Using an ESP8266 to Bring Wireless Connectivity to a Vintage DEC VT320 Terminal

Terminals look like vintage computers to our modern eyes, but they aren’t actually computers themselves. They’re actually just digital or electromechanical devices that are used to send data to or receive data from a separate computer. In the context of modern computing, terminals are most often used to interface with headless servers. In the past, they were commonly used to work with computers of all kinds. Because they’re not computers in their own right, they don’t have much utility on their own. Buit, Imgurian scootermcgoober was able to bring wireless telnet connectivity to a vintage DEC VT320 terminal using an ESP8266.

The Espressif ESP8266 is a microcontroller that comes with a built-in WiFi adapter. The ESP8266 was designed mostly with IoT (Internet of Things) applications in mind, but its low cost and versatility has made it useful for a wide range of applications. An ESP01 development board with an ESP8266 is a lot like an Arduino, but with the added benefit of wireless capability. In this case, scootermcgoober is using it to give his DEC VT320 access to his local wireless network. He can go through that to get a telnet connection to a BBS (Bulletin Board System), specifically the level29 BBS.

The Espressif ESP8266 is a microcontroller that comes with a built-in WiFi adapter. The ESP8266 was designed mostly with IoT (Internet of Things) applications in mind, but its low cost and versatility has made it useful for a wide range of applications. An ESP01 development board with an ESP8266 is a lot like an Arduino, but with the added benefit of wireless capability. In this case, scootermcgoober is using it to give his DEC VT320 access to his local wireless network. He can go through that to get a telnet connection to a BBS (Bulletin Board System), specifically the level29 BBS.

The project started in the way that most retro computing endeavors should: with a good cleaning and a thorough check of the hardware. A bit of retrobrighting was also performed to reverse the allowing of the old plastic. Instead of connecting the ESP8266 to the serial port on the back of the terminal, scootermcgroober placed the board inside of the terminal and connected it directly to the UART pins. Power is coming from an internal 5V rail, which was dropped to 3.6V using diodes. That keeps the appearance of the terminal nice and tidy. The ESP8266 was programmed with Zimodem firmware. That’s normally intended for Commodore 64 computers, but works here too. Now scootermcgroober can access the BBS at a blazing 19200 bit rate!