12 Nov
2017
12 Nov
'17
3:18 p.m.
On Sunday, November 12, 2017, Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
On Sat, 11 Nov 2017, Steve Nickolas wrote:
I would kill for a semi-modern terminal in an ADM3a/5 type chassis.
Because you need LK421 UNIX keyboard[1] for those. Pretty rare these days,
but I have several of them in NOS quality stashed, just in case one of them
breaks.
My personal favorite is definitely VT220 -- very "modern" shape, small and
portable even for todays standards (12" tube), and the built-in font is
just perfect. Did I mention beautiful scanlines? You won't find them on
PC CRT monitors.
--Andy
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LK421
Something about the late 70s pastel googie
BakeLite look I just dig.
Seeing as we're talking about old Unix-y terminals, the ADM-3a was
certainly one of my favourites; there was something about the keyboard
layout that just screamed out "Unix". Was it the unshifted "=" key?
The
unshifted "[]" keys? Can't remember now, but C programming was a breeze
with it.
Another favourite was the Teleray 1061, with user-programmable function
keys; yes, we were dumb enough to store our username/password there...
The *worst* terminal I've ever had to use was the VT-220 and its clones; I
was always having to hunt'n'peck for common keys. I still loathe it.