Terminal Emulators ...

[hmb]

Hi,

I love my Gary Kaufman/Geoff Graham ASCII VT-100 terminals, but I'm wondering if there are any other terminal emulators?

ADM-3A, Hazelton 1500, TekTronics 4010 or 40xx, ArtStation DRX3000


.

If your criteria is that it must be a stand-alone board designed to emulate a terminal, then consider the uTerm2-S:

uTerm2-S: a multi-emulation color RS232 terminal

I wanted an "advanced" legacy RS232 video terminal to play with "retro stuff", so I decided to try out the FabGL library (http://www.fabglib.org) with an ESP32 (ESP32-Wroom-32) module. I've used only TH parts for an easy to build board.

hackaday.io

Its firmware currently includes emulation for ANSI, VT100, ADM-3A, and Hazeltine 1500 terminals, plus others.

 

[davidrg]

Kermit has a wide range of supported terminal emulations. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html I have read about a couple of specialty emulators for some of the less common terminals.

I don't have enough knowledge of even the terminals I have used to be sure if the emulation is complete.

While it doesn't meet OPs requirements, I thought I might just provide a little more info on Kermit 95 in case anyone else reading this thread has any use for it as that website may be out of date (I'm the current maintainer). Kermit 95 has been open-sourced (BSD license) and now goes by the name C-Kermit for Windows (and I guess OS/2). Documentation for Kermit 95 largely still applies to the open-source version. This page from the manual has some notes on the emulation options and some of their limitations - beyond that I can't really comment how good or bad its various emulations are as I've only got a VT220 and VT520 to compare with. Current C-Kermit for Windows code is on github and this page on the new kermit project website covers the current CKW beta and has download links, etc.

 

[wperko]

If your criteria is that it must be a stand-alone board designed to emulate a terminal, then consider the uTerm2-S:

uTerm2-S: a multi-emulation color RS232 terminal

I wanted an "advanced" legacy RS232 video terminal to play with "retro stuff", so I decided to try out the FabGL library (http://www.fabglib.org) with an ESP32 (ESP32-Wroom-32) module. I've used only TH parts for an easy to build board.

hackaday.io

Its firmware currently includes emulation for ANSI, VT100, ADM-3A, and Hazeltine 1500 terminals, plus others.

Hi,

Do you have a link to show the code for Hazeltine and ADM-3A?

Neither of those terminal emulations are in the GitHub docs, I've loaded the FabGL ESP32 code into a TTGO module and did not see those terminal emulators in the choices like Altair 8800, VIC20, VT-100 etc.


.

 

[hmb]

Hi,

Do you have a link to show the code for Hazeltine and ADM-3A?

Neither of those terminal emulations are in the GitHub docs, I've loaded the FabGL ESP32 code into a TTGO module and did not see those terminal emulators in the choices like Altair 8800, VIC20, VT-100 etc.


.

Your question highlights what has alway bothered me about that project, which is the absence of detailed documentation on its specs.
Where I saw a partial list of emulations is in a photo of one of the configuration screens, found about 3/4 of the way down this web page:

uTerm2-S: a multi-emulation color RS232 terminal - Share Project - PCBWay

* * HARDWARE OVERVIEW * *The uTerm2-S (micro Term2 stand-alone) is an easy to build multi-emulation RS232 terminal using an ESP32-Wroom-32 module and the great FabGL library (http://www.fabglib.org). ...

www.pcbway.com

 

[wperko]

Your question highlights what has alway bothered me about that project, which is the absence of detailed documentation on its specs.
Where I saw a partial list of emulations is in a photo of one of the configuration screens, found about 3/4 of the way down this web page:

uTerm2-S: a multi-emulation color RS232 terminal - Share Project - PCBWay

* * HARDWARE OVERVIEW * *The uTerm2-S (micro Term2 stand-alone) is an easy to build multi-emulation RS232 terminal using an ESP32-Wroom-32 module and the great FabGL library (http://www.fabglib.org). ...

www.pcbway.com

Hi,

In the section for "Programming the ESP32" the screen shows these as the choices:

Altair8800
AnsiTerminal
Audio
ClassicRacer
CollsionDetection
DirectVGA
DirectVGA_ElMuro
DoubleBuffer
FileBrowser
GraphicalUserInterface
HardwareTest
InputBox
LoopbackTerminal
ModLineStudio
MouseOnScreen
MultiaskingCPM
NetworkTerminal
PCEmulator
SimpleTerminalOut
Songs
Spaceinvaders
Sprites
TerminalCharSet
VIC20


And believe me, the VIC20 is really low resolution.

