Depending on what Raspbian version you are running on your Pi, the approach for enabling a serial tty login via a VT terminal differs, but on current/recent versions you can enable by enabling and starting this systemd service (steps from this post, and here):
This assumes you are using a USB serial dongle and that it’s connected as /dev/ttyUSB0. You can check by doing a ‘ls /dev/ttyUSB*’ before you connect your USB serial adapter and after to check what device your USB dongle appears as.
If you’re running an older version of Raspbian not using systemd, you can add a line to /etc/inittab to initialize getty as described here.
I just picked up a Unisys TO300G VT terminal to use for a few retro projects, and tried connecting it to my VT132 and use it as a wifi AT modem. Initially I wasn’t getting anything echo’d to the screen, then remembered I needed to set the speed to 115200, and then started getting a response from the VT132.
Here’s the menu, with the speed initially at 19200 8N1 :
Now we’ve got responses echoing back but there’s a bunch of CR/LF chars:
Turns out they’re echo’d to the screen if you have the Monitor Mode set to ON, so turning this option off fixed this. Also, the backspace key wasn’t working, and the Recognize Del option set to ON fixed this:
Now using ATD to dial up bbb.fozztexx.com and we’re in business:
Loving the amber glow of the text on this terminal, and the smooth scrolling is <3
A while back I posted about a number of BBSes that are accessible online, and can therefore be easily ‘dialed’ with ATD using a WiFi Modem over the internet. I recently came across this huge list of online resources accessible via telnet and took a look through some of them: https://www.jumpjet.info/Offbeat-Internet/Public/TelNet/url.htm
It seems like most of these are no longer accessible. The library online catalogs all seem to no longer be available. It’s not surprising given the insecure nature of telnet, and accessing library catalogues via your browser would be a much more secure and user friendly experience.
There’s a few things in this list that are interesting however. Ignoring the massive list of BBSes, there’s a few other oddities that are worth checking out and as of posting this, are still up and available. Here’s a few that I tested out using an Atari ST running the Taz terminal software, connected to my VT132 modem/terminal.
lynx.scramworks.net
Need access to the web but your older computer doesn’t have a browser and/or is limited to text? This site is running a telnet accessible copy of Lynx, the text mode browser. Works just as you’d expect if you were running it locally.
nethack.alt.org
Online version of the all time classic dungeon crawler, nethack
Zork and many other text based adventures: zork.retroadventures.net 6502
I’ve played around with frotz before, looking at getting some text adventures running over Amateur Radio using Packet. If you fancy accessing some classic text adventures online, this site has plenty, and there’s background info on how this was setup here:
Viewdata, glasstty.com and Telstar
Here’s an interesting one. If you were into computers in the UK in the 1980s you probably heard of BT’s Prestel service, and even if you’re not familiar with it, you’ll recognize the graphical style if you ever used Ceefax or Oracle on your TV. glasstty.com have a service called Telstar, which is a recreation of a Viewdata/Videotext system. It can be accessed online with a Viewdata terminal client app (details in the link above), or even online via a browser here.
Unfortunately the only Viewdata terminal app for the Atari ST seems to be FaSTcom, but that app crashes on my ST when it loads (I have TOS 1.04, not sure if that’s an issue or not).
Connecting with a regular VT terminal app loses all the color formatting of the pages, but you can still connect with ATDglasstty.com:6502 :
Virtual PC 7 for Mac OS X comes with a preconfigured VM image for Windows XP. The approach for installing from disk image (.iso, .dmg) files instead of physical media is not so obvious, but here’s the steps that worked for me.
I’m installing on Virtual PC 7 on OS X 10.5 running on a dual G5 Power Mac.
Select the ‘Install from a Virtual PC for Mac CD’ option:
Next you’re prompted to install the install disk:
At this mount if you double-click the first of the .iso images for Virtual PC, it will mount the disk image, and should appear in Virtual PC:
This step seemed a bit flakey for me. If it doesn’t work, unmount the image, close Virtual PC and try again. I also noticed that it doesn’t work with the .dmg images, only the .iso images.
If it does pick it up, you’ll see in Virtual PC it shows the XP Pro disk is inserted:
Press Continue and it starts installing:
It only take a couple of minutes:
When it prompts for disk 2, double click the second of the .iso files:
Once installed, you’re ready to start up the VM:
XP starts up and you can continue through the XP setup steps:
