[net.micro.att] 5620 Emulator for AT&T PC 6300?

spf@bonnie.UUCP (Steve Frysinger) (03/20/86)

Does anyone know of an emulator of the Teletype DMD 5620 terminal
that runs on an AT&T 6300?  I realize that a degradation in graphics
size/resolution would obtain, but such an emulator would still
have some utility.  Perhaps it's nothing more than an alternate
system routine library which mimics the 5620 library, but actually
does 6300/MSDOS things.
As usual, any leads would be helpful.
Thanks,
Steve Frysinger
201/386-7010

gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (03/24/86)

In article <733@bonnie.UUCP> spf@bonnie.UUCP (Steve Frysinger) writes:
>Does anyone know of an emulator of the Teletype DMD 5620 terminal
>that runs on an AT&T 6300?  I realize that a degradation in graphics
>size/resolution would obtain, but such an emulator would still
>have some utility.  Perhaps it's nothing more than an alternate
>system routine library which mimics the 5620 library, but actually
>does 6300/MSDOS things.

I don't think it likely.  The 5620 has a different CPU (WE32001),
much of its function in ROM, and a radically different system
organization.  An actual emulator is probably unrealizable.

One could, however, use Rob Pike's bit-map programming model
in the design of similar facilities for other bit-map displays.
I know of a couple of such efforts, but none for the 6300.

jhv@houxu.UUCP (James Van Ornum) (03/25/86)

I think Doug Gwyn missed the point of the AT&T 5620 emulator request.
First, it would be useful to have the terminal end of "layers" running on an
AT&T PC 6300, even if each window were a full screen, just because of the
advantages of "layers" for some activities.  Surely the 6300 can handle that.

Second, there are some graphics programs, such as cip, where it is easier to
draw the desired figures than it is to write "pic" descriptions.  Surely the
6300 could provide a useful interface to "cip". 

None of this requires emulating the cpu chip in the 5620, just reproducing
some of the capability, as seen by the user, of the 5620.

Now once again, is anybody working on programs for the 6300 (or other IBM-PC
compatibles) that provide the terminal end of "layers", and that can
serve as a terminal for "cip"??

Thanks.
-----------------------
	James Van Ornum, AT&T (Information Systems), houxu!jhv

tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) (04/01/86)

Later versions of the 5620 seem to have in ROM stuff that previous versions
have to download.  Thus, in normal use, if you use standard UNIX editors,
nothing is ever downloaded to the 5620.  There should be no problem
emulating this on another computer.
-- 

Tim Smith       sdcrdcf!ism780c!tim || ima!ism780!tim || ihnp4!cithep!tim

gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (04/02/86)

In article <747@houxu.UUCP> jhv@houxu.UUCP (James Van Ornum) writes:
>I think Doug Gwyn missed the point of the AT&T 5620 emulator request.

No.  I think you missed the point of my response.

>First, it would be useful to have the terminal end of "layers" running on an
>AT&T PC 6300, even if each window were a full screen, just because of the
>advantages of "layers" for some activities.  Surely the 6300 can handle that.

Probably, with a modest amount of work.  One would have to figure out
what to do about the difference in coordinate systems.

>Second, there are some graphics programs, such as cip, where it is easier to
>draw the desired figures than it is to write "pic" descriptions.  Surely the
>6300 could provide a useful interface to "cip". 

Not without a replacement for the downloaded interactive code, it couldn't.

>None of this requires emulating the cpu chip in the 5620, just reproducing
>some of the capability, as seen by the user, of the 5620.

If the 6300 doesn't emulate the 5620 (WE32001 instructions, etc.),
then one would need virtually ALL of the 5620's capability replicated,
in order to be able to rebuild the downloaded code for the 6300.