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Date:      Sat, 1 Jun 1996 23:09:28 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Bill/Carolyn Pechter <pechter@shell.monmouth.com>
To:        terry@lambert.org
Cc:        freebsd-chat@freefall.FreeBSD.org
Subject:   vt131
Message-ID:  <199606020309.XAA28108@shell.monmouth.com>

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Terry -- RE: vt100/102 and VT130's --

> From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
> Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 15:00:02 -0700 (MST)
> Subject: Re: vt100/syscons/pcvt
> 
> > > > Ehh, even the VT100 can handle 132 columns 8)
> > > 
> > > Wrong. Only a VT100 with an AVO installed. (For the curious: the Advanced
> > > Video Option board).
> > > 
> > 
> > Bzzt.  Wrong.  The vt100 without AVO would do 14 lines of 132 columns.
> > Check the vt100 handbook and old termcap (Uniplus SYS III I think sources...)
> > 
> > Bill
> > ex-DEC Field Circus
> > Vax and VT100 board shuffler...
> 
> uh... 12 lines.

Terry -- are you sure it wasn't 14... 14x132 under EDT is burned in my 
brain... the docs are in the Crawl Space -- should I take a look or isn't
it worth the bother?

> > 
> > Wrong. Only a VT100 with an AVO installed. (For the curious: the Advanced
> > Video Option board).
> 
> A VT100 without AVO can do 12 row 132 columns.
> 
> The AVO board came with a replacement ROM; if anyone is interested,
> a VT100 with an AVO preinstalled is a VT102.  I happen to have a
> reference manual for a VT102P (VT100+AVO+printer port)...
> 
> Without an AVO, you got to select between reverse and underline
> attributes; with AVO, you get revrse, underline, blink, and bold,
> simultaneously.  You also got insert/delete char/line and a bunch
> of lesser additional ANSI commands.
> 
> Yes, I'm a geek who spent way too may years writing emulation software
> for a terminal software company (extra points: what's the difference
> between a VT130 and a VT131?  It's a trick question... 8-)).

The memory's a bit hazy -- although I was mostly a Vax and PDP11 guy
I took my share of terminal calls on everything from VT52 (80 col 24 lines --
not 12), VT50's (these buggers were worse than 52's), and VT100, VT101
VT102, and VT103's (and the VT125 -- vt100 with Sixel graphics upgrade).
The real slick one was the VT05 72 column by 12 lines ALL CAPS.

The VT131 was a VT102 with block mode...  The VT102 was a VT100 with
Printer Port and AVO -- but the VT101/VT102 used a different board set and 
microcode and had a major number of very UGLY bugs in cursor speed until 
the later rom revisions (and I think some VMS EDT workarounds to avoid 
hitting some of these).  The Real VT101/102 was a cost reduced
one board item instead of the VT100+AVO).  The VT101/102 had a smaller power
supply and couldn't handle the Q-BUS backplane or VT180 Z80 CPU
which made them VT103(Q-BUS) or VT180 (CP/M).  I've got both of them here.

There was also the PDT11/110 and 11/130 which fitted an LSI-11 chipset
in a VT100 making for a kind of workstation running RT11.  The 11/130 used
TU58 DECtape.  The 110 was downloaded over the serial line.

There may have been a VT130 -- but I don't remember.  Could it have been
one of those wierd Newspaper Composition/Editing Tubes like the VT78
based stuff.

Actually, if you want WIERD -- there was the multidrop DDCMP VT62 (a 52
with wierd DECnet support and a Reverse Video command and BLOCK MODE
designed for a transaction processing system called TRAX (which died or
mutated and became RSX-11M+).


If I'm wrong -- anyone please correct me...

Bill
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Bill Pechter/Carolyn Pechter  | 17 Meredith Drive, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724, 
 908-389-3592                  | pechter@shell.monmouth.com                
 I'll run Win95 on my box when you pry the keyboard from my cold, dead
 hands.  FreeBSD, OS/2, CP/M, RT11, spoken here.



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