That feature is called "soft scrolling" in the setup-menu. It tends to slow things down, so most people have it switched off. I'm using a VT520 (a somewhat never version of this one) for most of my work.
@@SomePotato The soft-scrolling was probably meant to be used with 4800 or 9600 bauds... on faster lines it's just awkward. There are cool things about having a real terminal though: - Some have built-in graphics capabilities like regis or sixel (th-cam.com/video/0SasrQ7pnbA/w-d-xo.html) - Some older programs and games use special characters to display elaborate pseudo-graphics which most terminal emulators won't display correctly
@@wuloki Yeah I kind of want a VT-330 just so I can play around with regis graphics. Though it's real hard to justify given the price of those things these days.
@@tetsujin_144 xterm can do both regis and sixel. The versions you get on a typical linux distro often don't have that enabled though, but compiling xterm yourself with the appropriate switches to ./configure is still cheaper than getting a real VT-330.
@@jn1mrgn I know of a ghetto community center that got some, they sold them to pizza hut and made a collective party with the money(ironically, buying some Pizza Hut)
Yeah my Mom trashed my Dad's old TRS-80 when they split back in '94 (probably just out of spite), but I would sure like to go back in time and stop her from doing that. Replace the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply (and any other large caps) and wherever kind of button-cell CMOS battery it had and I'd be ready for some LEGIT Frogger playing! Oh, and having a bona fide piece of computing history that might be worth $10K to the right buyer. It's crazy how worthless e-waste that we only recycle (as opposed to trashing) only because of a few hundred milligrams of precious metals might one day be a museum piece. Makes you think twice about getting rid of the stuff! That planned obsolescence is a mofo, and we all only have just so much storage space - guess we could go into our attics and start deleting stuff of questionable retention value from our /dev/attic1 to make room?
It's amazing how the most boring business hardware of my youth is capable to turn itself into the most fashionable vintage piece of equipment in this date and age.
Very true. I'm an OG gamer, I've been playing video games since the 90s. I'm still rocking with my over 10 year old PC(BSEL modded Intel Pentium E2160, vmodded ATI HD4670 and 19'' 1280x1024 monitor). I can play AAA games like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion/Skyrim, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 1/2/3, Dragon Age 1/2/3 and Fallout 3/NV/TTW. Too bad I can't play Fallout 4 or The Witcher 3 because my GPU doesn't support DX11, but I can watch ''Let's play'' videos and it's almost like playing the game. I have my studio tour and gaming setup video on my channel.
Yeah, I’ve started to become hesitant to sell/recycle my hardware (laptops, tablets, smartphones) because I super regret getting rid of things like my first camera and my old Nokia.
That's one thing I found really puzzling was how supposedly "better" business computers (I mean you'd think so since they would do more important/complicated kinds of tasks) were supposed to be yet how come they typically just did plain black/green or black/amber when the Apple IIe or TI-99 4A computers in school could do full color? When our public library first got this kind of computer "card catalog" in the early 90s that too was puzzling how these brand new computers would be so primitive (plain black screen/amber text) yet the ones in my elementary school computer were older yet could do full color graphics. Didn't make any sense to me at all at the time...
@@MrClawt Hard one to answer but let me say it like this -- it is a great game, and very well done; but its 'sandbox'y, but not boxed in sandbox like say GTA etc. Like, paths of advacenemnt (bear in mind, I'm a noob despite having it since launch, just trying to really get in now..) .. you can be the usual freighter, or pirate, or work on your engineering skills, ot aim for gold, or aim for acquiring lots of ships of different kidns, and/or different buildouts for each; you can work on rovering around to find minerals, or do miing of asteroids. The aliens are invading, so you can fight aliens or their scouts, or try to evac burning outposts to save the people; you can guild up and do what the guilds prioties are. etc. So, theres a lot that can be done, but the game won't tell you to do anything; theres no levelling up per se (except engineering skills), but you don't start with a good ship or good modules for sed ship so thats where it starts.. Myself, I'd like to .. try a little of all of it; the tutorial missions will get you there. I'd really like to work on fighting the aliens and evacuating burning bases and such, that seems fun/risky :) Graphics and audio are astounding. I've got a VR headset, and it looks extra stunning in that, though it still controls with joy/mouse/keyb as normal, even when in VR.
When our HS made their library computerized in the 90's, I was one of the individuals who entered card catalog data into the database, and stuck barcodes on books during my gym period. I had ankle surgery, and was assigned to library duty in lieu of gym. Fun times.
I used to have to service WYSE-100 terminals, which also had this amber monochrome screens. The terminal main-menu was burnt into the phosphor, and you could read the main menu on the screen, with the terminal switched off. :) Those terminals run 24/7, and every now and again, the PSU caps would die, and I would have to pull the terminal to bits and recap the PSU, and put it back in. We actually used to have about five or six WYSE-100 terminals sitting on the shelf of the workshop, so that when you got the call that one had stopped, you would swap it out with one of the already repaired ones, then bring the dead one back to the shop, fix it, and plop it on the shelf to go out when needed.
I was about to say almost the same thing. Editing was solid af and was very visually pleasing. Felt like he sent the video off to a legit TV studio to be edited or something lol. Clint is killin it.
From the beginning LGR has always had the best intros but this one is incredible. Fantastic job with the cinematography for this video man, keep it up!
My library has these until the early 2000s. Back then, you only needed your library card number to get into all your info. Reserve books, renew them, and see if you owed the library any money. One day, I discovered that someone was one accidental key stroke away from my number, and from then on, I was always checking their stuff too. At one point, they owed my library over $500...
I'm guessing that's why modern library cards have PIN codes on them… …or in the case of the public libraries in my area, a separate online login that uses a username and password (and the online account is linked to the physical library card or identity card number), which in turn makes OverDrive logins rather interesting because I would have to put in my username and password in place of the library card number and PIN respectively.
Wonder if it was me? Lol. I still have a book i "borrowed" from the library in 1998... 8yo me forgot about it and I only found the book in 2017 when my dad moved house... the library is gone now. Its a car park....
