Show and Tell: DEC VT102 and PiDP-11

#DECcember #DEC #vt100 #terminal #rs232
Showing my Digital Equipment Corporation VT102 and PiDP-11
PiDP-11 obsolescence.wixsite.com/obso...
PiDP-11 build photos photos.app.goo.gl/Mp2qZbK6p3f...
vt102 photos photos.app.goo.gl/9okufu2Swps...
My Twitter: / hutchca
My Blog: blog.hutchins1.net/
index
00:00 Intro
00:23 Features and Connectors
01:00 Disassembly and internal features
01:55 Keyboard
02:49 Power on and set-up screens
04:28 PiDP-11
05:00 Connecting serial cable
05:21 Booting with serial console
05:47 PiDP-11 Simulation selection
06:54 Booting unix7
07:43 Booting 2.11 BSD
08:47 Telneting to a BBS
09:16 Outro

[@MattKasdorf]

Thanks for the reminder of my youth.

[@andymcgarty3099]

Brought back lots of memories. Needs a tape deck whirring along to complete the package :)

[@Xoferif]

Can you imagine what an awesomely powerful setup that would've been in the late 70s / early 80s?

[@HutchCA]

The 80s was the prime time for the PDP-11 and VT100. A Raspberry Pi would have probably qualified as a super computer in the 80s.

[@garthhowe297]

I loved working with terminals in my first IT support job..but I really love that PiDP-11...how awesome.

[@HutchCA]

Yeah, in the 90's I used to work on a PDP-11, but a later model without the blinkenlights. We had a wall of VT100s and printers handling messaging services.

[@dave4shmups]

Fantastic video! The way that the motherboard is laid out inside the terminal reminds me of the inside of an old black and white Macintosh.

[@retroCombs]

Thanks! Really enjoyed this and makes me want to finally get my PiDP-8 put together.

[@HutchCA]

Wow! Thank You. That's my very first "Super Thanks"

[@JamiesHackShack]

Need to have a PiDP-8 build party! @retrocombs

[@retroCombs]

@@HutchCA You are welcome! I remember my first. Happy to contribute. You have some great content and I've learned a lot with still more to learn.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Try doing assembly-language programming on a 12-bit machine which can only fit 7 address bits into a memory-reference instruction.

[@retroCombs]

@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 Hard pass for me on that one! 😂

[@gklinger]

Wow! That terminal looks new. Thanks for the video, Chuck.

[@yagotudela]

I love !!! Thanks for sharing .( Me encanta !!! Gracias por compartir )

[@woodch]

My first computer experience of any kind (that I remember) is using a college PDP-11 on VT-100/102 terminals. They also had VT-52s with the wacky buzzer instead of the speaker, and some other brand/model I can't remember-- black and metal... Olivetti maybe?

[@geekwithsocialskills]

Your DEC VT102 is in mint condition! I've never seen one so clean before. Very cool seeing you connect to a BBS with it. I was a little sad you didn't fire up a game of Zork on it. Maybe in your next DEC VT102 video? 🙂

[@HutchCA]

It was pretty dirty when I got it. The dirt may have helped prevent yellowing 😉 Actually I think I scrubbed so hard with the magic eraser I scrubbed off any discoloration. There's a link to photos in the description that shows the original condition.

[@geekwithsocialskills]

@@HutchCA A nice layer of dirt does sometimes help prevent yellowing 🙂 and your photos of before and after the cleaning... wow! Again, nicely done on your cleaning and restoration.

[@RudysRetroIntel]

Great video! Super clean inside and out! Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas

[@NomDayPloom]

Thank you for this! PDP-11 was my first exposure to general purpose computing. And the memories are still strong. :)

[@raymondallo9947]

Still know the numeric keypad commands by heart using the EDT editor on RSX. And what a solid keyboard it was. So many fond memories. Playing the famous Dungeon game. You are in the cave and labyrint and seems you are lost. Would you like a hint. It will cost you a treasure. Y/N .. Y. Don't go West. Or how to get past the Snake. Pick up the bird cage, pick up somewhere else the bird. Go to the snake release the bird and it chases the snake away. Fie Fie Foo magic words. OMG we spend so many evenings playing the game and had drawn the cave system on paper on the wall.

