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Related, I'm working on a VT420 emulator that's about 90% there... https://github.com/mmastrac/blaze https://github.com/mmastrac/blaze It's prerelase and I ha

Related, I'm working on a VT420 emulator that's about 90% there... https://github.com/mmastrac/blaze https://github.com/mmastrac/blaze It's prerelase and I haven't pushed the experimental graphical interface yet but you can actually use it, configure it and run everything using a TUI mapper that renders the text framebuffer on your terminal. There's one or two memory mapper bugs that seem to break multi session mode but those are somewhat obscure and will probably require some experimentation with real hardware to solve.

geocar 1y ago
Cool. Do you have more literature on the SSU? Do you know if the roms tolerate more than two sessions being available (or can be trivially patched to support more?)
- mmastrac 1y ago
  The SSU feature is woefully underdocumented and the patent gives you _some_ information, but it's missing all of the details. I hope to break this part out into a project of its own. I am 100% certain a VT420 will never be able to support more than two sessions, as the ROM explicitly has a ton of checks that look like "if session1 { ... } else { ... }". Unfortunately your best bet here would be putting a more advanced terminal multiplexer behind your VT420 and then making the F4 key a full passthrough (disabling the native session switcher).
  - geocar 1y ago
    Cheers. I haven't had a VT420 in a few decades, but I remember wondering about its built-in multisession support (I never saw it in action)
    - mmastrac 1y ago
      The emulator supports it, though there's a few bugs in it so you can try it out. The animated GIF in the README demonstrates it too :) I would call the splitscreen multisession... gimmicky at best? The two-session version is alright, but juggling windows is not great in general.
classichasclass 1y ago
That's pretty neat. I look forward to the graphical version, though: love those double-sized characters.
- mmastrac 1y ago
  I just pushed the graphical driver and they really do look great!
Keyframe 1y ago
Oh man, that brought a memory! I learned C and made my first "bigger" steps in programming on VT320 and VT420 connected to one of the Sun boxes. I'm still fond of that amber glow.
- worthless-trash 1y ago
  I still use https://github.com/emacsmirror/orangey-bits-theme https://github.com/emacsmirror/orangey-bits-theme
- ghosty141 1y ago
  I wasn't even born back then but I love those amber crts. I had the luck of finding a Zenith ZVM-1220-EA composite display in pristine condition on ebay (I live in Germany where it's way harder to find nice amber crts) and it looks fantastic. But there is one thing, the noise. I very much hear that super high pitched sound and it makes running it just as a 2nd monitor almost impossible. Also I haven't quite found a good way of integrating it into my setup yet, raspi+tmux+ssh is the easiest but it'd be much cooler having it as an actual 2nd display.
wkat4242 1y ago
Nice! I still have a real VT520 here. This would be cool for when it dies eventually

geocar 1y ago

Cool. Do you have more literature on the SSU? Do you know if the roms tolerate more than two sessions being available (or can be trivially patched to support more?)

mmastrac 1y ago
The SSU feature is woefully underdocumented and the patent gives you _some_ information, but it's missing all of the details. I hope to break this part out into a project of its own. I am 100% certain a VT420 will never be able to support more than two sessions, as the ROM explicitly has a ton of checks that look like "if session1 { ... } else { ... }". Unfortunately your best bet here would be putting a more advanced terminal multiplexer behind your VT420 and then making the F4 key a full passthrough (disabling the native session switcher).
- geocar 1y ago
  Cheers. I haven't had a VT420 in a few decades, but I remember wondering about its built-in multisession support (I never saw it in action)
  - mmastrac 1y ago
    The emulator supports it, though there's a few bugs in it so you can try it out. The animated GIF in the README demonstrates it too :) I would call the splitscreen multisession... gimmicky at best? The two-session version is alright, but juggling windows is not great in general.

classichasclass 1y ago

That's pretty neat. I look forward to the graphical version, though: love those double-sized characters.

mmastrac 1y ago
I just pushed the graphical driver and they really do look great!

Keyframe 1y ago

Oh man, that brought a memory! I learned C and made my first "bigger" steps in programming on VT320 and VT420 connected to one of the Sun boxes. I'm still fond of that amber glow.

worthless-trash 1y ago
I still use https://github.com/emacsmirror/orangey-bits-theme https://github.com/emacsmirror/orangey-bits-theme
ghosty141 1y ago
I wasn't even born back then but I love those amber crts. I had the luck of finding a Zenith ZVM-1220-EA composite display in pristine condition on ebay (I live in Germany where it's way harder to find nice amber crts) and it looks fantastic. But there is one thing, the noise. I very much hear that super high pitched sound and it makes running it just as a 2nd monitor almost impossible. Also I haven't quite found a good way of integrating it into my setup yet, raspi+tmux+ssh is the easiest but it'd be much cooler having it as an actual 2nd display.

wkat4242 1y ago

Nice! I still have a real VT520 here. This would be cool for when it dies eventually