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Early Vid: DEC VT520 Terminal (Patreon)

Published:
2025-12-09 03:46:22
Imported:
2026-06

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Perhaps the earliest "early release" I've ever made. Checking out a DEC VT520 terminal from the early 1990s. We'll fix a jammed power button, test it out with an RS/6000, and try out multiple terminal sessions after making an MMJ cable adapter to hook up a Cisco 2600 router. We'll also get a bonus interview with my mom, she worked for DEC in the 1980s.

Video will go live on the channel later in the week!

Files

DEC VT520 Terminal

Checking out a DEC VT520 terminal from the early 1990s. We'll fix a jammed power button, test it out with an RS/6000, and try out multiple terminal sessions after making an MMJ cable adapter to hook up a Cisco 2600 router. We'll also get a bonus interview with my mom, she worked for DEC in the 1980s. Check me out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/clabretro Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio #netro #retrotech #retrocomputer #networking #homelab #cisco #telephony Serial to USB converter: https://amzn.to/4mAXDlJ Rack stuff StarTech Universal Rack Rails: https://amzn.to/404JV1Q StarTech 42U Rack: https://amzn.to/482c3oh StarTech 25U Rack: https://amzn.to/3mEB7hS Tripp Lite SMART1500LCD UPS: https://amzn.to/3KZW3Jw 1U 24 Port Patch Panel: https://amzn.to/3Nm0bFa 1U Brush Panel: https://amzn.to/3mExAA3 1U Rack Shelf: https://amzn.to/3oaDclT Video gear Camera: https://amzn.to/4al3xjA Main mics: https://amzn.to/4dCUuO2 Desk mic: https://amzn.to/3ye8BsV Note: The above are Amazon affiliate links. It doesn't cost you extra, but I'll receive a commission which will help keep the content coming. I only link to things I've personally ordered. 00:00 Intro 01:31 Unboxing the VT520 03:02 VT520 Overview 07:57 MMJ Cables 11:32 Fixing the Power Button 17:26 First Power Up 20:34 Hooking the VT520 up to an RS/6000 25:35 Interviewing my Mom, a Former DEC Employee 35:05 Hooking up a Cisco 2600 37:07 Making an MMJ Adapter 38:39 Multiple Terminal Sessions 43:34 Final Thoughts

Comments

clabretro

I'm pretty sure ours had those Wyse terminals as well!

Jack Beckman

Once again proving it's who you know, not what you know, to score an interview with a former DEC employee! Now you need to hook up a printer. It looked like you could maybe configure the printer port for use on multiple sessions. I don't know if you noticed, but it looked like you could paste the calculator output into your session. I can see that being pretty handy. I used a lot of different terminals before we ever got PCs on our desks (and then we ran terminal emulators, so not much change for the primary part of our jobs). I was doing COBOL programming on Burroughs equipment, and we had some *massive* terminals in the late 80's (probably twice as wide, although the CRTs weren't much bigger). I don't remember the brands, but early on not only were they huge but all metal. I know they weren't DEC; I think some we got from Burroughs (rebranded I'm sure) but I seem to remember a couple of others as well. We'd use them on carts (they were *very* heavy!), as initially we didn't have enough to go around, so if you were in a cube and not an office you shared a terminal with the cube next to you, swinging the cart back and forth. You spent a lot of time on coding forms so that once you got access to the terminal you didn't waste the time. Eventually we got enough to give every programmer one.

clabretro

Very cool to hear about. Yeah I saw that calculator output transfer option haha, I'll have to try that out.