Clint, I've always loved your videos, but I'm especially in love with this one. I'm a librarian (using the current Dynex system - Sirsi) and this takes me back. Thank you for showing some library love. This terminal brings back so many great memories!
It's a real shame that Archive Dot Org doesn't have a copy of the classic Dynix library management software. If anyone still has an old server from an 1980s library please try to preserve that stuff.
Those databases from that era typically ran from ‘big iron’ (mainframes) - not a local ‘server’ in the sense that you’d have today. These were also typically shared and centrally located (so all libraries in a given region could use them via these ‘dumb terminals’). In some cases - if the software and/or database was critical enough we would sometimes port them out to mainframe emulators that ran on the equivalent of modern servers - but typically these old applications/data repos were just replaced with modern equivalents and left to die an unceremonious death in a freezing cold corner of some sad, lonely data center.
That intro was magical... And I love that cute "Wait" that it has in it's startup... it's like "Wait... this shit's getting started, check me out... VT320 OK!"
It isn't just nostalgia. There was a level of refinement in the terminal, and in VMS and the application software that sat on top of it (including the command line itself), that exploited the features of DEC smart terminals in a way that was very smooth, expressive, and user-friendly. To this day, command-line applications on a UNIX or Linux system represent a definite step backward from what VMS and the DEC terminals provided. Another underappreciated feature of the vt320 monitor was that its native font made capital letters easy on the eye.
As a college student in the late 90s and early 2000s, I used this terminal on almost a daily basis because I was a student library worker for work study. The nostalgia is unreal!
Actually, about 0.1562 frames per second, if we take into account that one screen in 80x24 is 1920 characters, and at 2400 baud you can do 300 characters per second. Even slower if you set it to use more columns.
@Ivinnium You can now buy pre-made linux gaming laptops, install steam directly from the app store, and install windows games right onto it. My RTX 3080 System76 Oryx Pro linux laptop is proof that linux is no longer a niche fanboy OS. Its ready for the masses, but as long as you write off comments like what @fan of leaf nation wrote, you'll miss out. Damn shame
This gives me nightmares of converting a card catalog to database, one card at a time. I did it for a small library in 1994. They paid so much, but oooh it was boring.
LUCKY! My local library as a kid divied the task out to me and a few other adults and I think the Head Librarians son and at least us kiddos were paid in food (and access to the vending machine) and dibs on new books the library was ordering in. The adults (who definitely were being paid) were given the brunt of the task and helped us if we needed guidance, but yeah it was exceptionally boring, but it was computers so I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever done in my life.
@@TechnicolorMammoth On the GOOD side, I also got EVERY Star Trek TOS Pocket Book...someone donated a complete collection, and they didn't want it! HAH And yes, I loved the idea of sitting in front of a computer 12 hours a day, no problem! And a fun note, we used a program called KERMIT to connect to the University of Texas library, and the password was kermit too.
We still use these things in VAX production environments where I work. These old terminals (and VAX/VMS systems) are hands-down some of my favorite pieces of tech to work with and enjoy. Not sure if you’ve ever done a video on OpenVMS, but that is a true gem from memory lane. Excellent production quality btw; keep doing exactly what you’re doing!
One really unfortunate thing about terminal I/O on Unix and Linux systems is that command-line applications fail to make use of the advanced features of the vt100 series, to say nothing of the vt320 series. In practice, curses, ncurses, termcap, and termio do a terrible job of supporting advanced features of DEC terminals. VMS command-line applications routinely made use of double-height text, blinking text, and windows within the screen. WordPerfect for VMS made use of downloadable fonts on vt320 terminals: you had real italics!
The level of effort Clint put in this one extends well beyond it's intro. The terminal was displayed in a setting that's incredibly pleasing to the eye. The soft ambient lighting matches the warm tones of the music he's provided. The screen capture in this video is delightfully crisp, the depth being so obvious, I feel like I might as well be looking at the real thing. This channel is like a fine wine, Clint. It has aged perfectly.
Wow I remember these at my undergrad library in the late 1990s, and when I worked there I would always help people with the usage. Great score here, and I didn't know these cost so much!
Dynix was the operating system, basically Sequent’s multi-processor version of Unix. It wasn’t the library application, but the performance of the various Sequent servers was uniquely good for library workloads.
This one really takes me back to 1993, hanging out at the library for hours on a chat BBS connected by telnet. My first experience with the internet. I remember there being these strange things in the library menu like "Gopher" and "World Wide Web". The web wasnt very interesting at the time... not much content and was all in text on the terminal. And that smooth scrolling of text was very satisfying, and I remember trying to find a terminal program on PC to do the same thing when dialing into BBSes, but never found anything like it.
Joe The scrolling was typically done by messing with the adjustment registers in the video chip. The classic chip in PCs could only do this for the whole screen, but some alternative chips did allow smooth scrolling a "window" part of the screen so the status line could stand still. Of cause in a terminal like this, the scrolling effect would be done to whatever was specified via the DEC escape codes, and if the chosen part couldn't be smooth scrolled, it just scrolled unsmoothly and the computer wouldn't know or care.
I have many happy memories of controlling my Linux computer remotely using a terminal and a very long nulmodem cable, I probably still have a few in storage
Andre van Schaijk I remember writing up a project using a VT220 connected via a terminal concentrator to the buildings central DEC Ultrix server, then printing it out on a DEC laser printer the size of a copier.
Same here, set up a DEC terminal to communicate with my 486 running Debian over a serial cable. Seem to remember that i had to hack the DB9 connector to do some rewiring of the pins. the VT' came from a a redundant system used at my work (power industry). They had been used to enter work orders, spares management and purchasing at all our power stations. The system was rolled out to all remote sites and every desk had a terminal all muxed back to a VAX in head office. I do recall that there was a rudimentary email system that was only used by the more geeky employees. Slow and painful to use. In the end I remember pallet loads of these terminals gathering dust in forgotten corners of the company.