[@ropersonline]

9:27: If you edited the last 23 seconds to loop and turned that footage into a ten-hour video with modest ASMR beeps and bops, I bet that would get a bunch of views. Alternatively, make the audio something like early computers playing Christmas songs, and I reckon you'd be on to a winner.

[@HutchCA]

I made a GIF of it a few years ago. twitter.com/HutchCA/status/1253798958435991552

[@devMashcom]

Hey Hutch! Always great to see you drop another video. I was thinking it would be fun to connect my Televideo 950 to the serial port on my RPi and then ssh to my Windows dev box, and run my build scripts from the 950. Lol! Merry Christmas!🎄

[@LeeCourtney]

Very nice, thanks.

[@GeoffSeeley]

Reminds me of my university days playing multi-terminal, multi-player "hunt" on the VT-52 terminals... Man, I think I had on old DEC VT100(?) terminal with an amber screen/separate keyboard but for some (stupid) reason I got rid of it decades ago now 😞

[@daffyduk77]

vt52s had the most awful aggravating half-beep, half-growl sound. VT100 couldn't come a moment too soon for me

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

The DEC VT100 had the loudest beep. If you were running the TALK program to someone in the library, and you wanted to be really mean, just send them a string of CTRL/G characters.

[@miked4377]

beautiful machine sir...very nice!

[@edgeeffect]

I've always dreamed of having a VT-100! For me, they are THE terminal. I'm a little disappointed that the PiDP comes up with a Debian login prompt, I'd like to to just run the emulator on the console right away so you're straight in with an RSTS (or whatever) login prompt right from the get-go.

[@agle_6098]

Great video!

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

0:14 Also I think the VT102 fixes those interesting ROM bugs that were present in the original VT100.

[@MaggieKeizai]

Wow! How can I get/make the base you have your PiDP-11 sitting on? Mine's just sitting on the wood it came with, but the repro of the rack topper thingy you have under it really sets it off! Way cool!

[@HutchCA]

I just painted the wood base black and printed the DEC rack topper on 11x17, cut, laminated and stuck it on the front with double-sided tape.

[@JamiesHackShack]

@@HutchCA I was beaten to ask the same question! thanks for sharing how you did that. I'd like to do something similar for my stand.

[@MaggieKeizai]

@@HutchCA Thanks! It really does look good. I've been thinking about making a "tiny rack" for mine with a logo and... other stuff. Maybe just a cabinet door covered in black tolex to match the original and help keep my desk tidier.

[@mrthreeplates]

Awesome vt102! Where did you get your base for your Pidp11? I must have one for mine!

[@HutchCA]

I painted the wooden base black and printed the label.

[@mrthreeplates]

@@HutchCA well done, that base looks fantastic.

[@brianv2871]

Hey Chuck. Didn't realize you had a video on this, found it while I was googling when my pidp-11 died (sd card corrupted after multiple power outages - important note, back up the sd card, it's a pain to make a new one unless you use a pi 4 as the new image is for that). Anyway, the base... what did you use for that.. did you make something different or is that some kind of sticker or something around the wood?

[@HutchCA]

Just black spraypaint over the included wooden base. I printed the 'digital' image, "laminated' it with packing tape and stuck it to the base with double sided tape. I did make an image of the SD card not long ago.

[@mgoddard23]

Where did you get your VT102? I'm currently searching for a VT100/101/102/131/132 of my own but having little luck.

[@HutchCA]

I got lucky and found it at an estate sale from a Ham Radio / RTTY hobbyist.

[@stuartmartin3408]

What can you do with it? Apart from the different OS available is there any applications to run?

[@HutchCA]

There are some applications included in the different OS' but for me it's mostly a display item.