You may not know what a ADM-3, a TV910, or a H1420 are, but you probably have at least heard of a VT-100. They are all terminals from around the same time, but the DEC VT-100 is the terminal that practically everything today at least somewhat emulates. Even though a real VT-100 is rare, since it defined what have become ANSI escape sequences, most computers you’ve used in the last few decades speak some variation of the VT-100’s language. [Nikhil] wanted to see if you could use a VT-100 for real work today.
While the VT-100 wasn’t a general-purpose computer, it did have an 8080 inside. It only had about 3K of RAM, which was enough to act as a serial terminal. A USB serial port and a terminal with modern Linux, how hard could it be?
As it turns out there were a few issues. MacOS assumes terminals can take data at 9600 baud with no handshaking, apparently. It also means that any application that assumes redrawing the whole terminal is fast will be sorry for that choice.
Of course, there are commands modern VT-100-like terminals accept that the original didn’t. However, as you’ll see in the post, all of these things you can either live with or solve.
It is easy to make your own VT-100 replica. While the VT-100 may seem simple today, it was a marvel compared to even older terminals.