asc420  Help

There are two kinds of help available when using the asc420 terminal tool:

   •   A 'live' explanation of  each setting.  You can see what the setting does before you change it.

   •   A more detailed explanation of each setting.

   To see more help, use the scroll bar on the right   -------------->

Getting Help

To get an explanation for a setting, hold down the Option key, then click-and-hold down the mouse button on the setting.  The explanation appears at the top of the dialog box.

To see a more detailed explanation of the settings and supplementary information, scroll through this text.  The settings are grouped in the same way as they appear in the dialog boxes.  There are five groups of settings:

   •   General settings
   •   Screen settings
   •   Color settings
   •   Key Mapping 
   •   Key Set Up
   •   Function Key
   •   Printer.

Changing asc420 Settings

The asc420 terminal tool is already set up to work in most situations. However, some settings may need to be changed for it to work properly with different remote computers. 
Also, the appearance of the session window, such as the background color and the size of the characters, can be changed to suit your preferences using the settings.

The  settings provide the set-up functions found on a standard DECVT420 terminal, plus some settings specific to the asc420 terminal tool.

General Settings

To change the general settings, scroll to the General icon and click it to make its dialog box appear.

Here is how to use the settings:

Answerback Message
To set the terminal answerback message, type a message in this text box.

The answerback message allows compatibility with applications designed to work with earlier DEC terminals. This message is used instead of the VT420 terminal ID message.

The message can contain up to 30 characters and could say, for example, ‘VT100’.

Terminal Mode
To change the terminal mode, choose an item from the Terminal Mode pop-up menu.

VT400-8bit      To allow the terminal use all the VT400 features,
                       select this setting. The terminal uses 7-bit controls
                       and 8-bit graphic characters.

VT400-7bit      To work with VT200 applications, select this setting.
                       This setting is recommended for most applications.

VT100              To work with VT100 applications, select this setting.

VT52                To work with VT52 applications, select this setting.

Terminal ID
To choose the type of terminal to be emulated, choose a name from the Terminal ID pop-up menu.

The Terminal ID is also known as the Device Attributes Response. Some applications require this to let it know the operating characteristics of the terminal.

On Line
To put the terminal on-line, select On Line.

When the terminal is on-line and the connection is open, the terminal communicates directly with the remote computer. Characters typed at the keyboard are sent to the remote computer and information from the remote computer is written to your session window.

To put the terminal off-line, deselect this option. When the terminal is off-line the connection stays open but no communication takes place.

Local Echo
To provide a local echo, select Local Echo. 

When this option is selected, characters typed at the keyboard are sent both to the remote computer and to your session window.

Local echo can be selected only when On-Line is also selected.

Select Local Echo if the characters typed at the keyboard do not appear on the screen.

Lock Changes to
These settings affect whether the remote computer can change some of the set-up features.

User Features      To prevent the remote computer changing the settings below, select User Features.

           Column Width                      Auto Repeat
           Scrolling                             Tabs
           Display Background              Keyboard Lock

Defined Keys        To prevent the remote computer from changing user defined keys, select Defined Keys.

Warning Bell
To allow the warning bell to sound, select Warning Bell. 

Text Cursor
These settings affect the way the cursor appears in the session window.

Block           To make the cursor appear as a small box, select Block.

Underline     To make the cursor appear as an underline, 
                   select Underline.

Invisible      To hide the cursor, select Invisible.

Blinking       To make the cursor blink, select Blinking.

Screen Settings

To choose:

   •   The size of the session window (number of lines and columns)
   •   The size of the text (font size)
   •   Which information bars appear inside the session window
   •   Tab stops
   •   How text is written to the session window...

Click the Screen icon to make its dialog box appear.

Here is how to use the settings:

Width
To set the number of columns in the session window, choose an item from the Width pop-up menu.

The Width pop-up menu has two default options, 80 and 132 columns. These are the same settings as the standard DECVT420. 

The asc420 terminal lets you change the default width settings, allowing from 1 to 255 columns. To do this:

1.  Choose Set... to make the Screen Width Options dialog box appear:
2.  Use a text box to set the screen width. Only whole positive
      numbers from 1 to 255 can be used. 
3.  To use a condensed font, select condensed.
4.  Click OK.
5.  Select the new screen width from the width popup menu.

To use the default options of 80 and 132 columns, click Defaults.

IMPORTANT: Some applications make the terminal switch between the two width settings.

Changing the asc420 Screen Width Options to non standard values affects the width of the session window when applications on the host request 80 or 132 columns. The session window uses the largest value when the host requests 132 columns and the smallest value when the host requests 80 columns.

