On Mon, 2010-02-08 at 09:47 +0000, Steve wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:37:59 -0000, BC <pencileraser@(protected):
> > for so long (I also have an eye condition). To some extent CRTs were a
> > little easier on the eyes for me back when, but I'd like to dig deeper to
> > use a more antiquated tech.
You can probably still pick up cheap text-only serial terminals, which
will work just fine as consoles at speeds up to 115Kbps. I have had a
Wyse60 for about twenty years now. It is still in perfect working order,
with a lovely keyboard and highly readable, gentle-on-the-eye text.
http://www.wyse.com/service/support/kbase/KBmenu1.asp?Q=7
But these really are text *only*. You need to muck about a bit if you
want these to act as consoles onto an Ubuntu system, but it's not that
complicated. And obviously you have to have a serial port (which is not
at all self-evident these days, especially on laptops):
http://www.cgarbs.de/wyseinst.en.html
Type "wyse serial terminal" into Google, and you'll see lots of people
still using these and similar serial terminals with Unix/Linux,
including one guy that runs an ASCII aquarium :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Oc_fqxs2w
You can no longer buy serial terminals new (at least, I don't think you
can; Wyse was the acknowledged leader of the field and has ceased
production of all serial terminals). However, there are a lot of them
still in circulation (not just from Wyse, of course). They were well
built and hardy, and they represent the pinnacle of technology as far as
serial terminals go, so they are quite beautiful items in a way.
Regards, K.
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