Building a VersaTerm - A Retro Computing Serial Terminal
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ธ.ค. 2023
- In the early computing days of the late 1970's, back when we were building our own 8-bit microprocessor systems, it may be hard to imagine now, but we didn't actually have computers back then (of course!).
Sometimes, when we want to feel a bit more nostalgic, it would be nice to be able to fire-up a completely standalone dedicated Serial Terminal system, for talking to our retro 8-bit microprocessor creations.
Join me, as I walk through my assembly of a VersaTerm serial terminal, and also get reminded of a "good practice", via a timely busy end of year project assembly lesson!
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Blog entry:
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Products mentioned: David Hansel's VersaTerm
github.com/dhansel/VersaTerm
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Video production setup:
Camera (overhead): Sony ZV-E10 (captured at 4K)
Camera (other): Logitech Brio 4K (captured at 1080p 60fps)
Eakins Trinocular + Eakins 3700W Camera (1080p 60fps)
Mic: Samson C01U Pro USB / Hollyland Lark M1 Wireless
Lighting: Double-row 8520 LED 6000K strip lighting
Capture / Post Prod: OBS / Camtasia - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Great video! I just bought my dad a Televideo 920c from eBay as a Christmas present. I've already sent the link to this video to him
Thanks. Wow, your dad is lucky. A genuine Televideo 920c would be very nice to have, and getting hard to find these days. I guess, unless he is also wanting something a little more portable, he probably won't have a use for a VersaTerm with a genuine Televideo terminal on his desk!
Its a pleasure to see your neat assembly and beautiful soldering. NIce versatile module, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your comment. Much appreciated. Yes, it is a great solution. After looking around, I think it's possibly the most versatile implementation of a serial terminal, that I could find in 2023.
Many thanks for creating this video. I have all the parts ready to construct the VersaTerm, so your video of the assembly will be very helpful. I have a 'homemade' 6502 based computer with serial, similar to your setup here, and it will be good to 'disconnect' it from an over capable laptop!
Amazing, 40+ years tech from a VT100 to this gizmo. Good job, enjoyed the video
Thanks. Yes, it's even more amazing when you can recall being a teenager in the 70's, with the impossible dream of owning your own Serial Terminal. Now you can have a compact, affordable, standalone VT terminal solution, with choices for better mechanical keyboards & displays than were available back then.
I'm here to watch all the assembly process, it's sooo relaxing!! Maybe one day I'll try my luck with a soldering iron! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback. Appreciated! This video seemed to take me so long to make, and all the time wondering if showing all the assembly is too boring for people to watch. Mind you, after all the effort, I did feel some satisfaction watching the finished video. 🤓
I enjoy the soldering! Thanks for showing this, Ive been using an 90’s laptop with a serial port and versaterm to talk to my 6809 system but it takes forever to boot. Youve inspired me to build one of these.
Thanks for your feedback. I’ve also got a few old laptops gathering dust and occasionally used, but they certainly don’t feel as nostalgic as a standalone, almost instant-on, terminal (albeit running from a small but powerful MCU). I had to build one for that real “standalone serial terminal” feeling, which it delivers on. I hope you get the same enjoyment that I did from building one. 🤓
I really enjoyed the assembly. It reminded me of a few things that due to laziness and impatience I have been skipping of late.
Also as I'm in new Zealand too, it's good to see things like ordering for nz and the changes you made for metric. Keep up the great work!
Thanks. I’ll definitely take that as another vote to keep filming some assembly. Also great to hear from another Kiwi. Hopefully, you’re now a bit more inspired to progress your projects! I know, like many, I have too many projects on hold. 🤓
Cool project, I've been looking for a terminal kit like this that can handle both TTL and RS232 levels of I/O. I really appreciate you showing your troubleshooting steps, and I like watching the assembly process too, it is relaxing.
