# DEC Terminals

The DEC VT100
and its successors...

(Skip to links)

Once upon a time (about A.D. 1957), a nice man named Ken Olsen and his friends set up a business in an old textile mill alongside the Assabet River in the small town of Maynard, Massachusetts. They named their company "Digital Equipment Corporation".

In those days, everybody knew that a COMPUTER was a gigantic complicated machine made by IBM, and to operate a COMPUTER, you had to have a staff of 100 engineers and programmers...not to mention all the keypunch operators who generated the stacks of 80-column punched cards on which were stored the programs and data. But Ken had studied engineering at MIT, and he had an idea for an easier way to do computing. Because he knew that a COMPUTER was a scary thing to his potential customers, Ken and his friends at DEC made up a new name for the machines they were making: "Programmed Data Processors", or PDPs. And, naturally, the first such machine was the PDP-1.

The PDP-1 had a cathode-ray-tube screen in its operator console, and that screen was the very first video-display device designed by Digital Equipment Corporation. The distinctive shape of that CRT display inspired the logo for the DECUS user group.

Subsequently, DEC introduced other display products, such as the VT05, a "glass Teletype". (According to the Small Computer Handbook, the VT05 did incorporate direct cursor addressing). A refined design appeared around 1974, in the form of the VT52. In the VT52's heyday, the best description of the video-terminal market was "The Tower of Babel": each manufacturer of terminals invented a proprietary set of terminal functions and codes (Escape sequences) to control the functions. But increasing programmer and user frustration with this state of affairs eventually led to the development of an ANSI standard for device control.

When ANSI's X3 Committee published the X3.64 document (in late 1977), some terminal vendors, insisting on using discrete logic designs, objected that the standard was so complex it could not be implemented. (Most of these vendors are now floating belly-up on the tide of technology.)

But DEC's implementation, the VT100, embodied the new idea of using a general-purpose microprocessor (an 8-bit Intel 8080) to interpret the control codes. And thus began a long line of successful ANSI-standard character-cell terminals sold by DEC. Although it was not the first video terminal to implement the ANSI X3.64 control standard, the VT100 enjoyed great popularity and soon became the most widely imitated asynchronous terminal.

All DEC terminals that came after the VT100 are able to emulate their ancestor, although they offer new features in addition to what the VT100 could do. Most modern so-called "VT100" emulations actually mimic the display capabilities of the slightly more capable VT102 and may even include keyboard controls that really were found only in later DEC products, such as the VT220.

In 1983, the VT220 inherited the mantle of the VT100 in textual applications, with the VT240/VT241 playing a supporting role where remote graphics (ReGIS and Sixel) were required.

Appearing around 1988, another generation consisted of the VT320, VT330, and VT340; after a few more years, the VT320 and VT330 were replaced by the VT420, with the VT340 kept in the product line for ReGIS graphics applications.

> This page previously referred to a "VT440" model terminal. However, close investigation appears to show that no real VT440 terminal was ever sold by DEC. The VT340 (capable of ReGIS and Sixel graphics, but not responding to DP6429/ECMA-48 color text controls) was apparently retained in the product line alongside the VT420 until the VT525 was introduced as the color graphics terminal.

In August 1995, Digital sold its character-cell-terminal business to Boundless Technologies of Austin, Texas (which had previously been known as SunRiver Data Systems).

A decade later, we find that Boundless is still the supplier of the single-session VT510 and multi-session VT520, and the color multi-session VT525, and that Boundless is also selling essentially similar products bearing the Dorio and ADDS badges.

How close a given terminal or terminal-emulator program comes to precisely emulating a real VT100 may be measured by using the program vttest (now maintained by Thomas E. Dickey).

The page you are viewing concentrates on the particular features of DEC terminals and emulations of them. For information that applies in general to all video terminals, see the general information page.

