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getting to know the world of VT

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binary.koala

New Member
Joined
May 9, 2006
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9
want to say hi to all the members here!
my name is Danja, live in Europe, finishing my study at the moment.
always very curious about computers and old dudes look especially charming for me. i don't own that many old pieces, but due to my artistic activity (i'm a computer media artist) have to mess around a lot :)

here, take a look at my recent "creation" -

what i have lying around me now is toshiba t1200, siemens at286 and citoh cit324l. regarding the last one there are some questions...
cit324l is a serial video terminal, manufactured 1988-90, got nice, STN kind of screen and can be mounted on the wall. there is not much info about it on the net, but as i figured out it supposed to be pretty much compatible with vt320, but so far i have no luck trying to use it with linux. unfortunetely i got no keyboard for it, so i can't enter and check any of the settings...
connected over nullmodem serial cable it reacts when i echo hello > /dev/ttyS0 but intead of "hello" i get weired stuff like question marks, brackets, high ascii symbols etc... i tryed different kinds of terminals (tho it has to work with default vt100 and even wyse) and port settings but no positive result, only garbage. my goal is to make it a terminal display, using ttysnoop to grab the output from tty1.

here is the picture of the beast with some "output" http://static.flickr.com/51/143443894_ce97caa87c_b.jpg

did anyone have experience with such devices? any vt320 owners?

my best regards to all computer lovers! :)
 
Welcome to the VC Forums!

You've got some cool stuff there. Someone will be along shortly to answer your specific questions, I'm sure.

Enjoy!
 
Make sure your comm settings are in agreement on both ends. Check start/stop bits, word length, parity, etc (although you prob'ly can't change anything on the terminal without the keyboard).

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
Make sure your comm settings are in agreement on both ends. Check start/stop bits, word length, parity, etc (although you prob'ly can't change anything on the terminal without the keyboard).

--T
Click to expand...

thanks for such quick response!
that's really an issue not to have a keyboard, i can only guess what setting were left in the device by the previous user... hm... what are the most possible settings? does uart matter (16550 vs 16550a) ?

i'm using setserial for setting up the port, is it correct?
 
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okay, got it to work under "hyper terminal" in windows,
the settings are 4800 7,s,1 , but how do i do the same in linux?
it looks like i can't really pass space parity to the port...
i either need to do that or change settings in my VT. does anyone know proper control characters for vt320 or cit324?
 
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You're probably not going to be able to configure the terminal without a keyboard. Have you checked the keyboard port, though? I have a late VT style terminal that takes a standard PC keyboard. Maybe you'll get lucky.
 
the keyboard port is typical rj11 plug-hole with 6 contacts.
would it be possible just to rewire an AT keyboard?
 
Maybe, but probably not.

It'd be best if you could find a pinout or something to indicate what's what.

There were a few older machines that used that type of connector for keyboards, but there's no guarantee that they'd work. Heck, there's no guarantee that you wouldn't fry the keyboard by trying. . . ;)
 
I think I still have a few VT-220 keyboards around somewhere, but your guess is as good as mine whether they'll work for your needs. (At least, I'm pretty sure that hanging one off from your terminal shouldn't fry anything (those DEC kbds all look the same to me)).

--T
 
found no programm for linux that could set space parity (sticky), except agetty!
turned out by default (-n) it uses 7,s,1! amazing!
 
I don't understand what you mean by the 's' setting. I'm only familliar with the 'even', 'odd' & 'none' parity settings. Refresh me, please... (Are you perhaps referring to the 'bit-length' (1 vs 1.5))?

--T
 
Oh, ok. When I speak of comm parameters, I usually use a length/parity/stop bit format, so a 7,n,1 would equate to 7-bit word, no parity, and one stop bit. Duplex, length of the pulse, definition of 'odd' & 'even' (or even 'high' or 'low'), etc, are a whole 'nother thing (along with some even more intricate complexities).

--T
 
hi, me again,
trying to make a keyboard for my CITOH 324 (vt320 clone),
tried out this pinout (the only rj12 keyboard pinout i could find, tho was confirmed on the forum to work with VT) together with PC AT keyboard, terminal doesn't say "kbd error" anymore but neither it reacts on keystrokes...
does anyone have any idea? (i just need to get to the setup menu)

danja
 
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