wcs@ho95b.UUCP (Bill Stewart) (04/20/85)
Asking for a termcap for a PC is asking the wrong question! On a PC, just like on a dumb terminal, you have a screen, a keyboard, and a communication line, and there's some piece of software that decides what to do with them. On yer basic CRT, the software lives in ROM, or is wired into the CPU chip, and it's all this computer knows how to do. On a lot of small PCs, (e.g. the Radio Shack 100 portable), the software is a built-in ROM that comes with the package, but the CPU has other uses. Other small PCs have one standard send-stuff-to-the-screen package that comes with the O.S., and it's the only logical one to use. For general-purpose, open-architecture PCs, it's not that way. There are dozens of communications packages for the IBM and compatibles. Many of them use subsets of the ANSI 3.64 standard, either because it's a good standard, or because it looks similar to a VT-100, or just because there's this nice ANSI.SYS sitting there. Others emulate whatever terminal the author had on his/her desk before getting the PC. (Others have arbitrarily decided that control-meta-foo-bar is a good escape sequence for clearing the screen, or drawing UUUUU's from the cursor location to end-of-line.) So the real question you should be asking is, "What terminal emulation software should I get, and what termcap does IT use?". Here at Bell Labs, there are a bunch of different emulators in use. Several are written by employees and distributed as freeware; others are different commercial products (PCs got here before we announced the 6300, and the 4410 Emulator package, and whatever else we have.) The Computer Store in the basement gives away copies of KERMIT, a public domain package that has been ported to most usable computers from micros to IBMs; read net.info-kermit for more info on who's written the latest versions for your machine. Other than emulating terminals, most terminal emulators provide file upload and download, and may provide other features. Tango, written by C.O.S.I. in Ann Arbor, has a nice set of UNIX-end software that lets you do things like: $ unix-program | pcexec pc-program | back-on-the-VAX KERMIT lets you transfer files to all kinds of different machines, and emulates the Heath-19 ansi terminal. Some emulators just do alphanumerics; others (including Tango) can also emulate graphics terminals (typically the Tek 4010 ot 4014). Some emulators can survive on the same PC as Sidekick; others compete for the same hunks of memory and just *die* if you use them together. Bill Stewart Disclaimer-and-copyright-line: I'm speaking unofficially here, even though a few of the products are either produced or distributed by AT&T so I may be biased about them; I'm more biased about things-I've-played - with vs. things-I-haven't. All capitalized words above are probably trademarks of their respective owners, except maybe "PC".