January 2, 2026
Terminals, tantrums & Tetris
Blaze: A Dec VT420 (and More) Emulator
Retro revival: Blaze brings DEC terminal fun, fans want VT525 and spot Tetris glitches
TLDR: A Rust-built emulator brings the vintage DEC VT420 terminal to your browser, complete with demos like Tetris. The crowd is split between celebrating retro thrills, hunting a quirky Tetris bug, and demanding support for the more powerful VT525—while the devs call for rare chip images to perfect authenticity.
Blaze is a new emulator that makes an old-school DEC VT420 terminal feel brand-new—and the internet is buzzing. Built in Rust (a modern coding language) and able to run in your browser via WebAssembly (web-friendly code), Blaze recreates the vintage screen, keyboard, smooth scrolling, and even 132-column mode. The devs are asking the community to help by sharing rare chip images (EEPROMs) from certain models, and the crowd is already digging in. Fans cheered that you can play “Termtris”—a Tetris-style demo—right in the emulator, while others dove into nostalgia, calling it the ultimate retro office flex.
But the hottest take? “Do the VT525 next.” One commenter argued the VT525—the last Digital Equipment Corporation terminal—is the real prize because it’s basically a superset of the older ones. Meanwhile, gamers spotted a spicy bug: a player says holding “down” sometimes stops a falling Tetris block mid-air, sparking playful bug-hunt energy and jokes about “vintage gravity.” Folks also laughed that their “new gaming rig” is a 90s workplace screen. For more geek-chic deep dives, the creator teased upcoming videos on @Paleotechnica. Want to pitch in? The EEPROM call-to-arms is live on GitHub. Emulation drama, retro vibes, and browser Tetris—what a combo.
Key Points
- •Blaze is a Rust-based emulator for DEC’s VT420 terminal and related models.
- •It emulates full VT420 hardware, including LK201 keyboard, DC7166B/DC7166C video processor, 8051 CPU, 5911 EEPROM, and DUART.
- •Features include smooth scrolling, multi-session support, and 132-column display mode.
- •It supports multiple backends: PTY process, WebAssembly in-browser, serial port, and local pipe.
- •The project requests EEPROM images for VT420 units with the PCTERM option (Olivetti WS-885 or VT420-D6) and other language variants via GitHub issues.