There is no ADM-3A or Hazeltine or TekTronics etc.


.

 

[hmb]

Hi,

In the section for "Programming the ESP32" the screen shows these as the choices:

Altair8800
AnsiTerminal
Audio
ClassicRacer
CollsionDetection
DirectVGA
DirectVGA_ElMuro
DoubleBuffer
FileBrowser
GraphicalUserInterface
HardwareTest
InputBox
LoopbackTerminal
ModLineStudio
MouseOnScreen
MultiaskingCPM
NetworkTerminal
PCEmulator
SimpleTerminalOut
Songs
Spaceinvaders
Sprites
TerminalCharSet
VIC20


And believe me, the VIC20 is really low resolution.

There is no ADM-3A or Hazeltine or TekTronics etc.


.

I believe that list includes (among other things) a library of video graphics modes and functions it emulates, not a list of terminal definitions it supports. You need to look deeper into the FabGL library for a file called terminfo.cpp where definitions are listed for the ADM-3A, ADM-31, Hazeltine 1500, Osborne, Kaypro, VT52, and "ANSI Legacy". Unfortunately there are some terminals missing from the list that many would like to see included like those from Tektronix, Televideo, and Heath (particularly the H19) but likely these would not be difficult to add.

 

[wperko]

I believe that list includes (among other things) a library of video graphics modes and functions it emulates, not a list of terminal definitions it supports. You need to look deeper into the FabGL library for a file called terminfo.cpp where definitions are listed for the ADM-3A, ADM-31, Hazeltine 1500, Osborne, Kaypro, VT52, and "ANSI Legacy". Unfortunately there are some terminals missing from the list that many would like to see included like those from Tektronix, Televideo, and Heath (particularly the H19) but likely these would not be difficult to add.

Hi,

I have a couple of the TTGO boards with the firmware installed, but I don't know how to switch from VT-100 to any other type of terminal.

.

 

[justin423]

kinda on topic, but I want to build a 4 pin UART to female RJ45 device to connect a Odroid HC4 SBC to a Wyse terminal with a RJ45 to RS232 adapter on it so it can be plugged in with just a standard Cat 5 cable. The SBC has very limited port options, so this would be an alternative instead of going headless and free up the USB port for something else, and just using Ncurses, with just a small issue that the speed of the UART communication has to be lowered on boot if it is an early terminal with a less than a 115K top speed etc.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Life is strange. Back in the 1970s, I used my S100 system as a terminal of sorts (I had a Beehive SuperBee connected to the system) when calling into the mainframes at work. I thought it was infinitely better than using a plain terminal, as I could record and play back prompts, etc. This was at 300 baud. The alternative was taking a Silent 700 home.

In the 1980s, I was in charge of the VAX 11/750 installation. We used the C. Itoh 224 terminals, which is a VT220 clone. Except for me. I had my 5150 and brought it in and hooked it up. While the other guys were slogging away at 9600 bps (fast for the time), I downloaded stuff onto floppy, took it home and worked on it, then uploaded it. Folks were envious. Pretty soon, PCs started showing up...

Now we have a fellow yearning for the old terminal days. How about a Control Data 713 from the 70s--8 lines of 80 characters?
Even the terminal manufacturers could see that PCs were going to overwhelm them. Witness Televideo or Intertec or even DEC.

 

[hmb]

Hi,

I have a couple of the TTGO boards with the firmware installed, but I don't know how to switch from VT-100 to any other type of terminal.

.

I must admit I do not have a thorough understanding of the differences between the uTerm2-S and the TTgo boards, but my understanding is that although they both make use of the FabGL library these two boards otherwise have very different abilities. The uTerm2-s board and its software (which includes the FabGL library) was specifically designed for the purpose of terminal emulation, though it also has impressive number of additional abilities. The TTgo board seems to be a more general-purpose development board, and while its software includes the FabGL library with with its basic support for ANSI/VT emulation my impression is that additional software development on your part would be required to use it as a terminal emulator that supports other terminal emulations.

