From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npois!ucbvax!C70:info-cpm Newsgroups: fa.info-cpm Title: termcaps... Article-I.D.: ucb.1273 Posted: Fri Jun 4 03:49:59 1982 Received: Sat Jun 5 01:31:38 1982 >From lauren@Ucla-Security Fri Jun 4 03:49:47 1982 Actually, "termcap" has nothing to do with CP/M. It is the file of "terminal capabilities" that is part of the Berkeley UNIX releases. The termcap file itself ("/etc/termcap") contains a concise description of the various control codes, padding requirements, and all sorts of other functions that various terminals possess. Considerable software written for Unix (such as the "vi" editor, "rogue", and many others) use standard primitives for all screen handling functions -- the actual control codes and other data sent to a particular console are based on the termcap description for the user's particular terminal (defined in his/her environment). The termcap system provides the capability to write software that is essentially terminal-independent, since the primitives do all the terminal-specific work. The standard termcap file contains *many* terminal definitions. Most every major terminal make (and many not-so-major) have been fully defined. I often use termcap as a sort of universal reference guide when I need to know some specific of screen handling for a terminal with which I've never dealt in the past. --Lauren--