7 ms·
The VT-69 portable data terminal
- 52-6F-62 6y agoI was about to share this with some folks at work, but mind the screen grab. It's funny, but you might be a bit red-faced if you share it around with your office—culture-depending. Tell me more.
- 656565656565 6y agoYes I agree. I choose to ignore that little Easter Egg.
- 52-6F-62 6y agoI normally avoid Twitter et al, but I like their Twitter account.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y agoForget the screen; the first thing people will see if you post a link is the domain
- sep_field 6y agoyeah the domain tells me everything i need to know--not interested in this particular device and hope they fail. someone better should do the same thing.
- wanderingjew 6y agoHi, creator here, yes I have a long history of advocating violence _in response to violence_.[1] I'm also the founder of Guillotinery[2], a guillotine startup. I'm looking for some VCs that would like to get in on the ground floor of overthrowing capitalism. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15800415 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15800415 [2] http://guillotinery.com/ http://guillotinery.com/
- 52-6F-62 6y agoI'm not sure if you've been following the space, but innovation in the digital hamster wheel space has exploded. Might be worth a kickstarter or two.
- thereddaikon 6y agoIts also called fullfrontal.png
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- georgestephanis 6y agoshut up and take my money
- 656565656565 6y agoHope it has correct RS232 voltages.
- razeonex 6y agoI do miss keyboards on devices. This is something I'd really buy.
- andreer 6y agoReminds me of the recent Lisperati1000: https://www.hackster.io/news/the-lisperati1000-is-a-cyberdeck-terminal-dedicated-to-lisp-programming-bb564f2ffcff https://www.hackster.io/news/the-lisperati1000-is-a-cyberdec... I think these personal terminals are really cool, and might foster some interesting innovation in the near future.
- thereddaikon 6y agoDo people seriously program Lisp in 2021 or is it just a hobby/retro thing now?
- acuozzo 6y agoThis forum was written in Arc which is a dialect of Scheme.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoI'm patiently waiting for a commercially available cyberdeck (or kit). This website doesn't have pricing or order information, just a neat render. Not sure about the buttons though, they look spongy.
- pampa 6y agoWhy wait? Buld your own from old and discarded tech. Get a 2008-era intel atom netbook, discard case, mod it, run OpenBSD. Strap to you wrist, run a powercable up your arm to the car battery or a ducktaped brick of D cells in your bagpack.
- jandeboevrie 6y agoCan we buy this already?
- jstanley 6y agoCool project. Hard to tell if it actually exists or is just a rendering. > it runs a full Linux system with an ARM SOC. So is it a dumb terminal or not?
- monocasa 6y agoDumb terminal has more to do with if the server can inject code on the client than the processing capabilities of the client. For instance HTML only is a dumb client, HTML + JS is a smart client. Even back in the day, dumb terminals could have pretty respectable processing power.
- wanderingjew 6y agoCreator here. It's a dumb terminal. Out of the box, it does nothing. It's a keyboard and a screen, and everything you type goes onto the screen and out the serial port. However, there's an internal 2x20 header that just happens to have the same pin configuration as a popular single board computer. If you plug in that SBC, it becomes a full *nix system. And you'll be able to upgrade when a newer version of that SBC comes out. Think of it as a VT-180, but instead of a custom Z80 board running CP/M, it uses a Linux board you probably already have sitting in a drawer somewhere.
- fl0wenol 6y agoKeep in mind that originally, Linux was written to be a terminal emulator. So, not a dumb terminal, but a terminal.
- gnulinux 6y agoI know that noone will believe me, but today as I was on the toilet, trying to wake up -- still groggy --- I just imagined something like this. I thought I wish I had a 19th century typewriter, hook it up to a Raspberry Pi and make a dumb terminal (writing stdout to paper on ink!). Seeing that I probably don't have enough EE skills to do that, I hoped for something like a calculator that can't connect to internet but is programmable and has a keyboard. Next thing I know, I come to HN and see this post. I guess it's refreshing to know that I'm not the only software engineer who wants to reject modernity. I love programming, I love CS, I love mathematics; but I hate modern computers, internet and software. They're distracting, addictive, bloated, annoying, slow, broken... I just wish I could make a mechanical computer from woods and program that over the weekends.
- TheCondor 6y agoI had a funny day dream too, I was futzing around debugging some damned terminal escape codes which causes tearing when I do backspaces on some systems (specifically when the line needs to wrap..). This might make the parent feel a little ill, but in this era when we rebuild "modern" versions of everything, why has nobody updated terminal escape codes? Specifically, something that looked like a trimmed down HTML and CSS seems like it would have incredible resonance in today's world. Anyone know of a project like that?
- emdashcomma 6y agoIf you haven't seen it before, you might enjoy this: https://youtu.be/2XLZ4Z8LpEE https://youtu.be/2XLZ4Z8LpEE (Using a 1930 Teletype as a Linux Terminal).