### DEC Terminals At a Glance

    Model    Extended  Mono      Color     Redefinable  Refresh  Dual    Comments
             Keyboard  Graphics  Graphics  Characters   Rate     Session
    -----    --------  --------  --------  -----------  -------  ------- ----------
    VT05      No        No        No        No           60Hz     No    glass TTY
    VT52      No        No        No        No           60Hz     No    non-ANSI

    VT100     No        No        No        No           60Hz     No    ANSI type
    VT101     No        No        No        No           60Hz     No
    VT102     No        No        No        No           60Hz     No
    VT125     No        Yes       No        No           60Hz     No
    VT131     No        Yes       No        No           60Hz     No    block mode

    VT220     Yes       No        No        Yes          60Hz     No
    VT240     Yes       Yes       No        Yes          60Hz     No    w/mono CRT
    VT241     Yes       No        Yes       Yes          60Hz     No    w/color CRT
    VT286     Yes       Yes       No        Yes          60Hz     No    Japanese
    VT320     Yes       No        No        Yes          60Hz     No
    VT330     Yes       Yes       No        Yes          60Hz     Yes
    VT340     Yes       No        Yes       Yes          60Hz     Yes
    VT420     Yes       No        No        Yes          70Hz     Yes
    VT510     PS/2      No        No        Yes          72Hz     No    Boundless
    VT520     PS/2      Yes       No        Yes          72Hz     Yes   Boundless
    VT525     PS/2      No        Yes       Yes          72Hz     Yes   Boundless

    VT1000    Yes       Yes       No        Yes     (monochrome X-windows terminal)
    VT1200    Yes       Yes       No        Yes     (monochrome X-windows terminal)
    VT1300    Yes       No        Yes       Yes          (color X-windows terminal)

The VT100 and later models comply with ANSI X3.41-1977 and X.3.64-1979.
The VTx30 and VTx40 terminals can display ReGIS and sixel graphics.
( Table derived from a posting by Conrad Longmore.)

When Compaq, the quintessential "Wintel" vendor, purchased DEC in 1998, the character-cell terminal business had been sold lock-stock-and-barrel to Boundless, and the merged company essentially stopped directly supporting video terminals. (Hewlett-Packard, which merged with Compaq in 2002, also made video terminals, but these also have passed into the shadow.)

## DEC Terminal Information from the Archives...

- Discussion about products of Digital Equipment Corporation.
- Bare essential programming facts about DEC VT100.
- Commentary about how to program the VT100.
- Notes on DEC VT220, VT3x0, VT420, etc., special/advanced codes.
- Commentary on ANSI terminal controls (especially in DEC products).
- Villanova University VT100 code list.
- Miscellaneous old terminal lore, including VT100, Ann Arbor Ambassador, and videotex.
- Well, "by golly," it's codes for the VT102!
- What folks in Iowa have to say about the VT100.
- One of several lists of control codes for the DEC VT100.
- How to do color on the VT241 (which is the same as a VT240 except for having a color CRT).
- A customized color "termcap" entry for a VT100 emulator that can use DP6429/ECMA-48 color codes.
- How to control the color of characters on a terminal screen.
- The experts on the old DECUServe conferencing system had a discussion of DEC-terminal control codes (and other things).
- General discussion of a variety of control sequences.
- The MS-Kermit documentation includes a good summary of the functions of a DEC terminal.
- Kermit has its own page.
- About keyboards on the VT100, VT220, VT320, VT420, VT510, etc.
- Diagram of DEC LK201 keyboard (used with VT220, VT340--North American layout). (GIF)
- Diagram of keyboard on the original VT100 terminal. (GIF)
- Unix shell script to set UDKs (user-defined keys) on VT220, VT420.
- Photo of DEC LK401 keyboard (used with VT300, VT400). (JPEG: 1280x567)
- Connector pinouts and related commentary. (including MMJ, DB-25)
- Commentary on the LAT Ethernet terminal-server protocol.
- Want to get the real vendor documentation? It may be possible.
- In which generation of DEC terminals was a feature introduced?
  (PostScript document with function-superset checklist)
- "termcap" entries and discussion for DEC terminals.
- Setting up communication parameters, etc., on the DEC VT100.
- Chart of switches to set up parameters on the VT100. (GIF)
- termcap entries for VT100 (but also see ESR's master terminfo file).
- termcap entry for DEC VT320.
- tabset initialization file for VT300 series. (uuencoded)
- tabset initialization file for VT100 series ("wide"). (uuencoded)
- On printing on a printer attached to the terminal.
- About DEC's ReGIS (Remote Graphics Instruction Set) protocol and terminals that support it (including GiGi).
- If you need ReGIS, you can purchase an emulator.
- These termcap entries use ReGIS color on VT220s and VT320s.

