philf@med-isg.stanford.edu (Phil Fernandez) (06/29/88)
I am looking for advice about a terminal emulator for my Mac II. I am using a Telebit Trailblazer modem, usually running at 9600bps. I often use full-screen programs such as emacs. I am currently using Red Ryder 10.3, but it's pretty much worthless at 9600bps. The VT100 emulator can't begin keep up with the character stream. In addition, RR seems to insist on performing XON/XOFF flow control. I really want it to do hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control. Finally, I'd dearly love to find a good VT220 emulator (one that supports character insert/delete). Any suggestions? Thanks much... +--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Phil Fernandez | philf@med-isg.stanford.edu | | Stanford University Medical School | ...!sun!med-isg.stanford.edu!philf | | Information Systems Group | | +--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten) (06/29/88)
In article <22940@labrea.Stanford.EDU> philf@med-isg.stanford.edu (Phil Fernandez) writes: >I am looking for advice about a terminal emulator for my Mac II. I am >using a Telebit Trailblazer modem, usually running at 9600bps. I >often use full-screen programs such as emacs. I am currently using >Red Ryder 10.3, but it's pretty much worthless at 9600bps. The VT100 >emulator can't begin keep up with the character stream. In addition, >RR seems to insist on performing XON/XOFF flow control. I really want >it to do hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control. Finally, I'd dearly love to >find a good VT220 emulator (one that supports character >insert/delete). From the Versaterm crowd, the answer is, of course, Versaterm! Actually, it doesn't do a complete VT220 emulation (it doesn't do double-high, double-wide characters, smooth scrolling, and other esoteric things), but it does do insert/delete character/line, all graphics and attributes (in colors if you want) and it's just about the fastest emulator out there (although I hear MicroPhone II is supposed to be pretty hot, too). I leave my termcap entry set to vt220 and Versaterm runs fine. It also runs great under Multifinder and for those of you without, supports desk accessories during UniFinder downloads. Wow. Yes, I do like this program. For $79, how can you go wrong? -- Steve Baumgarten | "New York... when civilization falls apart, Davis Polk & Wardwell | remember, we were way ahead of you." {uunet,cmcl2}!esquire!sbb | - David Letterman
David_Alan_Newman@cup.portal.com (06/30/88)
> I am looking for advice about a terminal emulator for my Mac II. I am > using a Telebit Trailblazer modem, usually running at 9600bps. I often > use full-screen programs such as emacs. I am currently using Red Ryder > 10.3, but it's pretty much worthless at 9600bps. The VT100 emulator > can't begin keep up with the character stream. In addition, RR seems to > insist on performing XON/XOFF flow control. I really want it to do > hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control. Finally, I'd dearly love to find a > good VT220 emulator (one that supports character insert/delete). > > Any suggestions? Thanks much... Phil, We have been using the Trailblazer modem with great success here at Software Ventures. MicroPhone II supports hardware handshake, and its VT100/102 emulation has been greatly improved. VI, Emacs, All-In-One, etc. no longer give MicroPhone fits. The scripting language is vastly more powerful now. Variables, expression analyzer, etc. There is support for Kermit and Kermit servers as well. <Just so you know this up front.> The character throughput at 9600, though faster now, is still not going to be 9600. Also, we do not support VT220. MicroPhone II has a new feature called "modem drivers." This allows MicroPhone II to work seamlessly with modems that do not use the defacto standard command set. We already have a modem driver for the Telbit Trailblazer. With a Trailblazer, we have been able to repeatedly obtain file transfer speeds of 18,000 bps using the YModem-G protocol on coast-to-coast calls. +------------------------------------+---------------------------------+ | Dave Newman |david_alan_newman@cup.portal.com | | Software Ventures Corp. | | +------------------------------------+---------------------------------+ | Disclaimer: We are the manufactuer for MicroPhone 1.1 & II. | | Any opinion expressed here about MicroPhone is certainly | | biased! | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays) (07/03/88)