- gnulinux 6y agoThis is like exactly what I imagined... I'll study this and see if this is something I can do in a few weekends (the answer is likely no as I don't have a lot of hands-on engineering experience, just basics of EE and soldering). Is there any consumer product like this (not necessarily typewriter, e-ink or dumb display would also be ok; I just don't want a full-fledged display that can print images). Computer distraction is killing my life and I'm currently spending Saturdays as no-screen day (no phone/computer use) but I'd be willing to use a calculator-on-steroids like this as a replacement, which I imagine is not as distracting. (Usual TI programmable calculators are what I'm eyeing right now but their keyboard is not good. I want a usual Qwerty keyboard and linux)
- afandian 6y agoI've always wanted something like this. Some kind of nostalgia for the PDAs of the 90s. I'm keeping an eye on two projects but probably won't actually buy anything (as I've never really used my Gemini PDA) The Popcorn Pocket PC: https://pocket.popcorncomputer.com/ https://pocket.popcorncomputer.com/ Pinephone with keyboard: https://www.pine64.org/2021/01/15/january-update-happy-new-gear/ https://www.pine64.org/2021/01/15/january-update-happy-new-g...
- shakezula 6y agoI unironically love the shit out of this and all cyberdecks. They tug at my inner 13 year old self's nostalgic heart strings. > Reject Modernity, Embrace RS232 with a DE-9 Connector. Charge over USB-C. I'm sold, take my money.
- 1MachineElf 6y agoI love the first-class RS232 support. I recently pre-ordered a ClockworkPi[0], which has more features but lacks USB-C and the dedicated DE-9 port (come to think of it, those two ports are more important than most of the ones on the ClockworkPi...) [0] https://www.clockworkpi.com/ https://www.clockworkpi.com/
- egorfine 6y agoI believe it is just a dream and the product actually doesn't exist. One of the giveaways is the keyboard layout. Have that product been ever used even in prototype form, this would definitely and immediate come back as a non-starter for CLI usage.
- Mister_Snuggles 6y agoIt vaguely reminds me of the Tandy WP-2[0] that's sitting on my workbench. The WP-2 is primarily a word processor, but it does have a serial port with a DB-9 connector so it can act as a rudimentary dumb terminal. I bet there's enough space inside the case for some variety of Raspberry Pi, battery pack, and the appropriate interface electronics to connect it to the serial port. [0] http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/2720/Tandy-Portable-Wordprocessor-WP-2/ http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/2720/Tandy-Portable-W...
- MayeulC 6y agoAh, nice. I bought an old minitel for 3€ a year ago, still intending to stuff a pi zero inside to achieve mostly that -- but more bulky, owning to the CRT tube. It would be nice to make it foldable. Maybe consider e-ink as an option for the screen? I like the fact that this just charges over USB-C, and communicates over a "full-sized" RS-232 connector. How convenient ! But is it a typo and they meant a DB-9 connector instead of "DE"-9? I know no such connector, and it looks like a DB-9 to me, although I see no picture from the back.
- 656565656565 6y agohttp://www.nullmodem.com/DB-9.htm http://www.nullmodem.com/DB-9.htm
- MayeulC 6y agoExcellent, thank you a lot for this, I stand corrected. > The DE-9 D-sub 9-pin connector is often mistakenly referred to as the "DB-9" connector. The "E" refers to the shell size. A "DB-25" connector has a "B" size shell, but the common nine-pin connector is smaller and has an "E" size shell.
- ytjohn 6y agoI like the look of this, and it seems we're seeing more of these type devices. But after looking at their twitter and such, I don't believe this is a real product, no matter how "nice" the VT-69 is. For real products, there is also the clockworkpi devterm. But the one I'm really interested in is the ready! 100. I think both have been on HN recently. The Ready is really just a case that you can put most any SBC into: from a raspberry pi to an Intel NUC. The screen hooks up via hdmi and the (mechanical) keyboard via usb. I'm planning to put a ryzen board (or maybe a nuc) into mine, along with an SDR. I also do some programming of '80s era commercial radios, which require an RS-232 and software running in DOS (known issues running under dosbox/vm, though freedos is fine). So I'd be making a triple-boot machine. I know one person mentioned planning to put two different SBCs inside the case, a low-power RPi4 and a higher powered ryzen board. Then they can switch between depending on their need. DISCLAIMER: I am a backer of the ready100 (neo pledge) and I do hope it meets its funding goal. But I have no financial interest. In fact, if it doesn't reach its funding goal, I get my money back. ready100: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jlafleur/ready-model-100-portable-computer-kit/ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jlafleur/ready-model-10...
- reaperducer 6y agoThe Ready100 looks enormous, and like it was designed by Mattel during the early 1980's when toy companies were dabbling in computers. I'm not so sure about this VT-69, either. You could just get a TRS-80 Model 100 off of eBay for $80 and be done with it. The only downside of the 100 is the small screen, but if you're only using it as a dumb terminal anyway, that's not horrible. There's even abandonware to make the TRS-80 display 60 or 70 columns.