Nothing better than sitting down with a bowl of cereal in front of my retro computer to watch Clint talk about retro computers. Keep up the good stuff, dude.
Nostalgia bomb. I remember this system well. The amber glow, the beep, the keyboard sound. I used it for years. It was very satisfying. I was disappointed when the library “upgraded” to some full-color, mouse-driven GUI system. Thank you for this video. It made my day.
There are times I wish the local library would go back to something like this, but with maybe a slight bit more configuration for enlarging the characters on screen or maybe a splash of color for highlighting, but on the whole still text/keyboard centric because my eyes just kidna wash over the current cataloging system and it's like 'ok what do? This is all a jumble to me.' Also... that smooth scrolling. Holy mary mother of christ that scrolling.
Oh! That thing about a GUI system, reminds me of when the public libraries here used "CARLWeb53" for their catalogue systems, it had a version with the library branding and all (albeit the older logo that had serif text rather than sans-serif) in the main section, but a separate version of the same system called "Kids Catalogue WEB" that didn't have library branding, but had an bit of a "robot" design with animated GIF graphics and all, accessed through Compaq (and later HP) thin clients. In the early 2010s, they ditched that for the Spydus catalogue system web interface, but along with their own separate search site that searches multiple sources. Years later, they would ditch their proprietary (I think) e-book system in favour of OverDrive. They replaced the HP Compaq thin clients with HP ProDesk desktops, and later EliteOnes.
I was just remembering my own disappointment when my library upgraded! I think it was because the card catalog terminal was its own specialized device -- it even had a bunch of the keyboard buttons replaced by brightly-painted ones with catalog-specific labels. I guess the modern comparison would be reading an e-book on a Kindle vs an iPad: Yes, you CAN do that on either, but it's better on the device designed for that purpose.
I remember playing around with those terminals when I was kid in the 80's and early 90's. I always found the amber color much more pleasant than the eye-searing green ones.
That intro.. a e s t h e t i c. I’m 24 and I don’t remember these, so it’s not just nostalgia that makes this terminal a cool piece of retro technology. The smooth scrolling, the keyboard clicks, the surprisingly stable monitor stand. I love it all
Bro most of the computers you review are much much older than me. But it's so fascinating to learn about them. And your DOS game reviews are also 👌👌👌 . Great upload as always!
My oh my...I have never seen so much love for a vt terminal. I worked for DEC for almost 20 years. I personally installed thousands of VT terminals and the systems to go along with them. The VT series terminals were rock solid and reliable. They were a huge hit with customers all over. I started my computer career with DEC, and to be completely honest...I really miss working for DEC. You got it correct with the comments about the VT terminals. I just threw away a couple of Vt220's...;too bad I didn't know anybody wanted them. Boy yhis takes me back big time.
I had a VT320 with an LK401 until recently. It had the paper-white CRT, and saw use in my workshop for interacting with Arduino projects, Cisco routers, Raspberry Pi's, and more. Unfortunately I had to let it go when I moved. Great video, Clint! Loved it!
All the keyboards of the newer VT terminals have a quite smudgy feel. A good one is the one for the VT100 terminal, but those are quite old and hard to come by. The IBM 5250 terminals also had a nice keyboard (basically an IBM model M with LOTS of extra-keys).
My College had a bunch of DEC, Wyze terminals for interacting with our DEC VAX system with dual 500MB hard drives. It ran our e-mail system, as well as student records and using telnet, was a window into the world of Multi User Dungeons (MUDs). What wonderful memories... My mom got a DEC terminal from her work that I helped her hook up to a modem so she could access the mainframe at work and I could also use it to dial into our local library's card catalogue system as well. Thanks for reminding me of those good times.
Ah, what a lovely terminal! And I really enjoyed the intro part. In fact, I have no idea how many times I went back to the very beginning of the video to see the intro!
Our libraries had WYSE termials, with a lot of burn-in. Ah, those halcyon days. What I wouldn't give for a time-machine. Do a long-play letsplay series of LORD. 😀
You’d be surprised how many current design choices come from either just tweaking old designs or being fully inspired by them. That applies to everything, by the way. I got my associate degree in graphic design and advertising about a decade ago and a lot of graphic design in the late 00’s and early 10’s was extremely inspired by 1900-1950’s American and European design. Then everything shifted to some abomination of minimalism pushed by Apple and Google and I died inside.
I had completely forgot about this, but used them in my daily job for a few years as a computer operator. I was filled with excitement as your video played and your nostalgic giddiness brought tears of joy as I relieved the exact same experiences in my mind. Aaaah. Thank you!
My local library had these in the 90s. Amazing that they can still be connected to modern systems (and even the internet) with the right rig. They are definitely cool in orange phosphor.
OMG, this takes me back. I was working for Varian, in the now defunct "Thin Film Division". Essentially, they made the machines used to manufacture computer chips. I was in the production planning department, and everything was run off some DEC model mini-computer running ASK-MANMAN. Gah. An utterly forgettable job... except I was there during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. I had left the building for the day and had just gotten to the bus stop across the street to take the bus home when it struck. Unbeknownst to me until 3 days later, the large potted plant on the shelf above my VT320 fell right onto the terminal, smashing it into a million bits of plastic and phosphor-coated glass. Had I stayed at work 3 minutes longer, as I occasionally did do some overtime, that 50-odd pound potted plant would have landed right on my head most likely, and I might not be here today. RIP, my loyal VT320... you took the hit for me on that fateful day. :-)
This is such a beautiful thing. I'm kinda kicking myself for not grabbing a few back in the 90's when they were going to e-waste. They're just so frigging expensive on eBay these days.
Dynix, is now SirsiDynix and they have joined the modern world. Most libraries still use something called SIP2(Standard Interchange Protocol) designed for extremely low baud modems, for card authentication. (Library software dev)
Colin Knapp yep SIP 2 is what we use. Sirsi may have acquired Dynix but i believe the software we now use only shares the name...none of the source code or architecture of the program is related to the earlier product. Sirsi merged with Dynix in 2005, ditched the software but kept the name pushing people to their current Symphony product...