Hei+"et the number of lines in the session window, choose an item from the Height pop-up menu or type a whole positive number from 12 to 144 in the Height text box.

Size
To change the size of the text in the session window, choose a size from the Size pop-up menu.

Terminal Speed
To change the speed at which text is written to the screen, use the Terminal Speed scroll bar.

When faster display speeds are used, several characters are stored and then displayed at once. The slower speeds write the characters to the screen more smoothly.

Note: Use the slower speeds for animated sequences.

Scroll Text
To set the way in which text is scrolled, choose an item from the Scroll Text pop-up menu.

Show Indicators
To display the visual indicators, select Show Indicators. 

For more information about the Indicators, see The Visual Indicators on page 26.

Show Tab Ruler
To display the ruler used to set tabs, select Show Tab Ruler.

Tabs
To change the tabs, click Tabs to make a dialog box appear.  Here is what the buttons do:

Set Tabs Every   To set tab stops at regular intervals, type a number
                          in the text box, then click this button.

Erase All Tabs    To erase all existing tab stops, click this button.

Show Status Line
To display the DEC-VT420 status line, select Show Status Line.

Indicator           To display the cursor’s current position inside 
                        the status line, select Indicator.

Host Writable    To allow the remote computer to write alerts in the 
                        status line, select Host Writable.

Show Controls
To display the control characters, select Show Controls.

Note: When control characters are displayed, they are not processed by the terminal.

Page Cursor Coupling
To display an adjoining page when the cursor is moved off the screen, select Page Cursor Coupling.

Auto Wrap to Next Line
To make the text wrap to a new line at the end of the current line, select Auto Wrap to Next Line.

Color and Text Settings

The standard DEC-VT420 terminal is monochrome. The asc420 terminal tool, however, allows you to work in color, grayscale, and black and white. Also, it lets you change the way text appears in the session window, such as making bold text appear as underline text.

To:

   •   Choose a color for the background of the session window 
   •   Choose a default color for the text
   •   Map the DEC text attributes into one or more Macintosh text 
        attributes
   •   Choose a color for each of the text attributes...

Click the Color icon to make its dialog box appear.

How to Change the Default Screen Colors

Background
To change the color of the session window background 

1.  Click the Background box to make the color wheel appear.
2.  Choose a color from the color wheel.
3.  Click OK.

Text
To set the default color for all of the text attributes, click on the Text box and follow the same procedure as for changing the background color.

If a text attribute has the Color option selected, the default text color is not used. See How to Change the Colors on page 16.

Swap Colors
To swap the background and the default text colors, click Swap Colors.

Sometimes applications at the remote computer make the session window appear in reverse video. Swap Colors lets you put the colors back the way they were.

How to Change the Text Display Attributes 

An application at the remote computer can write text to the session window using one or more text attributes. A text attribute affects the appearance of the text. Bold and underline are examples of text attributes.

The asc420 terminal tool allows you to change the way text is displayed in the session window. For example, an application may write some text in bold which you can make appear as underlined text. 

To change the way text is displayed:

1.  Select a DEC-VT420 text attribute from the list:
2.  Select one or more of the Macintosh text attributes using the 
      check boxes.

How to Change the Text Colors

In addition to changing the way text is displayed, you can choose a color for each of the text attributes.  For example, you could leave normal text in the default text color, and make bold text appear in red and underlined text in yellow.

To make a text attribute appear in color:

1.  Select a DEC-VT420 text attribute from the list:
2.  Select Color.
3.  The text attribute uses the color shown in the Color Chooser box. 

To change the color of the text

1.  Click the Color Chooser box to make the Color Wheel 
      appear.
2.  Choose a color from the Color Wheel.
3.  Click OK.

To make a text attribute appear in the default text color, select the DEC text attribute and deselect the Color option.

Note: One or more Macintosh text attributes plus color can be given to each of the DEC text attributes.

Key Mapping

To change the keyboard settings and the keyboard mappings, click the Keyboard icon to make its dialog box appear.

Here is how to use the settings:

Keyboard Dialect
To select a character set for the keyboard, choose a language from the Keyboard Dialect popup menu.

For example, if French is chosen, the French character set is used which includes characters such as é, ç, and à.

To send keystrokes direct to the remote computer without any keyboard translation, choose None.

Multinational
To use the Multinational character set, select this option. 

The multinational character set has two character subsets: the standard ASCII character set and a supplemental character set.
There are two supplemental character sets, DEC Supplemental and ISO Latin. These contain most of the characters and graphic symbols used in different languages.

