Building a "Terminal" out of Retro Parts

As I work my way back in time in my Retro Computing journey, it's time for me to get a Terminal.  Ideally I'd like to get a VT-320 as this is the interface that I remember using most frequently during my college years to access the DEC Vax systems in the computer labs.  These labs were filled with 30-40 terminals each and were large enough for lab classes to meet with everyone logged into the Vax at the same time, or to use for programming assignment when classes were not in session.

As interest in retro computing has risen, so have the prices of these terminals, with these "newer" 20 year old terminals selling on eBay around $300, sometimes without keyboards that could cost another $50 to $100.

What is a retro computing hobbyist to do?  I encountered a suggestion on a kit building website about directly attaching a display and keyboard to a Raspberry Pi and remembered that I still had a few RPi's in storage from projects that I'm not using any more.  What followed is this:

This "Terminal" consists of an early VGA Monitor (640x480 only, not multi-sync), and a nice Omnikey 101 keyboard which I have previously covered on the bLog.  Here's what I did to get the retro monitor and keyboard working with the Pi...

I started with the current base image of Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit, lite version).  I'm running this on an RPi 2, since that's what I had around, but I did want WiFi connectivity so there's a dongle plugged into a USB port.

I plugged the Pi in with a modern USB Keyboard and HDMI Monitor to start, and used raspi-config to setup the networking, enable ssh, change the password, and get the display configured.  Using the information from this article, I set the display resolution to DMT 640x480@60Hz.  After restarting the Pi, I double checked the image resolution and it was indeed lowered to the required resolution.

After checking that, I was able to connect the Keyboard with a PS/2 to USB adapter that I had laying around.  I don't have a model number but if you use a Northgate Keyboard I'd recommend reaching out to Bob @ Northgate Keyboard Repair as I've heard that these keyboards can be somewhat picky about which adapters work well.  Once the keyboard was tested and working with the Pi I moved on to the Retro Monitor.

In order to plug the VGA monitor into the Pi, we need an HDMI to VGA adapter, these are commonly used to connect laptops with old projectors so they are still available.  I used an Inland brand I had around, but I've also ordered a couple of replacements on Amazon here that I will test when they arrive.  Plugging this in, it worked right away.  It's so fun to see the colorful Raspberry Pi Boot menu on this late 80s / early 90s combination of hardware!

Here's a list of the hardware in the build:

    5 Volt Power Adapter (not shown)

    Raspberry Pi 2 w/ Case

    WiFi Dongle for RPi

    Inland HDMI to VGA Adapter Dongle

    PS/2 to USB Keyboard Adapter Dongle

    VGA Monitor w/ Cords

    PS/2 Keyboard w/ Cord

And a picture of what the connections look like at the back.

Longer term, I might add a Serial Port for attaching to other Retro Computers, but my immediate use case is for a kit that I've ordered with emulation running directly on the RPi, so this Pi will be removed from its case and transplanted into that kit when it arrives.  I'm sure I'll be blogging about that when the time comes, so stay tuned!

Do you have an old terminal system, or good memories of using these systems back in the day?  Let me know in a comment, or feel free to drop me an email.