ADM-3A Terminal

By Xah Lee. Date: 2017-11-12. Last updated: 2024-08-19.

ADM-3A terminal

ADM-3A Terminal, first shipped in 1976.

This is the machine that begot the vi editor.

terminal ADM-3A — The ADM-3A terminal. (12 inch screen; 24 lines of 80 characters.) 2676×2370 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adm3aimage.jpg

Keyboard

terminal ADM-3A keyboard — Terminal ADM-3A keyboard.

adm-3a keyboard cb140 — ADM-3A keyboard 〔image source https://vintagecomputer.ca/lear-siegler-adm-3a-terminal/〕

Interesting notes:

Note the arrow keys over H J K L
Note the position of the Esc key.
Note the position of Ctrl.
Note the colon key : without needing to hold shift. That's why vi uses it.
Note Home and ~ key. That's why a tilde ~ represent home directory in unix systems.

layout

ADM 3A terminal layout 6aec4 — The ADM-3A terminal keyboard layout.

This machines is how vi's key began.

History of vi Keys

number pad

terminal ADM 3A number pad — Terminal ADM-3A number pad.

Manual

HJKL keys and vi

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