DEC VT100 vs. VT102 - what differences are there?

[Paul Anderson]

The vt100 PS was for that unit only ( and 105 and 125). I don't recall the #
now. The 101, 102, 131,132 and others all used the same PS and the boards
were interchangable. The 100 had a "backplane" type connecter, the other ps
had about a 10 pin connecter.

The 100 could be upgraded to a 105 or 125.

I think the vt103, which had a q-bus backplane had a ps of its own, along
with the PDT110.

On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 8:42 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at usap.gov> wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 08:32:26AM -0700, Mr Ian Primus wrote:
> > I was wondering, what are the differences between the VT100 and the
> VT102? I've never seen a VT102, but I have heard that there were some
> differences having to do with screen editing. Anyone know?
> >
> > Similarly, does the VT102 hardware differ from the VT100, or is it just a
> software change?
>
> My recollection is that the VT102 always has features that are described
> as options for the straight-VT100.  One I recall is that if you put a
> VT100 into 132-column mode, it doesn't have enough video memory for all
> 24 lines, so you get a short screen.  One of the hardware options (AVO?)
> adds enough memory to give a full screen in wide mode.
>
>
> I think that must be there because of the cost of SRAMs when the VT100 was
> introduced (weighting the costs in favor of the majority 80-column usage
> of the day).  I don't recall seeing any clones with that limitation, just
> the original VT100.
>
> There are probably a couple other minor differences.  Somewhere, someone
> should have some DEC literature on the subject.
>
> -ethan
>
> --
> Ethan Dicks, A-333-S     Current South Pole Weather at 27-Jun-2008 at 01:30
> Z
> South Pole Station
> PSC 468 Box 400       Temp  -91.3 F (-68.5 C)   Windchill  -131.0 F (-90.6
> C)
> APO AP 96598          Wind    9.7 kts Grid 61   Barometer 672.1 mb (10928
> ft)
>
> Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov
> http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
>