[rescue] What is a good terminal?

[BSD Bob the old greybeard BSD freak]

> Hello everyone,
> 
> I've been watching ebay for a terminal to hook up to
> my Sparc's serial port. Which models work best?

DEC or Wyse seem to be the residual standards.
For generic standardization, accept only VT100ish modes.
I like the DEC 3xx and 4xx and 5xx terminals, although
the Wyse 50 or 85 are good ones.

In a pinch, any ol' peeceegateswarejunker running kermit will do.
I keep an old 286 laptop around as an emergency typewriter/ftp/telnet
and kermit box using dos 3.3 for vt100ish things.  It is crude but it
works in a pinch.

DEC is what I would hedge my bet with, though....  Stay away from the
200 series terminals, since they sometimes have problems.  The amber
3xx series is probably the best.  The 400 is good, as is the 500 series,
when you can find them, but the seem to be less common than the 300
series.  Use a 201 or 401 keyboard (the 401 is probably the best unless
you really like the old DEC layout).

To hook up to your sparc (e.g. classic, lx, or ss4 kind of thing) you
will need a DEC MMJ cable plus the male DEC modem dongle plus a null
modem adapter (unless you want to wire up the cable yourself).

To hook up your sparc (e.g. ipx or ipc or such using the small din
connector) you will need a DEC MMJ cable plus the female console dongle
plus a Mac modem cable (unless you want to wire up the cable yourself).

The above is based upon what I have used over the past few days.

The DEC dongles are hard to come by, although I saw a couple on ebay.
You might wanna wire the direct cable up yourself.  Get someone to make
up a 10 foot or so mmj cable and then cut it in half and wire the cut
ends to suit.

Good Luck..

Bob