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.