On Feb 15, 2026, at 11:47 PM, Jacob Ritorto via
cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hi,
I like period correct hardware terminals for authentic immersion
feels and have been tending to RSX (and UNIX) PDP-11s since my teen
years, quite a long time now. I keep them in my living room and den,
etc. Convincing setups that quite look the part. And actually *are*
the part; running much as though it’s still 1986. Very little
emulation “cheating.” Real SMD disks, even, sometimes.
Anyway, one of the many fun things I do with them is chat rooms.
People are like, “you connected here on a WHAT?”
In doing this I find myself often chastised by my esteemed Internet
colleagues for using such “horrible” computers because “That’s the
worst possible computer you could pick” (real quote, minus some
aspersions about power consumption) and “what loser can’t scroll up
and look through chat that’s more than 24 lines back?!?”
I try to ignore all this in the name of “progress,” but, I mean, they
have a point. As much as I’m having a nice time with all this, it
does hurt quite enough already for all the other obvious reasons and
then I CAN’T SCROLL BACK?!? Come on.
If you have a decwriter or teletype instead of a glass tty, your
scroll back is however much paper you can keep around.