Back in the mid 90s I used a couple of similar DEC terminals as a Marine. First place used them to run our big printers that ran off big print jobs (a massive laser printer and some massive line printers). Second place we used them to access our Sun Unix servers that didn't have video cards.
@@hobbified I have seen countless CRT's and never one with a resolution like this. Have you? It looks unreal to me even comparing it to CRT's from the late 90's. That smooth scroll helps too.
@@98Zai that kind of sharpness was normal on monochrome CRTs. It's only the color ones that tended to be lower quality, because it takes much fancier technology to make a color one look good.
My library used Winnebago Library catalog software. My first job at the library was as a clerk and when I wasn’t working the desk, I was cataloging. It was a noisy place in the work room back then with the dot matrix printers, the fax machine that used thermal paper and of course clicking keyboards
These terminals were intended to operate the servers made by the same brand, DEC / digital (that is, PDP-11 and VAX computers). The DO key is used in the editor for example, to perform stuff like copy/paste/replace, etc.
You should have an amber version of your intro for such occasions.
He had that intro on the Amdek 301A video.
@@und4287 yes I remember that but it was the old one
great idea!
Damn, I was gonna say the same thing!
Very true!
7:00 That scrolling is so smooth. It doesn't even look real, like when movies or TV shows try to fake software or super-impose text on a dummy prop.
That feature is called "soft scrolling" in the setup-menu. It tends to slow things down, so most people have it switched off. I'm using a VT520 (a somewhat never version of this one) for most of my work.
It annoys me to bits even while watching!
@@SomePotato The soft-scrolling was probably meant to be used with 4800 or 9600 bauds... on faster lines it's just awkward.
There are cool things about having a real terminal though:
- Some have built-in graphics capabilities like regis or sixel (th-cam.com/video/0SasrQ7pnbA/w-d-xo.html)
- Some older programs and games use special characters to display elaborate pseudo-graphics which most terminal emulators won't display correctly
@@wuloki Yeah I kind of want a VT-330 just so I can play around with regis graphics. Though it's real hard to justify given the price of those things these days.
@@tetsujin_144 xterm can do both regis and sixel. The versions you get on a typical linux distro often don't have that enabled though, but compiling xterm yourself with the appropriate switches to ./configure is still cheaper than getting a real VT-330.
Lol indeed this is one of the most LGR-esque things you could do. Tweet from a terminal. What a time to be alive.
7:29 Tweeting and Gaming ! See who needs $8900 RGB - you got all your gaming right here ! RGB? no AMBER !
Man, that Amber display is amazing. I hate myself for recycling so many of these two decades ago.
I gave a bunch to a community center in the ghetto. Dunno what they did with them.
@@jn1mrgn I know of a ghetto community center that got some, they sold them to pizza hut and made a collective party with the money(ironically, buying some Pizza Hut)
Yeah my Mom trashed my Dad's old TRS-80 when they split back in '94 (probably just out of spite), but I would sure like to go back in time and stop her from doing that. Replace the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply (and any other large caps) and wherever kind of button-cell CMOS battery it had and I'd be ready for some LEGIT Frogger playing! Oh, and having a bona fide piece of computing history that might be worth $10K to the right buyer. It's crazy how worthless e-waste that we only recycle (as opposed to trashing) only because of a few hundred milligrams of precious metals might one day be a museum piece. Makes you think twice about getting rid of the stuff! That planned obsolescence is a mofo, and we all only have just so much storage space - guess we could go into our attics and start deleting stuff of questionable retention value from our /dev/attic1 to make room?
There's a definite lack of 'lazy' in your videos these days.
That intro was smooth af.
I'm still lazy so it's ok.
I hope he gets monetization credit for people watching the first 30 seconds of a video over and over again, because I know I did.
"Smooth" is the right word. That intro is "I want a VT320---now!" smooth.
The intro is soooo good.
@@TechnocratiK makes me sad, because I had a VT320, which I got rid of ages ago :'(
It's amazing how the most boring business hardware of my youth is capable to turn itself into the most fashionable vintage piece of equipment in this date and age.
could put it right alongside the turntable maybe
Very true. I'm an OG gamer, I've been playing video games since the 90s. I'm still rocking with my over 10 year old PC(BSEL modded Intel Pentium E2160, vmodded ATI HD4670 and 19'' 1280x1024 monitor). I can play AAA games like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion/Skyrim, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 1/2/3, Dragon Age 1/2/3 and Fallout 3/NV/TTW. Too bad I can't play Fallout 4 or The Witcher 3 because my GPU doesn't support DX11, but I can watch ''Let's play'' videos and it's almost like playing the game. I have my studio tour and gaming setup video on my channel.
Yeah, I’ve started to become hesitant to sell/recycle my hardware (laptops, tablets, smartphones) because I super regret getting rid of things like my first camera and my old Nokia.
I wish I still had my Novell Netware 3.12 server (not really).
That's one thing I found really puzzling was how supposedly "better" business computers (I mean you'd think so since they would do more important/complicated kinds of tasks) were supposed to be yet how come they typically just did plain black/green or black/amber when the Apple IIe or TI-99 4A computers in school could do full color? When our public library first got this kind of computer "card catalog" in the early 90s that too was puzzling how these brand new computers would be so primitive (plain black screen/amber text) yet the ones in my elementary school computer were older yet could do full color graphics. Didn't make any sense to me at all at the time...
Ok the first 10 seconds I thought I was watching a cut scene from Blade Runner or Deus Ex. Love it!
I thought the music was some Pink Floyd from The Division Bell, pretty close to era appropriate.
Same
Or Elite: Dangerous which lives and breaths amber terminals :)
@@skeezixcodejedi how is Elite Dangerous? Is been on my wish list a while now.
