line (e.g., a host
machine).
It has a few interesting features, such as Push and Pop Line, which
let you shove any number of lines down to the bottom of the screen
(remember, all 60 lines are considered part of the screen), or pull
them back up to any point; I suppose this can be used as a way of
moving lines around on the screen arbitrarily by pushing them to the
bottom from a cursor position, moving somewhere else and popping them
back. It has an erase-character-under-cursor feature just like ITS
loves. Seems to have a "justifying tab" (?) You can push and pop the
cursor position, like on the H19, which is pretty useful if you don't
want to remember where you were but want to get back there later
(e.g., mode line hacking).
At 9600 baud, it seemed to need NO PADDING for even the hairiest
"insert n lines" functions, which makes it another first; even the
hardwired DM2500 requires some padding for insert/delete line. TED,
which uses lots of the fancy features, did fine with no padding. (The
Rand people found, on their demo model, that at 60 lines and 9600, it
needed padding for line feed; we (MIT) had the same problem, but if I
remember rightly, with the proper flow-control settings, it worked
fine.) It can go at up to 19.2Kb; it'd be interesting to see what it
looks like at that speed. (One interesting psychological fact: at
9600 baud, 60 lines on the screen, full-screen refresh looks a lot
slower than on standard terminals, for obvious reasons.)
Ann Arbor has always had a reputation of building sturdy products.
They've gotten a somewhat black name from places that bought custom
terminals, such as BBN, and modified them even further; AA could never
keep up the documentation for over 50 different versions of TTL logic
boards; they claim it'll be different this time, since they aren't
customizing the Ambassador. The hardware "theory of operations"
manual looks reasonable.
The Ambassador has only one CPU board (piggybacked by a smaller board)
and one power supply/CRT electronics board), and their early-life
failure rate is claimed to be very low (they burn them in at 50
degrees Celsius for a week). The two boards are quite accessible by
popping off the front cover (maybe good for thieves). They only have
self-maintenance, which helps explain why their overhead is so low and
they can keep their prices down. The current service theory is that
you return a bad card (or whole unit if you're stumped) and they will
return it within 5 days, fixed, for "usually less than $100 per card
or $200 per terminal". You can also get 24-hour turnaround if you're
willing to pay a $200 premium. If you buy more than a few terminals
(10, say) they will give you a free, full-day maintenance training
session (you get to fly to Ann Arbor, of course). They have an
extended year's warrantee which costs $130 per terminal and which
covers any repair costs for the first year of life.
The keyboard feels quite sturdy and everything is housed in metal
casing; the smaller-box version is fairly compact. I don't know how
they'd hold up under heavy abuse, but I will wager they're not as
fragile as VT100s. (The keyboard cable is a flat ribbon, fairly
durable-looking frob, but it's raised some eyebrows of people who've
seen it.) I pinned them down on the question of keyboard scanning,
seeing the way that Teleray lost initially with the T10's, and they
said the keyboard was scanned 100 times a second, with interrupts off,
so there was no possibility of losing typed characters due to high
screen activity. They said they hadn't heard of n-key rollover (sigh)
until recently, and that it wouldn't be possible until the second
version of the Ambassador (but at least they admitted it was a good
thing). Still, with 2-key rollover, it isn't so bad. [I had no
complaints about the keyboard, but I don't touch type - EBM.] EAK
complained that the 2-key rollover makes the keyboard very poor; I
claim that he's right in general, but that you can get used to it
(look at poor SAIL with their zero-key rollover Microswitch keyboards;
they feel awful at first, but after about 2 days you begin to learn
the art of very EVEN typing). The keyboard layout is somewhat odd;
eg, C-^ is on C-. (and other lossages; why can't people standardize
this and stick to it?)
They're willing to part with the ucode listing for $300; it's not
clear how to get a machine-readable source out of them (the marketing
VP suggested being very nice to them as one possible approach,
whatever that means). They've been pretty impressed so far with the
extent of the ARPA info-terms community, so maybe we can get the
sources from them and add a meta key.
As far as ucode fix distribution goes, they're willing to send new
PROMs if you find gross bugs that prevent you from doing your job
with the terminal. It's not clear what happens with bugs of the form
"when you print 8 asterisks, backspace 3 times, sneeze, and then go
into inverse video mode, the screen glitches"; they will probably not
send out PROMs for such obscure problems.
They only come with a P39 phosphor, which is a very green,
high-retention phosphor; this probably tends to blur a bit when
scrolling, but then it's hard to read anything scrolling at 9600 baud
anyway. Rand Corporation, which evaluated them, has complained about
a particularly bad 15KHz whine which bothered their secretaries (one
of the students at MIT complained about it, too); Ann Arbor claims
they've fixed that.
All in all, looks like a nearly-complete win if you want the screen
size.
--CPR, EBM, Saturday, 13 September 1980
Wednesday, 1 October 1980
File: TERMS, Node: Bantam, Previous: Ambassador, Up: Top, Next: CDC713
Perkin Elmer Bantam
Status: not supported yet.
Users: MIT Architecture Machine Group, LSP@ML, RK@MC
Price: You should be able to negotiate $600 to $800 depending on quantity.
Screen: 24 x 80; 12" diagonal; P4 phosphor
Chars: 5 x 9 in a 7 x 10 field.
Keybrd: Has at least 2 key rollover, fair feel, non-detachable
Speeds: 110, 200, 300, 600, 1200, 1800, 2400, 3600, 4800, 7200, 9600
Has: Addr, Random, Tabs (fixed every 8), CLEOL
Lacks: CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Overstrike
Misfeatres: ?
Basically a Fox with a somewhat better keyboard reengineered for cheaper
mass production. Physically much smaller.
File: TERMS, Node: CDC713, Previous: Bantam, Up: Top, Next: C100
Control Data Corporation 713
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY CDC713".
Users: DPR
Price: they're free, write your congressman.
Screen: 16 x 80
Chars: 7 x 9 with descenders
Keybrd: rotten
Speeds: 110,300
Has: Random, CLEOL, CLEOS, Standout
Lacks: Addr, Tabs, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Overstrike
Misfeatures: 300 baud maximum speed!
CBF 8 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: C100, Previous: CDC713, Up: Top, Next: DD4000
Status: :TCTYP C100
Users: RJL@AI, GSB@ML, BYRON@ML, CEH@MC
Price: 1-9 10-24 25-49 50-99 Educational discount
$1575 $1418 $1339 $1261 equivalent to 1 quantity level.
APL: $1750 $1575 $1488 $1400 APL really means overstrike
Most MIT people have been quoted $1400 for the non-APL one right now.
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, 12" diag 9"x6" tilt and swivel adjust.
Chars: 8 x 12 in 10 x 12. The 7th and 8th columns of each character repeat
what is in the 6th column. This can somewhat inhibit doing graphics.
Keybrd: Detachable, has a clicker. Layout is close to VT52 with a big return
key, Control where VT52 has Caps Lock. Most found feel acceptable,
several thought it was very good.
Speeds: 50,75,110,134.5,150,300,600,1200,1800,2000,2400,3600,4800,7200,9600
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout, 1 level Overstrike (only with APL option).
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, more than 1 level of overstrike.
Misfeatures:
Cannot keep up at 9600 baud. This is due to marginality of Z-80 DMA
chip and may be fixed as of March 1979 or so. I believe HDS's
stated policy is to replace it free upon request at that time.
The list of misfeatures on this terminal has become a moving target,
due to the policy of this company to try fixing them and often
distributing new firmware releases free (they have claimed they will
start charging a fee soon though). It actually has InsChar and
DelChar, but they're very diffcult to use due to undesirable side
effects. (BBN has been promised a fix for this, which presumably will
find its way into the standard firmware releases). Operations such as
InsLine need moderate (ie. 1/25 second) padding. Also it automaticaly
CRLFs when you type in the last column (BBN fix may also cure this).
It should be noted that CEH@MC has decoded their program and made his
own mods.
Vendor: Human Designed Systems;3700 Market St;Phila, PA 19104;(215)382-5000
As of very late 1978 they were experiencing delivery problems due to
non-availibility of 16K EPROMS and talking of going to ROM.
Must choose overstrike character set, so cannot overstrike APL and Ascii in the
same terminal. However it works to overstrike underscores even on terminals
without overstrike character set! Character set is still in PROM and they seem
willing to assist in making own PROMs (SAIL character set for example). Up to
4 character sets + 1 overstrike character set can be accomodated. All terminal
states and commands can be set under computer control or keyboard control.
(ie. including things like baud rate). There is a key to show a terminal mode
status display on the bottom line. There are no toggling states and there is a
Reset All command. The normal commands are two character sequences starting
with Escape, and do not seem to resemble any other terminal. There will
apparently also be another model however which shares a common subset of
commands with the VT-52, but they are not quoting any dates for availability of
this. Among those not to be included is the hold-screen (mis)feature.
Windowing:
What you have is the ability to preface terminal commands with a window
description (row, column, length, width). This defines the "active" window for
all following terminal data. Apparently almost all operations are then local
to that window (insert and delete char, insert and delete line, and maybe also
scrolling and screen clear. Cursor addressing is also local to a given
window.) But note, it does not remember any windows. To go back to a window
you select it fully (with row, column, lenghth, width) again.
Overstriking:
There are 16 bits for each screen position. Normally this is divided into 7
bits to hold the "foreground" character, then 1 bit which says whether there is
a "background" (overstruck) character or not. If not, then the other 8 bits
are used for "display enhancement", which I believe are blinking, inverse
video, intensity, underlineing, protected, and I guess a few others. If there
is a "background" character, then then 7 bits hold the background character,
the last bit is still available for inverse video however. Overstriking takes
place when there is already a non blank or null character in a character
position that is being inserted into. If there is already a background
character, then it is replaced. (Ie. multiple overstrikes will end up with the
first and last characters of a position overstruck.) Insertion of a space or
null into a character position will erase it, whether there is a backgroup
character there or not. Note that it knows enough to turn on the Underline bit
upon an attempt to store an Underscore in an occupied character position, even
if there are no overstrike character ROMs present.
