golding@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU (Andy Golding) (05/10/88)
Despite the variety of ways of using the 6300+ as a terminal to log into other systems, I have been unable to do so satisfactorily. Most MS-DOS programs (em4410, Terminal in Microsoft Windows, ansi.sys, Wordstar 2000) don't seem to emulate enough vt100 commands to be useful (e.g. they can't change the scrolling region, pretty well crippling Emacs). I have had better luck with Softcall, but there's still the problem that the PC interprets ^S and ^Q as flow control, again interfering with Emacs. Is there any way to get the PC to stop trapping these characters? I am also open to suggestions for better ways to do terminal emulation within DOS (e.g. can I write my own ansi.sys?). Cheers, Andy
golding@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU (Andy Golding) (05/20/88)
Well, no one had any suggestions about how to fix Softcall or the other terminal-emulation programs -- it probably can't be done easily. On the other hand, one kind soul -- Boris Aronov -- recommended Kermit as an alternative program for terminal emulation and file transfer. It turns out that MS-Kermit (version 2.30) works beautifully. It does by far the best job of emulating a vt100 (it actually emulates a superset, the vt102, as well as other terminals). By default it shuts off the annoying flow-control "feature", thereby solving the problem with ^S and ^Q in Emacs. It even lets you rebind your keyboard, so that, e.g., the "backspace" key can be made to transmit a "delete" (in fact, this is the default binding). All in all, I would definitely recommend using Kermit. It also has the advantages of being public domain and having excellent documentation (unlike the uninformative, kid-gloves style of verbiage you get with Softcall and the like). If you don't already have MS-Kermit at your site, you can send away to Columbia University at INFO-KERMIT-REQUEST@CU20B for the program and documentation. Andy