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From: earl@mips.UUCP (Earl Killian)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: paging in the terminal driver
Message-ID: <843@gumby.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Oct-87 15:22:47 EST
Article-I.D.: gumby.843
Posted: Tue Oct 27 15:22:47 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Oct-87 07:02:13 EST
References: <573@elxsi.UUCP> <682@its63b.ed.ac.uk> <796@quacky.UUCP> <421@nuchat.UUCP>
Lines: 29
Keywords: output pagination
Summary: perhaps it wasn't done right

In article <421@nuchat.UUCP>, steve@nuchat.UUCP (Steve Nuchia) writes:
> The default configuration of OS/9 for serial terminals pauses.  It
> is a royal pain in the %^&((*&, especially since OS/9 commands tend to
> be of the old fashioned verbose "announce every move" kind.

It may be that OS/9 doesn't do output pagination as well as other
implementations do it, and therefore it was indeed a pain.  The ITS
operating system did this and it worked fairly well.  For example,
input resets the line counter, so that it takes a pageful of output
after issuing a command before stopping.  ITS also disables pausing if
there is typeahead, which solves other problems.  And it was very easy
to turn on and off on the fly.

Also, it was possible for a program to enable an interrupt (i.e.
signal in the Unix world) so that it could do its own "more"
processing when the time to stop arrived.

And of course automatic output pagination must be an option.  If you
still don't like it, don't turn it on (or turn it off if it's the
default).  But let the people that like it have it.

Unix borrowed many things from the ITS operating system (e.g. job
control and symbolic links (ITS probably got symbolic links from
Multics)).  It's too bad Unix didn't borrow the ITS terminal system as
well; it would have been a significant improvement because Unix still
has one of the most primitive terminal interfaces I've seen.

Fortunately, window systems will probably finally pull Unix out of the
dark ages wrt terminals.  At least I hope so.