[net.info-terms] the Intel S-IV and pseudo-termcaps

gibson@unc.UUCP (Bill Gibson) (07/07/85)

I am trying to attach a Hewlett-Packard 2621B terminal to an
Intel Series IV development system. This development system
has "configuration files" which are roughly the equivalent of
UNIX termcaps.

The specific problem I've encountered in setting up a "configuration"
for the HP2621B is in absolute cursor addressing. To receive a
cursor address, the terminal needs to see a certain 3-character
prefix, followed by line number, followed by a 'y', followed by
a column number, followed by a 'C'. ( e.g. <prefix>(23)y(78)C, where
(23) is a byte with a value of 23 decimal)
In other words, the system needs to include the coordinates in a
string which has the 'y' and 'C' in it.

I see how this is done in termcaps, with the numbers being substituted
into the 'cm' string. But in an Intel configuration file, it appears that
one specifies a prefix string, which is then followed only by the
line and column numbers. (I.e. the system can send <prefix>(23)(78). )

I would appreciate any advice that anyone has on tricking the Intel
into sending the correct kind of cursor address (without building
extra hardware, of course). A fact which may help (which I haven't
figured out how to use) is that a translation table is applied to
all characters as the last step of output; for most uses, table(i) = i
(e.g. table(^L) = ^L ).

Bill Gibson
gibson@unc                   ...[akgua,decvax,philabs]!mcnc!unc!gibson