Configure Your Own Retro Terminal

Set up your own 1980s computer interface using only a Google Drive folder. Visitors get a glowing CRT, a login prompt, and a DOS-style file system containing whatever you put on the “disk.”

Quick Start

1. Create a folder in Google Drive. This folder is your “disk.”

2. Create the password file. Inside the folder, make a file named password.txt (a plain Google Doc named password works too). Each line is one login, a username and password separated by a comma:

   mike,test2
   sarah,opensesame
   

   Usernames aren’t case-sensitive when logging in; passwords are exact. Lines starting with # are ignored, so you can leave notes in the file.

3. Create a folder for each user. For every username in the password file, add a subfolder with the same name (mike/, sarah/). Whatever text files and pictures you put inside is what that user sees after logging in.

4. Share the folder. Set the main folder’s sharing to “Anyone with the link.” This is what lets the terminal read it.

5. Build your link. Copy the long code out of your Drive share link and add it to the end of the terminal’s address: https://deckanddicegames.com/terminal2/#d=.

   For example, if your share link is:

   https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1w9vDeouonV_qoUnJMMbNMTXymHF5XF5-?usp=sharing
   

   your terminal link is:

   https://deckanddicegames.com/terminal2/#d=1w9vDeouonV_qoUnJMMbNMTXymHF5XF5-
   

6. Send that link to your players. The terminal boots straight into your disk.

Commands Your Players Can Type

Filenames are forgiving: any unique beginning of a name works, so VIEW SUN finds SUNSET.GIF. All pictures display with a .GIF extension for period flavor, whatever their real format.

Customizing With config.txt

Add an optional file named config.txt (or a Google Doc named config) to the disk’s main folder. Every setting is optional. Leave one out and the default applies.

You can comment your config file: a # starts a comment, whole-line or at the end of a line. If a value needs a real #, write it as \#.

Appearance

Boot & Login

Real modem sound: drop an audio file named modem.mp3 (or .wav, .ogg, .m4a) into the disk’s main folder and the dialup boot plays it automatically instead of the synthesized handshake. To use a different filename, point at it with modem=thatfile.mp3. 

Behavior

Example config.txt

# -- my haunted mainframe --
screen=amber              # green, amber or grey
boot=dialup               # bios, dialup, telnet or none
os=NECRO-DOS              # shown while booting
ver=6.66
message=SPEAK FRIEND AND ENTER
badge=WYRM SYSTEMS 3000   # label on the monitor bezel
speed=fast
beep=on
motd=welcome.txt          # auto-displays after login
hidden=clue3.txt          # findable only if you know its name

Troubleshooting

• NOT A SYSTEM DISK – the terminal couldn’t find a password file. Check the file is named password (not passwords), and that the main folder is shared as “Anyone with the link.” The error message lists what it could see in the folder, which usually points at the problem.
• Pictures show a display error – the image file isn’t publicly readable; re-check the folder’s sharing.
• A user sees “no folder named X on this disk” – their subfolder’s name doesn’t match their username in the password file.

A Note on Security

This is retro theater, not a vault. The disk is a publicly shared folder. Anyone who has the folder ID can open it in Google Drive directly and read everything, including the password file. Use it for fun: investigative TTRPGs, scavenger hunts, party invitations, hidden lore. Don’t use it for anything private.

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