heymann@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Jurgen Heymann) (01/23/91)
I recently posted a question to the net ...
> Is there a Norton Commander-like unix shell somewhere? .....
The responses I got as well as the follow-ups in comp.unix.shell indicate
that my question was not clear enough. It should be:
Is there a Norton-Commander like unix shell for character based
terminals, i.e. using the TERMINFO and curses?
Of course there is great stuff for XWindows, as well as for the Unix
versions running on the PC (386). But I'm thinking about general AT&T Unix
here. Since the terminal control information is there (TERMINFO DB) why
not use it?
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Jurgen Heymann heymann@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM
(usual disclaimer: My opinions ...)
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Jurgen Heymann heymann@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COMggw%wolves@cs.duke.edu (Gregory G. Woodbury) (01/25/91)
heymann@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Jurgen Heymann) writes: >I recently posted a question to the net ... >> Is there a Norton Commander-like unix shell somewhere? ..... > >The responses I got as well as the follow-ups in comp.unix.shell indicate >that my question was not clear enough. It should be: > > Is there a Norton-Commander like unix shell for character based > terminals, i.e. using the TERMINFO and curses? > >Of course there is great stuff for XWindows, as well as for the Unix >versions running on the PC (386). But I'm thinking about general AT&T Unix >here. Since the terminal control information is there (TERMINFO DB) why >not use it? A bit of history. Under Edition 7 UNIX, Rand produced a little gem called the directory editory that provided a nearly full-screen character terminal interface for manipulating directories. That is, one could change file names, the permission bits and owner and group, and attach comments to each file. A hard-coded cursor package limited it use severly. A small, environment variable based, but still hard coded, cursor package was added at Duke. At the same time, file typing on the basis of names and the magic numbers were added; also, the files were labeled with single character codes and certain one and two key sequences were captured to invoke compilers, editors and even make! It became 'ded' and was moderatly popular at Duke (well, maybe 5 users :-) one very dedicated to it! - me). A few more years later and it showed up briefly at BTL in a couple of projects and was adapted to more and more modern forms of curses. Still the basic features of annotation of file names, simple file typing and simple keystroke interception hung on. Around 1986, it was moved over to MS-DOS and was limited back to ANSI only mode use, but a little more flexibility in keystroke mapping was added (having function keys and ALT keys was fun). It, now called the wolfe shell (wsh) lies languishing in a forgotten direcrtory somewhere awaiting ressurection on hearing that someone, somewhere, might like to have a somewhat visual interface to assist the development process without the full environment support of FACE or 10+ or whatever. What really remains to be done is a general purpose keystroke interceptor that doesn't conflict too badly with most curses keystroke identification. I lack information about how many keyboards out there provide support for the function keys and/or ALT keys. I have some solutions for PC-type keyboards, but am limited somewhat to ISC and/or Opus Systems access. I have thought of taking some of the currently available Bsh/Ksh work-alikes and adding in altkey/function key support and an annoted directory display mode. Does this sound like something interesting? Or has ever programmer already done their own version of this? -- Gregory G. Woodbury @ The Wolves Den UNIX, Durham NC UUCP: ...dukcds!wolves!ggw ...mcnc!wolves!ggw [use the maps!] Domain: ggw@cds.duke.edu ggw%wolves@mcnc.mcnc.org [The line eater is a boojum snark! ] <standard disclaimers apply>
peed@motcid.UUCP (Andrew Peed) (01/25/91)
heymann@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Jurgen Heymann) writes: >I recently posted a question to the net ... >> Is there a Norton Commander-like unix shell somewhere? ..... >The responses I got as well as the follow-ups in comp.unix.shell indicate >that my question was not clear enough. It should be: > Is there a Norton-Commander like unix shell for character based > terminals, i.e. using the TERMINFO and curses? Have you tried 'vsh'? This is a visual shell that runs on character based terminals, but I sincerely doubt that it is as powerful as Norton Commander. (I'm not familiar with Norton Commander, but Peter Norton being who he is, it's probably pretty slick. 'vsh', on the other hand, is VERY clunky to use, and is useful only for those who suffer from extreme command-line phobia.) Andy -- Andrew B. Peed ..!uunet!motcid!peed This is me at work. Andy.Peed@p6.f115.n934.z1.fidonet.org This is me in real life. Any questions?
nms@jvd.msk.su (Nickolay Saukh) (02/04/91)
In article <1991Jan25.043515.19045@wolves.uucp> ggw%wolves@cs.duke.edu (Gregory G. Woodbury) writes: >heymann@cns.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Jurgen Heymann) writes: >>I recently posted a question to the net ... >>> Is there a Norton Commander-like unix shell somewhere? ..... >> >>The responses I got as well as the follow-ups in comp.unix.shell indicate >>that my question was not clear enough. It should be: >> >> Is there a Norton-Commander like unix shell for character based >> terminals, i.e. using the TERMINFO and curses? >> >>Of course there is great stuff for XWindows, as well as for the Unix >>versions running on the PC (386). But I'm thinking about general AT&T Unix >>here. Since the terminal control information is there (TERMINFO DB) why >>not use it? Sergey Vakulenko <vak@kiae.su> made it. Ask him about details by email. -- Nickolay Saukh <nms@jvd.msk.su> | Speaking from but not for JV Dialogue