Text-Terminal-HOWTO (original) (raw)

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David S. Lawyer mailto:dave@lafn.org

v1.43 March 2013

This document was originally written for real text terminals which were like monitors (with keyboards), but could only display text with a command line interface (no pictures). They were widely used to access mainframe computers in the late 1970's and 1980's but use of them declined in the 1990's and they are seldom used anymore. However much of this howto also applies to command-line interfaces on Linux PC's which are in wide use today. It's not about the user programs one might run on the command line, but about setting up, managing, and understanding the interface itself Such as using a monitor as a virtual (text-only) console, using a text-window in a GUI such as xterm, connecting to a remote computer over a network via ssh, telnet, etc., or even using software on another PC to turn it into a serial-port text-terminal. All these 4 methods are known as "text-terminal emulation". But unfortunately, the main emphasis in this howto is real text terminals and the coverage of emulation is inadequate for the first 3 methods of emulation mentioned above. The Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO filled much this gap but it was written for Linux 2.0 and now needs rewriting (or merging into this Text-Terminal howto). A new author is needed that has time to do all this. For the seldom used real text-terminals, it explains how they work, explains how to install and configure them, and provides some info on how to repair them. This HOWTO also provides a brief overview of modern GUI terminals.

1. Introduction

1.1 Copyright, Trademarks, Disclaimer, & Credits
1.2 Future Plans: You Can Help
1.3 New Versions of this HOWTO
1.4 Related HOWTOs
1.5 Terminology Used in this Document
1.6 What is a Terminal ?
1.7 Real Text Terminals

2. Types of Terminals

2.1 Dumb Terminals
2.2 Text Terminals
2.3 Graphic GUI Capabilities of Text Terminals

3. Thin Clients Terminals

4. Quick Text-Terminal Install

5. Why Use a Terminal ?

5.1 Intro to Why Use a Terminal
5.2 Lower Hardware Costs ?
5.3 Control of Software
5.4 Hardware Upgrades
5.5 Other Advantages of Terminals
5.6 Major Disadvantages of Text Terminals
5.7 Major Disadvantages of All Terminals
5.8 Are Text Terminals Obsolete ?

6. Overview of How Text Terminals Work (in Linux)

6.1 Device Names
6.2 Login/Logout
6.3 Half/Full Duplex
6.4 Terminal Memory
6.5 Commands for the Terminal
6.6 Lack of Standardization Solved by Terminfo
6.7 The Interface
6.8 Emulation
6.9 The Console

7. Terminal Special Files such as /dev/tty

8. Some Details on How Terminals Work

8.1 Terminal Memory Details
8.2 Early Terminals
8.3 Escape Sequences and Control Codes (intro)
8.4 Display Attributes & Magic Cookies

9. Special Features/Types of Some Terminals

10. Terminal Emulation (including the Console)

10.1 Intro to Terminal Emulation
10.2 Don't Try to Use TERM Variable for Emulation
10.3 Serial Communication programs
10.4 Testing Terminal Emulation
10.5 The Linux Console
10.6 Emulation Software
10.7 Colors on Emulated Terminals

11. Flow Control (Handshaking)

11.1 Why Is Flow Control Needed ?
11.2 Padding
11.3 Overrunning a Serial Port
11.4 Stop Sending
11.5 Keyboard Lock
11.6 Resume Sending
11.7 Hardware Flow Control (RTS/CTS etc.)
11.8 Is Hardware Flow Control Done by Hardware ?
11.9 Obsolete ?? ETX/ACK or ENQ/ACK Flow Control

12. Physical Connection

13. Set-Up (Configure) in General

13.1 Intro to Set-Up
13.2 Terminal Set-Up (Configure) Overview
13.3 Computer Set-Up (Configure) Overview
13.4 Many Options
13.5 Communication Interface Options
13.6 Quick Attempt

14. Terminal Set-Up (Configure) Details

14.1 Send Escape Sequences to the Terminal
14.2 Older Terminals Set-Up
14.3 Getting Into Set-Up (Configuration) Mode
14.4 Communication Options
14.5 Saving the Set-up
14.6 Set-Up Options/Parameters
14.7 Emulation {Personality} {{Terminal Modes}}
14.8 Display Options
14.9 Page Related Options
14.10 Reporting and Answerback
14.11 Keyboard Options
14.12 Meaning of Received Control Codes
14.13 Where New Text Goes
14.14 Function Keys
14.15 Block Mode Options
14.16 Locks
14.17 Screen Saver {Scrn Saver}
14.18 Printer

15. Computer Set-Up (Configure) Details

15.1 Getty (used in /etc/inittab)
15.2 Stty & Setserial
15.3 Setserial
15.4 Stty
15.5 Terminfo & Termcap (brief)
15.6 Setting TERM and TERMINFO
15.7 Rarely Needed /etc/ttytype File
15.8 Login Restrictions
15.9 Run Command Only If TERM=my_term_type
15.10 Character Mapping: mapchan

16. Terminfo and Termcap (detailed)

16.1 Intro to Terminfo
16.2 Terminfo Database
16.3 Bugs in Existing Terminfo Files (and Hardware)
16.4 Modifying Terminfo Files
16.5 Init String
16.6 TERM Variable
16.7 Terminfo/Termcap Documents

17. Using the Terminal

17.1 Intro to Using the Terminal
17.2 Starting Up the Terminal
17.3 Terminal (Serial) Device Driver
17.4 Problems with Editors
17.5 Problem with Slow Scrolling
17.6 Bugs in Bash ?
17.7 Color ls Corruption
17.8 Display Freezes (hung terminal)
17.9 Corrupted Terminal Interface
17.10 Special (Control) Characters
17.11 Viewing Latin1 Files on a non-Latin1 terminal
17.12 Eliminating Overstriking in Files
17.13 Inspecting the Interface
17.14 Changing the Terminal Settings
17.15 Multiple Sessions
17.16 Logging Out
17.17 Chatting between Terminals, Spying
17.18 Sharing the Serial Port
17.19 Browsers for Text-Terminals

18. Special Uses for a Terminal

18.1 Make a Serial Terminal the Console
18.2 Run Linux without a Monitor
18.3 Use a Keyboardless Terminal as the Monitor

19. Trouble-Shooting

19.1 Terminal Was Working OK
19.2 Terminal Newly Installed
19.3 Is the Terminal OK ?
19.4 Missing Text
19.5 All Keys Work Erratically; Must Hit a Key a Few Times
19.6 ... respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
19.7 Fails Just After Login
19.8 Can't Login
19.9 Garbled Login Prompt
19.10 No Login Prompt
19.11 Displays Foreign/Weird Characters/Symbols
19.12 Displays Escape Sequences
19.13 Slow: pauses of several seconds between bursts of characters
19.14 Cursor Jumps
19.15 Terminal doesn't scroll
19.16 Serial Monitoring/Diagnostics
19.17 Local Mode
19.18 Serial Electrical Test Equipment

20. Repair & Diagnose

21. Appendix A: General

22. Appendix B: Escape Sequence Commands Terminology

23. Appendix C: Serial Communications on EIA-232 (RS-232)

24. Appendix D: Notes by Brand/Model

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