Function keys:
Although you get 8 (shiftable) function keys (extendable to 14 for $50) you
only get a total of 34 character total to assign to these keys. This can be
improved by paying $140 for an extra "page" of memory which gives you an
additional 128 characters in addition to another page of 24 lines of 80 chars.
You can do this twice by getting two additional pages (thus a total of 256
characters more) beyond this you can get more pages of memory but no extra
characters.
CBF 31 December 1978
File: TERMS, Node: DD4000, Previous: C100, Up: Top, Next: DD5200
Delta Data 4000
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP SB" and ":CRTSTY DD4000".
Users: BSG
Price: dunno, probably too much.
Screen: 25 x 80, green phosphor
Chars: 5 x 7 with descenders.
Keybrd: lots of keys on front, I think there is keyboard there someplace.
Speeds: ...,9600
Has: Everything except:
Lacks: Overstrike, kitchen sink.
Misfeatures: Has about 40,000 switches and modes. If any are in the
wrong position, things won't work right or won't work at all.
Curiously almost identical in specs to Beehive SuperBee.
Padding requirements are arcane and not fully documented,
e.g. Clear to end of line seems to need some padding prior
to the operation. Sometimes inserting characters has
undesirable random side effect of sliding lines over further
further down the screen. These lossages are also similar
to Beehive SuperBee.
CBF 8 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: DD5200, Previous: DD4000, Up: Top, Next: DM1520
Delta Data 5200
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY DD5200" (or NIH52 for the NIH version)
Users: RICART
Price: dunno, probably too much.
Screen: 27 x 80
Chars: ?
Keybrd: ?
Speeds: ?
Has: Everything except:
Lacks: true CLEOL and CLEOS maybe.
Misfeatures: Stores chars in an abominable way which requires it to
generate spaces to fill up a line if you write something into
an "empty" line. See CRTSTY source to see how misfeature is thwarted.
File: TERMS, Node: DM1520, Previous: DD5200, Up: Top, Next: DM2500
Datamedia 1520
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY DM1520".
Users: FJW ?
Price: a little over $1000
Screen: 24 x 80
Chars: ?
Keybrd: mediocre
Speeds: ...,9600
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs CLEOL, CLEOS
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Overstrike
Misfeatures: There is an internal strap for having CR do a CR-LF (ie. a
NewLine operation). CRTSTY assume it does this and
compensates.
Fairly reasonable vannila terminal. Has an APL model available for whatever
that's worth.
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: DM2500, Previous: DM1520, Up: Top, Next: DM3025
Datamedia 2500
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP DM2500" and ":CRTSTY DM2500".
Users: Very popular on West Coast; SRI, SAIL etc. Info here is by KLH.
Particularly for SAIL support options contact ME@SAIL or TED@SAIL
Price: The 2500 may be discontinued as such, but you can buy a 4000 series
with a 2500 compatibility ROM. Also should look at 3025 and 3052
which are not program compatible with the 2500.
Screen: 24 x 80
Chars: ?
Keybrd: There are 2 generations. The later one is only poor, not terrible.
Speeds: ...,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout. See below for details.
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Difficult to compute padding, hairy auto-newline.
There is supposed to be a ROM available for the 3025 which
effectively reduces padding time to nil. Talk to DANG@MIT-DM.
See comments below.
-- Detailed DM2500 doc --
The DM2500 is available with an Edit key which can be used as the Meta
key with EMACS. You can't get this from Datamedia; you have to get it
from
Martin Hardy
Product Associates
465 Convention Way, Suite 1
Redwood City, CA 94063
(415) 368-0640
The DM2500's main misfeature is the way it hacks "Roll mode" and
automatic newline. Automatic newline is a feature whereby, if a
move forward command (^\) or character is sent and the cursor is
in the last column of a line, an automatic CR-LF is done (henceforth
known as "auto-nl"). There are two interdependencies to watch for:
[1] a CR (which does a newline) will not function immediately after
an auto-nl!
[2] a LF (move down) will not function immediately after
an auto-nl OR a CR!
Now, what happens when one of auto-nl, CR, or LF is done on the bottom
line of the screen? That depends on whether or not the terminal is
in Roll mode:
a) NOT in Roll mode: Auto-nl or CR moves cursor to beginning of
top line (home position), LF likewise wraps to top line
but stays in the same column.
b) IN Roll mode: screen scrolls upwards; top line is lost,
and cursor either moves to beginning of new line (auto-nl,
CR) or stays where it is (LF).
Roll mode can be set and cleared either locally or remotely.
DM2500 Control Codes:
====== ======= =====
^Z = Up-line (if in first row, doesn't move)
^J = Down-Line (if in last row, goes to first row; but if Roll mode
is on, screen scrolls up instead. LF will not function
immediately after a CR or auto-NL)
^\ = Forward (if in last col, does an auto-NL with resulting side effects)
^H = Backspace (if in first col, doesn't move)
^I = Tab (this is used to move to next "variable field". no tab stops.)
^M = Newline (Not CR! Moves to beg of next line (see misfeature description))
^B = Home
^L = Cursor positioning. Followed by X, Y coordinates (column, line)
of the form <coord>#140, i.e. XOR the value with 140.
^W = Erase to End-of-line
^_ = Erase Screen - clears all "variable"-field data. If no protected fields
are used, this is equivalent to Master Clear (but slower). On some
DM's, this code is strapped to mean Clear-to-EOS, but not all.
^^ = Master clear - zap entire memory and home cursor.
^N = Blink On - all chars after this one will blink (see note below)
^O = Form On - all chars after this will be in a "protected field".
Note that ^N and ^O do NOT affect characters already on the screen,
rather they affect characters received by terminal chronologically
after the mode is enabled. Thus to change an already-existing line
to blink or form or back to normal the host must retransmit the entire
line. (This makes editing at SU-AI, where line-editor is bold, slow!)
Most SU-AI et al DM2500s are modified to have ^N and ^O swapped.
^] = Roll On - turn on Roll mode.
^P = Insert/Delete On - see below.
^X = CAN - turn off all of Blink, Form, Roll, and I/D.
Insert/Delete Codes:
============= =====
^P = Enter Insert/Delete Mode
^\ = Insert Character - create a space at current cursor
position, moving following chars on the line one space to the right.
chars moved out of the last column are lost. Cursor remains where
it is, i.e. now pointing at the space.
^H = Delete Character - delete char at cursor position, moving following
chars left by one. a space is shifted into the last column. Cursor
does not move, i.e. now points at the char previously just to the
right of the deceased char.
^J = Insert Line - insert line at cursor position, by moving current line
and all succeeding lines down by one, creating a fresh, cmpletely blank
line. The line shifted out at the bottom is lost. Cursor does not
move, i.e. is now sitting in the blank line at same column position.
^Z = Delete Line - delete line at cursor position. All following lines
move up by one, and a blank line is shifted in at the bottom of
the screen. Cursor does not move.
^X = CAN - leave I/D mode (as well as any other)
Some words about padding:
A normal DM2500 only requires padding for the following:
1) Erase (^_, not ^^) - at 9600 baud, this code should be sent
twice in succession; otherwise just once is sufficient.
This is sort of a pseudo-pad.
2) Insert Char - At 9600 baud, one rubout should be sent after
each ^\. At lower speeds none are needed.
3) Delete Char - At 9600 baud, one rubout should be sent after
each ^H. At lower speeds none are needed.
4) Delete Line - At 9600 baud, one rubout after each ^Z. At lower
speeds, none needed.
5) Insert Line - the slowest. Here is an empirical table of
# rubouts needed after each ^J:
Speed # pads
9600 15
4800 7
2400 3
1200 1
6) Tab - If you really want to use this, you should get a Datamedia Technical
Manual and learn about the protected vs. variable field hackery.
NOTE: on some older model DM2500's, Insert Line needs one more rubout than
those given in the table (possibly two), and Insert Char is unreliable in
the first 11 or so lines of the screen if running at 9600 baud, no matter
how many pads are given. This is a design flaw with respect to the memory
board that was corrected on later DM's by redesigning it to halve the
access time for I/D mode.
FURTHER NOTE: on these losing DM2500's a frob that lets you win with
Insert Char is to send a Space (40) instead of a FS (^\). This shifts
the line properly, but has the side effect of moving the cursor and
can leave garbage in the position spaced over, so after leaving I/D mode
one must backspace over and write spaces or something there.
The number of rubouts needed for Insert Line is really dependant on
the current line position, here is a formula that seems to work:
((30.-VPOS)*OSPEED-2400.)/14400.
File: TERMS, Node: DM3025, Previous: DM2500, Up: Top, Next: DM3052
Status: VT52 subset compatible, support with ins/del stuff via :CRTSTY DM3025
Users: Furst
Screen: 24 x 80
Chars:
Price: $1750 range.
Keybrd: Seems to have N-key rollover. Some feel, but they squirm a lot.
(Is like the newer DM2500 keyboards).
Speeds: ...,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout (inverse, half intensity, blinking & all combinations).
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Line/Ins delete can take up to 130 MS.
This is the part of the new Datamedia line.
CBF 6 July 1978
It may be possible to get this terminal with an Edit key which can be
used as the Meta key with EMACS, if you ask
Martin Hardy
Product Associates
465 Convention Way, Suite 1
Redwood City, CA 94063
(415) 368-0640
File: TERMS, Node: DM3052, Previous: DM3025, Up: Top, Next: DM4000
Status: VT52 subset compatible.
Users: Dang@DM had a demo.
Screen: 24 x 80
Chars:
Price: $1745, seems hard to get a discount.
