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000408_news@columbia.edu_Fri Nov 17 15:51:21 1995.msg
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From: fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Frank da Cruz)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.misc
Subject: Re: How to use TEK4010 emulation profitably
Date: 17 Nov 1995 15:51:21 GMT
Organization: Columbia University
Lines: 88
Message-Id: <48ib1p$1b8@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu>
References: <48eu8a$6u5@math.rutgers.edu>
Nntp-Posting-Host: watsun.cc.columbia.edu
Keywords: tektronix emulator
Apparently-To: kermit.misc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu
In article <48eu8a$6u5@math.rutgers.edu>,
Alexander Ng <ang@math.rutgers.edu> wrote:
: How can I profitably use Tektronix emulation mode on MS-DOS Kermit? I
: got a copy of the program at my university and use it on my 386SX with
: 6MB RAM. My modem is 9600bps. I found the VT100 emulation incredibly
: robust. In reading through the documentation, I discovered that
: graphics terminal emulation is available with Tek4010 mode.
:
It's actually a bit higher than that -- Tek4014, augmented by VT340 Sixel
graphics capability plus ANSI coloration, all three of which may be freely
intermixed.
: After running Gnuplot remotely on my UNIX server, and sending the output
: of a plot of sin(x) to my local machine, I was thrilled to watch the
: graph appear on my VGA color monitor like magic.
:
: I would love to know how to use the Tek4010 mode for other purposes.
: However, my University computing services help desk suggested that:
:
: 1. Tektronix terminal are a deadend technology. (I'm probably
: paraphrasing grossly.)
:
That's probably exactly what they said. This is merely an extension of
the trendy and short-sighted view of many system administrators, Internet
service providers, etc, that text is dead and all the world needs from now
on is a Web browser.
: 2. Tek emulators do not display useful graphical formats
: likes gif, jpg, postscript, etc.
:
Tektronix is a compact line-drawing language. Sixel is a compact bitmap
transmission language. These languages were designed long ago when
transmission bandwidth was at a premium. The assumption nowadays is that
bandwidth, CPU power, memory, and disk space are unlimited and no clever
algorithms are needed to conserve them.
: 3. I should set up a PPP connection with the University servers.
:
: Can anyone suggest their favorite uses for the tek emulator (which are
: not acheivable with the vt100 emulator)?
:
: I just read "Using MS-DOS Kermit" by C. Gianone, 1st edition, which I
: found to be a beautiful book, but it does not cover this point too
: deeply.
:
Terminal-oriented graphics languages like Tektronix and Sixel, just like
text-terminal-oriented communications (like Telnet), still have their
place, and I (for one) hope they always will.
Web communication is predominantly one-way. It's like being spoon-fed
whatever information the Web "content provider" wants you to see.
Terminal-oriented communication is intrinsically interactive -- you
participate actively, you contribute.
While GIF, JPEG, etc, are hot buzzwords today, they are just another way
of showing pictures to you. Tektronix / Sixel can do that too. For an
idea of the power of this type of emulation, look at the MS-DOS Kermit
graphics screen shots at:
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/shots.html
But Tektronix graphics terminals (and emulators) like MS-DOS Kermit are
more than just picture viewers -- they let you engage in interactive
graphics modelling sessions. I trust that scientists and engineers who
use Kermit in this way will pipe up with concrete examples. See, for
example, the story about how Kermit's Tektronix emulation was used in the
fight against AIDS in Kermit News #5:
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/newsn5.html#england
The idea is that information can flow both ways. For example, the
application can show a picture and then put up a crosshair cursor, which
you can move about with the mouse or arrow keys, and then send back
coordinates that can be processed by the application, which can then
modify the picture, and so one.
Major serious host-based applications like SAS/Graph come with full
support not only for Tektronix graphics, but for Kermit's specific mix of
Tektronix 4014, Sixel, and ANSI, to produce stunning full-color graphics
like the ones shown in the screen shots.
Using MS-DOS Kermit, you can access these applications in a uniform way
over direct or dialed serial connections, TELNET connections, DECnet CTERM
or LAT connections, and in numerous other ways. On slow modem
connections, the compact encoding results in surprisingly good
performance.
- Frank