Date: Wed, 3 May 95 10:25:14 MDT From: terry@cs.weber.edu (Terry Lambert) To: peter@bonkers.taronga.com (Peter da Silva) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Screen print capability Message-ID: <9505031625.AA13099@cs.weber.edu> In-Reply-To: <199505030037.TAA19734@bonkers.taronga.com> from "Peter da Silva" at May 2, 95 07:37:30 pm
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> > The line between "security conscious" and "anal retentive" isn't that > > fine! Come on, guys, get real! > > Fair enough, and a feature that provides no more functionality than a > secure one, is hard to deal with reliably (what about typeahead?), and > is easily abused is definitely over the line. I've written commercial SCO console emulations. It's not an SCO console if it doesn't allow the character set shifting, doesn't allow scan-code mode operation, doesn't support escape sequence reporting, doesn't support switching the character attribute between blink and high intensity for background colors, doesn't support ISO and SCO color selection escape sequences, or doesn't support scrolling when the 80th column/25th line character is written (the proper way to handle it is to remember the 79th character, draw the 80th at the 79th position, insert a character at the 79th making the 79th the 80th, and redrawing the 79th). I thought IBCS2 compatability was a goal; well, there are IBCS2 programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft BASIC, SCO FoxBase, and AST 3270 emulation that expect one or another of all these behaviours. Leaving out a feature because you find it morally repugnant isn't an option. There's a nice, clear "yes/no" line for compatability, and that would put you firmly on the "no" side. Remember that SCO has the largest number of Apps of any commercial non-DOS/Windows/Mac platform; making them run is the quickest way to get the largest number of apps. A kernel runtime emulation environment is the quickest way to get drivers, with some notable exceptions (Novell Server ODI and Disk driver support, VM86() mode disk support, VM86() console mode setting, and VM86() mode DOS ASPI and MCDEX support for CDROMs). Terry Lambert terry@cs.weber.edu --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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