In article <6971@cup.portal.com> David_Alan_Newman@cup.portal.com writes: >> I am looking for advice about a terminal emulator... > >+------------------------------------+---------------------------------+ >| Dave Newman |david_alan_newman@cup.portal.com | >| Software Ventures Corp. | | >+------------------------------------+---------------------------------+ >| Disclaimer: We are the manufactuer for MicroPhone 1.1 & II. | >| Any opinion expressed here about MicroPhone is certainly | >| biased! | >+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ I have nothing to do with Software Ventures, so MicroPhone is not numbered among my many biases. >We have been using the Trailblazer modem with great success here at >Software Ventures. MicroPhone II supports hardware handshake, and its >VT100/102 emulation has been greatly improved. VI, Emacs, All-In-One, >etc. no longer give MicroPhone fits. The scripting language is vastly >more powerful now. Variables, expression analyzer, etc. There is support >for Kermit and Kermit servers as well. The scripting language has all the power of a programming language, or you can just point and click. For example, I have an on-screen button that invokes Kermit on Unix, gives me a file selection dialogue to select a file for upload, if it is not a legal Unix file name, gives me a dialogue box to rename the file, issues the command to Unix-Kermit, sends the file, and quits. ><Just so you know this up front.> The character throughput at 9600, >though faster now, is still not going to be 9600. Also, we do not >support VT220. It's MUCH faster than 1.0. Fast enough that I no longer envy the MS-DOSers their antique character displays. They implemented a 'copy table' command, so you can copy host data into a DA spreadsheet (or Excel for those with MultiFinder and GB of memory), do some calculations, and copy it back. About the only drawback to Microphone 2.0 is its' steep price. (Though I got a cheap upgrade from 1.0 :-):-) For business use it's worth every penny of list price. I wouldn't mess with anything else to save a few bucks. For personal use at full price... I don't know... It sure is nice... So are lots of other things you could spend the money on. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My opinions are my own. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. E-Mail route: ...!pyramid!garth!walter (415) 852-2384 USPS: Intergraph APD, 2400 Geng Road, Palo Alto, California 94303 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
david@wiley.UUCP (David Hull) (07/04/88)
philf@med-isg.stanford.edu (Phil Fernandez) writes: >I am looking for advice about a terminal emulator for my Mac II. I am >using a Telebit Trailblazer modem, usually running at 9600bps. I have a Trailblazer also. I use Versaterm to log into the UNIX machine at work, and it works pretty well. Versaterm is fast enough to keep up with the Trailblazer. Beware that the termcap entry that comes with Versaterm interacts badly with the Trailblazer. If you write me, I will send you the one I use. >I really want it to do hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control. The Macintosh serial ports can't do hardware flow control. You're stuck with ^S/^Q. >Finally, I'd dearly love to >find a good VT220 emulator (one that supports character >insert/delete). Versaterm does this in its VT100 emulation mode. -David -- --------------------------------------- David Hull TRW Inc. Redondo Beach, CA ...!{uunet,cit-vax,trwrb}!wiley!david david%wiley.uucp@csvax.caltech.edu
leonardr@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (07/05/88)
david@wiley.UUCP(David Hull) in comp.sys.mac >>I really want it to do hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control. > >The Macintosh serial ports can't do hardware flow control. You're stuck >with ^S/^Q. > This is NOT TRUE! MicroPhone II has an option for Hardware Handshaking which works just fine provided that you have properly wired cable. We have found, however, the most 'standard' cables are not in this catagory, but we do include instructions in the manual for making your own, or where to purchase the proper cabling for doing hardware handshaking with your particular modem. (Disclaimer: I work for Software Ventures which write MicroPhone II) +---------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ + + Any thing I say may be taken as + + Leonard Rosenthol + fact, then again you might decide+ + President, LazerWare, inc. + that it really isn't, so you + + + never know, do you?? + + leonardr@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu + + + GEnie: MACgician + MacNET: MACgician + + Delphi: MACgician + + + + + +---------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
david@wiley.UUCP (David Hull) (07/08/88)
I wrote: >The Macintosh serial ports can't do hardware flow control. You're stuck >with ^S/^Q. In article <46100174@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> leonardr@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >This is NOT TRUE! MicroPhone II has an option for Hardware Handshaking >which works just fine provided that you have properly wired cable. We >have found, however, the most 'standard' cables are not in this >catagory, but we do include instructions in the manual for making your >own, or where to purchase the proper cabling for doing hardware >handshaking with your particular modem. When I heard that I was wrong in saying that the Macintosh was unable to do hardware flow control, I did what I should have done in the