@@MrClawt Hard one to answer but let me say it like this -- it is a great game, and very well done; but its 'sandbox'y, but not boxed in sandbox like say GTA etc. Like, paths of advacenemnt (bear in mind, I'm a noob despite having it since launch, just trying to really get in now..) .. you can be the usual freighter, or pirate, or work on your engineering skills, ot aim for gold, or aim for acquiring lots of ships of different kidns, and/or different buildouts for each; you can work on rovering around to find minerals, or do miing of asteroids. The aliens are invading, so you can fight aliens or their scouts, or try to evac burning outposts to save the people; you can guild up and do what the guilds prioties are. etc.
So, theres a lot that can be done, but the game won't tell you to do anything; theres no levelling up per se (except engineering skills), but you don't start with a good ship or good modules for sed ship so thats where it starts..
Myself, I'd like to .. try a little of all of it; the tutorial missions will get you there. I'd really like to work on fighting the aliens and evacuating burning bases and such, that seems fun/risky :)
Graphics and audio are astounding.
I've got a VR headset, and it looks extra stunning in that, though it still controls with joy/mouse/keyb as normal, even when in VR.
Loved the intro LGR, excellent cinematography. Great vid too..
When our HS made their library computerized in the 90's, I was one of the individuals who entered card catalog data into the database, and stuck barcodes on books during my gym period. I had ankle surgery, and was assigned to library duty in lieu of gym. Fun times.
That intro was AMAZING. Super retro vibes. That microchip-grid-startup-thing was incredible. Coupled with that music. Well done.
My thoughts precisely.
I used to have to service WYSE-100 terminals, which also had this amber monochrome screens. The terminal main-menu was burnt into the phosphor, and you could read the main menu on the screen, with the terminal switched off. :) Those terminals run 24/7, and every now and again, the PSU caps would die, and I would have to pull the terminal to bits and recap the PSU, and put it back in. We actually used to have about five or six WYSE-100 terminals sitting on the shelf of the workshop, so that when you got the call that one had stopped, you would swap it out with one of the already repaired ones, then bring the dead one back to the shop, fix it, and plop it on the shelf to go out when needed.
Came back here after MONTHS just to watch that intro again; that's how indelible it is.
That intro cinematography was amazing. Great job Clint, I want to see more stuff like this. You've got talent, man
For realsies, dude. For. Realsies.
I was about to say almost the same thing. Editing was solid af and was very visually pleasing. Felt like he sent the video off to a legit TV studio to be edited or something lol. Clint is killin it.
Agreed. I got chills watching that intro.
Loved the intro too
*Clint's slight Duke Nukem voice*
"Mm yes, another delightful computer... thing video."
Keep it up Clint, your video quality is superb
Alcoholic Tom you know it’s sad when you read your comment and can hear Clint’s voice perfectly as you read it lol
From the beginning LGR has always had the best intros but this one is incredible. Fantastic job with the cinematography for this video man, keep it up!
I feel like he could make really dank vaporwave music videos.
it rules
Really stepping up the editing game. :-)
When "print screen"
actually printed the screen to a paper... :D
It still actually does! If you press it on BIOSes' text-based startup screens or MS-DOS, it still prints to LPT1: as a Generic Text Printer
@@guilherm502 interesting! I will try that soon on my Thinkpad.
What I need is for "print screen" to screen print a t-shirt of the current display
@@valshaped If you can redirect the output to a suitable printer, you can do that
exactly!!!!!
What, no ASCII-art naked women? What kind of historically-accurate BBS experience is _that_ ? :-)
9:15
HAPPINESS IS A WARM TERMINAL.
HAPPINESS IS A WARM TERMINAL.
HAPPINESS IS A WARM TERMINAL
.
HAPPINESS IS A WARM TERMINAL
.
SeaJay Oceans *confusion* 100
@@hamad9068 Schultz beagle?
What the HELL is going on in this little comment subsection here?
me: see this comment
also me: am i watching *****
My library has these until the early 2000s. Back then, you only needed your library card number to get into all your info. Reserve books, renew them, and see if you owed the library any money.
One day, I discovered that someone was one accidental key stroke away from my number, and from then on, I was always checking their stuff too. At one point, they owed my library over $500...
I'm guessing that's why modern library cards have PIN codes on them…
…or in the case of the public libraries in my area, a separate online login that uses a username and password (and the online account is linked to the physical library card or identity card number), which in turn makes OverDrive logins rather interesting because I would have to put in my username and password in place of the library card number and PIN respectively.
mattandsarahaschan Isn’t that fraud?
@@BBC600 Only if you get caught!
@@BBC600 and I didn't know. I was maybe 10 when they switched to a more modern system.
Wonder if it was me? Lol. I still have a book i "borrowed" from the library in 1998... 8yo me forgot about it and I only found the book in 2017 when my dad moved house... the library is gone now. Its a car park....
Clint, I've always loved your videos, but I'm especially in love with this one. I'm a librarian (using the current Dynex system - Sirsi) and this takes me back. Thank you for showing some library love. This terminal brings back so many great memories!
I worked for Data Research Associates which were then selling ATLAS and LBPH library software.
It's a real shame that Archive Dot Org doesn't have a copy of the classic Dynix library management software. If anyone still has an old server from an 1980s library please try to preserve that stuff.
Those databases from that era typically ran from ‘big iron’ (mainframes) - not a local ‘server’ in the sense that you’d have today. These were also typically shared and centrally located (so all libraries in a given region could use them via these ‘dumb terminals’). In some cases - if the software and/or database was critical enough we would sometimes port them out to mainframe emulators that ran on the equivalent of modern servers - but typically these old applications/data repos were just replaced with modern equivalents and left to die an unceremonious death in a freezing cold corner of some sad, lonely data center.
That intro was magical...
And I love that cute "Wait" that it has in it's startup... it's like "Wait... this shit's getting started, check me out... VT320 OK!"
The sincere nostalgia of an amber screen monitor. Takes me back and tears me up reminding me of the simple and glorious days of my youth.
