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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!bunny!mlr0
From: mlr0@bunny.UUCP (Martin Resnick)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Red Ryder 7.0 & VT100 emulation
Message-ID: <277@bunny.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 1-Jan-86 05:14:57 EST
Article-I.D.: bunny.277
Posted: Wed Jan  1 05:14:57 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 2-Jan-86 04:49:30 EST
References: <223@ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Distribution: net.micro.mac, net.unix
Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA
Lines: 65

> 
> 
>   
>    In late December 1985, Scott Watson, the author of the
> shareware Macintosh terminal program, Red Ryder, released
> version 7.0 of this program.  According to Watson, 
> 
>    "[...] the primary reason for this version was to clean up 
> all known bugs in previous versions.  If it was reported to me, 
> I fixed it.  The VT100 emulation is now 99.9% accurate.  Missing 
> are the double-high and double-wide character sets and the blinking 
> character attribute.  The VT100 "avid" users I've spoken with have 
> unanimously agreed these shortcomings are insignificant, and the 
> manner in which I've handled them do not compromise the functionality
> of the emulation.  The emulation has been validated and verified on 
> DEC's own demonstration line, which is an excell[e]nt acid-test 
> for the visual aspects of VT100 emulation." 
>    -- preface to the supplemental documentation    
>       for Red Ryder 7.0
> 
>    Informal use of the new version of Red Ryder with the vi editor
> and other screen-intensive programs appears to validate this
> conclusion.  Most of the problems that were experienced with 
> version 6.2's VT100 emulation have been cleared up. 
> 
>    One minor problem remains:  Red Ryder's default tab settings 
> still wreak havoc with vi screens and directory listings.  
> Selecting "Clear All Tabs" from Red Ryder's "Options" menu (or 
> using Unix's "stty -tabs" command, as suggested by David Berry 
> in message 1659 on net.micro.mac) will solve this.
> 
>    ...
>    ...
>    ...
>
>
The VT100 emulation still does not work properly.  The bugs which caused
infinite internal looping in VT100 mode have been fixed and RR V7.0 can
be used with vi or EDT.  The graphics characters still do not work
properly and certain combinations of plain and bold text screw up
the display.

The tabs problem is easy to fix.  Use "Clear All Tabs" and then set
them on the Tabs Status Bar every eight columns (9, 17, 25, ...).  These
are the standard tabs on a VT100.  These settings will be stored in the
"Red's 7.0 Stuff" file.

The bogus feature that he added is that if the keyboard mapping is set to
map the BS key to DELete, then every received DEL character is treated as
if it was a BS.  This is totally incorrect.  Most terminals ignore DEL when
received.  Also, one can be misled by the backspace action on the screen
especially if the remote ignored the transmitted DEL (e.g. when typing
commands to a Hayes modem).  Of course, one could use "stty erase ^H" and
avoid the problem (also useful for unmodified versions of MacTerminal).  

The new version of MacTerminal will support MacBinary in addition to its
current protocols and will be able to transfer complete files to and from
Red Ryder or any other Mac terminal emulator which supports MacBinary.

The new disable CRC feature in RR V7.0 does not work.

I will post the "RR V7.0 Changes" MacWrite file to net.sources.mac.
RR V7.0 is about 118Kb and I am willing to email it (or post it if the
demand warrants).
I can also post the text only version of changes file to net.micro.mac.