Keybrd: Seems to have N-key rollover. Some feel, but they squirm a lot.
(Is like the newer DM2500 keyboards).
Speeds: ...,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout (inverse, half intensity, blinking & all combinations).
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Line insert/delete is fairly slow (130 ms), and the terminal
will spew out ^S^Q, even if not in hold screen mode when it
gets behind. If padded properly this lossage should not
occur.
This is the part of the new Datamedia line.
CBF 6 July 1978
File: TERMS, Node: DM4000, Previous: DM3052, Up: Top, Next: DM-DT/80
Status: Supported as DM2500 if using 2500 PROM. Otherwise random, since
terminal is user programmable.
Users: KLH (sort of)
Screen: 24 x 80, but can be 48 x 80
Chars: same as DM2500
Price: $2500, the Dm2500 simulating PROM is $135 and 48 line option is $250.
An additional 8K of user RAM is $425.
Keybrd: Like Dm2500, adequate but no n-key rollover. Can be obtained with
SUMEX keyboard, which has an EDIT shift-like key to set parity bit.
Comments:
Will stick in more stuff if I manage to use one regularly.
KLH 3/20/78
To get the Edit key, which can be used as the Meta key with EMACS, contact
Martin Hardy
Product Associates
465 Convention Way, Suite 1
Redwood City, CA 94063
(415) 368-0640
File: TERMS, Node: DM-DT/80, Previous: DM4000, Up: Top, Next: FOX
Datamedia DT/80
Status: Complete VT-100 clone, down to the bugs
Users: ? (see below)
Has: Advanced Video Option is standard, auxiliary printer port standard
Price: Computrend, Boston area vendor, quotes $1899 ($100 less than
DEC's 'standard' price) (one site was offered $1672 in 25
quantities); note that the DT-80 includes the Advanced Video
Option, which normally costs another $270, so the cost (list)
comparison should be $1899 to $2170.
(Whoops, Computrend is not going to offer them anymore.)
Screen: larger than VT-100, characters more readable (probably just
size made the difference)
Keybrd: Typical Datamedia, physically tough with 3-4-key rollover;
reviewer thought it actually was nicer than VT-100 but others
have expressed the opposite opinion. Keyboard seemed to
generate spurious chars once in a while and be over-sensitive
(ie, just resting fingers on some keys would send them once
in a while).
Enclosure: Typical Datamedia: metal (much more sturdy than VT-100)
-- see VT-100 node for rest of technical details --
I had one of these for a day (though it would flake out totally after
being on for an hour, sigh, but this was a demo model so it's allowed
to have some marginality). The above remarks are from that day, so
take them with a sack of salt. No one really has any experience with
them over any period of time, as far as I know; when someone gets
some, please replace this summary.
CPR, Tuesday, 8 July 1980
File: TERMS, Node: FOX, Previous: DM-DT/80, Up: Top, Next: H19
Perkin-Elmer FOX-1100
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY FOX".
Users: MIT Architecture Machine has several. Try ARQMAQ@MIT-ML .
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor
Chars: 7 x 11 (in a 9 x 12 field)
Price: Probably around $1200. The P-E Bantam effectively replaces the FOX.
Keybrd: 1 key rollover sucks.
Speeds: 75,110,200,300,600,1200,1800,2400,7200,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS.
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Standout, Overstrike.
Misfeatures: Seems unreliable? Upper case DEL key.
Vendor: Perkin Elmer Data Systems;Randolph NJ 07801;the cretins don't
believe in phone numbers; They do have a Boston office.
Comes within 2 inches of being defacto VT-52, HP compatible. Uses ESC
K to mean clear entire screen, clear all tabs and home, instead of
Erase to End of Line, and uses Esc I to mean CLEOL instead. See also
big-brother OWL-1200, also see its replacement: the Bantam.
CBF 5 March 1978
CBF 23 Sept 1979
File: TERMS, Node: H19, Previous: FOX, Up: Top, Next: H80
Heath H19
Status: Supported by :TCTYP VT52,+%TOLID or :CRTSTY H19
Problems with line insert/delete at high speeds, see below.
Users: Many. Try Edmond@BBNE, or CRD@MC with questions.
Price: $995 assembled and test. $695 kit. 10% off quan 10 from Heath.
Screen: 24 x 80;25th "status" line. P4 white phospher 6.5"x8.5" (12" diag)
Chars: 5x7 Upper case, 5x9 lower case with descenders, 8x10 for 33 graphics
Keybrd: Non-detachable, VT52 layout, unremarkable tactile feel.
Clicker is more of a sharp beep than a click.
Speeds: "110 to 9600"
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs (fixed every 8), CLEOL, CLEOF, Ins Line, Del Line,
Ins Char, Del Char, Standout (Reverse video)
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Included in description below.
The following material is supplied by Winston Edmond <Edmond@bbne>:
* It has a 128 character FIFO receive buffer. If this buffer gets more than 96
characters full, the terminal sends XOFF, and sends XON when the buffer drops
below 96 characters again. I did not see a way of disabling this "feature".
(Of course it is a kit, and you have the schematics...) [On most terminals
this would not be so bad as long as one was careful to properly pad the
terminal. However, the H19 inserts DEL codes into the buffer. THus the
the character that many systems use for padding whill only serve to exasperate
the problem of triggering an XOFF since the FIFO will fill with DEL's. This
can be cured by having the host pad with NULs which are not inserted into the
FIFO. Unfortunately not all system allow the user to set the pad character.
-CBF 20 Dec 79]
* The following terminal properties can be changed:
Key clicks/no key clicks. The click is medium loud for my taste. I
would bet that there is some easy way to adjust the loudness.
Cursor: underscore/box/none at all. Cursor always XORs with
character cell. Underscore is at typewriter level and
intersects with lower case descending letters.
* 25th line can be used as mode line. Scrolling, insert/delete line,
erasing, etc. do not affect this line. One uses this line by using
cursor positioning to get to it, whence operations apply only to the
25th line. Use cursor positioning to return. When disabled, it is
always blank. When enabled, it is always initially blank.
* Keyboard has a acceptable feel to it. It is lighter than a VT52 but
heavier than a Concept-100. For comparison, I am a touch typist and
like the Concept-100 keyboard.
* Alternate keypad mode (same as VT52 and sends same character strings.)
* Scrolling
* Reverse scrolling
* Hardware tabs every eight positions, except from 72 to 80 where TAB is
treated like space.
* Communications parity: Even, odd, always 1, always 0.
* Control-space does not produce NUL. The Control key only applies to
"strictly legal" keys. Otherwise, you get the normal character.
* There are no programmable function keys, and none of the function keys
happen to transmit NUL. You do have ESC followed by A, B, C, D, E, H,
J, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, or @ available from function keys.
If you use the alternate keypad mode (a la VT52) you get ESC ? <char>
for <char> = {M,n,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y}. If you leave the terminal in
ANSI mode, you usually get ESC O <char> instead, but you may get ESC [
<cruft> for four of the function keys.
* Although the terminal has both "Heath" mode and ANSI mode, sending an
ANSI insert-N-lines causes the terminal to insert one line N times.
(Much slower, less aesthetic.)
* The terminal is Z80 based and uses two 2716 EPROM and two 2316 (8316)
2K*8 ROMs. It also uses a 5740 keyboard encoder and a 6845 CRT controller.
There was apparently no truth to the rumor that microcode listings were
available from Heath, but the question is still being pursued.
* Some people at Tech Square say that an order of 10 or more gets them a
10% discount on the price.
* There is no fan. (However, like all TVs, there is a very high-pitched
note, no worse than my Concept-100.)
This terminal is also available as part of the H-89 "All-In-One" Computer.
This adds a second Z-80 processor and 16K RAM (expandable to 48K) and
sells for $1250.00, kit form. With a minifloppy, 1650.00, or around $2250
assembled. The initial announcement of the H19 claimed it would be field
upgradable to an H-89, however this upgrade does not seem to have been
marketed. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who becomes aware of
such a kit being sold. One gets an assembler for the Z-80 as well as
BASIC and whatever other programming languages they offer.
CBF 11 June 1979
CBF 10 August 1979 (mostly integrating Winston Edmond's comments)
File: TERMS, Node: H80, Previous: H19, Up: Top, Next: H1500
Hazeltine Executive 80 models 20 and 30
Status: new product
Users: ?
Price: $1295 (model 20 12" screen 80 columns non-detached keyboard)
$1695 (model 30 15" screen 132/80 columns detached keyboard)
Screen: 24x80; 25th status line. 12" diagonal (9"x6")
Enhanced video option: (24x80|24x132)+25th status 15" diag (10.5"x8")
Green or yellow(?!) phospher, 60Hz non-interlaced refresh (18MHz)
Chars: 7x8+descenders in a 9x12 block or 5x7 in 132 column mode
.082"(2mm) wide x .160(4mm) high on 12"
15": .102"(2.6mm)x.160"(4mm) or .057"(1.4mm)x.186"(4.7mm) in 132 mode
Keybrd: detached on model 30, option on model 20; typewriter paried,
selectable clicker, decent feel; numeric pad, cursro keys etc.
8 more function keys on model 30
Speeds: 110,300,600,1200,2400,4800,9600,19,200 optional RS449, optional 20ma
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout (inverse, blink, underline, dim)
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Unknown, no sample available.
Aux Port: optional RS232 printer on mod 20, optional buffered RS232 on mod 30
Selectable Hazeltine standard (like H1500??) or ANSI 3.64 control sequences.
It looked ok, at the NCC, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who
gets one. Tilt display standard on model 30 optional on model 20. The
big (15") screen gives good size characters for those tired of squinting;
Enhanced video option also offers double height/width chars. Both screens
appeared to have good video quality. There also seems to be a "horizontal
split screen" feature that apparentely lets you scroll the right and left
siedes separately. Its not clear is this stops a clear to end of line or
even an insert delte line for that matter. Selectable smooth scroll. No
flow control option apparent, except perhaps Xon/Xoff on model 30.