- Brief explanation of DEC's Sixel Graphics
- Program for displaying GIF images on a VT330 (gifregis.zip)
- Lengthy explanation of DEC's Sixel Graphics
- BitFontEdit: Soft font editor for VT220 and Wyse terminals (Lawyer)
- Using a mouse to locate on DEC/ANSI terminal screen
- Adjusting keyboard settings in "xterm" (some VT100 emulation help)
- How "private" control functions of a terminal may be used,
  including the DEC OSC functions.
- Discussion of Dorio-brand products
- Amusing yourself with a VT100.

  ## Special Uses of DEC Terminals with DEC Software

  - Setting the terminal type from within VMS
  - Using various terminal types under the VMS operating system.
  - VMS DCL command procedure to demonstrate VT220 display attributes.
  - The VMS command prompt can look funny on a VT220.
  - About the "decterm" application.
  - Other VMS/OpenVMS terminal-setup information is kept here.
  - Character sets: ASCII, EBCDIC, Unicode, line-drawing, accented, & code pages
    (with new discussion of Euro currency symbol)
  - DEC MCS Character Set Discussion

  ## Information Elsewhere on the World Wide Web and Internet

  Paul Williams is now making classic DEC documentation available for easy access from his VT100.net Web site. His information includes such details of the DEC VT320 as hardware details, character sets and glyphs, and communication interfaces. He has recently added the VT100 Technical Manual in scanned format.

  Boundless Technologies (formerly known as SunRiver Data Systems) is the firm that bought the entire VT510, VT520, and VT525 terminal business from Digital/Compaq. Boundless also makes Text Terminals that appear on the market under several brand names (including AT&T, Dorio, ADDS, and Stratus) as well as the NetTerminal.

  At this writing, Boundless provides some useful Internet-based support information, including DEC/Dorio feature lists, a User's Guide for ADDS 4000 (as a set of Microsoft Word documents), and a Programmer's Guide for ADDS 4000/260. Much of the description in that latter document of the 260's ANSI-mode behavior is applicable also to the older DEC VT220 and VT320 terminals.

  There is now also a very complete description of the emulation of the DEC VT420 as implemented in the WRQ Reflection product available from the Walker-Richer-Quinn Support Page; this VT Terminal Reference Manual V8.0 is a 5.x-megabyte PDF file (you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it).

  - VT100 Setup written in Ada (cdrom.com)
  - Jim Burrows explains the Inverse-T cursor-arrow key arrangement pioneered on the DEC LK201 keyboard.
  - Concordance of ANSI X3.64/ECMA-48 Escape Sequences (Ben Harris)
    (or by FTP)
  - LK201 keyboard software protocol and pinouts. (McMahill/netbsd.org)
  - DEC VT520 Reference Manual (4.5 MB PDF file via MIT in 2003)
  - Petri Virekoski's VT100 controls summary
  - Columbia University's Sixel Graphics Demos
  - termcap and FAQ files for Digital Equipment Corporation VT520/525
  - GIFview for (Real) DEC VT320 Terminals (gzipped tar)
  - Justin Mason's GIF viewer for real VT320s (1999)
  - WizConsole Control-Sequence Summary (Network Wizards/1998-10-30)
  - VT100 Animation! (Sho Nakagama found the Etext link that works, but you can instead retrieve the copy here
  - DECwindows Archive (with ASCII Art, TrueType, graphics tools)
  - Shimokuni Osamu's VT100 nostalgia
  - TECO software from DECUS (VTEDIT for VMS TPU, video editors for HP & Tektronix terminals, more)
  - Xterm Terminal Controls for C Shell/tcsh (kitebird: PDF)
  - VT220 Reference Manual (vt100.net)

