Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!mks!tj
From: tj@mks.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: MKS Toolkit
Message-ID: <294@mks.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Aug-87 13:32:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: mks.294
Posted: Mon Aug 24 13:32:23 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Aug-87 06:04:06 EDT
References: <690001@hpfcmt.HP.COM> <3320045@hpsrlc.HP.COM> <3753@well.UUCP> <1155@mind.UUCP>
Organization: Mortice Kern Systems, Waterloo, Ont.
Lines: 44
Keywords: MKS toolkit Novell network ^P
Summary: Novell network incomplete emulation; ^P bug is DOS feature

In article <1155@mind.UUCP>, romero@mind.UUCP (Antonio Romero) writes:
> 
> Where I work for money nowadays we're having our share of problems
> with a couple of the utilities.  Most of them (especially the VI)
> are really nice-- gotta love being able to "suspend a VI session"
> in DOS-- but ls, of all things, doesn't seem to work if you're 
> running Novell network software and you try to ls a network drive.
> Kind of a pity.
> Also, the Kornshell they provide doesn't work with Novell network.

This would appear to be because Novell does not implement a complete
emulation of the DOS calls that it intercepts. We are actively working
on achieving the operations we need within the functionality provided
by Novell.

> Plus it seems to go insane if you type ^P in "vi" command-line-editing
> mode.   These two bugs make it almost unusable.
> A real shame-- we almost had the best answer to the problem of
> the feebleness of COMMAND.COM.

Actually this only happens when you are NOT in any command line editing mode.
This effect is a "feature" of DOS. ^P is treated the same as ``Ctrl-Prt Sc''
(copy all screen echo and output to the printer). If you don't have a printer
attached, the only recourse is to reboot. Observe that the same thing
happens in command.com.

I agree that you are unlikely to discover this feature until you start
using the shell in emacs mode, get used to typing ^P to recall previous
commands, then type it when not in emacs mode.

The cure is to put a "set -o [vi|emacs]" in your environment file
(named in exported variable ENV), or export "EDITOR=[vi|emacs]",
so you never forget to be in your favorite editing mode.

This solves the problem because the shell reads chars by direct keyboard input
in editing modes, but reads lines by buffered keyboard input otherwise.
This strategy is used so that your familiar DOS editing works by default
(ESC for line kill, arrow keys for editing, F3 for last command recall,
and of course ^P for hardcopy).
-- 
     ll  // // ,'/~~\'   T. J. Thompson {decvax,ihnp4,seismo}!watmath!mks!tj
    /ll/// //l' `\\\     Mortice Kern Systems Inc.         (519) 884-2251
   / l //_// ll\___/     43 Bridgeport Rd. E., Waterloo, ON, Can. N2J 2J4
O_/                    1079253000 km/h: It's not just a good idea, it's the law