jmw@sdchema.UUCP (John M. Wright) (05/21/84)
[] I (and perhaps others on the net) would appreciate your termcap for VIDTEX. John Wright (-!ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!jmw) UCSD, La Jolla, CA
joels@tektronix.UUCP (Joel Swank) (05/24/84)
VIDTEX is a terminal emulation program for the Commodore 64. It is sold by Compuserve for use with their system. Following are the major features of VIDTEX: RAM buffer capture Print from buffer or direct from host Definable function keys (10) Error correcting upload and download directly from/to disk Transmit/load/save from/to buffer Autolog files Auto Start program 3 online help/menu screens Flow control User selectable RS232 options. Compuserve compatible graphics (80x50) Screen print and save to buffer Disk directory list and scratch commands End of line formatting Send ahead pages VIDTEX, as it comes, does not work at 1200 baud. There is a patch in the the CBM programming SIG to make it work at 1200 baud. I have applied this patch and it works. I have tried download at 300 and 1200 baud. The error correcting protocol works well and ensures correct data transmission. Because of errors and re-transmissions, downloading at 1200 is not practical. Re-transmissions are rare at 300 baud. 1200 baud is acceptable for browsing messages and other non-critical activities. One of the most powerful features is the autolog file feature. A series of prompts and responses is entered and saved in a disk file. These files can then be executed later to perform automatic logon or menu navigation. The only major shortcoming in VIDTEX is the lack of a way to edit autolog files. If you type in a sequence and get something wrong, you have to type the whole thing in again. The files are of a non standard format and cannot be edited with any editor that I know of. I have used VIDTEX with UNIX. I have built a termcap that works with both vi and rogue. Rogue overwrites the second line of the screen with messages and the right half of the status line at the bottom is missing. To work with vi the end of line formatting must be disabled. There are some problems with UNIX. The worst is the lack of a tilde character. The cursor keys do not generate ASCII codes so hjkl must be used. There is no highlight or reverse mode. There is no reverse scroll. The manual is 58 pages. It is well written, well organized, and complete. The only thing not included is a description of the error correction protocol. VIDTEX has a few minor bugs. Entering a null line in response to a file name prompt will cause various problems. Initialization spaces the printer one line. When the RAM buffer fills, the display locks up until you go to the menu screen and back. Joel Swank Tektronix, Beaverton OR