Wednesday, September 24, 2003
24 x 80
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the 24 lines by 80 column "dumb" terminal was how most people interacted computers. It was crappy but compared to punch cards and teletypes, it was "interactive" computing. But why did terminals have 80 columns? Because a standard IBM punch card had 80 columns. Then why 24 lines? I'm not as sure of this but I believe it was related to the aspect ratio of the displays used in terminals. Video displays capable of even this resolution were quite expensive. A DEC VT220 cost something like $2K brand new. Of course, around the same time a 1200 baud analog modem cost about $700 (!).
vt100.net is a web site dedicated dumb terminals produced by DEC including, of course, the classic VT100. There's also information on a variety of other terminal vendors there as well. (Inspired by Ned's discussion on Proggy fonts)
vt100.net is a web site dedicated dumb terminals produced by DEC including, of course, the classic VT100. There's also information on a variety of other terminal vendors there as well. (Inspired by Ned's discussion on Proggy fonts)
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