Topics for DEC VT131 Terminal Emulation:

Transmit Termination Character

Local Editing Set-Up

VT131 Operating Mode

VT131 Status Line

Printer Definitions

Video Definitions

Keypad Mode

Break Enabled Mode

Tab Stop Settings


Transmit Termination Character
Help for Transmit Termination Character

In edit mode, a control character can be selected to indicate the end of a transmitted character block.  The character is transmitted at the end of each character block transmitted to the host.

This option may be set to None, FF, ETX, EOT or CR.


Transmit Termination Character

This option may be set to None (function disabled), FF (form feed), ETX (end of text), EOT (end of transmission) or CR (carriage return).


Local Editing Set-Up
Help for Local Editing Set-Up

These features change how the terminal operates.  Some Set-Up features are modes, which are used until the mode is changed.

For additional information, select:

Edit Mode

Line Transmit Mode

Space Compression Mode

Guarded Area Transmit Mode

Erasure Mode

Edit Key Execution

Transmit Execution Mode

Transfer Termination Mode


Edit Mode

If this box is checked (active), the terminal operates as an editing terminal and holds typed characters for local editing.  When editing is finished, the characters are transmitted as a block to the host.

If this box is not checked, the terminal operates in an interactive mode and transmits typed characters to the host immediately.


Line Transmit Mode

Determine the size of the block of characters that will be transmitted to the host when Edit Mode is active.

When this box is checked (active), one line of characters will be transmitted each time you press Return or Enter.


Space Compression Mode

If this box is checked, when the terminal transmits edited characters, unused character positions are transmitted as a single control character.

If this box is not checked, unused characters positions are transmitted as spaces.


Guarded Area Transmit Mode

When the terminal is operating as an editing terminal, characters on the screen are either protected or unprotected.  Protected characters cannot be edited from the keyboard.

If this option is set to All, all characters on the screen are sent to the host or to the printer.

If set to Unprotected, only unprotected characters will be sent.


Erasure Mode

Determine which characters on the screen can be edited.

If set to Unprotected, only unprotected characters can be edited.

If set to All, all displayed characters can be edited.


Edit Key Execution

This feature determines how the EDIT key operates.

If set to Deferred, the Shift-EDIT key combination transmits a sequence of characters to the host.  When the host echoes these characters back to the terminal, the terminal changes between interactive and editing operation.

If set to Immediate, the Shift-EDIT key combination selects edit or interactive operation immediately.


Transmit Execution Mode

Determine how the ENTER key operates.

If Deferred is selected, characters entered from the keyboard are stored in a buffer and can be corrected and edited before being transmitted to the host when the ENTER key is pressed.

If Immediate is selected, data entered from the keyboard is simultaneously sent to the host system and displayed on screen.


Transfer Termination Mode

If set to Full Page, the complete scrolling region is transmitted.

If set to Partial Page, only the area between the partial page marker and the cursor will be transmitted.  If the partial page marker is not present, or if the cursor is before the marker, the starting point is the beginning of the scrolling region.


VT131 Operating Mode
Help for VT131 Operating Mode

Set the operating mode to one of the following to determine how the terminal responds to control sequences:

  VT52

  VT131

The VT131 operating mode is the default setting.

For additional information, select:

Operating Mode


Operating Mode

If the VT52 operating mode is selected, the VT131 emulation will be initialized in the VT52 mode.

If the VT131 operating mode is selected, the emulation will be initialized in the ANSI mode and respond accordingly.


VT131 Status Line
Help for VT131 Status Line Definition

Determine the default setting for whether or not an information status line will be displayed when in the Session Window (online terminal emulation).

If a status line is to be displayed, determine the default setting for the date and time format to be used;  and determine whether the DEC VT131 Status Line or the standard Softerm Status Line will be displayed.

For additional information, select:

Status Line Preference

Status Line Time Format


Status Line Preference

If the VT131 Status Line is selected, the status information displayed will include Row and Column, Operating Mode, 80 or 132 Column Mode, Replace or Insert mode, Printer Status, Hold indicator, Keyboard Lock indicator, and LED indicators L1, L2, L3, and L4.

