tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Tim Ramsey) (05/03/88)
I've recently acquired the task of managing a MicroVax running MicroVMS 4.6.
We have a whole bunch of non-DEC terminals that we'd like to use with it. I'm
new to VMS and learning as I go. Perhaps some of you VMS gurus can answer a
few of my questions:
Will VMS support non-DEC terminals? Is there any facility for a terminal
attribute database (like terminfo and termcap under UNIX)? Can you use full
screen applications (like EDT) on non-DEC terminals?
Any help would be appreciated. Followups are directed to comp.os.vms.
Thanks,
Tim Ramsey
--------
Timothy Ramsey (aka Nop) Dept of Computing & Information Sciences
"Deadlines amuse me" Kansas State University
Internet: tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu Manhattan, Kansas 66506
BITNET: tar@KSUVAX1 -or- NOP@KSUVM (913) 532-6350
UUCP: {cbatt,dcdwest,nosc.ARPA,ihnp4}!ncr-sd!ncrwic!ksuvax1!tarpack@acdpyr.ucar.edu (Dan Packman) (05/05/88)
In article<274@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu> tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Tim Ramsey)... >I've recently acquired the task of managing a MicroVax running MicroVMS 4.6. >We have a whole bunch of non-DEC terminals that we'd like to use with it... ============ >Will VMS support non-DEC terminals? Unfortunately, only limited support. ============ >Is there any facility for a terminal attribute database >(like terminfo and termcap under UNIX)? Look in sys$system:smgterms.txt This is the ascii form of the DEC terminal database. The three types of entries (boolean, numeric, and string) describe each terminal. There are a series of screen management library routines (starting with smg$) that are a lower level analogue to the UNIX curses package. The file sys$system:termtable.txt normally has as its first line the line "REQUIRE 'SMGTERMS'". This includes and "compiles" the smgterms.txt file to describe the DEC terminals. You can add descriptions for other terminals there. Can anyone on the net improve on this entry for the wyse50? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~cut here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NAME = "WYSE50" BOOLEAN advanced_video = 1, ansi_crt = 0, auto_margin = 1, backspace = 1, dec_crt = 0, scope = 1, physical_tabs = 1 NUMERIC columns = 80, rows = 24, wide_screen_columns = 132 STRING begin_blink = "$A02", begin_line_drawing_char = "$H^B", begin_normal_rendition = "$G00", begin_reverse = "$G04", begin_underscore = "$G08", bottom_t_char = "=", clear_tab = "$2", cross_char = "8", cursor_down = "^J", cursor_left = "^H", cursor_right = "^L", cursor_up = "^K", end_blink = "$G00", end_line_drawing_char = "$H^C", end_reverse = "$G00", end_underscore = "$G00", erase_to_end_display = "$y", erase_to_end_line = "$t", erase_whole_display = "$Y", erase_whole_line = "$R", home = "^^", horizontal_bar = ":", index = "^J", key_down_arrow = "^J", key_left_arrow = "^H", key_right_arrow = "^L", key_up_arrow = "^K", left_t_char = "4", lower_left_corner = "1", lower_right_corner = "5", reverse_index = "^K", right_t_char = "9", set_cursor_abs = "$a!ULR!ULC", set_tab = "$1", top_t_char = "0", truncation_icon = "$H>", upper_left_corner = "2", upper_right_corner = "3", vertical_bar = "6", width_narrow = "$`:", width_wide = "$`;" END ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~cut here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After you have added what you wanted to termtable.txt in sys$system, then run smgbldtrm. This will "compile" the termtable.txt (and the included sgmterms.txt) and produce a termtable.exe Although there is probably a better way, after rebooting this information will be available to the system and one can do a set term/dev=wyse50 with the above information added. For completeness, the help file for set term/dev should be modified as well to include this new device as a legal entry for the command. ============= >Can you use full screen applications (like EDT) on non-DEC terminals? No. The rumor I heard was that an SMG based driver was written so that edt and tpu would work from non-dec terminals but it was decided to drop the project since it was inefficient. Poor people like us with non-ansi terminals are somewhat limited. I use emacs (with its own database instead of using the smg stuff) with non-dec terminals. I really wish DEC would use SMG for the one line dcl editing window. I can't believe efficiency is all that critical for such a small window. Mail seems to use smg to clear the screen but most of the dec products that you wish would use SMG don't. Of course the whole issue will gradually become moot as we argue over the best windowing system. In the meantime though....