21 June 1980 CBF
File: TERMS, Node: H1500, Previous: H19, Up: Top, Next: H2000
Hazeltine 1500
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY H1500".
Users: RP
Price: $1100 single
Screen: 24 x 80;P4 white phospher;10 inch diag, 6 x 9 inch display area
Chars: 7 x 10; .204" high, .088 wide
Keybrd: Unusable, funny layout, mediocre feel, supposedly detoriates with time.
Speeds: 110,300,1200,1800,2400,4800,9600,19200
Has: Random, Addr, CLEOL, CLEOF, Ins Line, Del Line,
Standout(hi/lo intensity)
Lacks: Tabs, Ins Char, Del Char, Overstrike.
Misfeatures: No possible way to display tilde "~", as this prefixes
control codes.
Note: Avoid the H1400, it has no features.
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: H2000, Previous: H1500, Up: Top, Next: HP2621
Hazeltine 2000
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY H2000" or by ":CRTSTY H2LOSE".
Users: ?
Price: Varies, used to be expensive (ie. $3K), not really currently marketed.
Screen: ?
Chars: ?
Keybrd: Sucks by all accounts.
Speeds: ?
Has: Random, Addr, Ins Char, Ins Line, Del Char, Del Line, Standout?
Lacks: CLEOL, CLEOS, Overstrike.
Misfeatures: Galore. Keyboard is supposedly arcane in that it can generate
lower case, but not by any simple means like a shift key.
has strange padding requirments, but they appear to differ from
instantiation to instatiation from the terminal, so CRTSTY may
not work for yours. Documentation probably corresponds to no
real instance of the terminal.
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: HP2621, Up: Top, Previous: H2000, Next: HP2640
Hewlett-Packard 2621
Status: Supported by :TCTYP HP and :CRTSTY HP2621
Users: WRS@OFFICE-2, you may wish to read his 9 page evaluation.
Price: $1450 single quantity, $2550 with a 120cps thermal printer.
Screen: 6"x8.5"; 24x80; P4 (white) phosphor;60 Hz refresh;non-interlaced
Chars: 7 x 9 in a 9 x 15 cell by use of descender and half shift indicators.
Keybrd: Typewriter paired (but rubout is shift-escape), detached, N-key
rollover. Feel is not impressive, but much better than HP 2640
series. Caps lock key in usual place for shift lock toggles caps
lock mode, but gives absolutely no indication of state, such as
latching or setting an LED as one might expect.
Speeds: 110,150,200,300,600,1200,1800,2400,3600,4800,9600 (cannot split speed)
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine,
DelLine, Standout
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: RUBOUT is SHIFT-ESC, caps lock key lossage.
The terminal powers up to settings taken from a settable non-volatile
memory. Said to have nice setup mode. Tabs are not in non-volatile
memory. There are no straps or switches (except the power switch of
course). Optional thermal printer is integral to case. Terminal
sits on pedastal, but takes up considerably more desk space than a
Concept 100 or VT 100.
EAK 28 November 1978
CBF 20 March 1979
CBF 11 June 1979
CBF 3 February 1980
File: TERMS, Node: HP2640, Previous: HP2621, Up: Top, Next: HP2645
Hewlett-Packard 2640A, 2640B
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP HP" (padding will not be sufficient at 240cps)
and ":CRTSTY HP2640".
Users: 2640A: DPR
Price: $2640
Screen: 24 x 80, white on grey.
Chars: 7 x 9 in a 9 x 15 cell by use of descender and half shift indicators.
Keybrd: plastic on plastic no tactile feel, poor layout 2640A only. Detachable.
Speeds: 110,150,300,1200,2400
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine,
DelLine, Standout
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Maximum speed of 2400 baud, and needs a fair amount of padding
even at that speed. 2640A often does not manage to pay
attention to its keyboard when it gets busy.
Lowercase ROM is $100.
Some degree of user programmability. They can all load a pong game.
Other members of family include the 2648 graphics terminal (360x720 raster
scan), models designed for much more user programmability, 2641A model
for APL.
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: HP2645, Up: Top, Previous: HP2640, Next: IBM3101
Hewlett-Packard 2645A
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP HP" and ":CRTSTY HP2645".
(CRTSTY will use direct cursor addressing)
Users: MSB, CBF, EAK
Price: $3500
Screen: 24 x 80, white on grey.
Chars: 7 x 9 in a 9 x 15 cell by use of descender and half shift indicators.
Keybrd: plastic on plastic no tactile feel. Detachable.
Speeds: 110,150,300,1200,2400,4800,9600 (options for split & more speeds)
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine,
DelLine, Standout
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Upper case Delete key (reversed by CRTSTY)
Lowercase ROM is $100.
Some degree of user programmability. They can all load a pong game.
Other members of family include the 2648 graphics terminal (360x720 raster
scan), models designed for much more user programmability, 2641A model
for APL ($4100 !)
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: IBM3101, Previous: HP2645, Up: Top, Next: IMLAC
International Business Machines 3101
Status: New, supported by :CRTSTY IBM3101
Users: None
Price: Model 10: $1295, Model 20 (block mode-ins/del): $1495 Discounts:
10% Educational; quantity: 25-49 7.5%, 50-99 15%, 100+ 20%
Screen: 24x80 with 25th status line, P39 (Green) phospher, 15 inch diagonal
Chars: 7x14 in a 9x16 field. Very well formed.
Keybrd: Detachable, good tactile field with breakthrough and clicker (can
be disabled). Alphabetics are in usual office Selectric positions,
but other keys are where they have never been before. Control is
labelled ALT and sits to the right of the space bar.
Speeds: 110,150,200,300,600,1200,1800,2400,4800,9600. Some combinations of
split speeds seem possible; Current Loop and RS-422A options available
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, [Standout, Ins Line, Del Line, Ins
Char, Del Char]=Model 20 and above only.
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures:
Unusual Keyboard (placement of Control key makes it almost useless)
This is IBM's first ASCII terminal.
Control codes are similar to the VT52, but the terminal cannot succesfully
masquarade as a VT52 (row and column reversed in absolute cursor position,
Escape I for clear to end of line instead of Escape K, etc). Insert and
Delete Line operations require 50-100 milliseconds of padding on those
models which have them.
Mechanical packaging is very nice. The unit comes in 3 pieces; the
keyboard, the electronics box and the monitor, connected by cables. The
monitor can loosely sit in any of 6 positions on the electronics box
(facing left, center or right while pointed level or upward). The
electronics box and the keyboard are roughly similar in shape, each being
almost 2 feet wide (this is from memory) 3 to 4 inches high and about
10 inches deep. The monitor is about a foot by a foot by a foot.
One of their brochures claimed the monitor refreshed at 70 Hz, interlaced.
This could be a typo. However, in spite of it being P39 Green phospher,
no one could really detect any smearing when it scrolled. I suspect they
may be doing interesting things with the monitor. The salesman claims he
was told the monitor took a standard composite video signal. It does not
use a standard video cable for connection, though.
The Models 10 and 20 are RS-232C only. Models 12 and 22 ($25 extra) have
both RS-232C and 20MA current loop. Models 13 and 23 ($25 extra) have
both RS-232C and RS-422A. RS-422A is the new EIA standard for ASCII data
transmission. IBM claims you can drive RS-422A 4000 feet (1219 meters)
without modem at 9600 baud. There is evidence other companies, such
as DEC, intend to support RS-422. Field upgrades are possible throughout
the models by purchasing appropriate replacement assemblies.
Deliveries of Model 10 and 12 start November 1979. You're too late for
first day orders already. Model 13 January 1980, Models 20, 22, and 23
March 1980.
They do not seem interested in on-site maintainance. Return defective
subassembly to factory contracts are available at a cost of $70 per
year for the models 10, 12, and 13 and $80 per year for models 20, 22, 23.
If not on warranty for a minimum charge of $64 per machine to cover
handling, inspection, cleaning, adjustments, testing, and return shipping
charge will be applied. In addition all parts will be billed at IBM's
prevailing parts prices and additional time required for repairs will
be billed at IBM's applicable service rates. I have not yet discovered
what the initial warranty period is. The customer is expected to install
the machine himself. Component prices are as follows:
Monitor assembly: $315
Keyboard: $320
Logic (Models 10,12,13) $660, $685, $685
Logic (Models 20,22,23) $860, $885, $885
Some personal impressions: It's a lot for the money. The packageing,
monitor and keyboard are clearly all more expensive that a VT-100 for a
example, but the terminal is cheaper. Another way of saying this, is its
very aggressively priced. Emacs users, and just about any one who uses
the Control key extensively is going to find it difficult to adjust to the
keyboard. This is not the only strange thing about the layout. Escape is
in a separate group to the left, delete in a separate group to the right.
Note that most previous IBM displays (like the 3270) are connected to the
main CPU by coax cable. They have never really produced a display terminal
intended for dialup use the way the 2741 was intended for dialup use.
In this light, it is more understandable to view the 3101 as an attempt
by IBM to sell dialup display terminals (which many of their customers
were buying elsewhere anyway, hence the capitulation to ASCII?) than an
attempt to attack a traditional DEC market, for example.
CBF 13 October 1979
File: TERMS, Node: IMLAC, Previous: IBM3101, Up: Top, Next: I100
Imlac PDS-1, PDS-4
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP IMLAC" if you're running SSV or SST.
Users: MIT-DM, Plasma Physics (PLASMA-GROUP@MC)
Price: PDS-1G is minimum $9K all the way up to PDS-4 with options >$20K
Screen: PDS-1 gets 44 lines by 88 chars with standard font.
PDS-4 gets 50 lines by 89, but can hack smaller fonts yet.
Chars: Stroke drawn, you need the long vector option!
