joe@oregon.uoregon.edu (Joe St Sauver) (09/25/89)
Remote Users -- Beyond the Pale? I agree with Joe Stone that NeXT is wrong to treat remote users as if they are beyond the pale just because they aren't sitting in from of a MegaPixel display. NeXT appears to internally conceptualize the NeXT as a single user, windowed system, with the system possibly networked to other NeXTs. My feeling is that there are going to be a lot of NeXTs that'll end up being used as multi-user UNIX machines operating in mixed network environments. There are (and will be lots more) unhappy remote Unix users if they can't function from a remote location via a VT100 or Televideo terminal or microcomputer emulator. The existence of documentation locked into WriteNow-only format is one example of NeXT's hubris, as is being told that Preferences is "the" way to change user passwords. Of the many, many users who want to use a NeXT, a large fraction of them (I believe) will have to content themselves with accessing NeXT's from a remote terminal or micro, and those users (reasonably) want to be able to change their passwords using passwd and read documentation using man. In fact, for those of you who are writers, I predict a big seller would be "Using a NeXT without a MegaPixel Display!" containing all the tips and tricks you need to thrive away from the black box. Oh well. Keyboard Remapping? Having brought up 1.0 on a NeXT here at Oregon, I note that the Terminal application window is much improved (including having text below the current cursor position get updated properly!), but I've been unable to see the long- promised and hotly awaited keypad remapping facility that would make it possible to use a NeXT Terminal with EDT or TPU under VAX/VMS. Did I just miss it?