rod@venera.isi.edu (Rodney Doyle Van Meter III) (05/06/88)
VMS use of non-DEC terminals: depends on what you want to do with it. Some of the people have metnioned using SMG and creating entries for terminals and such, which can be a fair amount of work. For my purposes (systems programmer -- i.e. I had no need of fancy graphics), all I really need is a full-screen editor. Since I had at one time an old HP clunker at home, I needed something I could use there. GNU Emacs turned out to be the ultimate answer, particularly as I can also use it on our Unix systems. Check it out. As an aside, I've been thinking about putting together a small document on useful internals tricks. I'm interested in whatever any of you have, including hints on analyzing crash dumps, or figuring out what resource an RWASTed process is waiting on, how to do uncouth things like zero the error count of a running device, or time in a disk that's been timed out, etc. I've done the last two, along with figuring out how to disable the FPA from a program, or tell if it's actually being used (the VAX Architecture Handbook is WRONG, by the way, at least where the 750 is concerned). So you see, I'm looking for stuff to fit in between the System Manager's Reference (which doesn't go into internals) and theInternals and Data Structures book (which leans a little too heavily on theory for my tastes). SEND ME ANYTHING YOU THINK WOULD BE USEFUL. No internals trick is too obscure... (of course, much of this may be invalidated by VMS 5.0, but I'm sure many of us will be running 4.x for a long time to come). Thanks, --Rod rod@ISI.Edu
jdc@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Jeff Capehart) (05/09/88)
Speaking of non-DEC terminals... does anyone have a driver form the ADM-3a type of terminal usually called 'adam-3'. I have heard it is the Foreign Type 1 terminal definition ( $ set term/dev=ft1 ) but we have no such file on our system. Is it possible to get this for 0 cost? Like, can someone e-mail it without too much trouble? Also do these drivers need to be installed, or can a non-privileged user create his own driver? -- Jeff Capehart Internet: jdc@beach.cis.ufl.edu University of Florida UUCP: ..!ihnp4!codas!uflorida!beach.cis.ufl.edu!jdc
c31293@tansei.cc.u-tokyo.JUNET (c31293) (05/09/88)
In article <274@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu>, tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Tim Ramsey) writes: > I've recently acquired the task of managing a MicroVax running MicroVMS 4.6. > We have a whole bunch of non-DEC terminals that we'd like to use with it. I'm > new to VMS and learning as I go. Perhaps some of you VMS gurus can answer a > few of my questions: I'm not a guru :-), but I have been operating VMS for a year. > > Will VMS support non-DEC terminals? Is there any facility for a terminal > attribute database (like terminfo and termcap under UNIX)? Can you use full > screen applications (like EDT) on non-DEC terminals? > I don't know whether VMS supports non-DEC terminals (at least I haven't read ANY in the huge documentations :-<), but you can find a key in SYS$SYSTEM. Check SYS$SYSTEM:SMGTABLE.TXT. You can find something like a script language, which gives basic VMS-supported terminals' configurations. There are several programs may-be-related to them, like TERMTABLE.EXE and etc. -- Kenji Rikitake, TWICS operation staff (using MicroVMS 4.4) and studying in Wada Lab., Univ of Tokyo
Tom_TA2_Allebrandi@cup.portal.com (05/13/88)
For non-dec terminals on VMS - The best way to use them (as has been noted) is to get a definition into TERMTABLE so that SMG (and the C RunTimes Curses package) can use it. On the other hand, I have a termcap running on VMS... I had started a termcap database to TERMTABLE converter, I could probably resurrect it if someone would like to finish it... Tom Allebrandi ta2@cup.portal.com