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Out of sheer curiosity, what would it take to hook up a real teletype to my computer today? What physical port would it even use?
by chuckdries 9y ago
Out of sheer curiosity, what would it take to hook up a real teletype to my computer today? What physical port would it even use?
- skissane 9y agoTeletypes used 20mA current loops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_current_loop_interface https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_current_loop_interface Teletype current loop ports were common on machines up to the 1970s, but by the 1980s had largely disappeared. The serial port card on the original IBM PC and the XT had 20mA current loop support, but it was very rarely used, so AT machines onward removed it. (MIDI is also a current loop, but MIDI uses 5mA rather than 20mA, plus the protocol is different.) You should be able to connect a teletype to a modern computer by using two conversion devices, one USB-to-RS232 and the other RS232-to-20mA-current-loop. Then the teletype will appear to the computer as a (very dumb) serial terminal.