modern serial terminal

[Doc Shipley]

David Griffith wrote:
> I'm thinking of a device about the size of a couple CD jewel cases that
> has two serial ports, a ps/2 or usb port, VGA port, power jack, and
> perhaps a JTAG header concealed within.  This device is a regular RS232
> serial terminal.  Plug in a monitor, keyboard, and something talking rs232
> and you're ready to go.  Inside there would be a microprocessor, some ram,
> some flash, and an FPGA to take care of glue logic and talking to the VGA
> port.  The FPGA would be loaded with the digital schematics of a
> particular terminal and its firmware, for instance, a Wyse 85 or 99GT (my
> favorites).  That would get you most of the usual emulations.
> 
> How hard would it be to create something like this?  How much would it
> cost?

   oooh, neat!

   So, I'm thinking that even I can still read 132 x 40 on a 10" 
diagonal screen.  If a 10" LCD was the "boxtop", that gives you a 6" x 
8" form factor, inclusive of everything but the keyboard.  If you wanted 
to go seriously compact, use one of the fold-up Palm keyboards.  Me, I 
have fat fingers and would prefer a PS/2 or USB port.

   Would it be practical to have some sort of removable storage - flash 
drive, CF, or whatever - act as the ROM?  That way one could use a VT320 
with a PDP-11 and a 3153 with an RS/6000, with no more trouble than 
swapping CF cards.


	Doc