It will take time to spin up production of the 1:3 scale VT100 terminals so for pre-sale buyers I'm making a "thank you for your patience" 1:10 scale mini. Here is a quick test print and oh, wow is it a cutie pie.
😻
The display cutout has an indent sized for cardstock so it can show whatever screenshot or image they care to print. https://store.transmutable.com/l/vt100-pre-sale #builds#vt100#miniatures#retrocomputing
A potential display panel and driver for the 1:3 scale VT100 terminals arrived. The next step is to make a bezel for it to see how it sits in the case. If it works as advertised then it has 640x480 pixels driven over HDMI. #builds#vt100
Ok retrocomputing folks, the "Help Make the VT100" pre-sale is live!
🎉
To thank supporters for helping fund tooling and time for production I've set this at a lower price and have included a bonus cutie VT100 mini made only for this sale.
💻
If a 1:3 scale working VT100 sounds like something you'd like then head over to the store: https://store.transmutable.com/l/vt100-pre-sale #miniatures#retrocomputing#vt100
Heads-up, smol #retrocomputing people.
🖥️
To make working 1:3 scale #VT100 keyboards I need time and tools that require more money than I have on hand (tough Winter) so let's try something new!
⌨️
On 04/04 on https://store.transmutable.com I'll list a "help make the VT100 pre-sale" for 1:3 scale signed & numbered VT100 terminals.
⚙️
To thank buyers for their support and patience while I finish development they'll quickly receive a wee VT100 mini made only for this pre-sale.
😻
(edit: changed to 1:3)
So, I'm designing a system to produce 1:4 scale keyboards that are as close as possible to the look, feel, and sound of the full scale originals. The first version will be used in miniature VT100 terminals and I hope to reuse much of the work for other designs and scales.
This is the head of a threadlog about my process, goals, mistakes, and progress. #miniature#keebs#retrocomputing#vt100
/cont
A bit of progress on the #VT100. Now that I've held a test print in my hand I'm even more pumped about the project. That said, I expect the main case to be easy compared to the work of making the keyboard function. On that front, for the first prototype my current plan is to use an Adafruit Kee Boar (https://www.adafruit.com/product/5302) with a PCB I design to hold the switches. If it works as expected then the connection to the main case can be a short coiled USB-C cable. #retrocomputing
4.75mm key spacing is spicy! My index finger is 20mm wide so hunt and peck typing won't work unless I implement some of the touch UI tricks like waiting for a cluster of switch events and then filtering out all but the most centrally positioned switch. So, my big finger would mash fghvt but the keyboard would only send g since it's the center switch. #vt100#keebs
I like to leave test prints around the house so that I catch them out of the corner of my eye which lets me see them with a less familiar vision. Making a thing in CAD tends to distort what I can see of it. #vt100
Wow, @linux does actually improve efficiency over time...
I just compiled a minimal kernel 6.5 for OS/1337 targeting #i486 instead of #i686 and the resulting binary is even 10kB smaller than the one for 6.4.12...
For real: That's awesome cuz it allows me to make the #Floppy version for #486SX a reality and still have #Toybox & #dropbear as #SSH client in it...
Cudos to @torvalds and the maintainers for that:
They really did cleanup the codebase and made it #smol|ler!