Re: 0.14.0 - Almost there ;)

["Jason M. Felice" <jasonf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Oct 05, 1999 at 09:35:50PM -0700, mmadore wrote:
> 
[snip]
> Another item that was brought to my attention, is that there is quite a
> bit of the 5250 display stream that we don't even try to implement.
> Apparently it is not needed it most installations.  Here is a message I
> received with more details:
> 
> ----------
> Here are some additional information about the new functions. The text
> is from a letter which was sent to the PowerTerm developers.
>                                          Borlay Tamas
[snip]
>

To my knowledge, here is a list of features we don't implement, in no
particular order:

* When the host asks us what our capabilities are, we reply that we are pretty
  braindead.  Some capabilities we could implement are (according to RFC1205):
  - SBA to row 0, column -1 (so that we can start an input field at 0,0)
  - MC (Move Cursor) order, I'm not sure what benefits there are to
    implementing this, it's like the IC order, except it isn't affected by
    the CC1 bytes.
  - TD (Transparent Data) order, which allows binary data to be sent to the
    terminal, without values being interpreted as orders.  This might be
    useful.
  - The Read MDT Fields Alternate/Read MDT Fields Immediate Alternate commands,
    which allow for reading modified fields from the terminal without the
    standard 5250 processing.  Useful in conjunction with the TD order above.
    (Hmm, we are currently telling the AS/400 we have Read MDT Fields Immediate
    Alternate ... we don't :( )
  - PA1/PA2/PA3 support ... I don't know what this is, but we are currently
    saying we don't have it.
  - Cursor Select support ... I don't know what this is, but we are currently
    saying we don't have it.
    (Side note, we're currently telling the host we don't support 27x132 :( )
  - Magnetic stripe reader.
  - Light pen (of course, that would mean _mouse_ to us).
  - DBCS support.
* Going through the field handling code, we have:
  - Katakana fields (Kanji?).
  - Self-check fields.
  - Mandatory fill not implemented.
* Going through the session handling code, we have:
  - Beeping when keyboard buffer is full ;)
  - Handling reset key when keyboard is locked.
  - Some strangeness about auto enter (does anybody use tn5250 with auto-enter
    fields, does it work?  I wouldn't know where to find one without inspecting
    logs.)
  - Field resequencing during transmit not implemented.  I don't know of
    anywhere where the host _uses_ field resequencing, tho.
  - Signed numeric fields, shifting the zone of the second-last digit not
    implemented during transmit.
  - 5250 graphics orders.
  - Enabling/disabling blinking cursor on the terminal ;)
  - ALARM CC2 flag (beep when screen is displayed ... one guy here sets his
    terminal to do that for _every_ screen ... ag)

As far as I know, these are the features we have not implemented.  Anybody
have specifics on PA1/PA2/PA3/Cursor Select, or know of features that I've
missed?  Time to update the TODO file ;)

I'm also interested in specific keys we haven't implemented, we should probably
get a canonical list and check them off.  I know we haven't implemented the
newline key.

-Jay 'Eraserhead' Felice

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