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VT180 ‘Robin’ personal computer produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) of Maynard, Massachusetts, in early 1982. The back panel, which indicates that the terminal was manufactured in January 1983, bears a manufacturing label that reads: “Model VT100-AA, SN: ABQ4864.” The setup includes an RX-180 dual diskette drive system, with parts label to reverse, “Model RX 180 AB, SN: K12731,” and a DEC VT100 keyboard, which bears an annotated label marked: “PN 70-15765-00-F, MFG. 01208TH4.” Confirmed and tested to be fully functional and in working condition; the system bears some light scuffs and marks. Accompanied by several floppy disks and associated guides and manuals.
The DEC VT180, code-named ‘Robin,’ was Digital Equipment Corporation’s entry-level microcomputer from the early 1980s. It was essentially a VT100 terminal upgraded into a CP/M personal computer – DEC added a Z80-based CPU board and 64 KB of RAM inside the terminal’s CRT case, then hooked it up to external 5.25˝ floppy drives. It ran CP/M 2.2, letting users run popular software of the time like WordStar, SuperCalc, MBASIC, and dBASE, while still behaving like a normal VT100 terminal when connected to a host.
From the outside, a VT180 looked like an oversized VT100 with a separate floppy cabinet, but it functioned as a full standalone microcomputer. It used the VT100’s 80×24 monochrome display, character attributes (reverse, bold, etc.), and serial ports for printers or other devices. The Robin gave DEC a late but important foothold in the personal computer space, and it was eventually superseded by the more advanced Rainbow 100, which continued the CP/M compatibility story in a more modern design.