Keybrd: no great feel, but stands up to an amazing amount of abuse.
It takes a lot of multiplexing to generate all 128 Ascii codes.
Speeds: I have heard of Imlacs going 80Kbaud and better.
Has: Everything.
Lacks: If it doesn't have it, you can always write your own program.
Misfeatures: Expensive.
It might be handy to attach your own keyboard. Features are based on
use of the SSV or SST program of the MIT-DM group. Since the display
processor is a full minicomputer, you can of course run any sort of
program you wish in the terminal. In particular there is an excellent
set of games available.
CBF 8 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: I100, Up: Top, Previous: IMLAC, Next: I400
Infoton 100
Status: :TCTYP VT52,+%TOLID,PADTAB 1
Users:
Price: $925 single?, $625 quantity 100. $50 for char ins/del.
Screen: 24 x 80 with 25th status line. 12" diagonal with P4 white phosphor.
Chars: 5 x 7 upper case, 5 x 9 for lower case.
Keybrd: Has N-key rollover. Keys have rather stiff springs, poor feel.
Speeds: 110, 200, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200
Has: Random,Addr,Tabs,CLEOL,CLEOS,InsLine,DelLine,Standout (reverse and
low intensity). InsChar,DelChar $50 options.
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures:
Lower case "l" and the number "1" have graphics easily mistaken
for each other. Has a logical not symbol instead of underscore!
22 February 1979, CBF
File: TERMS, Node: I400, Up: Top, Previous: I100, Next: LP
Infoton 400
Status: ?
Users: Radia@bbn, MILES.BAREL@cmu
Price: 400/4 $1330 (quantity 1)
400/5 $1460 (quantity 1)
Screen: 25 x 80
Chars: 9x9 (over I believe 10x10 area)
Keybrd: Reasonable (Keytronics - same as superbee)
Speeds: ...,19200
Has: Random,Addr,Tabs,InsChar,DelChar,InsLine,DelLine,Standout
Lacks: CLEOL,CLEOS,Overstrike
Misfeatures:
The following is the text of a letter sent to Infoton:
Here is a description of the problems we encountered with the Infoton 400.
The first set of problems are general ones which are application independent.
1. When you power up the terminal, it comes up in block mode with caps
only set. This may be intentional but I would think it would be
preferred that neither of these be set.
2. When entering text onto the screen, either from the host computer
link or from the keyboard, there is noticeable flicker of the text
already on the screen.
3. The underline and the cursor obscure the descenders, making these
characters hard to read, and sometimes impossible to differentiate.
For instance, you cannot tell the difference between a lower case Q
and a lower case G if the cursor is beneath the character.
4. The insert and delete character functions shift all characters on
following lines along with the line being modified, making these
functions useless.
5. The terminal appears to have either a parity or overrun problem. When
used with several of our computers, many characters echo as question
marks, instead of the character sent by the host, irrespective of the
parity settings in the rear of the terminal.
The remaining problems are specific to our application - a screen editing
terminal.
6. The special graphics functions of underline, blink and reverse video
cannot be used in arbitrary combinations.
7. Insert and delete character functions move characters over the
graphics formatting. This may be fine for data entry applications
where the formatting indicates different fields, but for our
application, where the graphics are used to indicate different
character fonts, the graphics must remain with the text which is in
the alternate font.
8. The use of the graphics functions require insertion of a blank
character on the screen at the position that the mode was changed. We
often use alternate character fonts within one word to emphasize
portions of that word. For example, the first several letters of a
command are often an ACROnym for its use.
Miles Barel@CMUA
23 August 1978 CBF transcribing Miles' message.
File: TERMS, Node: LP, Previous: I400, Up: Top, Next: MB
NLS Lineprocessor
This refers to the so-called Lineprocessor that is used with
NLS workstations and will allow use of ITS without having to unplug
the cretinous little black box. If anyone is actually interested
in the specs, I can set them straight.
In general a terminal being used as a LP will run much slower than
it otherwise would be capable of.
KLH 3/20/78
File: TERMS, Node: MB, Previous: LP, Up: Top, Next: MIME
Beehive Mini-Bee 0 and 4, probably also applicable to B100.
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP MINIBEE" fairly well,
":CRTSTY MB0" or ":CRTSTY MB4" supports more features.
Users: ?
Price: ?
Screen: 25 x 80
Chars: ?
Keybrd: Reasonable.
Speeds: ...,9600
Has: MB4: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS
MB0: Random, Addr.
Lacks: MB4: Ins Char, Del Char, Ins Line, Del Line, Standout, Overstrike.
MB0: Everything.
Misfeatures: Upper case shift. Probably many more misfeatures hiding in
non-obvious places waiting to be discovered.
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: MIME, Up: Top, Previous: MB, Next: MOD1
Micro Term MIME
Status: :TCTYP VT52 in VT52 mode or :CRTSTY MIME in ACT mode uses line ins/del
Users: Emery@MC, CSD.Halbert@Berkely
Price: $795 single, $825 with non-glare screen (recommended)
quantity discounts: 10-24: 10%, 25-99: 25%, >100: 27%
Screen: 24 x 80, 12" diagonal white phospher (presumably P4)
Chars: 5 x 7 plus descenders
Keybrd: Claim they use same kbd as VT52. No clicker though.
Speeds: 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout (half intensity)
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, Overstrike
This terminal has internal switches that can be set to have it "emulate"
either an ADM3A, a Hazeltine 1500, a VT52, or an ACT-IV.
EMERY@MIT-MC 02/23/79 01:47:48 Re: Mime-I
It also supports a very nice little switch inside so that when emulating a
terminal that doesn't have a given feature, it adds it. For example, when
in VT52 mode, it will normally not understand a ins/del line. But, if
this switch is turned on (appropriatly enough, it is named Enhance), it
will. Of course, the assignment for these extra features [in these modes
corresponds to the assignment of them on the ACT series terminals].
It has the same quark as the ACT-V does about underlining
a character that has descenders.
It has the characters transposed on the keytops for underline and
minus, and the underline is actually a left arrow (presumably since
it supports underline as a special feature anyways).
All in all, it is a really good terminal. Having an F-8 in it, and
3 EPROMS (2708's) to choose between the different terminals (ACT-IV
is hardwired) makes it very versatile for the hobbyist.
For some strange reason, you have to open the terminal in order
to switch from one terminal setting to another. This is presumably
since it isn't changed so often. However, it would be much more
useful if it was accessible from either the keyboard or behind the
terminal.
Emery Galambos
25 February 1979
The follow report came from DCH@MIT-ML on 27 February 1979:
The main idea of this terminal is that it will emulate an ADM-3A, a
VT-52, a Hazeltine 1500, or a Microterm ACT-IV, all at the flip of a switch.
It has remote ins/del line, but not ins/del char. However, we have been
told that for free they will substitute a ROM so that it will no
longer have the emulation feature, but will do ins/del char.
When not emulating something, all function codes are single
control characters, not escape sequences. This is a minor problem on UNIX,
which runs full-duplex, but stupidly echoes everything anyway, unless
one is in raw mode. but on any reasonable full-duplex system, this should
not be a problem.
Ins/del line causes the screen to glitch. It needs about 80ms padding.
This means that several in a row causea lot of action on
the screen. But it works.
The cursor is a double underline, non-blinking, and sometimes hard to find.
When the cursor is on a character with a descender, the screen goes double-
bright where the cursor and descender overlap. This looks ugly, and means
they did it wrong.
The terminal has half-bright and underline. To underline a char, one positions
the cursor and then sends a ^U. The underline appears in exactly
the same form as the cursor, with the same double-bright problem. but
various operations, such as linefeeding over a line with underlines
(I'm not sure about this) cause the underlines to disappear. So this is
bad.
The keyboard is ADM-3Aish, but slightly softer, and with a different
layout (but RUBOUT is still shift-_, albeit now near the upper RH corner.
It does not have n-key rolloover. There is an embeedded numeric
keypad.
This is the MIME-I. The MIME-II is the same except it comes in a larger
and slightly nicer-looking box, and has a separate numeric pad.
It also costs more.
Underline is backarrow, but uparrow is caret!
This is the terminal we are most seriously considering, because it has
ins/del char/line (we will get the substitute ROM), and because it
is cheap, has an OK keyboard, and its problems (e.g. double-bright,
funny underline) do not make it unusable at all, but are just annyoing.
If one of us gets up the energy, we may buy the tech manual ($25), and
do some reprograming. But I doubt it.
File: TERMS, Node: MOD1, Up: Top, Previous: MIME, Next: OMRON
Hazeltine "Modular One"
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY MOD1".
Lacks: Clear-to-EOL, hence line erasure is slow.
Comments:
CRTSTY works all right with it - I had access to one for
about a month, and have never seen any since. As far as buying
one goes, don't.
KLH 3/20/78
File: TERMS, Node: OMRON, Up: Top, Previous: MOD1, Next: OWL
Omron 8025.
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP OMRON" and ":CRTSTY OMRON".
CRTSTY supports more features, but neither works quite
right and wont until we get our hands on one.
The current stuff seems to be called 8030, and seems to
be different and thus not supported.
File: TERMS, Node: OWL, Up: Top, Previous: OMRON, Next: SB
Perkin-Elmer OWL-1200
Status: Supported by ":CRTSTY OWL".
Users: See the FOX
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor
Chars: 7 x 11 (in a 9 x 12 field)
Price: $1500 through Educom (MIT included), about $2000 otherwise.
Keybrd: 1 key rollover sucks, assuming it is like the FOX keyboard.
Speeds: 75,110,200,300,600,1200,1800,2400,7200,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine,
DelLine, Standout
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures: Upper case RUBOUT key.
Vendor: See the FOX
Comes within 2 inches of being defacto VT-52, HP compatible. Uses
ESC K to mean clear entire screen, clear all tabs and home, instead
of Erase to End of Line, and uses Esc I to mean CLEOL instead.
