[Info-vax] Last Call for (New) DEC VT Terminals

[Dirk Munk]

Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2015-06-30 11:39:34 +0000, Dirk Munk said:
>
>> Paul Anderson wrote:
>>> On 6/29/15 3:16 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>>>
>>>> Well, isn't VTstar related to Powerterm (the thing DEC shipped with
>>>> Pathworks?)
>>>
>>> VTstar is compatible with VT terminals because it _is_ the code that
>>> ran on VT terminals.  It's just in software instead of firmware.
>>> VTstar was written by the same group at DEC (Components and
>>> Peripherals) that developed VT terminals.
>
> IIRC, VTstar was created from the firmware by one engineer.  J.L.
>
>> In that case, wouldn't it be great if the sources still exist?
>
> The sources still exist at HP, and I know where they are located.
>
>> You could build a new Windows version with secure communications, IPv6
>> etc., and Linux / MacOS versions.
>
> Entertaining, certainly.  Particularly if HP and Z-Axis or whoever has
> rights to the code open-sources it on reasonable terms.  Who has rights
> to what being an obvious question.
>
> But then VSI doing a terminal emulator for Microsoft Windows, OS X,
> Linux, Android and/or iOS is not going to be a particularly profitable
> effort, nor will it particularly further OpenVMS.

The fact that VTstar works on the latest version of Windows is an 
indication that it is a very well written application. Since VSI is a 
VMS shop, I suppose it would be better to ask a company with Windows 
expertise to write a new VTstar. I suppose it can't be that difficult?

>
> For those that do need an emulator, Panic's Prompt emulator works well
> on iOS <https://panic.com/prompt/>, and the stock OS X terminal emulator
> or one of the add-ons works well for most OS X usage. Android/AOSP has
> emulation readily available, as does Linux.
>
>> I suppose it would even be possible to emulate newer VT terminals as
>> well, like the VT520 and VT525 colour terminal.
>>
>> Much easier to use than Xterm.......
>
> On OS X, launch X11.app, then launch xterm from the menus.  Pretty easy.
>
> It's rather rare to use the command line outside of development and
> operations tasks, and most end-user applications are not now and will
> not be migrating to it.  Legacy code still uses it, but even that's
> migrating to GUI interfaces and domain-specific languages where
> necessary and appropriate.  On OpenVMS, GUI interfaces are a pain to
> create, and — outside of web-based interfaces — the effort tends to get
> ugly far more quickly than with more competitive platforms and tools.
> But then OpenVMS has been a server operating system for a decade or two
> now, and rather poor at client and desktop.   But serial terminal
> interfaces and terminal emulators?  Probably not a growth area...

How about FMS based applications?