Other Terminal Settings

For network terminals, the communications speed settings are meaningless, as communication is handled by the network software. Most other settings apply equally to network terminals and physical terminals.

The majority of terminal settings automatically take on appropriate values. While logged in, use the SHOW TERMINAL command to examine your terminal settings. The display will be similar to the following, obtained from a local DECterm terminal (the DECterm application falls under our definition of a network terminal):

     $ SHOW TERMINAL     Terminal: _FTA2:      Device_Type: VT300_Series  Owner: _FTA2:                                                   Username: MIKE        Input:    9600     LFfill:  0      Width:  80      Parity: None        Output:   9600     CRfill:  0      Page:   24     Terminal Characteristics:        Interactive        Echo               Type_ahead         No Escape        Hostsync           TTsync             Lowercase          Tab        Wrap               Scope              No Remote          Eightbit        Broadcast          No Readsync        No Form            Fulldup        No Modem           No Local_echo      No Autobaud        No Hangup        No Brdcstmbx       No DMA             No Altypeahd       Set_speed        No Commsync        Line Editing       Insert editing     No Fallback        No Dialup          No Secure server   No Disconnect      No Pasthru        No Syspassword     SIXEL Graphics     No Soft Characters Printer port        Numeric Keypad     ANSI_CRT           Regis              No Block_mode        Advanced_video     Edit_mode          DEC_CRT            DEC_CRT2        DEC_CRT3           No DEC_CRT4        No DEC_CRT5        No Ansi_Color        VMS Style Input 

The following represents a typical Telnet terminal:

    $ SHOW TERMINAL    Terminal: _NTY102:     Device_Type: VT100             Owner: _NTY102:                                                       Username: MIKE    Remote Port Info:  (removed from book for security reasons)       Input:    9600      LFfill:  0      Width:  80      Parity: None       Output:   9600      CRfill:  0      Page:   24    Terminal Characteristics:       Interactive        Echo                Type_ahead         No Escape       No Hostsync        TTsync              Lowercase          Tab       Wrap               Scope               Remote             No Eightbit       Broadcast          No Readsync         No Form            Fulldup       No Modem           No Local_echo       Autobaud           Hangup       No Brdcstmbx       No DMA              No Altypeahd       Set_speed       No Commsync        Line Editing        Insert editing     No Fallback       No Dialup          No Secure server    No Disconnect      No Pasthru       No Syspassword     No SIXEL Graphics   No Soft Characters No Printer Port       Numeric Keypad     ANSI_CRT            No Regis           No Block_mode       Advanced_video     No Edit_mode        DEC_CRT            No DEC_CRT2       No DEC_CRT3        No DEC_CRT4         No DEC_CRT5        No Ansi_Color       VMS Style Input 

Compare the two sets of terminal characteristics above. Since both are network terminals, speed settings are meaningless. The Telnet session includes Remote Port Info, the network address and port from which the connection originates. The value has been deleted from this example for security purposes.

As for terminal characteristics, these settings indicate that the DECterm session emulates a Digital VT300-series terminal, whereas the Telnet session emulates the older VT100 terminal. The meaningful differences are the characteristics Remote, No Eightbit, No Regis, No SIXEL graphics, and No DEC_CRTx. Their meanings are as follows:

• Remote—Identifies a non local terminal, i.e. one attached from across the network, rather than attached directly to the OpenVMS system.

• No Eightbit—The system will send 7-bit control codes rather than their 8-bit equivalents. This is a safe bet with non-Digital terminals; the system can still make the terminal perform virtually all the same operations.

• No Regis—The system will not attempt to display graphics images using the Digital Regis graphics format. Usually, only genuine Digital terminals (including DECterm windows) understand Regis format.

• No SIXEL graphics—The system will not attempt to display graphics images using the Digital SIXEL graphics format. Usually, only genuine Digital terminals (including DECterm windows) understand SIXEL format.

• DEC_CRTx—This indicates the generation of Digital terminal the device emulates. DEC_CRT indicates emulation of the Digital VT100 series, DEC_CRT2 the VT200 series, etc. Almost all devices and programs can emulate VT100 terminals, which is widely considered the most widely compatible of terminal designs. Devices capable of emulating later models generally emulate all earlier models as well. OpenVMS can also simulate almost every function of later models on VT100-compatible devices by using combinations of VT100 functions.

Use the SHOW TERMINAL command to examine the terminal settings for your particular terminal session.