Dasher D200 terminal on a Linux box?

Ron Kneusel

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Nov 29, 2006, 6:08:55 PM11/29/06

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I don't have an actual MV system so I figure the next best thing would
be to connect a Dasher D200 terminal to a linux box. I'm thinking the
terminal is a standard RS-232 but I haven't been able to find any
manuals and the terminal hasn't arrived yet.

Has anyone tried this? Does anyone see any difficulties?

Ron

Michael Meissner

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Dec 2, 2006, 10:25:40 PM12/2/06

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"Ron Kneusel" <oneel...@hotmail.com> writes:

If memory serves, the older Dashers only used the Data General control
sequences, and did not have an ansi terminal mode. If there is any Linux
software that doesn't use termcap/terminfo, you will be hosed. The arrow keys
for instance generated ^W, ^X, ^Y, ^Z, so using the arrow keys will not work
too well with a smart shell. The way to position the cursor on the screen is
^P plus row/column in binary, which can problematical if you want to go to the
row/column that is ^s. Originally termcap/terminfo had code to avoid this, but
I don't know if its been kept in, since just about all terminal devices these
days are varients of the ansi terminal sequence.

For what its worth, when I was at Data General, I did use DG terminals on my
DG/UX and MV/UX systems. I believe by the time I was doing the C compiler, I
had upgraded my terminal to an amber D460.

Then there is this comment from /etc/termcap in the DG terminal session.
# Not official...
# Note: lesser Dasher terminals will not work with vi because vi insists upon
# having a command to move straight down from any position on the bottom line
# and scroll the screen up, or a direct vertical scroll command. The 460 and
# above have both, the D210/211, for instance, has neither. We must use ANSI
# mode rather than DG mode because standard UNIX tty drivers assume that ^H is
# backspace on all terminals. This is not so in DG mode.
# (dg460-ansi: removed obsolete ":kn#6:"; also removed ":mu=\EW:", on the
# grounds that there is no matching ":ml:"

--
Michael Meissner
email: mrm...@the-meissners.org
http://www.the-meissners.org

Ron Kneusel

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Dec 4, 2006, 2:47:07 PM12/4/06

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Michael Meissner wrote:
> If memory serves, the older Dashers only used the Data General control
> sequences, and did not have an ansi terminal mode. If there is any Linux
> software that doesn't use termcap/terminfo, you will be hosed.

Thanks for the reply! I was hoping this group wasn't quite completely
dead. The guy selling me the terminal said he believed he had a manual
so perhaps I'll get a little help there. Linux still has term entries
for DG terminals including the D200. If it has an ANSI mode then that
would be good, otherwise I'll have to get creative. I was mostly
concerned about async current loop as I believe it is called instead of
RS-232.

Thanks again!

Ron

Tim Boyer

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Dec 4, 2006, 7:17:46 PM12/4/06

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Memory tells me that the D200 was RS232 - it was the 6053 that was 4-20ma
current loop.

But memory isn't what it used to be....

Please let us know if it works. Odds are about half the people reading this
group still have at least one terminal in their basement.

--
tim boyer
t...@denmantire.com

Michael Meissner

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Dec 5, 2006, 11:34:40 AM12/5/06

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Tim Boyer <t...@denmantire.com> writes:

I used a D200 connected to one of those blazing fast 300 baud and later 1200
baud modems to dial in, so I believe it was standard RS232. If I remember, the
keyboard on the D200 was pretty bad, compared to the 6053 and the D460 that I
used over the years. Of course if you wanted to use CEO (why?), you would need
a D200, since the 6053 didn't have function keys 9-11.