23. Appendix D: Notes by Brand/Model

Here are notes by brand name that were too specific to a certain terminal to be put elsewhere in this HOWTO. If you have some info to contribute on a certain terminal that is not covered elsewhere, it could go here. Various models often have much in common which only need be written about in one place. It would be nice if for each terminal model, there were a set of links linking to the documentation relevant to that model (including escape codes). There are so many models of terminals that such a task would be quite onerous and I, David Lawyer (as of 1998), have no intention of attempting this. If most terminal manufacturers would only make their manuals available on the net, then all this might not be needed. Note that some VT (DEC) manuals are now available on the Internet.

23.1 CIT

CIT terminals were made in Japan in the 1980's for CIE Terminals. They ceased to be imported in the late 1980's. The company, CIE, still makes CItoh printers (in 1997) but has no parts for its abandoned terminals. Ernie at (714) 453-9555 in Irvine CA sells (in 1997) some parts for models 224, 326, etc. but has nothing for the 80 and 101. (The document you are now reading was written mostly on the 101e.)

To save the Set-Up parameters press ^S when in Set-Up mode. cit80: Contrast: knob on rear of terminal, cit101e: Brightness: use up/down arrow keys in Set-Up mode.

23.2 IBM Terminals

Don't confuse IBM terminals with IBM PC monitors. Many IBM terminals don't use ASCII but instead use an 8-bit EBCDIC code. It's claimed that in EBCDIC the bit order of transmission is reversed from normal with the high-order bit going first. The IBM mainframe communication standards are a type of synchronous communication in block mode (sends large packets of characters). Two standards are "BISYNC" and "SNA" (which includes networking standards). Many of their terminals connect with coax cable (RG62A/U) and naive persons may think the "BNC" connecter on the terminal is for ethernet (but it's not).

While this IBM system is actually more efficient than what is normally used in Linux, terminals meeting this IBM standard will not currently work with Linux. However, some IBM terminals are asynchronous ASCII terminals and should work with Linux on PC's. The numbers 31xx may work with the exception that 317x and 319x are not ASCII terminals. Before getting an IBM terminal, make sure there is a termcap (terminfo) for it. If their isn't, it likely will not work with Linux. Even if there is a terminfo, it may not work. For example, there is a termcap for 327x but the 3270 is an EBCDIC synchronous terminal.

The 3270 series includes the 3278 (late 1970's), 3279 with color and graphics, and the 3274 terminal controller (something like the 3174). They may be used for both BISYNC and SNA. The 3290 has a split screen (splits into quarters).

The synchronous IBM terminals don't connect directly to the IBM mainframe, but connect to a "terminal controller" (sometimes called "cluster controller" or "communication controller"). Some of these controllers can convert a synchronous signal to asynchronous so that in this case a synchronous terminal could indirectly connect to a Unix-like host computer via its serial port. But there is still a major problem and that is block transmission. See section Block Mode.

IBM 3153

It's claimed that the Aux port is DCE and uses a straight-thru cable.

23.3 Teletypes

These are antiques and represent the oldest terminals. They are like remotely controlled typewriters but are large and noisy. Made by the Teletype Corp., the first models were made in the 1920's and predate the computer by over 30 years. Early models used electro-mechanical relays and rotating distributors instead of electronics. Their Baudot code was only 5-bits per character as compared to 7-bit ASCII. See the book "Small Computer Systems Handbook" by Sol Libes, Hayden Books, 1978: pp. 138-141 ("Teletypes").

23.4 VT (DEC)

Digital Equipment Corporation made the famous VT series of terminals including the commonly emulated VT100. In 1995 they sold their terminal business to SunRiver which is now named Boundless Technologies. Detailed VT terminal information, some manuals, and history is at http://www.vt100.net/. Other information is available at Shuford's Website. Information on current products is available from the Boundless website. See Terminal Info on the Internet.

VT220: Some have a BNC connector for video output (not for input). Sometimes people erroneously think this is for an ethernet connection.

VT520: Supports full DTR/DSR flow control.

Dorio: Can emulate many other terminals. The "sco unix console" is claimed to be a powerful emulation using the "scoansi" terminfo.

23.5 Wyse

For specs on terminals see http://www.wyse.com/service/support/kbase/wyseterm.asp. This will also lead to some FAQ's for terminal numbers under 100 (such as WY60). For the specs on more recent terminals see See Wyse terminals.