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I did some research before deciding on the VersaTerm. It does indeed seem to be the most versatile connection solution that I could find, pretty much covering all your bases. 🤓
Ha! Currently waiting forr the PCBs as the final parts for 2 kits. Also got me your M3'ified case.printed. And that's been days before I saw (and you uploaded) the video. 🙂 Nice coincidence.
Hopefully the video was interesting, and you avoid the same incorrect component value mistake that I made. Although, I'm sure no one else would make that same dumb mistake! LOL 🤓
Been there, done that. Also: I'm the master of reverse polarity xD @@DigicoolThings
@@Commander1024 Speaking of reverse polarity xD, I'll also admit that in my first prototype PCB for the MECB Motorola I/O Card, I actually wired the ACIA's TxD to the connector's RxD pin (and RxD to TxD). Even though I've wired TTL serial connectors many times before, I still got trapped in thinking from the connected device's POV. Promptly fixed, after a head slapping moment! LOL 🤓
Really nice, I think I will build something like that just for fun.
But one thing. If I could I would put the display outputs and the serial connector on the back side and the Keyboard plugs on the front. That would make the desktop less a mess of cables.But I can't design PCBs :-(
Thanks. I guess the best placing of the connectors depends on your own situation. For me, I just wished the power connector was also on the "back" with the monitor and keyboard connections. So just the serial connections, that I'll be regularly connecting to, where on the front. But, I imagine David's PCB layout was also related to making the unit as compact as he could, especially given that connector location preferences are quite subjective. If you build one too, I hope it proves as useful as mine has. 🤓
I find it very enjoyable❤
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you found it enjoyable. 🤓
Really cool. If it gets some networking capabilities, wifi with Pico W, or ethernet, then it would be close to perfect. I very much like the idea.
I wanted to see the assembly to see how hard the hand soldering of the HDMI connector is. Interesting soldering iron bit you use. Does the settings allow you to have a green or amber screen instead of white?
Yes, the HDMI connector is challenging. I solder under a magnifier (trinocular microscope), and use a Axun T210 handled station. I like the small bent-end tips for most work, as it seems best for getting good contact / heat transfer when using a small tip. By setting the screen mode to Monochrome, and setting the ANSI colour for "Monochrome text" you can set colours other than white, for background / normal / bold. I'm currently using a nice Amber by setting the "Monochrome normal text" colour to F0.
Hey I had not heard of this project! I've been collecting designs for microcontroller-based terminals to make one next month, and this one is nice because it has options for kb + monitor, thanks!
Glad this was of help. I searched for quite a while, looking for what I considered a solution versatile enough to fulfill what I wanted. The VersaTerm was the best fit I found. No doubt there are also other good solutions out there, but this just seemed a really good versatile solution. 🤓
I am doing a project to assemble a UART to RJ-45 female converter so you can just plug in a dumb terminal with an RJ-45 to RS-232 serial port adapter with a standard ethernet cable, with the ability to re-wire the RS-232 pins (since they were not standardized) inside the female RJ-45 box.
Interesting. Is this an active component solution (e.g. that contains drivers for longer ethernet cables), or is it a configurable pin-pin adapter? Do you plan on making a video? it would be interesting to see what you're making. It'd be useful to be able to patch a serial connection between ethernet outlets. 🤓
Just Pin to pin. While this one is to connect ODROID SBCs like the C2 or HC4 to a serial terminal, so SSH can be left off, and with the HC4, allowing the use of the 1 USB jack the concept would work for any device with a motherboard UART output.
I think i can make a video of it at the Vintage Computer Museum's repair workshop coming up in early January.
@@DigicoolThings
@@justin423 Sounds good. I've subscribed, just in case you get a chance to make a video about it.
Your soldering technique is very good and I will suggest this video as a How-To! I want one of these but with 132 column and VT320 total emulation :)
Thank you for the compliment. David noted the terminal was limited to 80 chars because of Pico performance limitations. It runs at 640x480 standard VGA resolution, hence 8 pixel width font with 80 chars per line. The PicoVGA code he is using presumably can't handle the timing for higher pixel rates, to give a higher display resolution required for 132 columns.
