Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!ucsd!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!esosun!seismo!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Autologout of unused terminals
Message-ID: <574@auspex.UUCP>
Date: 4 Dec 88 08:16:33 GMT
References: <201.nlunix6@orcenl.uucp> <8978@smoke.BRL.MIL> <2682@sultra.UUCP> <9012@smoke.BRL.MIL> <3603@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <28766@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1874@loral.UUCP>
Reply-To: guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 16

>Hmmm, mine just sleeps X minutes, then asks the terminal what type it is.
>Go back to sleep, ad nauseum.  Has the advantage that the responce comes
>from the terminal itself, then through the data lines, muxes, data switches,
>and god knows what else, instead of the cpu just talking to itself.

Has the disadvantage that it doesn't work worth a damn if:

	1) your terminal doesn't have a sequence that provokes it into
	   identifying itself;

	2) your program doesn't know the sequence for your terminal, or
	   doesn't know what kind of terminal it is;

and isn't very polite if it breaks into the middle of some output to
send that sequence and the sequence happens to cause the output to be
scrambled.