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DECwriter III (LA120)

I

inguz

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2018
Messages
14
OK, I know dot-matrix terminals aren't very hip (YET!), but... I have a Digital Equipment Corporation DECwriter III (LA120) in great working condition. Manufactured by DEC in about 1982; price new around $2000. I don't expect the current price will be in that ballpark, even adjusting for inflation. Any reasonable offer considered, but you need to pick it up from the Boston north shore.

This is a workhorse hardcopy terminal, but it's seen very little use; the previous owner bought it new for their business, but ended up using PCs, so this sat in storage for a long time. So, it's very clean, and seems to be working 100%. The keyboard is lovely (very similar to VT100) and the printer will run all day long (now that Jason helped me unstick the ribbon feeder **thank you**). Includes the user manual, a couple spare ribbons and a half box of green-bar paper. Connection is RS-232 (DB25), and if you like I can include adapters / gender-changers for DB25, DE9 and USB.

The terminal is in Lynn MA (01905). It's way too big to consider shipping. Drop me a line if you're seriously interested.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AjNZY2oucUndiHtC6
 
Looks like a beauty!

For the benefit of others, the LA120 improves on the LA36 (DECwriter II) by communicating at up to 9600 baud with a maximum print speed of 180 char/sec. It prints bidirectionally using a line buffer for faster printing than an LA36.

The dot matrix impact means it can print carbon copy forms, up to 1 original and 2 carbons IIRC. The wide format carriage means you can print 132 columns easily.

These things are built like tanks, like the LA36 before it. Once we were transporting a bunch of LA36 terminals and accidentally dropped one on a flight of stone stairs. It bounces and tumbled a couple of times before it hit the mid floor landing and aside from a couple keycaps that popped off, it was just fine.
 
It’s my dream currently to find one of these in such a good condition. I want to attach this to a working MicroPDP-11/73 I’ve recently acquired. I have a working Vt220 but the ultimate setup would be with a working LA120 and a working VT125 and replicate a small mid-1980s setup.

What happened to this unit? So many were made I’m surprised there aren’t more around.
 
This one moved to another home (Hi David!) where I expect it's very well cared for. You're right, there aren't a lot of them around.
 
They are nice. We have several still (just) in service at work.

I do have the LA12 correspondent in its DEC carry bag. Lovely little machine that we used to use to run the monitor on our intel systems. Its missing the acoustic coupler though which is a shame.
 
alchemist1440 said:
It’s my dream currently to find one of these in such a good condition. I want to attach this to a working MicroPDP-11/73 I’ve recently acquired. I have a working Vt220 but the ultimate setup would be with a working LA120 and a working VT125 and replicate a small mid-1980s setup.

What happened to this unit? So many were made I’m surprised there aren’t more around.
Click to expand...
If you're still interested, I have a fully functional digital DECwriter III La120-DA model.
 
Well, if you decide you want it, let me know and maybe we can discuss a price. Unfortunately, until then, I'll have to keep looking for other interest in it.
 
Braywoods said:
Well, if you decide you want it, let me know and maybe we can discuss a price. Unfortunately, until then, I'll have to keep looking for other interest in it.
Click to expand...
Do you still have it? Yes I’m interested. I don’t understand how I never saw this message!
 
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