- ytjohn 6y agoI'd agree that if all you want is a portable dumb terminal, then go get a dumb terminal. Nothing more retro than an actual piece of gear from the 80s. In my case, I'm looking to dual-boot and run programs in the field. Most of those can run in Linux, but some will only work in Windows. This isn't to be like my primary laptop where I'm mostly concerned about battery life and writing code. It's a secondary device, dedicated to specific tasks. I almost purchased the GDP Micro PC for this, and may still depending on the kickstarter. What I liked about the Ready is that I can swap out the motherboard and pretty much every other component over time as needs change. The 3.5" - 4" single board computers keep advancing, getting more power and in some cases, getting cheaper. An Intel NUC with 4-8GB of ram today could be swapped out with a 32GB Ryzen w/GPU board in a few years. It's a niche inside of a niche, so not everyone will see a need. But a stack of antiquated, mostly dead laptops and tablets motivates me to seek out something like this.
- Brian_K_White 6y agoWhat I want is a version that has essentially pikvm built in so that it's a crash cart not just a switch console.
- jnwatson 6y agoI would have paid serious money for a device like this a few years ago. There are many environments you need to read from an RS-232/DE-9 where bringing a laptop is unacceptable.
- geofft 6y agoI have a GPD Micro PC (https://amzn.com/B07QYZHM8F https://amzn.com/B07QYZHM8F) which has an RS-232 port but is small enough to fit in a pocket. I think it's a much more practical form factor than a cyberdeck, tbh.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y agoWhere would a laptop be unacceptable but this work?
- 1MachineElf 6y agoI can't answer for the parent comment, but I've configured different appliances over serial cables in datacenters, and in each situation, it would have been more convenient to have had a nice dedicated device like this instead of a big fat "business" laptop.
- fpoling 6y agoA USB serial dongle plus any of those netbook-like or smaller form factor laptops should do the trick. I suppose one can get that used for below 100 USD unless one needs a dongle that does proper 12 volts. That alone may cost over 100 USD.
- throwawayboise 6y agoThe USB serial dongle with a cheap Chromebook is what I use in the data center if I need to connect to a switch or other device with a serial port. The Chromebook runs all day without charging and it's small and light.
- 1MachineElf 6y ago
- busterarm 6y agoI've been following this person on Twitter for a while now and actually this was designed a couple of years ago. I thought they'd decided that the BOM was going to be well over $300 and shelved it because they wouldn't be able to make a successful commercial product. They'd settled on one just for themselves. I guess that's changed? Anyway, as much as I'm excited about the possibility of it, I don't think it will see the light of day.
- wanderingjew 6y agoCreator here. Yes, the original idea ended up being a ~$200 BOM or something like that. I dug in and decided to do _everything_ on a $2 microcontroller. Unfortunately for me, that means spending a lot of time getting the code to work, and getting the code to work fast. And writing a TFT driver from a datasheet that is incomplete. That's why it's been taking so long. That, and quarantine miasma and depression or something like that. Now the BOM is reasonable, and this is something I can sell for ~$100. With some careful component selection, the major items on the BOM will also be in production for the next decade, so there's time for me to amortize how much time I've spent on this. Give it a few months. I'm hoping to get some prototype units in the hands of testers by April.
- intrasight 6y agoWow, I've not encountered a DB9 connector in like 20 years. Is this relevant for "legacy" equipment? Or are there still DB9 ports on some new equipment?
- uncledave 6y agoYes lots of bits of industrial and electronic equipment still ships with it. For example: https://resources.aimtti.com/datasheets/AIM-1908_multimeter_data_sheet-Iss3.pdf https://resources.aimtti.com/datasheets/AIM-1908_multimeter_... Most of the stuff that runs over USB in that sector is just a serial port as well.
- intrasight 6y agoI get the "serial port" part. Just find it curious that the DB9 port is still used in new equipment.
- uncledave 6y agoIt’s cheap and reliable.
- zwieback 6y agoI do encounter a lot of DB9 serial ports, some requiring real RS232 voltages. For me it's mostly old equipment, since factory automation and monitoring equipment can easily last decades there's still a huge installed base.
- bityard 6y agoNot sure what you mean by relevant for legacy equipment? Yes? Computers for consumers mostly stopped shipping with DB9 ports a decade or more ago (although, fun fact, my 3-year-old Dell Precision has a real RS-232 port via the dock) but RS-232 and its TTL equivalent are still in heavy use in industry, datacenters, and embedded computing.
- borgel 6y agoIf people are unsure if this is real, various versions have been built and exist already [1]. [1] https://twitter.com/ViolenceWorks/status/1321669741790945281 https://twitter.com/ViolenceWorks/status/1321669741790945281
- numpad0 6y agoOT but just recently I was reminded that modern x86 CPUs are basically SoC and all they expose are power rails and peripheral buses. Would it be possible, then, to roll your own motherboard for, say, Core i3-8100 all from public information? How hard could it be?
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoNot possible with a four layer board accessible for hobbyists. You also need layout tools capable of managing trace impedance and skew.
- chaganated 6y agoI'd just use a RS232-to-bluetooth dongle, and my phone. Nostalgia is nice, but no wires and less plastic junk are nicer.
- jacknews 6y agoSorry, but however cool this may be, I am unlikely to buy from an orgnization called "Violence Works", even if it's meant as satire, irony, etc.
- wanderingjew 6y agoHi, creator here. It's not meant as satire or irony.