VT220

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The VT220 was a terminal produced by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1983 to 1987. It was similar to the earlier VT100 series of terminals, but added support for the Multinational Character Set and came with a redesigned keyboard, much smaller physical packaging, full support for 8-bit downloadable character sets, and a much faster microprocessor. To meet the needs of various national regulatory agencies, the VT220 was available with CRTs that used white, green, or amber phosphors.

Several of the VT2xx models were pyramidal shaped, allowing them to sit on a table top, leaving the surface of the display at an angle to the user. And because it was lower than head height, the result was an especially ergonomic terminal. The LK201 keyboard supplied with the VT220 was one of the first full length low profile keyboards available; it was developed at DEC's Roxbury, Massachusetts facility.

The VT240 and VT241 were variants of the VT220, both capable of displaying vector graphics. The VT241 was equipped with a color screen. The successor of the VT220 was the VT320, itself followed by the VT420.


DEC Video terminals DEC VT52 atop its optional stand
VT05 (1970) • VT50 • VT52 (1975) • VT55 • VT62 • VT100 (1978) • VT101 • VT102 • (VT103) • VT105 • VT110 • VT125 • VT131 • VT132 • VT180 • VT220 (1983) • VT240 • VT241 • VT320 (1987) • VT330 • VT340 • VT340+ • VT420 (1990) • VT510 (1993) • VT520 (1994) • VT525 • VT LAN40
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