Terminal Choices with a PDP 11/40

[billdeg]

Newbie Question
I have been doing some research and I thought I'd ask here - what makes a DEC display terminal unique/better vs. a regular RS-232 terminal when used with a PDP 11/40 computer that has a M7856 terminal interface card? You rarely see anything but LR 33 (ASR 33), Decwriters, and the various VT terminals associated with the 11/40 and early PDP 11's.

In otherwords, does it matter what kind of terminal I use as long as the baud rate on the card is correct?

Thanks.
Bill

[eugeneman42]

I know that I use VT terminals with my VAXes because they interpret the escape sequences and such properly. Some other terminals seem to make a mess when you try to use them with editors and such unless they have a VT 100 mode. I don't have any experience directly with the PDP-11.

[billdeg]

I have been familiar with VT 100 and VT 52 mode since the 80's, but I guess from a collectible standpoint having a real DEC terminal with your DEC system is like having an IBM monitor with your IBM PC, eh?