Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!husc6!cmcl2!yale!leichter From: leichter@yale.UUCP (Jerry Leichter) Newsgroups: comp.org.decus Subject: Re: vt62 Message-ID: <13516@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> Date: Sat, 11-Jul-87 17:51:06 EDT Article-I.D.: yale-cel.13516 Posted: Sat Jul 11 17:51:06 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 12-Jul-87 16:53:33 EDT References: <8707031724.AA22386@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Reply-To: leichter@yale-celray.UUCP (Jerry Leichter) Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept, New Haven CT Lines: 50 In article <8707031724.AA22386@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> aad+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Anthony A. Datri) writes: > >I've got a vt62. You've never heard of it? I'm not suprised. It looks >like a vt52, with lots of differences. > > ... The VT62 was a special-purpose terminal produced for the late, unlamented TRAX operating system. (Don't remember TRAX? Hardly anyone does - it was a trans- action processing system based on PDP-11's. The hardware of the day was just not up to the demands, and it flopped.) VT62's were designed as block-mode terminals, talking DDCMP over multi-drop sync lines. I doubt there's anything out there that you can connect a VT62 to like that today. A variant on the VT62, the VT61, talked to async lines. I wasn't aware that VT62's could talk async...but it's been a while: I still have a VT61 manual; its copyright says 1976. VT61's could be configured into a "fully host controlled" mode. In this mode, intended for "hostile" environments, the terminal couldn't initiate operations - it had to wait for a poll from the host. This mode was changeable by a switch on the terminal; that's probably the one you have that's labeled "Don't touch". The VT6x's were VERY sophisticated devices for their day. They could do local editing, including insert and delete line with the old stuff moving either up or down, and justification. (Yes, justification in the terminal before transmission to the host.) They supported three modes: Character-at-a-time, block, and forms. The summary of VT61 commands runs two pages, and that's without explanations; so I can't really type it in for you. Here, however, are a couple of useful commands that the VT61 had that aren't in a VT52 - try them out and see if you can get your VT62 to use them: ESC P I Enter INSERT mode ESC P i Exit INSERT mode (enter REPLACE mode) ESC O J Begin Reverse Video ESC O j End Reverse Video ESC O E Lock keyboard ESC O e Unlock keyboard ESC O G Enter Alarm mode (try it!) ESC O g Exit Alarm mode ESC P S (or s) Delete character ESC P D (or d) Delete line, ripple up ESC O N Delete line, ripple down ESC P F (or f) Insert line, ripple down ESC O O Insert line, ripple up ESC P E (or e) Change emphasis (flip reverse video of char) -- Jerry