jumper@trwrb.UUCP (Gregory S. Jumper) (12/24/87)
I am looking for help or suggestions on how to *correctly* (i.e., not by
having them emulate vt100's) use DEC vt200 and vt300 series terminals with a
Pyramid. Actually, the problem I have can probably be found in most UNIX
systems.
The problem is this: in native mode, the vt200 and vt300 series terminals use
an 8-bit character set (DEC Multinational). However, the UNIX tty driver
(brain-damagedly, in my opinion -- I'm sure someone will tell me if this
behaviour can be considered a "feature" :-)) generates even parity (in an
8-bit data frame) on output, which causes these terminals to display
characters from the "supplemental" character set, rather than the intended
7-bit ASCII character.
I would like the terminal driver to pass all eight bits unscathed to and from
my terminal without my having to put the driver into "raw" mode (and lose line
editing). The "even", "odd", and "litout" options to "stty" would seem to be
the ticket, but "litout" mode also turns off expansion of newline to
carriage-return plus newline on output (regardless of the setting of "nl").
Now, if the above problem has a solution, what about the fact that the
terminal driver is in its "brain-damaged" state at login time, before one has
the chance to issue an "stty" or equivalent command? Being no expert, it is
not clear to me how "gettytab," "termcap," and "stty" interact to specify the
proper treatment for a given terminal. (For example, the description of
"gettytab" indicates that it is possible to have any parity accepted on input
and have odd parity generated on output, but it says nothing about having no
parity generated on output.) In this day of "eight *data* bits, no parity"
data communications and extended character sets, why is UNIX apparently so
backwards in its terminal driver?
Finally, If anyone has other words of wisdom regarding the use of vt200 and
vt300 terminals with UNIX (especially good termcap entries and pointers on
using them with Emacs), I would like to hear them.
Any help greatly appreciated,
Greg Jumper
trwrb!jumper@trwind.TRW.COM (ARPA)
...{decvax,ihnp4,ucbvax}!trwrb!jumper (UUCP)rbj@icst-cmr.arpa (Root Boy Jim) (12/30/87)
From: "Gregory S. Jumper" <jumper@trwrb.uucp>
The problem: in native mode, the vt200 and vt300 series terminals use
an 8-bit character set (DEC Multinational).
I run my VT220 in VT220 mode with 7 bits, space parity.
Greg Jumper
trwrb!jumper@trwind.TRW.COM (ARPA)
...{decvax,ihnp4,ucbvax}!trwrb!jumper (UUCP)
(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell <rbj@icst-cmr.arpa>
National Bureau of Standards
Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688