Emulate Tektronix 4xxx

jcluthe · 10-28-2008, 03:59 PM

Here's what we're trying to do:

I have an old VAX system which uses a Tektronix 4225 for a display unit.

The tek 4225's keep dieing on me and I want to use linux & xterm to emulate the tek 4225. I am running UBUNTU 8.04, but i am not tied to that distro, it is just the quickest easiest to install and run (for me), and I can start an xterm with the -t switch, but I can't seem to get getty to run and capture what I am sending to my serial port from the VMS machine.

Anyone else out there working with this old hardware?

pinniped · 10-30-2008, 04:27 AM

I don't envy you - I've had my share of working with old stuff.

The first thing to determine is HOW the Tek display is interfaced - is it serial port (like good old WYSE terminals), is it a standard protocol running over a standard comms line (like ethernet) or is it a proprietary protocol running over a comms line (ethernet, proprietary comms, what-not). Is it a simple text display or does it support graphics?

jcluthe · 10-30-2008, 08:11 AM

It is serial, wish it was ethernet, but this is from before ethernet was popular. It is graphical and it is color. I need to know how to start xterm, or maybe seyon, with the serial port setup??????

jlliagre · 10-30-2008, 08:55 AM

You can't emulate a 4225 with xterm. Xterm only emulates a 4014 terminal or similar. These terminals were able to draw basic text and lines on a ~4096x3000 display in a plotter like fashion.

A 4225, as far as I remember, was supporting segmented 2D vector graphics, colors, curves, areas, bitmaps and so on. It was perhaps also supporting 3D (4115 and 4125 certainly did).

You might have a look at this commercial product (I have no experience with it though): http://www.fastpoint.com/products/emutek.html