Note: Multinational is selected automatically when North American is chosen from the Keyboard Dialect popup menu.

National
To use a National character set, select this option.

The national character set contains the characters and symbols of the selected language or dialect.

DEC Supplemental
To use the DEC Supplemental character set, select this option.

Note: This option works only when Multinational is selected.

ISO Latin
To use the ISO Latin character set, select this option.

Note: This option works only when Multinational is selected.

How to Map the Keyboard 

The Macintosh and the DEC-VT420 keyboards are different from each other. Some of the DEC-VT420 special keys appear in different positions on the Macintosh keyboard, and others do not appear at all.

To overcome these differences, the DEC-VT420 keys and key combinations can be mapped to any Macintosh key or key combination.

A default keyboard mapping is provided, which can be personalized and saved for the next time you do a terminal emulation session.

Here is how to use the keyboard mapping buttons:

New
To create a new keyboard mapping:

1.  Click New to make this dialog box appear:
2.  Type the name of the new keyboard mapping.
3.  Click OK.
4.  Ensure the new mapping is selected.
5.  Click Configure.

Rename
To change the name of the selected keyboard mapping, click Rename.
Type the new name in the text box and click OK.

Duplicate
To make a duplicate of the selected keyboard mapping, click Duplicate.

Delete
To delete the selected keyboard mapping, click Delete.

WATCH OUT!  Once a mapping is deleted, it cannot be recovered even if Cancel is clicked afterwards.

Configure
To edit the selected keyboard mapping, click this button.

To map a key, drag it from the DEC keyboard (top) to the Macintosh keyboard (bottom).
To map a key combination, for example SHIFT-F6 (U6) on the DEC keyboard to SHIFT-F1 on the Macintosh keyboard:

1.  Click SHIFT on the DEC keyboard.
2.  Press and hold down SHIFT on the Macintosh keyboard.
3.  Drag the DEC U6 key to the Macintosh keyboard.

Key Setup

To change the keyboard settings, click the Key Setup icon to make its dialog box appear.

Here is how to use the settings:

Numeric Keypad Generates

   •   To make the keypad behave as a DECVT420 numeric keypad, 
        select ANSI Numeric Sequences.
   •   To make the keypad send escape sequences defined by DEC and
        used by some applications, select Application Sequences.

Cursor Keys Generate  

   •   To make the arrow keys behave as DECVT420 cursor keys,
        select ANSI Cursor Sequences.
   •   To make the arrow keys send application specific control
        functions, select Application Sequences.

Swap Backspace and Delete  To swap the backspace and the delete key, select this option.

Auto Repeat Keys
To allow the keys shown below to repeat when held down, select Auto Repeat Keys.

Keyclick Sound
To make a clicking sound occur each time a key is pressed, select Keyclick Sound.

New Line on a Return
To transmit CR and LF each time the return key is pressed, select New Line on a Return.
When New Line on a Return is deselected, the LF character is not appended to the transmitted CR characters.

The CR character makes the cursor to go to column 1 of the session window, the LF character makes the cursor step on to the next line.

Select this option when received data does not restart on a new line.

Function Key

To change the function keys (F1-F5) settings, click the Function Key icon to make its dialog box appear.

For each key, select the method to be used from the popup menu:

Hold

When Hold is selected, typing the key will either start or stop the screen display. This option is only available for the F1 function key.

FKey  

When FKey is selected, the key will send predefined programming sequences to the host system. Applications that recognize these sequences can use the keys to perform various functions. 

Ignore

When Ignore is selected, typing the key has no effect.

Printer

To change the printing support settings, click the Printer icon to make its dialog box appear.

You can connect a printer to your Macintosh, and print data coming from the host application directly to the locally attached printer. You can also use a printer in the network if you are using 5PM, in this case you will need a special palette which is provided with the asc420 tool.

None

When None is selected, the data received from the host application is not printed, but shown in the terminal.

Direct to Printer Port  
Direct to Modem Port  

When one of these options is selected, the data received from the host application is printed on the selected port. You will have to specify the Baud Rate, Stop Bits, Data Bits, Parity and Handshake method used for printing to function correctly. Please refer to the owner's manual provided with the printer to find the correct settings.

Using 5PM Printing

When Using 5PM Printing is selected, 5PM will print the data received from the host application on the printer selected in the Chooser. You must have installed the 5PM Printing palette previously for this method to function correctly. A dialog will show when data to be printed is received from the host application, where you can select the number of copies to be printed and other settings.