Open source, stand alone, ASCII terminal project

[Ian King]

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From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Mr Ian Primus [ian_primus at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 4:26 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Open source, stand alone, ASCII terminal project

[snip]

The great thing about a project like this, is that you can build it however you want. Another option would be to build it right onto a PS/2 keybord. Not necessarily _into_ because it'd be quite hard to make it all fit, but you could have it as a flat box affixed to the bottom of the keyboard itself. You could even have a rechargable battery for power (and, of course a power socket for a wall wart). Then, you could simply have one device - this thickened keyboard - and you can plug it right into any monitor and go.

[snip]

I have such a gadget, badged Data General.  It's a keyboard with a wall wart, with a VGA port and an RJ45 on the rear edge.  I haven't been able to find any documentation for it, but it does feed an image to a VGA monitor and its configuration menu is accessible.  One of these days in my copious spare time, I'll scope out the RJ45 pins to figure out who is serial in, who is serial out.  But my DEC VT420 and Wyse 50 work just fine, too, so there hasn't been any urgency.... -- Ian