website/content/museum/digital-equipment-corporation-vt-180.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Digital Equipment Corporation VT-180	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1982	Z80	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts oc_id source VT-180 /media/museum/photos/digital_vt180_system.jpg /companies/digital-equipment-corporation Digital Equipment Corporation label value NAME VT-180 label value MANUFACTURER Digital Equipment Corporation label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1982 label value END OF PRODUCTION Unknown label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None (Microsoft M-BASIC was included on diskette) label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke 83 keys with numeric keypad & arrows keys label value CPU Z80 label value SPEED 4 MHz label value RAM 64 KB label value ROM 8 KB label value TEXT MODES 80 or 132 columns x 24 lines (14 lines in option) label value GRAPHIC MODES None label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND Beeper label value SIZE / WEIGHT Unknown label value I/O PORTS 2 x serial ports, printer, modem, EIA interface label value BUILT IN MEDIA 2 or 4 x 5.25'' floppy drives (180 KB each) label value OS CP/M label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PRICE About $5,000 photos adverts 592 title subtitle text image VT-180 COMPUTER As seen in a french advert published in June 1982. null title subtitle text image THE VT-100 TERMINAL /media/museum/photos/digital_vt100_terminal.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT (1982) /media/museum/pubs/digital_vt180_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT (JUNE 1982) null 605 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230528092247/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=605 2023-05-28

In 1982, Digital introduced an option board which turned a VT-100 terminal into a personal computer using the CP/M operating system. It was called the Digital's Personal Computing Option. Customer could purchase just the option board or could buy the complete terminal/computer package called the VT-180.

The VT-100 terminal was introduced by Digital in August 1978. It rapidly enjoyed great popularity and soon became the most widely imitated asynchronous terminal. Its control codes and escape sequences still form the basis of the xterm set and of the ANSI or IBM PC standards. VT100 compatibility is still provided by most terminal emulators. All terminals that came after the VT100 was able to emulate their ancestor, although they offered new features in addition to what the VT100 could do.

The VT-180, also called 'Robin', was thus basically a VT100 terminal with an extra board installed which includes a Z80 processor, 64 KB of RAM memory, a floppy disk controller and an extra serial port controller. The single sided floppy disk drives came in a dual case. The system supported up to four individual disk drives (two dual drive units).