xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (01/19/91)
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: > That's how the console device supports typeahead without getting > output mixed up with input: when you type in the screen it blocks > output until you enter a whole line. Other programs are not effected. > I thought it was kind of clever, actually. new@ee.udel.edu (Darren New) writes: > I prefer the method used in CP-V, namely that the input you type ahead > does not echo until it is read. Looking at a hardcopy or a screen, you > cant tell whether any given character was typed ahead or not. -- > Darren Well, I've tryed type-ahead interfaces that scatter the typed text through the arriving text, type-ahead that buffers the typed line until the end of the arriving text, type-ahead that pauses (but continues to buffer) the arriving text, and type-ahead that pauses (and stops execution of the task generating) the arriving text. The Amiga method saves me the errors of typing blind, but it still isn't quite what I really need. I don't like the first two, because I'm essentially typing blind. I like what the Amiga does, but it doesn't go far enough; by the time I've reached the bottom of the arriving text, I've lost my own context; I see prompts strung out, but no more indication of what is executing. What I would _really_ like is for the machine to pause output (while buffering it) to accept my type-ahead (and let me multitask me with the machine)l while letting me see what I'm typing, but _also_ print the command again after the prompt before executing it, so I have some context of what command is currently executing when I have typed in several commands in succession. This shouldn't be too tough, at least in the 1.3 Shell, since the command is already buffered as text in the history double ended queue, and it would sure be helpful to me. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>