VT.THD --- Copyright 1987 by Phil Wheeler An original compilation of Compuserve Model 100 Forum messages for use by Forum members only. Some communications applications favor (or require) emulation of VT-100 or VT-52 terminal protocols. There is some Model 100 software related to this. These messages discuss the capabilities and shortcomings of this software -- and some alternate approaches -- as well as a number of related topics. The original question sure uncovered lots of interesting information, as usual! Message range: 146939 to 147179 Dates: 5/2/87 to 5/4/87 Fm: edmund creekmore 71340,1162 To: Phil Wheeler, 71266,125 I recently read your reply to "vt emulation". Have been experiencing difficulty with the vt100 emulator on the board. Has it been tested and found to be fully functional? How does the manual option work? Has anyone gotten the DVI version of the vt100 to work properly. Thanks for any assistance you can offer me in this area. Fm: Phil Wheeler 71266,125 To: edmund creekmore 71340,1162 I'm sorry to say that I've never used the VT100 emulator. Perhaps someone else will jump in. It has been downloaded a lot. But we've found programs which have been taken by more than 500 folks, before one of them reported that it has a fatal flaw. That is a fact, and it's amazing!! Fm: Mike Waller 76537,1426 To: Edmund Creekmore 71340,1162 You are correct-the programs available on this sig do not properly emulate DEC vt series terminals. However, I have been this M100 for the last year or so with a DEC microvax using plain telecom and the sxm.bas terminal program. The advantage of a program like sxm.ba (which I think has been improved in a later version) is the ability to exit from telcom link and run basic, change disks...while staying connected to the remote. I use the microvax at the office directly connected to M100 and remoremotely from home every day. No problems--just can't do full screen editing runnedt or eve. are you trying to connect to vax type computers or just emulate vt series terminals? I think the vt100.bas program can be fixed; the author had the correct idea, it just needfixing. Fm: Rog Carpenter 70545,472 To: Mike Waller 76537,1426 I have worked up a sort-of VT100 terminal program for my own use. It is basically a modification of the XMODEM.BA program with the XMODEM routines cut out and routines to handle the escape sequences put in. It makes no attempt to format the screen on the M100, just filter out the escape sequences and insert line feeds to make the screen readable. In the download mode, the text is captured verbatim, except for elimination of chr$(15). I then use a Basic program called UNASCI to strip the escape sequences again and write the text to an output file. The program runs only with an external modem and only at 1200 baud. The UNASCI program will theoretically work on files captured by TELCOM too. The programs were both developed for use with a NEC Astra mini, which has a VT100 emulation mode. After processing by UNASCI, the converted file requires little or no editing. I would be interested to find out whether the escape sequences sent by the Astra are the same as those used by IBM, etc. If anyone would find such a thing useful, I will upload my UNASCI program. Fm: Mike Waller 76537,1426 To: Rog Carpenter 70545,472 I use a simple find/replace for the same purpose...The only problem with the program vt100.100 is that it does not work in 'real time'; a formated screen can be generated-but that's not much to me. Fm: edmund creekmore 71340,1162 To: Mike Waller Thanks for the info, Mike. No, I am not using a vax computer. I am try to use the M100 with DVI as a remote terminal for my IBM PCXT clone with a remote software package called PCanywhere which supports a variety of terminal including vt100, ANSI, and vt52. I have been told that the DVI uses the VT52 escape codes but have been unable to get confirmation as yet. Intend to give it a whirl on my DVI from my remote location today. If it works, I will leave a report for users on the board. Fm: Rog Carpenter 70545,472 To: Mike Waller 76537,1426 How do you use a simple find/replace to do that? Most of the text I have downloaded has numerous cursor positioning commands, some of which position the cursor to a different place on the same line (to form columns). My program examines the difference between the last column position and the requested position, then inserts the appropriate number of spaces, or a line feed if necessary. Do you use TEXT to do this? Fm: Mike Waller 76537,1426 To: Rog Carpenter 70545,472 I use the text editor included in the super rom package to perform the required replacements. A short basic program could also do the same-although somewhat slower. I usually do not even bother to do the replacements unless I really need to reuse the text. The software I use on the DEC microvax produces formated output files which tend to make miminimal use of the VT formating codes. The program VT100.100 (is that the one you have been trying?) saves the incoming 'screen' and then, at your command reformats the screen--this does not suit my purposes very well-but it may be ok for what you need.