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From: bolyard@fortune.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.term,net.wanted,net.periphs
Subject: Wanted: Super Terminal for Programmers
Message-ID: <1584@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Oct-83 13:07:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: fortune.1584
Posted: Tue Oct 11 13:07:29 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Oct-83 02:34:10 EDT
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 61

I am looking for a terminal designed for  a (unix) programmer. It is an
otherwise ordinary ASCII non-block-mode terminal with the following features:
1. A screen buffer at least two pages long, giving the programmer the ability
   to "scroll back" and see stuff that has scrolled off the top of the screen.
2. Real "user programmable softkeys". That is, keys whose output can actually
   be altered at the terminal, either by typing directly into a built-in menu
   screen, or by listing a file of commands from the host, ala HP2645.
3. A 24 x 80 format (of course).
4. Local editing functions, i.e. those that do not send any data to the host,
   such as "insert line", "delete line", "insert character", "delete char",
   arrow keys that move the cursor about the screen.
5. At least one alternate video attribute, like bright or dim or reverse, that
   does NOT take up a space on the screen to activate or deactivate.
6. Non-destructive backspace.

(So far this may sound very much like a Hewlett Packard 264x type terminal,
    but wait, there's more !! )

7. THIS IS THE FEATURE THAT MAKES THE *BIG* DIFFFERENCE !!
   It needs a key which, when pressed, causes the character on the screen
   underneath the cursor (that is, at the cursor's present position) to
   be sent to the host, as if it had just been typed!

   This key, which I wil call the "duplicate character" or "dup char" key,
   eliminates much retyping!! Imagine typing a long command string, only to
   discover (just before hitting return) that the first character was wrong !
   With this key, you just backspace to the character in error, retype it,
   and then press the dup char key until you have effectively retyped the 
   entire line. Or, if you left out a character from the third parameter,
   just backspace to the spot, press insert character - which causes the
   rest of the chars on that line to get pushed right one char for each
   depression - type the missing character, and "dup char" for the rest of
   the line.

   Usefull variations on this key are "DUP WORD" which repeatedly does 
   "dup char" until the next blank, and "DUP TO END OF LINE" which lets
   the programmer avoid having to hold down the "dup char" key a lot.

8. When the TAB key is pressed, the terminal should issue 1 to n ASCII
   space characters, until it has positioned the cursor at the next tab
   stop. Likewise, BACKTAB should issue some number of backspaces.

Okay, it probably sounds like I'm dreaming right ?? After all, with the
tens (hundreds ?) of terminal manufacturers out there, it doesn't make
sense that one of them should produce a usefull product...

But seriously, My former employer, a Burroughs subsidiary in Michigan,
actually reprogrammed visual 400's to work like this, and every programmer
had one on his/her desk. It was great !! But unfortunately, only for
their internal use, so I couldn't get one.

Surely somebody  has seen, or at least heard of, such a wonderful
beast. Please mail your response to me at the following UUCP mail address:
..!decvax!decwrl!amd70!fortune!bolyard

Sincerely,  Nelson Bolyard  ..!fortune!bolyard