Digital Equipment VT420 User manual

First Edition, November 1989
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not
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and Computer Software clause at DFARS252.227-7013.
Copyright © by Digital Equipment Corporation 1989
All
Rights Reserved.
Printed in Taiwan.
FCC NOTICE: The equipment described in this manual generates, uses, and may emit
radio frequency energy. The equipment has been type tested and found to comply with
the limits for a Class A computing device pursuant to Subpart J of Part 15 of FCC
Rules,
which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such radio frequency
interference when operated in a commercial environment. Operation of this equipment in
a residential area may cause interference, in which case the user at his own expense may
be required to take measures to correct the interference.
AT&T is a trademark of American Telephone and Telegraph Company:
The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation:
DEC LA100, LA210 RSX
DEC-423
LJ250, LJ251
RT
DECmailer LN01, LN03 Scholar
DECmate LQP02, LQP03 SERVIcenter
DECnet 'MASSBUS SSU
DEC server 200 MicroPDP
ULTRIX
DECserver 300 MicroVAX UNmUS
DECservice
PDP VAX
DECUS
P/OB VAXstation
DECwrlter Professional VMS
DmOL Q-bus VT, VT52, VT100
LA12, ~4,LA35 Q22-bus VT220, VT320, VT420
LA36, LAS8, LA50 Rainbow
~DmDDmD1M
LA75 Companion Printer RSTB
This document was prepared and published by Educational Services Development and
Publishing, Digital Equipment Corporation.

Contents
About This Guide
Xl
1 A Look at the Terminal
VT420 Components ............... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
TerIIlinal .......................................... 1
Keyboard. . ... . .. . .... . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . 2
Your
Computer System ................................. 3
Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Set-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Two Sessions ................................... . . . . 4
Windows................................ .......... . 4
Number of Lines on the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Page Memory
................................... '. . . . 5
Copy and Paste ....................... . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 5
Status Line ........................................ 5
Keyboard Indicator
Line .............................. 6
Screen
Alignment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Screen Background
.................................. 6
Emulating VT Series Text Terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Character Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Programming the Tenninal ................... . . . . . . . . . . . 8
iii

iv Contents
Installing Your VT420 Video Terminal
2 Installation
Site Considerations 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11
Installation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 • 0 0 0 • 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 12
Cable Connections . 0 0 0 0 0 0 •• 0 • 0 0 0 0 •••• 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18
Problem Solving 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 •• 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22
3 Getting Started
Setting Up the VT420 for One or Two Sessions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24
Setting Up for One Session (One Cable) o. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24
Setting Up for Two Sessions (Two Cables) .000000000000000 0 26
Setting Up for Two Sessions with SSU Software (One Cable) 00 28
Selecting the Correct Baud Rate 000 0 0 •• 0 0 • 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 00000 0 30
Selecting the Correct Terminal ID 0 0 0 0 •• 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31
Using· Your VT420 Video Terminal
4 The Keyboard and Indicators
LK401 Keyboard 0.00000000000000000.000000000000000000 35
Main Keypad 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 36
Editing Keypad 00.000000. 0 0 0 0 0 •• 0.00000000. 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 39
Nmneric Keypad 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0" 0 0 40
Top-Row Function Keys 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 41
Compose Characters 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 •• 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 •• 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44
Indicator Lights 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44
Audible Indicators 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 45
Keyclick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o. 0 0 0 0 0 45
Bell 00. 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000000000.000 •• 0 0 0 ••••• 0 0 ••• 0 0 000 45
Keyboard Indicator Line . 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 46
Status Line 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 47
Word Processing Keyboard. 0 0 • 0 .0000000. 0 • 0 0 •••••••••• 0 0 0 50