It isn't just nostalgia. There was a level of refinement in the terminal, and in VMS and the application software that sat on top of it (including the command line itself), that exploited the features of DEC smart terminals in a way that was very smooth, expressive, and user-friendly. To this day, command-line applications on a UNIX or Linux system represent a definite step backward from what VMS and the DEC terminals provided.
Another underappreciated feature of the vt320 monitor was that its native font made capital letters easy on the eye.
As a college student in the late 90s and early 2000s, I used this terminal on almost a daily basis because I was a student library worker for work study. The nostalgia is unreal!
Unlike the DEC VT320, LGR has many fans!
It’s bloody hot in here.
Woof!
A pun without alliterations? Well, at least you tried...
yea, i'm more of a VT100 kind of guy. xD
@@bamdadkhan Which did NOT need the keyclick form the speaker but had it anyway :)
That intro was beautiful!!
me: *crouches, hacking it. fails to hack it, gets locked out.*
Fallout
Hecking 100
You can just log out with one attempt left and then try hacking again, but that's just me...
Gaming on this...mmm 1 fps, clean tho, no lag. Real smooth!
16k of RAM is all you need
i actually played a "graphical" game called tunnel. basically travelling down a tunnel avoiding the walls.
@ivanpro1126HD who wouldn't be a fan of Linux? I'll tell you who - n00bs who think VMS is better.
Actually, about 0.1562 frames per second, if we take into account that one screen in 80x24 is 1920 characters, and at 2400 baud you can do 300 characters per second. Even slower if you set it to use more columns.
@Ivinnium You can now buy pre-made linux gaming laptops, install steam directly from the app store, and install windows games right onto it. My RTX 3080 System76 Oryx Pro linux laptop is proof that linux is no longer a niche fanboy OS. Its ready for the masses, but as long as you write off comments like what @fan of leaf nation wrote, you'll miss out. Damn shame
@3:32 Man, the graphics on this new Deus Ex game look amazing.
My vision is augmented.
Yeah, but can it run Crysis? XP
This gives me nightmares of converting a card catalog to database, one card at a time. I did it for a small library in 1994. They paid so much, but oooh it was boring.
LUCKY! My local library as a kid divied the task out to me and a few other adults and I think the Head Librarians son and at least us kiddos were paid in food (and access to the vending machine) and dibs on new books the library was ordering in. The adults (who definitely were being paid) were given the brunt of the task and helped us if we needed guidance, but yeah it was exceptionally boring, but it was computers so I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever done in my life.
@@TechnicolorMammoth On the GOOD side, I also got EVERY Star Trek TOS Pocket Book...someone donated a complete collection, and they didn't want it! HAH
And yes, I loved the idea of sitting in front of a computer 12 hours a day, no problem! And a fun note, we used a program called KERMIT to connect to the University of Texas library, and the password was kermit too.
Love the Blade Runner vibe in the intro! Better than anything Ridley Scott has done lately!
We still use these things in VAX production environments where I work. These old terminals (and VAX/VMS systems) are hands-down some of my favorite pieces of tech to work with and enjoy. Not sure if you’ve ever done a video on OpenVMS, but that is a true gem from memory lane. Excellent production quality btw; keep doing exactly what you’re doing!
One really unfortunate thing about terminal I/O on Unix and Linux systems is that command-line applications fail to make use of the advanced features of the vt100 series, to say nothing of the vt320 series. In practice, curses, ncurses, termcap, and termio do a terrible job of supporting advanced features of DEC terminals.
VMS command-line applications routinely made use of double-height text, blinking text, and windows within the screen. WordPerfect for VMS made use of downloadable fonts on vt320 terminals: you had real italics!
The level of effort Clint put in this one extends well beyond it's intro. The terminal was displayed in a setting that's incredibly pleasing to the eye. The soft ambient lighting matches the warm tones of the music he's provided. The screen capture in this video is delightfully crisp, the depth being so obvious, I feel like I might as well be looking at the real thing. This channel is like a fine wine, Clint. It has aged perfectly.
Its like I am back in my own library circa 1994, great memories!
Wow I remember these at my undergrad library in the late 1990s, and when I worked there I would always help people with the usage. Great score here, and I didn't know these cost so much!
our libraries had paper cards...
Dynix was the operating system, basically Sequent’s multi-processor version of Unix. It wasn’t the library application, but the performance of the various Sequent servers was uniquely good for library workloads.
This one really takes me back to 1993, hanging out at the library for hours on a chat BBS connected by telnet. My first experience with the internet. I remember there being these strange things in the library menu like "Gopher" and "World Wide Web". The web wasnt very interesting at the time... not much content and was all in text on the terminal. And that smooth scrolling of text was very satisfying, and I remember trying to find a terminal program on PC to do the same thing when dialing into BBSes, but never found anything like it.
Joe The scrolling was typically done by messing with the adjustment registers in the video chip. The classic chip in PCs could only do this for the whole screen, but some alternative chips did allow smooth scrolling a "window" part of the screen so the status line could stand still. Of cause in a terminal like this, the scrolling effect would be done to whatever was specified via the DEC escape codes, and if the chosen part couldn't be smooth scrolled, it just scrolled unsmoothly and the computer wouldn't know or care.
I have many happy memories of controlling my Linux computer remotely using a terminal and a very long nulmodem cable, I probably still have a few in storage
Andre van Schaijk I remember writing up a project using a VT220 connected via a terminal concentrator to the buildings central DEC Ultrix server, then printing it out on a DEC laser printer the size of a copier.
Very nice :)
Same here, set up a DEC terminal to communicate with my 486 running Debian over a serial cable. Seem to remember that i had to hack the DB9 connector to do some rewiring of the pins. the VT' came from a a redundant system used at my work (power industry). They had been used to enter work orders, spares management and purchasing at all our power stations. The system was rolled out to all remote sites and every desk had a terminal all muxed back to a VAX in head office. I do recall that there was a rudimentary email system that was only used by the more geeky employees. Slow and painful to use. In the end I remember pallet loads of these terminals gathering dust in forgotten corners of the company.