first place--I looked in Inside Macintosh. Volume III, pages 22-25, describes the serial ports on the early Macintoshes and Volume IV, pages 248-149, the later ones. This is what I found. The design of the serial ports was changed slightly between the Mac 512K and the Mac Plus. The Mac 512K used a DB9 connector, which had a pinout like: 1 Ground 2 +5 Volts 3 Ground 4 Transmit data + 5 Transmit data - 6 +12 Volts 7 Input handshake/external clock 8 Receive data + 9 Receive data - Pin 7 can be used for hardware flow control, but only in one direction--the external device can tell the Mac to stop sending data by pulling it low. Unfortunately this isn't useful when a terminal emulator needs to tell a modem to stop sending data because it can't keep up. The Mac Plus had a Mini8 connector, with this pinout: 1 Output handshake 2 Input handshake/external clock 3 Transmit data - 4 Ground 5 Receive data - 6 Transmit data + 7 (not connected) 8 Receive data + Pins 1 and 2 can be used for flow control, though pin 1 is labeled DTR, which you wouldn't normally expect to use for flow control. The Mac pulls pin 1 low when it wants the external device to stop sending it data and the Mac stops sending data when the external device pulls pin 2 low. Therefore, you need to build the cable described below if you want to be able to do hardware flow control. You also need a terminal emulator program that supports it. In going over the documentation for Versaterm, I found that it has in fact supported hardware flow control since version 3.0 (it's called "Comm Port DTR Handshake" and is on the Extras menu). We also know that Microphone II supports hardware flow control. Modem (DB25) Mac (Mini8) 2 (TD) 3 (TxD-) 3 (RD) 5 (RxD-) 4 (RTS) 1 (Out HS) 5 (CTS) 2 (In HS) 7 (Gnd) 4 (Gnd), 8 (RxD+) I regret any confusion I may have caused with the misinformation I posted, and I hope that I have it right this time. I haven't actually had a chance to test the modem cable I suggest building, but I've gone over it very carefully and am pretty sure that it's right. If I've still got it wrong, I hope that someone lets us know. -David -- --------------------------------------- David Hull TRW Inc. Redondo Beach, CA ...!{uunet,cit-vax,trwrb}!wiley!david david%wiley.uucp@csvax.caltech.edu
jimc@iscuva.ISCS.COM (Jim Cathey) (07/11/88)
In article <2275@wiley.UUCP> david@wiley.UUCP (David Hull) writes: <<<Referring to Mac+ serial port>>> >Pins 1 and 2 can be used for flow control, though pin 1 is labeled DTR, >which you wouldn't normally expect to use for flow control. The Mac In fact, DTR is the more correct signal (choosing between RTS & DTR) to use for input flow control. RTS is Request-to-SEND, and is used when turning around half-duplex lines. DTR is Data-Terminal-READY, and viewed in that light works well as "I'm ready to receive." Some serial chips have additional logic to flip RTS at the right time at end-of-transmission (Zilog SIO) and thus don't lend themselves to using RTS for input-side control in a full- duplex environment for async comms. I believe that when Zilog did the SCC they removed this handy RTS feature because altogether too many customers wanted to use RTS for input flow control. This makes writing a properly timed half-duplex async comm harder for the SCC than for the SIO. +----------------+ ! II CCCCCC ! Jim Cathey ! II SSSSCC ! ISC Systems Corp. ! II CC ! TAF-C8; Spokane, WA 99220 ! IISSSS CC ! UUCP: uunet!iscuva!jimc ! II CCCCCC ! (509) 927-5757 +----------------+ "With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?"
dorner@uxg.cso.uiuc.edu (07/12/88)
>In fact, DTR is the more correct signal (choosing between RTS & DTR) to >use for input flow control. There are a lot of devices that will close connections if you drop DTR; I wouldn't try this at home, kids. ---- Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office Internet: dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu UUCP: {convex,uunet}!uiucuxc!dorner IfUMust: (217) 333-3339
jimc@iscuva.ISCS.COM (Jim Cathey) (07/14/88)
In article <15200031@uxg.cso.uiuc.edu> dorner@uxg.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >>In fact, DTR is the more correct signal (choosing between RTS & DTR) to >>use for input flow control. >There are a lot of devices that will close connections if you drop DTR; >I wouldn't try this at home, kids. Such devices usually being modems and not suitable for _hardware_ flow control anyway. Most of the rest (non-modems) probably use XON/XOFF. For the remaining few, nobody said the DTR signal line of the Mac had to be connected to the DTR input of the whatsis. The Mac has power pins on the serial connector for faking a DTR for these. RS-232 as a standard is anything but. I stand by my original statement. +----------------+ ! II CCCCCC ! Jim Cathey ! II SSSSCC ! ISC Systems Corp. ! II CC ! TAF-C8; Spokane, WA 99220 ! IISSSS CC ! UUCP: uunet!iscuva!jimc ! II CCCCCC ! (509) 927-5757 +----------------+ "With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?"