Contents v
5 Using S~t-Up
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Independent Setups for Two Sessions .................... 52
Entering and Leaving Set-Up ............................ 53
Set-Up Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Status Line and Keyboard Indicator Line ................. 54
Set- Up Cursor .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Action Fields
.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Set- Up Directory Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Selecting Set-Up Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Changing and Recalling Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
How to
Change Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
How to
Save Your Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
How to Recall
Saved Settings .......................... 59
Global Set-Up
Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Two Sessions .................................. . . . . . 60
Display Set-Up Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
62
Selecting a Page Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Selecting the Number of Lines/Screen . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 62
Coupling the Cursor to the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
General Set-Up Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Character Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Communications
Set-Up Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Keyboard Set-Up
Screen ................................ 74
Ta.b Set-Up Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6 Typing Additional Characters
What Characters Can I Type? .................. . . . . . . . . . . 79
How to Type a
Character Using the Compose Character Key . . . . 80
Invalid Sequences ...................................... 80
Canceling or Restarting a Compose Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Hexadecimal Compose Sequences ......................... 81

vi Contents
7 Using Two Sessions, Windows, and the Copy and Paste
Feature
What Are Sessions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
'I'w-o Sessions ......................................... 87
Opening Two Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
If You Use Two Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
If You Use One Cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Restoring an Interrupted SSU Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SSU Screen and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Which Session
is Active? ................................ 94
Number of LinesiScreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
How to
Change the Number of LinesiScreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Windows............................................. 96
One Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Two Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
How to Select One or
Two Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Keeping
the Cursor Visible ............................ 98
How to Change Window Sizes ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
How to Pan ........................................ 100
Copying
and Pasting Text ............................... 102
Copying Text
into the Paste Buffer ...................... 102
Pasting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Notes About Copying and Pasting Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
8 Printers and Modems
Printers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Connecting a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Selecting a Print Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Normal Mode: Printing Pages of Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Auto Print Mode: Printing Text from the Host System. . . . . . . 107
Printer Controller Mode: Letting the Host Control Printing . . . 107
Local Controller Mode: Setting Up the Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Assigning a Printer in 'I'w-o Sessions ....................... 108
Printer Set-Up Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Contents vii
Modems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . ... . . . . . . 111
Connecting to a Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
9 VT420 Programming Summary
2 Character Encoding .................................. 113
3 Keyboard Codes
..................................... 120
4 Emulating VT Series Terminals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5
Using Character Sets ................................. 122
6
Page Memory ....................................... 128
7 Visual
Character and Line Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
8
Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
9 Rectangular Area Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
10 Cursor Movement- and Panning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
11 Keyboard, Printing, and Display Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
12 VT420
Reports ..................................... 136
13
Resetting and Testing the Terminal ..................... 142
14
Session Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
A VT52 Mode Control Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
10 Solving Problems and Getting Service
Operating Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Power-Up Self-Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Error Messages ....................................... 145
Digital
Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
On-Site Hardware Services ............................ 147
Off-Site Hardware Services ............................ 148
Software Service ...................................... 148
How to
Get Service .................................... 148

viii Contents
A Specifications
Site Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . 150
Operating Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
LK401 Keyboard ...................................... 152
B Supplies and Docu mentation
Modems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Cables .............................................. 154
Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Ordering Information
.. ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
C Communication
Cables .............................................. 156
XONIXOFF Flow Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Modem Connections
and Disconnections .................... 159
Break Function ....................................... 160
Connector Signals ..................................... 160
Standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Glossary
Figures
1-1 VT420 Video Terminal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3-1 Set-Up Directory ........................... . . . . . . 25
6-1 Hexadecimal Compose Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
C-1 Cables......................................... 157
C-2 6-Pin Connector Pinouts ........................... 160

Contents ix
Tables
4-1 Keyboard Indicator Line Fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4-2 Status Line Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5-1 Set-Up Directory Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5-2 Global Set-Up Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5-3 Display Set-Up Features .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5-4 General Set-Up Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5-5 Communications Set-Up Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5-6 Keyboard Set-Up Features. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5-7 Tab Set-Up Features .............................. 78
6-1 Key Sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8-1 Printer Set-Up Features ........................... 109
9-1 Alias Primary DA Responses From the VT420. . . . . . . . . . . 140
9-2 ANSI Modes for DECRQM, DECRPM, SM, and RM . . . . . . 140
9-3 DEC Private Modes for DECRQM, DECRPM, SM, and RM. 141
9-4 Control Functions forDECRQSS Requests ............. 141
10-1 Common Operating Problems ....................... 145
10-2 Screen Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
C-1 6-Pin DEC-423 Connector Interface Signals (Comm 1 or
Com.m 2) ....................................... 161