🚀 go-pugleaf

>From Admin.JQJ@SU-SCORE Fri Apr  2 16:23:49 1982
CC.KORNER@UTEXAS-20 brings up the interesting problem of what to do if your
hardware supports only a line-oriented (presumably half duplex) terminal
communications protocol, with (again presumably) a break set consisting of
only CR and perhaps ATTN/BREAK.  Since this is in fact a fairly common
situation in the "real world" (e.g. most large IBM systems), it behooves us
to look a bit closer at whether such a protocol can still yield a reasonable
full-screen display editor.

Certainly, some sort of display editor CAN be implemented; consider the
various IBM editors (Edgar, XEDIT, display Wylbur, etc., some of which
require a 3270, while others work on arbitrary Ascii CRTs).  For that
matter, consider DEC's TV (display TECO for the -10 and -20).  In all these
cases, you have a command mode which prompts in a command echo area, and an
insert mode in which the cursor is located at the point of insertion.  Of
course, you can't have individual keystrokes performing arbitrary commands,
but at least you can have a permanent window (or windows) into your file, BS
for correcting typing errors, and a reasonable macro language for extending
the command set.

Those of us wedded to the Emacs tradition of editing tend to reject such
editors out of hand, but I've noted that people familiar with the better
editors on IBM hardware tend to have the same attitudes about Emacs.  Odd.

I'm sure many such editors exist, though perhaps not many for the CYBER
system that Korner is targeting towards.  I'd be interested in hearing from
anyone with experience in implementing such editors, be it on CYBER systems
or on other hardware.
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