See also little-brother FOX-1100.
EAK 11 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: SB, Up: Top, Previous: OWL, Next: SWTPC
Beehive Super-Bee
There are two models, the SB1 and the SB2. The SB2 has some a new PROM
to fix certain bugs.
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP SB" and ":CRTSTY SB1" or ":CRTSTY SB2".
SB1 should be used via CRTSTY. System support for SB2 might work.
Users: CBF, EAK
Price: $3K, not actively marketed I hope.
Screen: 25 x 80, white phosphor, black background
Chars: 5 x 7 (in a 7 x 10 field), descenders
Keybrd: Reasonable.
Speeds: ...,9600
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, Ins Line, Del Line, Standout.
Lacks: At least on the SB1 Ins char & Del Char do not work. Overstrike.
Misfeatures: Peruse the following from Mark Horton:
Date: 7 Jun 1980 19:59:14-PDT
From: CSVAX.mark at Berkeley
Subject: superbee
The terminal is unable to scroll at 9600 baud, and can't always keep up
at 4800 baud either. 2400 baud is safe. This is not a problem on ITS
because most people don't use scrolling, but it is serious on other systems.
Even though it has insert line, the feature is unusable. This is because
the terminal keeps a fancy data structure only using up the amount of
memory needed by each line instead of a full 80 characters. Insert line
inserts a zero length line, and when you try to put something on that line
it either (1) ignores it if the line begins with a tab, or (2) takes characters
away from the bottom of memory to put them in the line, causing decay of
the screen if the bottom of memory is on the screen.
Insert character might be useable with lots of special code but it is unlike
any IC I have ever seen before. When the line grows past 80 characters,
it inserts a blank space and starts shoving the next line to the right.
When this second line hits column 80 it pulls the same trick on the third line,
and it can eventually mess up the entire lower part of the screen.
Delete line and delete character are quite ordinary and usable.
Since there are only 2048 chars of memory, often the terminal will do the
wrong thing and fail to display all 25 lines. Sometimes the top or bottom
line will be blank until you position the cursor there. This doesn't seem
to have a serious effect on a screen editor, but can be annoying.
The standout modes (inverse and blinking) have the same misfeature as the
Teleray and TVI: they leave a blank space between modes.
The keyboard has an amazing number of keys crowded around it, including
separate keys for newline (^_), return, linefeed, _, rubout, tab, backtab,
and several special functions such as scroll up and down, but amazingly
enough there is no backspace key! Shift lock is where control should be,
control is to the left of the left shift key.
Another botch is the SPOW "feature". This is supposed to make spaces be
nondestructive on the screen when a latch is set. (Set by return, cleared
by tab, newline, linefeed or home.) But what they don't tell you is that
when the latch is set and you are entering a line of text, when you hit
the space bar it actually TRANSMITS ESCAPE C (the nondestructive space
sequence) instead of space! CRTSTY compensates for this by turning escape
C back into space (I wonder if escape C does something useful in EMACS?)
CBF 5 March 1978
File: TERMS, Node: SWTPC, Up: Top, Previous: SB, Next: TEK4020
SWTPC CT-82
This terminal is very bizarre. It has an incredible number of useless
features. The keyboard feels good, but it does not have N-key rollover.
It has ins/del char/line. There are modes for whether ins-char pushes
characters off the end of the line, or causes the line to wrap. The
character can be inserted so things get pushed to the right or to the left.
Similarly, inserting lines can push lines up or down.
All the ins/del stuff, and all the other assorted features (such as slide
the screen left or right, or scroll the quadrant that is north-east,
NW, SE, or SW or the current cursor position) seems to happen very
fast without glitches.
The screen is small (9" diagonal??), but the characters are very
sharp. The nominal layout is 16 lines by 82 characters. 20 lines by
82 characters-mode can be set, but then the descenders on one line overlap
the tall letters on the next line (by one or two scan lines).
There is a 22 by 92 format using uppercase only, but the sample we saw
could not do it.
All escape sequences begin with ^[, ^\, or ^], followed usually by
one or more control characters. For some reason they did not catch
on to the fact that one can follow an escape with printing characters as
well as control characters, except for sending coordinate positions or
something like that. What I mean is that all the escape sequences that
don't take variable arguments consist entirely of control characters.
The most commonly used (by their definition) functions are done by a
single control character (so the first sentence of this paragrph is not
entirely correct). However, it is possible to demand that these
single control characters be preceded by some arbitrary characgter.
Unfortunately, in the current version of the software, this means that
CR and LF must also be escaped when this mode is requested! This is
a known bug to them.
It is possible to reprogram any sequence to be some arbitrary sequence.
Thus it would be very easy to make this terminal emulate many others. I'm
not usre what kind of length restriction there is on an
reprogramed escape sequence. The escape sequence tables are loaded into
RAM from ROM every time the terminal is powered up.
There seem to be other software bugs as of this version of the terminal
(release 1A). We were unable to get the terinal to work over
the phone to a UNIX. It kept on going into some kind of control-char
transparent mode. but we may have had it configured wrong in some way.
The terminal has some kind of graphics. It will put a 2x3 pixel in a
char position, using the char position to encode the pixel. But in version
1A software, the graphics stuff does not work. (This is another known bug
to them, listed in the front of the manual).
Price is $795/ qty. 1. The ByteShop owner where we saw the thing said
SWTPC is shipping 40% of their production to Europe (I have no idea why).
This terminal is too bizarre, too flaky, and too buggy , at least now, to
warrant consideration.
My impression is that to pad on most terminals, one sends nulls, which get
thrown away by the terminal. However, the CT-82 manual says this won't
work, because they use a UART, and so the nulls will get stuck in the UART
FIFO buffer. So they say send nothing while padding (which is necessary
sometimes, though I think not very often on the terminal). So, either
they are wedged in thinking about UART ubffers, or they forgot to throw
away nulls in the right way. Anyway, I am confused by that section of
their manual.
-DCH@MIT-ML
(Considering the quality of Dan's report and the bizarre nature of the
terminal, I have decided to dispense with the normal format; especially
considering that this terminal does not seem to have enough going for
it to bother comparing it around anyway. -CBF 11 March 1979)
File: TERMS, Node: Tek4020, Previous: SWTPC, Up: Top, Next: T1061
Tektronix 4024, 4025 & 4027
Support: :CRTSTY TK4025 or TK4027
Users: Greenfeld@BBN-TENEXD, FJW@MC for 4025, MIT Architecture for 4027
Price: 4024 (alphanumeric only) $3000
4025 (alpha & graphics) $4800 8K bytes graphics memory,
$5500 16K bytes graphics memory,
$6200 32K bytes graphics memory (maximum)
4027 (alpha & color graphics) $8000
Screen: 34 x 80 green, rather long persistence phosphor
Chars: fairly large
Keybrd: Detachable. Unfortunate feel, keys have lots of sideways play.
Some 4027's I have seen have a stiffer (and better) version of the
keboard. All keys (except shift & control) redefinable to transmit
arbirtrary sequences!
Speeds: 0,50,75,110,134,150,300,600,1200,1800,2400,4800,9600
supports split speeds fully.
Has: Random, Tabs, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Standout
Lacks: Addr, CLEOL, CLEOS, Overstrike
Misfeatures: Lack of full-duplex operation (see below).
Bewildering number of features in local operating system.
Must have a command character to introduce statements,
which character then becomes unavailable for normal use.
Verbose command language from transmission time point
of view, commands are at least 4 characters, folowed by
operands separated by delimiters.
This terminals have an amazingly frustrating feature: If the user types
on the keyboard while the terminal is recieving a command, the command
will be garbled. You can practically forget about using these terminals
for real-time editing because of this.
The lack of direct cursor addressing and CLEOL make this terminal almost
impossible to support reasonably. The DEL command, which might be used to
simulate it, is actually slower than wiping out a line by transmitting
spaces at 1200 baud! (On the 4025, the 4027 may be faster). In addition
the insert line command works in a very non-standard fashion; it moves
down one line before performing the operation. This makes it impossible
to insert a line before the top line in the screen.
In general the command structure of these terminals is designed along
the bankrupt concept that the local terminal can provide a much better
editing environment than the central timesharing system. That the central
timesharing system is inflexible and unfriendly, and furthermore
communicates in a lockstepped line at a time protocol. In other words,
if you're using an IBM system (TSO, CMS) it might be advantages,
for real time editing, forget it.
If one is willing to get some other terminal for editing however, these
terminals do have some merit as graphics devices (which is what Tektronix
should probably stick to). The 4025 has a graphics resolution of 640
horizontal by 476 vertically displayable. However, they use this scheme
whereby the screen is divided up into 8 by 14 cells. If any 8x14 cell does
not contain any graphics (or characters) then it does not need to consume
any memory. Ie. they have a sparse allocation technique based on character
cells. In fact, once it is sent to the terminal, there is no difference
between putting a character on the screen, or sending graphics commands to
fill the cell with the character. Initially however, the terminal does not
act on any graphics commands, until one defines the exact area of the screen
that graphics overlap on. Ie. you can say, the graphics workspace is lines
10 through 20 from columns 40 through 60. The terminal is full of features
like these to give the local user control of such things. The underlying
presumption seems to be that he is dealing with canned programs on a central
computer, which either cannot be modified, or have insufficient
paramterization to allow the users of graphics systems to specify these
things. Unfortunately, this sparse allocation scheme allows one to do
graphics with less than a full screen worth of bit memory. In fact,
the price for a full screen worth of bit memory is rather ridiculous,
and serves to make the terminal overpriced as a simple graphics display.
The color 4027 has more going for it. It uses a very good color monitor.