Shame there is no 132 column support - and how are characters implemented? Can you use different fonts? Would be nice to see this with "big boy" terminal emulation and capability and for it to have a small onboard character screen.
You can create user uploadable fonts. Also, all of the source code is published on the github repository, so you are able to modify it (e.g. alter the native fonts included, or implement custom features), and recompile. Note however that the fonts are all based on a 8-bit character cell width (640 pixel VGA screen, for 80 chars x 8-bits).
Im sad bigger lcd screens are so expensive i always wanted to build a small-ish 8 inch dumb terminal
Yes. I just ordered a 10" Eyoyo IPS HDMI/VGA/Video 1920x1200 monitor from AliExpress for around $100. I was after a small monitor, and this seemed the best for resolution, inputs, and display quality. Not too bad a price, but you can get a good much larger monitor for the same price. So, small / portable seems to command a premium.
You might look at refurbs. It's been a few years since I bought some.
I'm confused about the 2 additional wires Pico vs. PCB. Ahh I guess due to the USB-Host (keyboard)..
Yes, I think you're spot on. It's covered in the github "Assembly Tips". Specifically: "The Raspberry Pi Pico does not route the USB data signals to its pin headers. However, there are two test points (TP2 and TP3) on the bottom of the Pi Pico on which the USB data signals can be accessed. Solder in a short wire from TP2 on the Pi Pico board to TP2 on the VersaTerm PCB. Same for TP3."
Yep, stick with the meticulous builds, i find them therapeutic, and of course now stands as an instructive step-by-step for my own MECB Christmas present builds...!
Glad that you found it helpful. It seemed to take me ages to finish that video, possibly as it was also a busy December, so it's great to get feedback like yours! Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.
Not sure I’d class it as retro but nice project.
Fair call. I guess calling anything Retro that's based on an RP2040, seems to be stretching things a bit. But, I'd say that it's the intended function that is indeed Retro. 🤓
24:15 Why a USB keyboard when it has a *perfectly* good PS/2 connection? 😉
Excellent question! Basically, one of the attractions of the VersaTerm is that it supports either PS/2 or USB keyboards. Finding a moderm, compact, mechanical keyboard, that also supports PS/2 conection mode, is getting difficult. I was wanting a "space saving" compact Mechanical keyboard, and found the reasonably priced good quality "Royal Kludge" RK84 from AliExpress. However, it only provides wireless or USB connectivity (no PS/2 mode, so a simple PS/2 adapter won't work).
Good video.
The use of a USB B mini connector causes me to not consider this project.
Yes, although that didn't put me off, as the functionality was my main priority. I'm using the DC connector for powering my VersaTerm. For all of my current 5V powered projects I've actually gone to the USB-C connector, as I find it a nice 5V solution that also avoids the reverse polarity / over voltage risk of using the age-old DC connector Power adapters. Plus, thanks to the RaspberryPi, USB-C plug terminated 5V DC Power Adapters are relatively cheap. 🤓
@@DigicoolThings I use those USB to magnetic corrector things.That way one cable does multiple devices regardless of original connector..
@@aprusek Good idea. I must look into further. Thanks.
@@DigicoolThings A while back I built "Geoff's VT100" which is a PIC based vt100, and way back wrote a Hazeltine 1500 emulator to tun on a Model II Tandy.
@@aprusek Yes, I came across Geoff's VT100 variations, while searching for a good stand-alone terminal. The recent VersaTerm won me over with it's USB keyboard and HDMI output options allowing use with more modern keyboards and displays (plus, I had an unused Pico in my parts drawer). p.s. I ended up ordering some small USB-C to mini-USB and micro-USB adapter plugs to satisfy connecting my USB-C 5V power source to the different USB power connectors. I didn't find a magnetic solution for mini-USB, only micro and USB-C.