[Simh] VT100 Color of text

[Paul Koning]

> On Jan 9, 2016, at 11:58 AM, Will Senn <will.senn at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> All,
> 
> Having very vague recollects of having ever seen a real VT100, I came across the following picture while doing some research on RT-11:
> 
> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/RT-11_help.jpg
> 
> I was surprised a little by the color of the text. In my minds eye, I had imagined either Amber or Green on black (the default on my Terminal windows). To my real eye, it looks blue. Given that the orange, manilla, and brown of the case look believable, it would seem that the VT100 had blue text. Is this correct and is it the only color of text on the machine? Does anyone know the hex RGB values?

That blue is definitely wrong.  Modern digital cameras, especially with the automatic "color correction" active, can make a mess of the colors.

A VT100, just like the VT05 and VT50/VT52, used a plain black & white TV tube.  Those are very slightly blueish, probably, but not nearly to the extent suggested by that photo.  If you can find an old B&W TV set, that will show you exactly.

Later on, starting with the VT220, DEC offered several different monochrome tubes: green, amber, the original white maybe, and also at some point "paper white" which was a somewhat warmer white color.

The color specs of traditional B & W TV tubes should be available on the net, at least in terms of a "color temperature" which will give much of the answer.  

	paul