VT05 Alphanumeric Display Terminal

Marketing photo of VT05 terminal (the image in the screen is apparently manipulated; the monitor was white monochrome)

The VT05 Alphanumeric Display Terminal (technically, the VT05B, but documentation usually referred to it as the 'VT05') was one of DEC's first video terminals. It supported all the same format control characters as a Teletype, so it was a 'drop in' replacement.

Physically, it was 12"Hx19"Wx30"D, and weighed 55lbs. Its circuitry was contained on seven modules to aid maintenance.

The display was 10-1/8"x7-5/8", and could hold 72Wx20H characters, using a 5x7 font, producing characters .22"x.10", upper-case only. (It could send lower- and upper-case from the keyboard, however.) It also supported addressable screen output, using a cursor which could be placed anywhere on the screen, with output being placed at the cursor location.

Its asynchronous serial line interface supported both RS-232 and 20mA at baud rates of 110 to 2400 baud, including several split speed combinations (e.g. 110 out and 2400 in). It could operated in both half-duplex and full-duplex modes.

It could also accept video input, and display that alongside text; video output was also produced.

External links

• VT05 alphanumeric display terminal reference manual (DEC-00-H4AC-D)
• VT05 alphanumeric display terminal maintenance manual (DEC-00-H4BD-D)
• VT05 alphanumeric display terminal Illustrated Parts Breakdown (DEC-VT05-IPB-1)
• VT05 alphanumeric display terminal engineering drawings