It is organized in similar fashions to the 4025 in general. I would recommend
that anyone who is looking for a terminal to do color information presentations
examine this as a cost effective device. However, be aware you should probably
use it a display only in line with the previous warnings about commands getting
garbled during user type-in.
31 December 1978, CBF
25 April 1979, CBF updated.
File: TERMS, Node: T1061, Previous: Tek4020, Up: Top, Next: TVI
Teleray 1061
Status: :TCTYP T1061 (+%TPMTA if you have the Meta key in place of Home)
Users: T1062-FANS@MIT-MC
Price: $1095 quantity 1-5, $1050 5-9, $1000 10-25.
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, grey background
Chars: 7 x 9 in an 8 x 12 field.
Keybrd: Typewriter paired, detached, N-key rollover. The tactile feel and
layout could both be much better. There is now a Meta key available.
Speeds: 50,75,110,134.5,150,300,600,1200,1800,2000,2400,3600,4800,7200,9600
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout?
Lacks: Overstrike
Misfeatures:
The standout features (inverse video, blinking, half intensity,
underlining) are useless to any system, since the start of the standout
feature (called "visuals") takes up a character position and causes
a blank to appear on the screen. There is no way around this.
There is supposed to be a newer similar modle for somewhat more money
that does not have this misfeature
Standard firmware will fail to scan the keyboard during extended
insert/delete line or scrolling operations. You can order the "SIPB"
or "Arpa" PROMs for $100 which fixes this, but slows down these operations
somewhat. Timing requirements with SIPB PROMS are apx.
60 milliseconds to clear whole screen, and 2.5 milliseconds per line
moved for line insert or delete.
This is one of the most cost-effective, low risk terminal that posses all the
necessary features.
The Meta key replaces the home key (beneath the bottom row of the keyboard to
the right) and operates like to shift key to set the 8th (or parity) bit.
Beware, if you're system ever randomly lets control characters back to the
terminal. If the terminal recieves a ^R it will turn on the printer port.
The problem with this is whether there is a printer there or not, if the
printer is set to slower baud rate than the line, the terminal will place
characters on the screen only as fast as it can send them to the printer
port, thus totally messing up screen output. The SIPB PROMs read disable
the ^R command. Teleray has said they might make the disablement settable
from one of the DIP switches in the back, but they have not done this to
my knowledge.
There is supposed to be a new model which fixes the standout mode problem,
also have provision for multiple pages of memory, alternate character sets
and APL. I have not yet seen this model or any documentation.
Note for ITS usage the auto newline switch (switch 5) should be in the OFF
position.
31 December 1978, CBF
22 February 1979, CBF
11 March 1979, CBF
30 September 1979, CBF
3 February 1980, CBF
File: TERMS, Node: TVI, Previous: T1061, Up: Top, Next: VIS200
Tele-Video Inc. 912 and 920
Status: Upward compatible with 3A
Users: Mike Powell (csvax.Powell@Berkeley)
Price: $840 qty 1 for 912, $940 for 920. Qty 10 discount about $50.
Screen: 80*24
Chars: 12 x 10, underlining does not overlap charactes.
Keybrd: Model 912B and 920B: bit paired layout, no rollover, numeric pad, too
many keys. By all accounts one of the worst tactile feels on the
market. 920 has an extra row of function keys that 912 doesn't have
for an extra $100. There are now models 912C and 920C which have
typewriter paired layout for additional $75. The feel is still no
better though.
Speeds: 75..19200. Insert line said to not be able to handle 9600.
Has: Cursor, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout.
Lacks: Overstrike, except it can underline.
Misfeatures:
Standout modes take up a blank space to store the mode change,
making them almost useless. Cannot underline and inverse video
the same char, turning one on turns the other off. Other combinations
of the 4 seem to be possible. Backtab key to left of ctrl, I
kept hitting backtab D instead of ctrl D, but it didn't transmit
anything.
Comments:
Insert line requires 33 milliseconds of padding per line moved!
Comes standard with a switch for 50/60 hz.
No fan. I saw a prototype, rs232 cable in back
was at strange angle making it hard if not impossible to plug in.
Manufacturer address:
TeleVideo, Inc.
3190 Coronado Drive
Santa Clara, CA 95051
(408) 246-5428.
Most of the above is from Mark Horton (csvax.Mark@Berkeley). The following
is from Dan Halbert (csvax.Halbert@Berkeley) who saw one somewhat latter:
We were quoted ~$745 in qty. 10.
Has underline, reverse video, blinking, half-bright.
Has ins/del line/char
When an insert or delete line is done, the screen is blanked for a
long time (maybe 1/4 - 1/2 second). This is apprently so you don7t see
glitches.
The mode changing leaves a blank space (e.g. there is a space before
anything that is underlined). This is like the Teleray 1061 bug.
The keyboard is BY FAR the worst I have ever tried to use. It has a
sort of light touch, and the keys are crowded together slightly, it seems,
so fast slightly sloppy touch typing makes for extraneous characters as
your fingers slide over the keys. Apparently the problem is that each key
makes contact at too short a travel, though the entire key travel is
reasonable. It does not have n-key rollover, and there is no clicker.
Other people who were not touch typists tried it, and found it bad, but
usable. Surprisingly, the keyboard feels OK when the terminal is off,
though the keys do wiggle.
The inside looks OK, and fairly clean, as far as I can tell. There
is a space for an alternate character-set ROM.
If this terminal didn't have such an awful keyboard, it would be fine
as a cheap featureful terminal. Things like screen blanking I can live with.
22 February 1979
11 March 1979
File: TERMS, Node: VIS200, Previous: TVI, Up: Top, Next: VT
Visual Technology Inc. Visual 200
Status: Supported by :TCTYP VT52 +%TOLID and :CRTSTY VIS200
Users: csvax.ucsfcgl!cmevax!rusty@berkeley
Price: Suggested list is $1195. Some distributors may offer it
at $950.
Screen: 24x80
Chars: 7x9
Keybrd: ASCII layout. Detachable. N-key rollover. Typeamatic.
Feel is not very good.
Speeds: 110, 200, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200; no split speeds
Has: Random, Address, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar,
InsLine, DelLine, Standout
Lacks: Overwrite
Misfeatures: Beeps when character typed in insert character mode.
CAPS ONLY turns ~ into ^, etc.
The cursor is a non-blinking reverse video block, which is poor.
The beeping in insert character mode is very annoying. Has a 256
character input buffer. Sends ^S^Q when it fills. Seems to
require no padding at 9600 bps. May not listen to keyboard when
it gets busy.
EAK 14 January 1980
The whole screen can be put in reverse video by a switch in the back.
When in this mode using half-bright (all you get) for standout seems
fairly reasonable. The terminal can emulate the usual set: adm3a,
vt52, haz1500, and one I can't think of now.
On the sample I saw, the parity switches in the back did not work
properly - if the port happened to generate the wrong parity it refuses
to accept it, even when the switch is set to ignore parity! (Our
dz's worked OK but dh's didn't).
MRH 23 July 1980
File: TERMS, Node: VT, Previous: VIS200, Up: Top, Next: VT50
DEC Video Terminal (models VT50, VT50H, VT52, VT55, VT61, VT100, VT132)
See individual entries. "VT" is a generic name which causes CRTSTY to
figure out which model it is.
File: TERMS, Node: VT50, Previous: VT, Up: Top, Next: VT50H
DEC VT-50
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP VT50 PADTAB 1" and ":CRTSTY VT50".
Users: ?
Price: $1250 list, $1K or less in quantity or through dealer
Screen: 12 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, grey background
Chars: 7 x 7, no descenders, no lower case
Keybrd: Very good. Has audible clicker.
Speeds: (75,150,300)(110,600,1200,2400,4800,9600) for split speeds pick
transmitting speeds from left list, receiving speeds from the
right list. Above based on VT-50H manual, VT50 MIGHT be different.
Has: Random, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS
Lacks: Addr, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Standout, Overstrike
Misfeatures: Small screen size and lack of lower case.
File: TERMS, Node: VT50H, Previous: VT50, Up: Top, Next: VT52
DEC VT-50H
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP VT50 PADTAB 3" and ":CRTSTY VT50H".
Users: ?
Price: probably $1400 list, usually less in quantity or through dealer
Screen: 12 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, grey background
Chars: 7 x 7, no descenders, no lower case
Keybrd: Very good. Has audible clicker.
Speeds: (75,150,300)(110,600,1200,2400,4800,9600) for split speeds pick
transmitting speeds from left list, receiving speeds from the
right list.
Has: Random, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Standout, Overstrike
Misfeatures: Small screen size and lack of lower case.
File: TERMS, Node: VT52, Up: Top, Previous: VT50H, Next: VT55
DEC VT-52
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP VT52" and ":CRTSTY VT52".
Users: everyone on the 8th & 9th floors of 545 Tech Sq.
Price: $2195 list, down to $1250 quantity 100, average $1750 through dealers
$1500 for anyone in "packs" of 4.
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, grey background
Chars: 7 x 7, no descenders
Keybrd: Very good. Has audible clicker.
Speeds: (75,150,300)(110,600,1200,2400,4800,9600) for split speeds pick
transmitting speeds from left list, receiving speeds from the
right list.
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Standout, Overstrike
Misfeatures: Direct Cursor Adressing at 960cps loses
The main local terminal for ML and MC, this is understood by
ITS quite well. The only reason to use CRTSTY with this is to take
advantage of the alternate keypad, such that the blank colored keys
become META/TOP/CTRL prefixes and so forth. If there are any good
suggestions for the numeric keys, they can be implemented.
File: TERMS, Node: VT55, Up: Top, Previous: VT52, Next: VT61
DEC VT-55
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP VT52" and ":CRTSTY VT52".
Users: ?
Price: $2995
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, grey background
Chars: 7 x 7, no descenders, no lower case
Keybrd: Very good. Has audible clicker.
Speeds: ...,9600. supports certain split speeds.
