[Info-vax] 2 questions, 1st regarding setting up keyboard 2nd. dcl programming

[Richard B. Gilbert]

acid.friend at yahoo.de wrote:
> hi everybody out there,
> i have a microvax 3100-95 and it gives me a lot of pleasure.
> unfortunately, when i access my vax remote (gnome-terminal->jerm->COM1-
>> OPA0:), the keyboard does not work as it should, so i'm having
> massive issues when i need to edit files and when i don't want to use
> my vt220.
> i use a german keyboard. see below what happens when i hit backspace.
> but when i login it seems to work on dcl, but when i use edi/tpu i
> think something
> is misconfigured.
> 
> besides i have a problem when i use long commands and when i need to
> correct some options which i've typed before.
> when i go to that position and start writing, the next characters get
> overwritten.
> 
> 
> %SET-I-INTSET, login interactive limit = 64, current interactive value
> = 0
>   SYSTEM       job terminated at  6-JAN-2009 01:05:08.66
> 
>   Accounting information:
>   Buffered I/O count:            1828         Peak working set
> size:     693
>   Direct I/O count:               890         Peak page file
> size:      6504
>   Page faults:                  60566         Mounted
> volumes:             0
>   Charged CPU time:           0 00:00:09.65   Elapsed time:     0
> 00:00:39.99
> 
>         Welcome to OpenVMS (TM) VAX Operating System, Version V7.1
> 
> Username: ssytem\met\
> 
> 
> 2. i would like to write a dcl driven menu that should work like this:
> 
> 
> 
>  INPUT1: __________
>  INPUT2: __________
> 
> $ typ samplemenu.com
> $ typ/pag nl:
> $ write sys$output ""
> $ write sys$output ""
> $ write sys$output " INPUT1: __________"
> $ write sys$output " INPUT2: __________"
> $ write sys$output ""
> $ exit
> $
> 
> BUT of course the cursor has to be positioned in the INPUT1 field.
> when i write something, the underlines should remain there. how do i
> do that? is this easy?
> hope you know what i mean :)

You can position the cursor using the escape codes on a VT100 compatible 
terminal.  You can use read with no echo and do your own echoing; just a
SMOP.  You can add the underline as you echo, once again using the 
escape codes on your VT100....  Just a SMOP.

I don't remember what the codes are and I'm not going to try to find my 
VT100 manual to look them up for you.  Try google!

FWIW, I think it's probably more trouble than it's worth!

Be grateful that the VT100 and its escape codes are a de facto standard.
Actually, I think most of them are now an ANSI standard!