Nothing better than sitting down with a bowl of cereal in front of my retro computer to watch Clint talk about retro computers. Keep up the good stuff, dude.
Ok, that terminal is incredibly aesthetic. Smooth scrolling and a quaint amber display is lovely.
You are killing it with the editing. Your videos are always welcome, no matter what they are about.
Oh my god, this terminal is 20 days older than me.
Nostalgia bomb. I remember this system well. The amber glow, the beep, the keyboard sound. I used it for years. It was very satisfying. I was disappointed when the library “upgraded” to some full-color, mouse-driven GUI system. Thank you for this video. It made my day.
There are times I wish the local library would go back to something like this, but with maybe a slight bit more configuration for enlarging the characters on screen or maybe a splash of color for highlighting, but on the whole still text/keyboard centric because my eyes just kidna wash over the current cataloging system and it's like 'ok what do? This is all a jumble to me.'
Also... that smooth scrolling. Holy mary mother of christ that scrolling.
Oh! That thing about a GUI system, reminds me of when the public libraries here used "CARLWeb53" for their catalogue systems, it had a version with the library branding and all (albeit the older logo that had serif text rather than sans-serif) in the main section, but a separate version of the same system called "Kids Catalogue WEB" that didn't have library branding, but had an bit of a "robot" design with animated GIF graphics and all, accessed through Compaq (and later HP) thin clients. In the early 2010s, they ditched that for the Spydus catalogue system web interface, but along with their own separate search site that searches multiple sources. Years later, they would ditch their proprietary (I think) e-book system in favour of OverDrive. They replaced the HP Compaq thin clients with HP ProDesk desktops, and later EliteOnes.
I was just remembering my own disappointment when my library upgraded! I think it was because the card catalog terminal was its own specialized device -- it even had a bunch of the keyboard buttons replaced by brightly-painted ones with catalog-specific labels.
I guess the modern comparison would be reading an e-book on a Kindle vs an iPad: Yes, you CAN do that on either, but it's better on the device designed for that purpose.
Ah yes I used one of these in New Vegas. Makes me thirsty for a sunset sarsaparilla.
I went through the comments just to find a FO reference to terminals. You're a cool person.
VT100/VT220/VT320 is my memory of college study and working life. I am 56 and retired. Thanks for bringing back my memory.
Jeez,that intro it's GLORIOUS
if I wrote something bad correct me,i'm from Argentina
Just your commas and spacing, and it's "I'm" instead of "i'm". :) But to be honest, your English is better than most of Americans. XD
@@blackneos940lol
You didnt its ok english
@@hotsauwz wut?
@@imanolibanez1611 I think he meant "You didn't. Your English is OK. (good)"
I remember playing around with those terminals when I was kid in the 80's and early 90's. I always found the amber color much more pleasant than the eye-searing green ones.
That intro.. a e s t h e t i c. I’m 24 and I don’t remember these, so it’s not just nostalgia that makes this terminal a cool piece of retro technology.
The smooth scrolling, the keyboard clicks, the surprisingly stable monitor stand. I love it all
This is the exact terminal I've been looking for from my childhood, definitely picking one up now. Thanks for the video!
Love it! I have a VT420 sitting on my desk right now.
Bro most of the computers you review are much much older than me. But it's so fascinating to learn about them. And your DOS game reviews are also 👌👌👌
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Great upload as always!
I saw suggestions about new mac pro, but I am here and watching this video about a 32 years old computer... 😃
My oh my...I have never seen so much love for a vt terminal. I worked for DEC for almost 20 years. I personally installed thousands of VT terminals and the systems to go along with them. The VT series terminals were rock solid and reliable. They were a huge hit with customers all over. I started my computer career with DEC, and to be completely honest...I really miss working for DEC. You got it correct with the comments about the VT terminals. I just threw away a couple of Vt220's...;too bad I didn't know anybody wanted them. Boy yhis takes me back big time.
I had a VT320 with an LK401 until recently. It had the paper-white CRT, and saw use in my workshop for interacting with Arduino projects, Cisco routers, Raspberry Pi's, and more. Unfortunately I had to let it go when I moved. Great video, Clint! Loved it!
That opening was so awesome, keep up the good work Clint.
We can feel your love, Clint. Great episode!
"It is not a mechanical clicky keyboard" - Good. Imagine that godawful clacking in a quiet library. :(
@Coffee Fox
:
That clacking is computer-great for home, but godawful for the library hehehehehe
The keyboard of that thing is called "LK-401". There's also the LK-411, which has a PS/2 connecter, so you can use it with most PCs out there.
All the keyboards of the newer VT terminals have a quite smudgy feel. A good one is the one for the VT100 terminal, but those are quite old and hard to come by. The IBM 5250 terminals also had a nice keyboard (basically an IBM model M with LOTS of extra-keys).
I love clacky keyboards. They are satisfying
Terminal keyboard makers: We can't have mechanical, it'll clack
Also terminal keyboard makers: LET'S MAKE IT CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP
My College had a bunch of DEC, Wyze terminals for interacting with our DEC VAX system with dual 500MB hard drives. It ran our e-mail system, as well as student records and using telnet, was a window into the world of Multi User Dungeons (MUDs). What wonderful memories... My mom got a DEC terminal from her work that I helped her hook up to a modem so she could access the mainframe at work and I could also use it to dial into our local library's card catalogue system as well. Thanks for reminding me of those good times.
I keep coming back to this video because it's so pretty
Ah, what a lovely terminal! And I really enjoyed the intro part.
In fact, I have no idea how many times I went back to the very beginning of the video to see the intro!
Soooooooo many memories! You're a treasure Clint, I dread the day when you upload your last video... My hope is that you'll live forever! 😄
I never thought about that :(
Lets hope lgr as a service lasts atleast 30 more years. As a person, another 60.
Our libraries had WYSE termials, with a lot of burn-in. Ah, those halcyon days. What I wouldn't give for a time-machine.