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine, Standout, Overstrike
Misfeatures: No lower case.
This is supposedly a "graphics" terminal. That means it allows one
to draw 2 "curves" horizontally across the screen. I.e. for each
horizontal position on the screen, the user has the capability of
turning on up to 2 points randomly in the vertical plane.
File: TERMS, Node: VT61, Up: Top, Previous: VT55, Next: VT100
DEC VT-61
Status: Supported by ":TCTYP VT52".
Users: ?
Price: $3300
Screen: 24 x 80, P4 (white) phosphor, grey background
Chars: 7 x 8, descenders
Keybrd: Very good. Has audible clicker.
Speeds: ?
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine
Lacks: Standout, Overstrike
Misfeatures: Too many features. It has been reliably reported to send
^S^Q sequences due to falling behind when run at 4800 baud
or maybe even less.
ITS does not know its line insertion and deletion codes. CRTSTY could
be made to know them very quickly if anyone wants it to. Line insertion
and deletion come in flavors that ripple up or down, but ITS only knows
how to use down. Other interesting features like a readable checksum register,
A few controllable LED indicators on the side, word wrapping mode and
a host of other semi-useless features.
File: TERMS, Node: VT100, Up: Top, Previous: VT61, Next: VT132
DEC VT-100
Status: Supported by CRTSTY VT100; also emulates VT52
Users: Innumerable, about100,000 per year are being manufactured by DEC.
Price: ~$2100 list, MIT used to pay $1230. Dealers might typically sell it
for $1600 if it weren't in such tight supply. $270 "advanced video
option" provides enough memory for 24 lines of 132 chars, more screen
enhancement modes and place to mount extra character sets.
Screen: 24x80 or 14x132 software selectable. 24x132 optional. 12 inch diagonal,
(8x4.5 inch active) P4 phospher. Composite video input and output.
Chars: 7x9 with descendsers. 80 column mode very readable, 132 somewhat.
Keybrd: Very similar to office Selectric layout. Detachable.
Control and delete keys are distant because of this.
Keytops same as VT52/LA36; user can enable and disable clicker, which
is electronically generated rather than mechanically like VT52.
Speeds: 50,75,110,134.5,150,200,300,600,1200,1800,2000,2400,3600,4800,9600,
19200 in any combination of transmit and recieve speeds. Note terminal
probably cannot keep up at 19200 without using DEC's losing ^S^Q
protocol, and cannot keep up at many speeds if one uses smooth scroll.
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, Standout; Does not have InsLine or
DelLine but they can be simulated by scrolling the scrolling region.
Lacks: InsChar, DelChar, OverStrike.
Misfeatures:
Many attributes can be set from the keyboard but not from the computer,
most unfortunately the ^S/^Q switch can only be set from keyboard and
its state cannot be read from the computer.
Features:
132 columns (14 lines of 132 columns standard, 24 lines optional $270).
Smooth scrolling by raster line (can slow down terminal at high speeds
(ie. 4800 baud or greater) if system doesn't support ^S^Q protocal this
can cause lost characters).
Mode setting using display and keyboard; modes can optionally be saved
in non-volatile memory.
Mode to select pound sign substitute for number sign (U.K. ASCII).
Additional character sets available with advanced video option. User
can presumably create own character sets in PROM, but note should beware
that the entire matrix is not availble, if you want to do graphics.
4 Software controllable LED's on keyboard.
This is the VT-52 replacement. There is a VT52 compatibility mode. This
is the only 132 column terminal for less than $4000. A VT-100 with an
lsi-11 is called a PDT-110 and costs about $3900, but does not use normal
LSI-11 backplane. There is now a VT-103 which is a VT-100 with a real
Q-bus backplane for $2995. Note that price does not include the LSI-11, just
the backplane and power supply. There was an outfit doing this prior to
DEC's announcement of the VT-103 and charging $2,395 for it, contact:
Can/Am Transduction Inc; 1461-A Franklin Ave; Tustin, CA 92680 (714) 838-4742.
There will be a VT-132 coming out around March 1979 which will have line/char
insert/delete. This terminal will be aimed at the "forms-filling" market
(primarily intended for use with non-DEC mainframes, although the Trax system
might use it). Priced about $300 more than the VT-100.
Note, the VT-105 is a fraud. It has VT-55 type graphics.
The VT-100 has sparked many many imitators. Datamedia, Micro-term,
Plessly, DataGraphix are a few companies that should be looked at before
you buy the DEC version. Due to the continued short supply of VT-100's
the imitators may not be more than $100 or $200 off of DEC's price,
however most seem to offer the features of the $270 advanced video option
standard within their price. Some also offer a printer port option
CBF 6 July 1978
Moon 10 August 1978
CBF 20 October 1978
CBF 31 December 1978
File: TERMS, Node: VT132, Up: Top, Previous: VT100, Next: VT4800
DEC VT-132
Status: :CRTSTY VT132
Users: gmp@MIT-Multics
Price: MIT $1550, list probably around $2500 or whatever market wil bear
Screen: 24x80 or 24x132 software selectable. 12 inch diagonal,
(8x4.5 inch active) P4 phospher. Composite video input and output.
Chars: 7x9 with descendsers. 80 column mode very readable, 132 somewhat.
Keybrd: Detached, typewriter paired layout, user enabled clicker,
2 key rollover.
Speeds: 50,75,110,134.5,150,200,300,600,1200,1800,2000,2400,3600,4800,9600,
19200 in any combination of transmit and recieve speeds. Note terminal
cannot seem to put normal characters on the screen at 9600 baud without
50% padding.
Has: Random, Addr, Tabs, CLEOL, CLEOS, InsChar, DelChar, InsLine, DelLine,
Standout.
Lacks: OverStrike.
Misfeatures:
Current models have a couple of firmware bugs. Insert char does not seem
to take effect in the first 4 columns when in 132 column mode. The
function codes for the commands which the VT132 implemented which the
VT100 did not implement have all been implemented with their meanings
reverse of the ANSI standard. This is to be fixed in future models.
The insert mode LED which is documented to light in insert mode does not.
The terminal is grossly slow. Equivalent functions seem to take an
average twice as long on the VT132 as the VT100. This includes simple
displayable graphic characters. The VT100 can generally keep up at
9600 baud, the VT132 cannot, 4800 baud seems the best it can do.
The insert and delete line functions take longer to execute than the
method of simulating them via scroll region manipulation that one must
do for the VT100.
Features:
132 columns.
Smooth scrolling by raster line (can slow down terminal at high speeds
(ie. 4800 baud or greater) if system doesn't support ^S^Q protocal this
can cause lost characters).
Mode setting using display and keyboard; modes can optionally be saved
in non-volatile memory.
Mode to select pound sign substitute for number sign (U.K. ASCII).
Additional character sets available. User can presumably create own
character sets in PROM, but note should beware that the entire matrix is
not availble, if you want to do graphics. 4 Software controllable LED's
on keyboard.
22 February 1979
15 April 1980 CBF
File: TERMS, Node: VT4800, Up: Top, Previous: VT132
Video Terminal Technology VT-4800 (not DEC!)
This is a transcript of a summary that I made after seeing a VT-4800
first-hand. Maybe later I'll fix it up a little, but not much.
-- KLH
Well, had a chance to look over a VT-4800 today. Basically my
feeling is that the lack of char/line ins/del is quite deadly to
any hopes of using it, particularly with 48 lines.
It seemed clear that these functions don't exist at all. The
salesman said that one customer was doing that by adding an 8080 or
something; it does have a 800 Khz parallel input port with whch I
assume you can hook up your favorite controller.
Serial I/O is limited to 9600 baud. It's not clear why 19200
isn't supported, since he claims no pads are required even at the
800 Khz rate. Anyway, the model he brought was fixed at 4800 because
the baud selector switch hadn't been wired up yet, and even then there
seemed to e some problem with its timing, since 4800 from the IO-11
didn't work very well; lots of garbage on the screen. Perhaps the
clock got out of adjustment or smething (crystal, 0.5% error).
So we were limited mostly to local-mode stuff. Other things: It
has video invert and lowercase but both ma be options; not sure.
(by invert I mean single chars - but no blinking, etc).
It has no CLEOF. Cursor addressing is 4 bytes; all control functions
are strappable to any control character (except ^G,^M,^J fixed). It
doesn't use escape sequence. ie mos stuff directly in hardware. although
it has M6800 processor, I guess it doesn't do much. If you woner about
the 4-byte addressing, well it has set-X and set-Y functions which take next
byte as value. Other functions set video normal/inverse, cursor
left and right, up and down (scroll both ays), home, clear, cleol, total-reset.
It has provision for "pages" with functions to jump to page 0, show
next page, previous page. Needs 4K memory per page, up to 16K.
The keybaord is pretty good. N-key rollover, good feel, auto-repeat,
lots of blank keys for progammed use. It is possible to get a metizer
set up for the 8th bit; it seemed as if using CTRL and SHIFT together
might be a pssible way of doing it, although I'm not sure I and salesman
understood the other perfectly.
The display is bit mapped and graphics hardware is supposed to be
available, 2-plane so no interference with characters. These by the way are
5x7 which is how they fit 48 lines in, as oppoed to 7x9 etc; the monitor is
conventional. Graphics will ave hardware vectors, 256x256 resolution.
There are altogether too many jumpered options which would be nicer
to have as switches such as oe finds on the ADM-3A. eg parity handling.
But I suppose once you put your soldering iron away there won't be much
need to change.
Costs: 1195/kit to individual. they may not sell kits in future though.
in groups of 5, $995 fully assembled and $895 kit. Over 25, he didn't
know; something lower. No educational institution discounts. 2 boards,
one for main stuff and the other is part of the kbd.
Not really impressive I would say; 48 lines and decent keyboard
are about the only things it has going for it over other terminals.
Now if it had line ins/del I would perk up.