DEC VT102 terminal question?

From: Huw Davies <huw.davies_at_kerberos.davies.net.au>
Date: Thu Jun 3 08:41:45 2004

On 3 Jun 2004, at 05:34, Pete Turnbull wrote:

> On Jun 2, 23:53, Huw Davies wrote:
>> Sounds like a WPS or WPS+ keypad. It's been a long while since I've
>> seen one but it sounds right!
>
> It was a moderately common option, used by several editors. For
> example, ED and EDT for RSX-11 used those keys; the GOLD key in
> particular labelled as such on editor reference cards and is used by a
> variety of software.

When I was using VT100 type terminals (I had a VT132) we used to
purchase (probably
at great cost) moulded "rubber" overlays for the keypad for EDT and the
word processer
we used (I want to say DECtype but I'm not sure that's the right name -
a classic
case of one group in DEC competing with another - it was like WPS and
WPS+ but
different). Of course, after a couple of years of programming, you
didn't need the
overlays. I suspect that I could still do an awful lot of EDT on the
keypad from
finger memory, except that I don't have a suitable keyboard in daily
use and dragging
out the DECmate-III just to use the terminal emulator seems a little
overkill. My day
to day keyboard is attached to my 12" Apple Powerbook and I typically
use vi everywhere.

Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies_at_kerberos.davies.net.au
Melbourne | "If soccer was meant to be played in the
Australia | air, the sky would be painted green"
Received on Thu Jun 03 2004 - 08:41:45 BST