Re: Debian + PC with multi RS... port -> n x (text dumb terminal + printer)
Thank you once again, you are so kind to me, but after sending _I_
realized that I may have been cryptic, I'm so sorry...
I don't want to use the same output that I send to the display in
order to drive the printer, just the opposite thing: I wonder whether or
not I can have a Linux box "talk" SEPARATELY though via ONE ONLY SERIAL
LINE with a console AND a printer; or do I need two serial lines and two
separate serial ports?
I my previous two messages I was meaning: sending output to the
screen and getting input from the console - from the point of view of the
code of the application running - does not change anything if the session
is on a dumb terminal rather than on the main console (*), so now:
1) what about sending output TO A PRINTER which is NOT ON A PARALLEL
PORT (lpt1, lpt2, ...) but is instead on a serial line? (Maybe I just
need to write software which sends output to its stdout instead of
stdprn, and that output is merely redirected to a com port... maybe
such multiuser environments have typical and by now "traditional"
solutions to my question... that's why I said I lack the basics.)
2) (already reproposed above) could that serial line be the same that
goes to the dumb terminal?
If yes, would the OS menage the distinction between the two devices
or should _my_application_ (or some wrapper) be aware of the hardware
each session runs on and eventually take care of sending special
characters to say "this goes to the display, this goes to the
printer" or should I just have two distinct cables run from the Linux
box to the place where the dumb terminal and the printer are?
(
(*) Nothing changes both if your application just appends output at the
bottom of the screen using stdout/stderr and if you use curses to have
full screen text output and input (curses uses infos from termcap or
terminfo, say to drive a VT100 or much probably also a Wyse like the
ones you have or plenty of other types...; if curses can handle the type
of terminal you have connected, _your_ software won't need worry about
what terminal the session is actually on.
)
I suppose your energies are exhausted by now... but I still hope that
someone will give me a clue.
Nicola Bernardelli <nbern@mail.protos.it>
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On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Nicola Bernardelli wrote:
> 1) What serial devices allow longer cables than RS232 without use
> of modems (say 10-100-200 meters)?
> 2) Are there multi port cards of that kind which run well with
> Debian? Any brandname + model?
> 3) What if the text dumb terminals connected to a Linux Box also need
> a printer each (or almost any of them)? Is it possible that
> data is sent to the printer and terminal via the same line?
> Brandname + model?
>
> Thanks to anyone willing to give a clue.
On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Joey Hess wrote:
> Nicola Bernardelli wrote:
> > 3) What if the text dumb terminals connected to a Linux Box also need
> > a printer each (or almost any of them)? Is it possible that
> > data is sent to the printer and terminal via the same line?
> > Brandname + model?
>
> I have 2 old wyse 75 terminals, which have a "Aux" port. I think everything
> received by the terminal also goes out this port, though I've never tried
> it.
On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Nicola Bernardelli wrote:
> Thank you for replying... sure I'm putting one question that involves
> just _the_basics_ of multi-user environments... I stopped making software
> for Windog an year ago, I really had enough of Microsoft and Borland, I
> bring lot of intensive C/C++ days and nights with me, I'm learning quite a
> lot on Linux which I had been using for about three years before deciding
> that IT IS greener grass, great tools, great minds searching QUALITY,
> greener grass indeed... I still lack the basics but now I need them, as I
> plan to build an application based on PostgreSQL running on a Debain
> GNU/Linux box with text dumb terminals.
>
> So I add one more question: from a software point of view, how would
> such a terminal+printer couple (if possible) get managed? Just something
> to say to the OS?
On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Joey Hess wrote:
> Nicola Bernardelli wrote:
> > So I add one more question: from a software point of view, how would
> > such a terminal+printer couple (if possible) get managed? Just something
> > to say to the OS?
>
> The way you set it up is you edit /etc/inittab and add a line similar to:
>
> S:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 19200 ttyS3
>
> ZThis has init run a login program on the serial port. From that point on,
> it's as if you were sitting in front of the main machine, you can do all the
> things you'd expect to be able to do at a shell prompt.
On Thu, 11 Sep 1997, Joey Hess wrote:
> Nicola Bernardelli wrote:
> > Ah OK, _thank_you_ again... I do this once in a while with an old 286
> > PC... my last question was related mainly to the 'printer' side of the
> > couple... I mean: _supposing_ that it is possible to have terminal+printer
> > on the same serial line (I still hope to get answers to the original 3
> > questions here), would your software - C programs, perl script... - still
> > manage a bare printer as they do for stdout/curses or would one have to
> > open a peculiar _serial_ device and send escape codes to switch from the
> > display to the printer or do other such ugly things?
>
> I think you'd have to set TERM=dumb and not use any curses programs. I can't
> imagine that my wyse terminals could translate full screen programs into
> something printable, and I doubt anything else does that either.
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