 

[wperko]

I must admit I do not have a thorough understanding of the differences between the uTerm2-S and the TTgo boards, but my understanding is that although they both make use of the FabGL library these two boards otherwise have very different abilities. The uTerm2-s board and its software (which includes the FabGL library) was specifically designed for the purpose of terminal emulation, though it also has impressive number of additional abilities. The TTgo board seems to be a more general-purpose development board, and while its software includes the FabGL library with with its basic support for ANSI/VT emulation my impression is that additional software development on your part would be required to use it as a terminal emulator that supports other terminal emulations.

Hi,

I had forgotten about the Configuration screen on my TTGO's ... When I looked in there, I found a bunch of other terminal emulations. I am still looking for more emulators, preferably written in "c".

 

[hmb]

Hi,

I had forgotten about the Configuration screen on my TTGO's ... When I looked in there, I found a bunch of other terminal emulations. I am still looking for more emulators, preferably written in "c".

There is one other "hardware" terminal board I am aware of:

PockeTerm « Briel Computers

... which is no longer available for purchase.

There are of course many more "software" terminal emulators for Windows/MacOS/Linux that exist and several of these are commercial software products... but that is not what you are looking for.

 

[furball1985]

any of the devices that use the FABGL library have a set list of terminals its all built into the library you can also add to the existing.

Any device that is using an ESP32 and loaded with the Fabgl will have the same specs.

its buried in a mountain of source code

but:

ANSI_VT, /**< Native ANSI/VT terminal */
ADM3A, /**< Emulated Lear Siegler ADM-3A terminal */
ADM31, /**< Emulated Lear Siegler ADM-31 terminal */
Hazeltine1500, /**< Emulated Hazeltine 1500 terminal */
Osborne, /**< Emulated Osborne I */
Kaypro, /**< Emulated Kaypro */
VT52, /**< Emulated VT52 terminal */
ANSILegacy /**< Legacy ANSI emulation */

FABGL offers additional graphics and sound support through escape codes which overlay any of the existing terminals.

There have been some TEK porting however there are existing TEK emulated terminals that are much better.

so you can be in Kaypro mode and using additional escape codes create music and high res graphics up to 64 colors.

its just remapping the terminal escape codes through the FABGL library to produce the expected outcome.

any time you see a terminal that is using some form of ESP32 it is most likely loaded with FABGL and you have access to everything it offers.

FabGL: FabGL Library

you also get additional remapping of keys supported. for Wordstar for example the cursor keys now work as they are automatically remapped for wordstar escape codes.

FabGL: FabGL Specific Terminal Sequences

you also have ANSI Color text support in pretty much all terminal modes.

it would be possible to define POCKETERM as another terminal FABGL supports. its just remapping escape codes through the library.

you also have full mouse support through escape codes. allowing you to create your own GUI if you wish.

ESP32 has enough power to emulate full systems as well.

FabGL: Examples

shows you all the currently official things it can do with ANSI Terminal just being one of them.

it is extremely powerful as a stand alone terminal. of course there are virtual equivalents running under windows,linux,macos etc.

its different when you have some old VGA monitor and PS/2 mouse and keyboard as a terminal to type on verse a terminal window on a modern machine.

 

[nikola-wan]

Tera Term is an emulator for VT and also has Tektronix graphics support:
https://ttssh2.osdn.jp/index.html.en

Emulations​

• DEC VT100 and selected features of VT200/300 [*1]
• ANSI control sequences, which are not supported by VT100 (color attribute etc.), are also supported.
• The xterm extension sequences like as the mouse and the 256 color are supported.
• You can enable or disable the use of bold style font for characters with the bold attribute. You can also set the color to display them.
• Characters with the blink attribute don't actually blink. Instead, you can set the color with which to display them.
• Characters with double width/height and VT52 mode are not supported.
• Tektronix TEK4010

[*1] DEC special font
The line drawing characters by using the Linux TUI(Text User Interface) are controlled as the DEC special font(Tera Special font). The special font is defined as the <ESC>(0 escape sequence, and assigned to the line drawing character from 0140(0x60) to 0176(0x7f).
Reference: Frequently asked questions