> On Sep 6, 2018, at 12:22 PM, Grant Taylor via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> On 09/06/2018 09:37 AM, Carlo Pisani via cctalk wrote:
>> cause it's the simples, I guess
>
> I used to naively think that the VT100 was the lowest end Video Terminal.
> Then I subsequently saw references to VT50 and VT52. So now I have no clue.
>
> Maybe it was just the fact that so many things claimed VT100 compatibility
> helped escalate VT100 in popularity. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I can think of a bunch of reasons.
1. For its time, the VT100 was pretty compact.
2. It was the first DEC terminal with a detachable keyboard (not counting the
GT-40) and if you needed an extension cord, you could just get a headphone cord
at Radio Shack.
3. It was the first DEC terminal to implement a standard for control sequences
(ANSI controls).
Before then, the VT52 was certainly attractive, same screen size (24 by 80) and
upper/lower case (English only, give or take some national variants). But it's
much bigger and doesn't have a separate keyboard. VT50 seems like it was
someone's mistake -- 12 lines, what were they thinking? Even the VT05 had 20.
paul
