C70:info-cpm (06/04/82)
>From LIN@Washington Fri Jun 4 01:38:00 1982
can someone outhtere in CPM land tell me just what "termcap" is? it
sounds like it's an important part of CPM systems....
tnx.
-------C70:info-cpm (06/04/82)
>From lauren@Ucla-Security Fri Jun 4 03:49:47 1982
Actually, "termcap" has nothing to do with CP/M. It is the file
of "terminal capabilities" that is part of the Berkeley UNIX releases.
The termcap file itself ("/etc/termcap") contains a concise description
of the various control codes, padding requirements, and all sorts of
other functions that various terminals possess.
Considerable software written for Unix (such as the "vi" editor, "rogue",
and many others) use standard primitives for all screen handling
functions -- the actual control codes and other data sent to a
particular console are based on the termcap description for the
user's particular terminal (defined in his/her environment).
The termcap system provides the capability to write software that
is essentially terminal-independent, since the primitives do all the
terminal-specific work.
The standard termcap file contains *many* terminal definitions. Most
every major terminal make (and many not-so-major) have been
fully defined. I often use termcap as a sort of universal reference
guide when I need to know some specific of screen handling for
a terminal with which I've never dealt in the past.
--Lauren--