Do a long-play letsplay series of LORD. 😀
Beautiful design, exquisite features. I've used this terminal. Nothing compares 2 DEC!
I am happy to see that a lot of people like your video's as much as I do!
aaaaand im a kid again. mono-chrome amber NICE!!! so much better on my eyes then mono-chrome green, but green is crispy in the dark.
We have one in my school IT lab
Along with another 2 DEC terminals
I worked on these for years! I loved them! I always loved DEC equipment! VAX to the MAX!
I worked on them as well back in the day. This vid was quite nostalgic.
Using VT320's was so soothing due to their warm amber glow and smooth scrolling.
I loved the aesthetic you gave the terminal! It really looked futuristic for a moment
Not enough jazz in the intro. Unsubbed.
Oh wait, there's farts and balls as well. Resubbed.
3:50 now I know where "Microsoft Surface adjustable stand" design came from.
You’d be surprised how many current design choices come from either just tweaking old designs or being fully inspired by them. That applies to everything, by the way. I got my associate degree in graphic design and advertising about a decade ago and a lot of graphic design in the late 00’s and early 10’s was extremely inspired by 1900-1950’s American and European design.
Then everything shifted to some abomination of minimalism pushed by Apple and Google and I died inside.
Love the new decoration and opening intro! A Keyboard with speakers, glowing amber display, fancy spring loaded tilt mechanism 🦄
Your videos are so pleasing to watch!
This reminds me of the terminals my library had when I was a kid, except theirs were from WYSE instead of DEC
Loved that intro. :o) Tempted to screen shot it and make it a desktop background.
I had completely forgot about this, but used them in my daily job for a few years as a computer operator. I was filled with excitement as your video played and your nostalgic giddiness brought tears of joy as I relieved the exact same experiences in my mind. Aaaah. Thank you!
My local library had these in the 90s. Amazing that they can still be connected to modern systems (and even the internet) with the right rig. They are definitely cool in orange phosphor.
Your production quality is amazing!
I believe 8Bit added support for this on Planet X3
OMG, this takes me back. I was working for Varian, in the now defunct "Thin Film Division". Essentially, they made the machines used to manufacture computer chips. I was in the production planning department, and everything was run off some DEC model mini-computer running ASK-MANMAN. Gah. An utterly forgettable job... except I was there during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. I had left the building for the day and had just gotten to the bus stop across the street to take the bus home when it struck.
Unbeknownst to me until 3 days later, the large potted plant on the shelf above my VT320 fell right onto the terminal, smashing it into a million bits of plastic and phosphor-coated glass. Had I stayed at work 3 minutes longer, as I occasionally did do some overtime, that 50-odd pound potted plant would have landed right on my head most likely, and I might not be here today.
RIP, my loyal VT320... you took the hit for me on that fateful day. :-)
I came back over 2 years later just to watch that intro again.
Retrocomputing: the best kind of time travel.
Thing of beauty!!! Joy forever!!! [cit. Dave EEVblog]
I'd totally buy one of these if in good condition!
Man, I could literally almost smell my old library just watching that thing boot up. The memories
A thing of beauty. I had a smile plastered on my face throughout this video.
Woah, such an atmospheric Intro! 0_0 Nice!
This is such a beautiful thing. I'm kinda kicking myself for not grabbing a few back in the 90's when they were going to e-waste. They're just so frigging expensive on eBay these days.
Dynix, is now SirsiDynix and they have joined the modern world. Most libraries still use something called SIP2(Standard Interchange Protocol) designed for extremely low baud modems, for card authentication.
(Library software dev)
Colin Knapp yep SIP 2 is what we use. Sirsi may have acquired Dynix but i believe the software we now use only shares the name...none of the source code or architecture of the program is related to the earlier product. Sirsi merged with Dynix in 2005, ditched the software but kept the name pushing people to their current Symphony product...
MmMMmM. That intro and that smooth-scrolling. It doesn't even look real, yet it absolutely is. Fantastic.
Back in the mid 90s I used a couple of similar DEC terminals as a Marine. First place used them to run our big printers that ran off big print jobs (a massive laser printer and some massive line printers). Second place we used them to access our Sun Unix servers that didn't have video cards.
Amazing intro!
Also, amazing display! How was that even possible in '87.
Eh, why wouldn't it have been?
@@hobbified I have seen countless CRT's and never one with a resolution like this. Have you? It looks unreal to me even comparing it to CRT's from the late 90's. That smooth scroll helps too.
@@98Zai that kind of sharpness was normal on monochrome CRTs. It's only the color ones that tended to be lower quality, because it takes much fancier technology to make a color one look good.
Even though this is from before my time, there is something about monochrome CRT's and oldschool computers/tech that really tickles my fancy.
When I move into my palace, I'm going to have one of those at the front door for command line home automation.
That FoCo library pic took me back... these videos don't usually invoke too much nostalgia for me, but this one sure did.
I come back to this video every so often, it's just so relaxing
The real classic is the VT100, I learned how to use VMS on one of those.
"Testing this out. Farts and balls." Holy flip, dude, this killed me off :D
I use em in server room @work cuz nostalgia :)
My library used Winnebago Library catalog software. My first job at the library was as a clerk and when I wasn’t working the desk, I was cataloging. It was a noisy place in the work room back then with the dot matrix printers, the fax machine that used thermal paper and of course clicking keyboards
Love the smooth scrolling on these. Used these in college to connect to the VAX server.
CRUCIFORM PEGS.
You could have connected this to a Linux box over serial and served a console with getty. BUT YA DIDN'T DID YA.
"What exactly do these upper keys do?"
*Hits Do key*
These terminals were intended to operate the servers made by the same brand, DEC / digital (that is, PDP-11 and VAX computers). The DO key is used in the editor for example, to perform stuff like copy/paste/replace, etc.
The perfect console for a SIMH VAX!
I have fond memories of these, as I was a huge fan of the library during my childhood pre-internet