Wyse 60

Display adjustments (must remove cover): Brightness VR202, Height VR302, Width VR101 (also affects height). If you want to use it in Native Personality, then the arrow-key codes will conflict with the codes used in vi (such as ^L). To fix this set "Application key mode" with ESC   3. This results in the arrow keys sending 0xd1 - 0xd4. Due to a bug in the readline interface of the Bash shell, you need to edit /etc/inputrc so that the arrow keys will work in Bash. See Bugs in Bash

Wyse 85

Can emulate VT52/VT100/VT200. Press F3 for setup. Scroll thru setup with up/down keys.

Wyse 99-GT

Here is the setup Menus of the Wyse99GT (late 1980's). Note that TERM means "termination" (character) and not "terminal".

  WYSE 99-GT Terminal Set-Up as used at the University of CA, Irvine 
                by David Lawyer, April 1990

                        F1 DISP:
COLUMNS=80              LINES=24                CELL SIZE=10 X 13
STATUS LINE=STANDARD    BACKGROUND=DARK         SCROLL SPEED=JUMP
SCREEN SAVER=OFF        CURSOR=BLINK BLOCK      DISPLAY CURSOR=ON
ATTRIBUTE=CHAR          END OF LINE WRAP=ON     AUTO SCROLL=ON
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        F2  GENERAL: 
PERSONALITY=VT 100      ENHANCE=ON              FONT LOAD=OFF
COMM MODE=FULL DUPLEX   RCVD CR=CR              SEND ACK=ON
RESTORE TABS=ON         ANSWERBACK MODE=OFF     ANSWERBACK CONCEAL=OFF 
WIDTH CHANGE CLEAR=OFF  MONITOR=OFF             TEST=OFF
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        F3 KEYBRD:
KEYCLICK=OFF            KEYLOCK=CAPS            KEY REPEAT=ON
RETURN=CR               ENTER=CR                FUNCT KEY=HOLD
XMT LIMIT=NONE          FKEY XMT LIMIT=NONE     BREAK=170MS
LANGUAGE=US             MARGIN BELL=OFF         PRINTER RCV=OFF
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        F4 COMM:
DATA/PRINTER=AUX/MODEM    MDM RCV BAUD RATE=9600  MDM XMT BAUD RATE=9600
MDM DATA/STOP BITS=8/1    MDM RCV HNDSHAKE=NONE   MDM XMT HNDSHAKE=NONE
MDM PARITY=NONE           AUX BAUD RATE=9600      AUX DATA/STOP BITS=8/1
AUX RCV HNDSHAKE=NONE     AUX XMT HNDSHAKE=NONE   AUX PARITY=NONE
(There is a main port (Modem=MDM) and an Auxiliary Port (AUX)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        F5 MISC 1:
WARNING BELL=ON         FKEY LOCK=OFF           FEATURE LOCK=ON
KEYPAD=NUMERIC          DEL=DEL/CAN             XFER TERM=EOS
CURSOR KEYS=NORMAL      MARGIN CTRL=0           DEL FOR LOW Y=ON
GIN TERM=CR             CHAR MODE=MULTINATIONAL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        F6 MISC 2:
LOCAL=OFF               SEND=ALL                PRINT=NATIONAL
PORT=EIA DATA           SEND AREA=SCREEN        PRINT AREA=SCREEN
DISCONNECT=60 MSEC      SEND TERM=NONE          PRINT TERM=NONE
PRINT MODE=NORMAL       VT100 ID=VT100          POUND=US
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
F7 TABS: You should see several "T" characters spaced 8 dots apart.
    If you don't, hit backspace.
F8 F/KEYS: Normally you will see no definitions for the Function Keys
    here (unless someone has set them up and saved them).  This means that
    they will normally generate their default settings (not displayed here).
    <ctrl><F5> shows the "user defined definition" of the F5 key, etc.
F9 A/BACK: Normally not defined: ANSWERBACK =
F10 EXIT: Selecting "DEFAULT ALL" will make the factory default settings
    the default.

HINTS on use of WY-99GT User's Guide: Note that much that is missing from this Guide may be found in the WY-99GT Programmer's Guide. The VT100 emulation (personality) is known as ANSI and uses ANSI key codes per p. A-10+ even though the keyboard may be ASCII. A sub-heading on p. A-13 "ASCII Keyboard" also pertains to VT100 because it has an "ANSI KEY ..." super-heading a few pages previously. But not all ASCII keyboard headings pertain to VT100 since they may fall under a non-ANSI personality super-heading which may found be a few pages previously. Appendix H is the "ANSI Command Guide" except for the VT52 (ANSI) personality which is found in Appendix G.

Wyse 150

When exiting set-up using F12, hitting space changes "no" to "yes" to save the set-up. The sentence to the left of this no/yes is about "vertical alignment" and has nothing to do with this no/yes for saving the set-up (confusing menu design).

END OF Text-Terminal-HOWTO