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joedoe55555

Ok, so how do I build a teletype that I can connect via USB to my Mac? (And will vi work? :D)

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While not exactly a teletype, Justin Ouelette's VT220 is cool:

http://jstn.cc/post/8692501831

http://jstn.cc/post/13476503553

http://jstn.cc/post/10831555077

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665509/digital-archaeology-hack...

http://justinouellette.com/

What's most amazing to me is that this got so much press. Maybe OS X is ridiculously hard to set up, but I've been doing this on and off with my own VT 220 for the last 5 years on Linux. It's just... not that big of a deal. It's not archaeology, it's just pointing getty at /dev/ttyS0.

I've done it with an ADM-3A from the 70s too, it's just. Not. That. Tough.

http://imgur.com/bRnST here's me, years back, hacking on a VT 220

I don't think it's implied anywhere that it's hard or novel. He simply is more connected than you, that's all.

On the hardware level, does the VT 220 connect via a standard nine-pin serial port?

"standard nine-pin serial port"

Them's fightin' words, boy.

DEC had a DE9 serial port connector whose pinout is not the same as the later IBM PC DE9 serial ports.

IIRC, while the VT-220 had both 9-pin and 25-pin RS-232 ports, the 9-pin port was used to attach a printer. You also typically need a "null modem" adapter or cable to connect a terminal directly to a PC serial port (or USB serial adapter).

There's lots of original documentation for DEC VT series terminals here[1].

[1] http://www.vt100.net/

It has a 25-pin serial port which converts to a 9-pin serial port by a simple passive converter (basically, just ditch 16 of the pins and route the others properly, you can actually do serial with just two wires). Same goes for the ADM-3a

Huh, I was using a Wyse terminal on OSX years ago, right now tho' I am using an Atari ST as a terminal (and for 68k dev). Only a hipster would make a big deal about it.

You're better off finding an existing ASCII teletype. Then all you need is a USB-to-RS232 interface (FTDI and PL2303 ones work on OS X) and, depending on the machine, an RS232 to 20ma current loop interface, or a modem. Then simply edit /etc/ttys to enable getty on the appropriate interface.

Original vi has what is called 'open mode', which is effectively a one-line window intended for printing terminals. Neither nvi nor vim provide this, but line mode (ex) is more efficient anyway.

Hmm. Imagine a "teletype" jury-rigged out of a state of the art laser printer with Vim running on it. You would just have to position yourself or the printer so that every time the screen updated the next sheet of paper would land somewhere convenient.

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