  ## Emulation Issues

  - Information on running a terminal-emulator program on a personal computer or workstation.
  - Links for vendors of terminal-emulation products.
  - MIT's parser for DEC VT420 control sequences (C source code/zip)

  ## Vendor Web Pages

  - Hewlett-Packard/Compaq Computer Corporation
  - HP's Digital Legacy Support
  - Compaq/Digital Printers
  - Printed VT420 and VT320 documentation is for sale at Instruction-Manuals.co.uk.
  - Neuro Logic Systems (i-Term 1U rackmount flat-screen 15-inch-LCD terminal;
    emulates VT100, VT220, TVI, Wyse 60, Wyse 325, ADDS, ANSI Console.)
  - Links for vendors of terminal-emulation products.....
  - Vintage Computer Forum
  - Vintage Computer Marketplace
  - Bit Savers (information on old systems)
  - Deathrow developer-access VMS systems (circa A.D. 2010)
  - Documenting digital (Gordon Bell)

  ## User Group Web Pages

  - Encompass User Group (inherited DECUS)
  - Digital Alumni
  - Digital Workstation Alumni/Alumnae
  - ReGIS Graphics Library--RGL (V00365 for VMS, in FORTRAN)
  - VT200 Toolkit (V00181 for several platforms, in C and BASIC)
  - VT100 Graphics Editor (V00377 for VMS, in FORTRAN)
  - ReGIS to HPGL Conversion (V00297 for VMS, in FORTRAN)
  - ReGIS Translator for DECgraph (V00229 for VMS, in FORTRAN and C)
  - VT100 Keys (V00333 for VMS, in DCL)
  - VToutput (V00348 for VMS, in FORTRAN and DCL)
  - FONT2xx (V00159 for VMS, in FORTRAN, character sets for VT200 terminals)

  ## 3rd-Party Web Pages

  - PDP-11 Links (2009: via woffordwitch.com)
  - PDP-11 Tribute page (2009: hampage.hu)
  - Meridian Technology Corporation (SuperLAT networking for Windows)
  - VXL Instruments Ltd. (compatible terminals replacing VT510 and VT420)
  - FTP information source for PDP-8, PDP-11, Rainbow, etc.
  - Black Box Corporation (data communication vendor)
  - Altex Computers & Electronics
  - Filip Gieszczykiewicz's "Repair FAQ" might still contain connector-pinout Data.
  - Levitte Programming offers information about OpenVMS (1998 domain)
  - Sector 7 (VX/Term VT220 emulation and VX/VTWin VMS-to-Windows porting library)
  - Process Software (networking for OpenVMS, including SSH)

  A partial list of dealers who sell new and used video terminals is here.

  ## Usenet/VMSnet Sources

  > You can access these newsgroups only if your Web browser is configured to read news from a news-server computer that receives them.

  - comp.sys.dec
  - comp.sys.dec.micro
  - comp.org.decus
  - comp.terminals

    Regional Newsgroups

  - swnet.sys.dec
  - uiuc.sys.dec
  - ne.org.decus
  - no.org.decus
  - triangle.decus

  (return to Video Terminal index page)

  (Is there a problem with this page?)

  Introductory material copyright © 1995, 2002, 2005
  and archive contents collection copyright © 1995, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010 Richard S. Shuford.

  This page's count says that you are visitor number since 2003-04-23.

  Footnotes
  Some credit is due The Heath Company for a pioneering microprocessor-based video terminal that implemented many of the X3.64 functions.

  (top)