7 Aug
2011
7 Aug
'11
2:37 p.m.
On 7 Aug 2011 at 22:13, arcarlini at iee.org wrote:
Rob Jarratt quoted and wrote:
>
> > Sure there are complicted terminals, but be honest. Which would
> > you rather fix : A VT100 or a modern Wintel PC?
> >
>
> Answer: A modern Wintel PC: I can just go to one of any
> number of shops and buy a replacement part :-)
I think you may have missed the word "fix"
in there. You may consider
the modern wintel box to be a disposable tool, but Tony doesn't.
Well, most modern Wintel boxes use fine-pitch BGA packages. While
it's possible to remove and re-ball such stuff, it's not something I
care to waste my time doing.
Slightly vintage Wintel boxes can be had for the asking and it really
makes no sense to run a multi-core speed demon to emulate a terminal.
The last time I needed a standalone text terminal, I just built one
from a uC, a MAX232, a wall wart and a PC keyboard. I
could have
put the entire thing but for the monitor in the keyboard housing.
Complete terminal makings can be found in any moderately-well-stocked
hellbox.
--Chuck