ak104@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Robert Clark) (04/20/91)
Does anyone know why DEC on VT200 and 300 terminals
mapped the ESC key to CTRL-3 and CTRL-3 to the ESC key?
I use the EMACS editor, which is a very popular editor
for mainframe computers, and it requires the use of the
ESC key. It's rather annoying to have to hit CTRL-3 for
the ESC key, particularly when there's no logical reason
why it should be that way.
I could map the ESC key back to itself but I use other
terminals such as vt100 and AMIGAS, PC'S, and MACINTOSHES
and it would be a major pain to have to map or de-map
the key depending on what term I'm using everytime I
log on.
What's the deal here?
Bob Clark
SUNY at Albany
bqt@cia.docs.uu.se (Johnny Billquist) (04/26/91)
In <9104191706.AA10953@cwns10.INS.CWRU.Edu> ak104@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Robert Clark) writes: > Does anyone know why DEC on VT200 and 300 terminals > mapped the ESC key to CTRL-3 and CTRL-3 to the ESC key? Actually, when VT200 and VT300 series are in "native" mode, ctrl-<number> sends octal 3<number>. That is ctrl-3 send 33, ctrl-4 send 34 and so on. If you use the VT200 or VT300 in VT100 mode, ESC is also available on F11 (I think it is). On the VT300 you also have the option of rearranging the keyboard in the setup, moving some keys around, so that ESC is placed on the key in the upper left corner, instead of <~ `> or whatever key is placed there. > I use the EMACS editor, which is a very popular editor > for mainframe computers, and it requires the use of the > ESC key. It's rather annoying to have to hit CTRL-3 for > the ESC key, particularly when there's no logical reason > why it should be that way. Yup. There is no clear reson why DEC did such a stupid thing as trying to remove the ECS key. Whith the VT300 they did a half retreat, but it still is a small pain. > I could map the ESC key back to itself but I use other > terminals such as vt100 and AMIGAS, PC'S, and MACINTOSHES > and it would be a major pain to have to map or de-map > the key depending on what term I'm using everytime I > log on. I don't get this. You can always check what terminal you are using, and only do a remap if you have a VT200 or VT300. Or are you using VT200 and VT300 emulators on your AMIGAs and so on? > What's the deal here? No deal, just stupidity. ====================================================================== Everybody know that the DECstation - I'm on a bus is a pdp8, which is a RISC, but - on a psychodelic trip, where did MIPS computers get into it? - reading murder books - and tryin' to stay hip. - Johnny Billquist - Billy Idol D89.JOHNNY-BILLQUIST@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE D89.JOHNNY-BILLQUIST@CARMEN.DOCS.UU.SE ======================================================================
lennartb@lne.kth.se (Lennart Brjeson @ KTH, Stockholm) (04/26/91)
In article <bqt.672614692@cia.docs.uu.se>, bqt@cia.docs.uu.se (Johnny Billquist) writes: [...deleted...] >> I use the EMACS editor, which is a very popular editor >> for mainframe computers, and it requires the use of the >> ESC key. It's rather annoying to have to hit CTRL-3 for >> the ESC key, particularly when there's no logical reason >> why it should be that way. > >Yup. There is no clear reson why DEC did such a stupid thing as trying >to remove the ECS key. Whith the VT300 they did a half retreat, but it >still is a small pain. > The reason is STANDARDS. ESC was never intended to be user-accessible. ESC means "And now over to something completely different:". I can agree that it is unfortunate that a lot of products in the past have misused the ESC character for their own purposes. On the other hand, as anyone who has ever tried to read his/her way through tonnes of confusing/contradicting RFCs (frequently claimed to be "standard" although they're just a Request For Comments!), "standards" sometimes must be written just to confuse the enemy... [...deleted...] !++ ! Lennart Boerjeson, System Manager ! School of Electrical Engineering ! Royal Institute of Technology ! S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden ! tel: int+46-8-7907814 ! Internet: lennartb@lne.kth.se !--