roberts@NBS-VMS.arpa (ROBERTS, JOHN) (07/31/86)
I recently purchased a communications program for my personal computer (an Amiga) from a local computer store. (The program is called OnLine!, and was claimed to be the best the store had to offer.) The main reason for the purchase of the program was to use its advertised vt100 emulation capability to communicate with host computers running Unix 4.2 and VMS, and to use the Rand, vi, and EDT editors. The emulator actually seems to work pretty well (good 80x24 display, implementation of PF1-PF4, keypad usable for EDT keypad mode, reverse scrolling, etc.), but has two idiosyncrasies I have observed thus far. One is a slight deviation in the handling of line insertions and/or deletions that make it difficult to use some of the features of vi and EDT. (There may be a way to fix this, but I haven't found it yet.) The most annoying problem thus far is an apparent inability to transmit the ASCII NULL character (00 hex, usually implemented as ctrl-@ or ctrl-space). This is particularly troublesome because there are applications for which the ability to transmit a NULL is very important. After several attempts to find a way around this bug, and rereading the manual, I came to the conclusion that this version of the program contained, as an added "feature", a filter to *INHIBIT* the transmission of a NULL character, no matter how one tries to transmit it! Putting aside arguments as to the usefulness of the NULL character, the ability to transmit it is a documented feature of the VT100 terminal, and I do not think that an emulator program that deliberately suppresses this ability should still be called a vt100 emulator. Advice (or flame) to writers of commercial terminal emulator programs: If you want to say that your program emulates terminal X, it should in fact imitate its characteristics to the greatest extent possible. If certain features prove impractical to implement (132 column mode on a vt100 emulator, or reverse video, for instance), then these deficiencies should be clearly listed in such a manner that the customer can find out about them before making the purchase. If you don't follow these practices, then you should advertise your program as "a sort of a terminal emulator program that in many respects is remarkably similar to terminal X". Questions for Amiga users (since INFO-AMIGA is not currently running): > Does the Amigaterm program have a vt100 emulator good enough for the applications mentioned above? Will it transmit NULL characters? Does it implement PF1-PF4? > Is there a program called Maxicomm? Any experience with it? > Any good public domain programs with vt100 emulators for the Amiga? > Does anyone know of a fix for the emulator bugs in OnLine! ? Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided. Corrections to my obviously erroneous views welcomed. "The human mind is an infinite resource, but only if you don't squander it." - J. P. Hogan John Roberts ARPANET: roberts@nbs-vms.ARPA USENET: I don't think direct contact is possible, so please post through net.micro. ------