[comp.lang.apl] those funny little characters

wine@lanai.cs.ucla.edu (David Wine) (11/30/90)

I'd like to use APL2 on an IBM 3090 from something other
than an APL terminal.  I have two courses to explore:

One option is to use a UNIX based Xwindow terminal.
One problem would be to find an appropriate font.
A more significant problem is that the program to set
up a telnet session on the IBM host, tn3270, doesn't support
use of the APL character set.

My other option is to dial into the IBM host using a PC
as a terminal.  

Has anyone tackled this problem?

--David Wine

jhatfiel@nmsu.edu (Joseph T. Hatfield) (11/30/90)

I use STSC's APL*PLUS for the PC as an APL terminal; it works quite
nicely with EGA and VGA screens.  But the $500 mail order price makes
it a very expensive terminal emulator unless you're going to use it
to do local APL programming as well.


--
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Joseph T. Hatfield               New Mexico State University
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BITNET   : G4210791 at NMSUVM1
INTERNET : jhatfiel@nmsu.edu
USMail   : Box 4217, Las Cruces, NM 88003-4217
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Send me risque stories.
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ccoleman@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Chuck Coleman) (12/01/90)

In article <wine.659916574@lanai> wine@lanai.cs.ucla.edu (David Wine) writes:
>I'd like to use APL2 on an IBM 3090 from something other
>than an APL terminal.  I have two courses to explore:
>


>Has anyone tackled this problem?

I once had to transfer data from an APL mainframe to an IBM-PC.  I used
Procomm with its translation table turned on, mapping the incoming
characters to my local atomic vector.  I also loaded a TSR to display
APL characters correctly.  I could see everything coming in correctly
(except for overstruck characters, which displayed the last component
character transmitted).  Sending data was a different matter, I had to
fly blind and trust my knowledge of the APL keyboard and rely on
uppercase characters being translated by the mainframe to APL, etc.
Perhaps you can find a more intelligent solution.

Chuck Coleman                "Sorry, no concluding witticism"

School:					Work:
Center for Study of Public Choice	NPA Data Services, Inc.
George Mason University			1424 16th St. N.W. Suite 700
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BITNET: ccoleman@GMUVAX
Internet: ccoleman@gmuvax2.gmu.edu

liebtag@stlvm20.iinus1.ibm.com ("David Liebtag") (01/22/91)

Ref: 30 Nov 90 22:44:17 GMT by ccoleman@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Chuck Coleman)

Chuck,

   It sounds like you really have two questions:  How do I use APL
from a non-APL terminal? and, How do I upload and download APL code?

   I can comment on the first.

   The APL2 product is shipped with a public workspace called MEDIT.
MEDIT contains a suite of functions which let you edit functions and
operators using a non-APL terminal.  I have never used it myself, but
it looks workable.  Basically, you use a utility to get an image of
the function you want to edit and then use other utilities to perform
normal editing commands (like Change, Insert, etc.).  Probably
cumbersome, but in a pinch,,,,

Regards,
David Liebtag
APL Products, IBM
LIEBTAG@STLVM20.IINUS1.IBM.COM


PS.  This is my first attempt to add to a Usenet discussion.  Sorry
if it comes out looking funny.  If it works (and if there's interest)
I can send some more glamorous solutions.