Eric Smith wrote:
Jonathan Katz wrote:
So there isn't an RS-232 or similar off the
back and you can't just
jack it into your Linux box?
I think it uses some kind of multidrop signalling rather than EIA-232.
It would do ordinary RS-232 or an async multidrop DDCMP variation.
Here's a snip from a collection of 18 year old postings (old enough to
vote, but not to drink)! The VT62 was the one with block mode.
ftp://cs.utk.edu/pub/shuford/terminal/block_mode_news.txt
As far as I know, DEC only made one true block mode terminal: The VT61 (or
was it the VT62? I can no longer remember?) The VT61 was designed to be used
with a long-forgotten system called TRAX. TRAX was a PDP-11-based dedicated
transaction-processing system. A special terminal interface connected VT61's
to a TRAX system; communication was based on multi-drop polled DDCMP. The
VT61 could do all sorts of fancy on-screen editing before sending data back
in a single DDCMP packet. (The VT62 - or perhaps I have the numbers backward
- was a VT61 that used standard async lines. I don't know what they were
supposed to be used for, and it's not clear to me that DEC ever actually
*sold* any. Both terminals were based on the VT52, and did an impressive
amount of processing for their size, given the era in which they were built.
Within DEC, VT62's were used as VT52 replacements. When used this way, their
main advantage was that, unlike the VT52, they supported reverse video.)
I gave my (DEC employee purchased) VT62 away a few years back... The
flimsey circuit boards had made it unreliable. I kept my VT52, which
has a much more satisfying key crunch sound (the VT62 replaced the
electromechanical clicker with a speaker). I think there was also a
volume pot. for the speaker. I forget what the bell sound on the '62
was. Certainly less offensive than the '52, but that's half the fun!
ISTR the VT61 had useful extensions (like insert/delete line and/or
insert/delete character), but the only one I ever saw (when I worked
at DEC) was noisy, and the screen could be easily scrambled due to
electrostatic disturbances (shuffling on the carpet), even at a
distance!
Phil