TheaterFire

Visual 100 is stunning

Posted by Current_Yellow7722@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 19 comments

Visual 100 is stunning
I would love to have this running Windows (gut it, install a computer, maybe raspberry pi, I'm not a technical guy), anyway, so I can appreciate the looks and use it

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19 Comments

sarajevo81@reddit

I don't think putting all the electronics into an oversized box on a swivel stand was a good idea. It looks terrible and must be really inconvenient.
View on Reddit #87011092

CoderDevo@reddit

What makes you think it was oversized? It looks convenient in that different people would want to use it at a different angle based on their height. These devices were often shared at work.
View on Reddit #87087341

sarajevo81@reddit

That screen looks almost eaten by the cabinet. There's no elegance there.
View on Reddit #87088607

CoderDevo@reddit

It also came in a larger 14-inch screen. The bezel is also to block the overhead lighting in an office to reduce glare. Besides that, it needed space for the boards and PSU and the CRT and passive cooling since it had no fan.
View on Reddit #87090281

CoderDevo@reddit

I really enjoyed using the original [DEC VT00](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT100).
View on Reddit #86987182

SpeedDaemon1969@reddit

Mine was a VAX running SVR2, and the terminals were Wyse IIRC. But the more I see people name-drop the word "terminal" with no clue what it means, I feel privileged to have experienced it firsthand when that was how people used computers. There's also something to be said for starting with the fundamentals, and mastering them before moving on to the GUI eye candy. Knowledge is power, and in the computer age, UNIX knowledge is powerful indeed.
View on Reddit #87074572

CoderDevo@reddit

Because I started with real terminals, I set my PuTTY to use green text (and a slightly green black for background) to connect to a test system. I set it to amber for production, to remind me to be more careful.
View on Reddit #87086465

SpeedDaemon1969@reddit

I had an Apple 2 clone with an amber monitor, and thought it was the bomb...and then I saw that it was a green screen with an amber cover. I remember one distro I used 20 years ago made the root shell xterm with a red background, to remind you that you were the superuser in that window. I miss that.
View on Reddit #87087279

CoderDevo@reddit

That's cool! Pretty sure I made a similar comment about my terminal color preferences back in 2000 on Slashdot.
View on Reddit #87088083

bsudbrink@reddit

I have a 50. It's a pretty nice terminal. Pictures: [http://wsudbrink.dyndns.org:8080/images/Visual50/](http://wsudbrink.dyndns.org:8080/images/Visual50/)
View on Reddit #87047796

CoderDevo@reddit

Oh, that makes it look a LOT nicer than the OP advertisement.
View on Reddit #87087145

Current_Yellow7722@reddit (OP)

Very nice!
View on Reddit #87049866

weez_er@reddit

It's a terminal. you can connect it to a pi or any Linux pc with a usb serial cable & some software setup without gutting anything
View on Reddit #87010377

sarajevo81@reddit

Modern Linux does not support the real VT-100 though.
View on Reddit #87011015

SpeedDaemon1969@reddit

Bullshit! My /dev directory has 28 ttyS devices. And I use the VT100 termcap to connect with my Linux firewall over serial.
View on Reddit #87074878

sarajevo81@reddit

You can find the terminal tests on YouTube. They are all fail unless 'screen' is used, which translates their calls.
View on Reddit #87084233

CoderDevo@reddit

VT100 connected to a Mac in 2026: [https://nikhiljha.com/posts/vt100/](https://nikhiljha.com/posts/vt100/) VT100 connected to Alpine Linux in 2025 using a newer modem device that bridges RS232 to WIFI: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Ug302U5uc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Ug302U5uc)
View on Reddit #87087058

SpeedDaemon1969@reddit

I have Linux right here, no video needed. The VT100 protocol is the best documented and most copied in history. The only difference is that it uses a serial connection, and like I said, Linux still does that. I've done a lot of serial connections over the last 40 years, and what you're claiming is nonsense. I had no problem finding videos of Adrian's Digital Basement and others connecting actual DEC VT100 terminals (also a VT101) to modern Linux, so I guess that settles it.
View on Reddit #87086037

weez_er@reddit

it does? I've tested it alongside the vt100 emulator in mame. it's just ASCII down a line, there's not much for it to not support. you do have to do a bit of terminal setup but after that even ncurses apps work alright ( not everything though obviously)
View on Reddit #87011686