GoKawiilThe VT-100 is an interesting piece of computer history. Is it compatible enough with modern terminals to continue to use today?
This is not AI generated or edited or ideated. I communicate worse when another entity communicates on my behalf. Go direct?
made a little terminal explainer, based on the original terminal pic.twitter.com/cdYCTN7jAn — nikhil (@jhanikhil) April 28, 2026
I spent the last few weeks making a coding agent for the terminal. This strikes me as anachronistic: the terminal is technology from before my lifetime, and I’m using it as the interface to exhilarating, terrifying, cutting-edge, trillion dollar modern day research.
I find the juxtaposition nice. It’s a reminder that I build on what came before me, and others will build on what I leave behind.
All modern terminals are (roughly) emulations of a single terminal released in 1978: the Digital Equipment Corporation VT-100. In theory, I could take the app that I built and run it on the VT-100. If my software ran there, would it run everywhere?
To find out, I bought a VT-100 and decided to use it as my main terminal. Here’s what I learned.
What is a VT-100?
A VT-100 is a terminal: a screen and a keyboard that you plug into a computer. It’s roughly analogous to the Terminal or Console or Command Prompt app on your computer today. It is not a computer itself. The VT-100’s protocol (i.e. ANSI escape sequences, more on this later) are used today by all modern terminals.
The VT100 has a CRT display and a keyboard.
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