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DEC VT55


Bild: Total view VT55
Manufacturer:Digital Equipment Corporation
Type:VT55
Year:1976
Technology:TTL, custom µP made from PALs and ROMs 2K RAM

Compared with the HP 2644 the DEC VT55 is a dreadful piece. In fact, it is also equipped with a 'microprocessor' but it is built mainly from some ROMs and PALs. The VT55 is a VT52 terminal with an additional graphics capability. This capability consists of two memories of 256 bytes each. With that two horizontal lines like on a two-channel oscilloscope could be drawn on the screen in addition to the text; hence the name 'decscope'. A printer could be incorporated into the case as an option.

Later on, DEC equipped some of their terminals with different microprocessors: a VT52 with an IM6100 became a VT78 (a PDP8 compatible computer); there have also been terminals with LSI-11 processors.