The standard Softerm Status Line displays some or all of the following:

Online or Local mode

Connect status

Duplex setting

Capture status

Caps Lock key state

Numeric Lock key state

Date and Time or Connect Time


Status Line Time Format

Date/Time

Choose this setting for the status line to display the current date and time.

Connect Time

Choose this setting for the status line to display the length of time the connection has been established.


Printer Definitions
Help for Printer Definitions

The Printer definitions provide the default settings for terminal functions whose destination is a print device.

Print Terminator specifies if a form feed character is generated after the screen is printed.

Print Extent determines what portion of the screen is printed when the Shift PrtSc keyboard function is executed or a print screen command is received.

New Line On Close Capture is used to enable or disable the automatic newline sequence (carriage return + line feed) when sending data to a printer.  Most users will prefer to leave this option disabled.

Append Disk Printer File On Close is provided primarily to handle hosts which initiate printing of small amounts of data on a frequent basis.  Most users will prefer to leave this option enabled.

Send Initialize / Deactivate String Once is used only by append printer operations which have been redirected to a disk file, and prevents the printer initialization and deactivation strings from being sent to the file each time it is opened and closed.


Print Extent

The Print Extent option determines what portion of the screen is printed when the Shift PrtSc keyboard function is executed or a print screen command is received.  If this option is specified as Full Screen, the full screen will be printed.  If this option is specified as Scrolling Region, only the area defined in the current scrolling region will be printed.


Print Terminator

The Print Terminator option specifies if a form feed character is generated after the screen is printed using the keyboard function or when a print screen command is received.  If this option is specified as Form Feed, a form feed character (0C hex) is appended to the data sent to the printer by the print screen function.  If this option is specified as None, no form feed is included.


New Line On Close Capture

Function:  Enable or disable the automatic newline sequence (carriage return + line feed) when sending data to a printer.  Most users will prefer to leave this box unchecked.

This option works with all data Capture to Printer operations. Softerm normally appends a newline sequence to the end of a data capture.  However, when transmitting data, some hosts will initiate a capture, send a line of data, terminate capture, and repeat the process until all data has been transmitted.  Appending the newline sequence each time would destroy the data's format.  Leave this option unchecked to stop the automatic newline sequence from being appended and to maintain the data's format.


Append Disk Printer File On Close

Function:  This option is provided primarily to handle hosts which initiate printing of small amounts of data on a frequent basis.  Most users will prefer to leave this option checked.

Important:  The action of this function depends on the selected Print Path and whether or not a print device is busy.

Case 1:  The Print Path uses a valid printer.

If the printer is available, all print activities (such as a capture to print or a host-initiated print function) will be sent to the printer.

If Append Disk Printer File on Close is disabled and the printer is not available (either off line, busy, etc.), all print activities (such as a capture to print or a host-initiated print function) will be sent to a temporary disk file.  Each time the print activity is turned off, the temporary file will be closed.

If Append Disk Printer File on Close is enabled and the printer is not available (either off line, busy, etc.), all print activities (such as a capture to print or a host-initiated print job) will be sent to a temporary disk file.  Each time the print activity is turned off, the temporary file will, in effect, remain open.  When printing is turned on again, the data will be appended to the existing file.

The temporary file will be closed when one of the following happens:

1.	You turn capture off from the File menu;

2.	You clear the Append Disk Printer File on Close option;

3.	You exit the Session Window; or

4.	You exit Softerm.

Case 2:  The Print Path uses a Disk printer with the "Automatically Create Unique Disk Print File" option checked.  Important:  If a Disk printer is given a user-specified file name, append is assumed and this setting does not affect the file.

If Append Disk Printer File on Close is disabled, every time the print activity is stopped, the disk file will be closed.  Each new print activity will overwrite the disk file.

If Append Disk Printer File on Close is enabled, every time the print activity is stopped, the disk file will, in effect, remain open.  Subsequent print activity initiation will append the new data to the original file.

The disk file will be closed when one of the following happens:

1.	You turn capture off from the File menu;

2.	You clear the Append Disk Printer File on Close option and close the capture;

3.	You exit the Session Window;  or

4.	You exit Softerm.


Send Initialize / Deactivate String Once

Important:  This setting works only with append printer operations which are redirected to a disk file.  This includes a Print Path which uses a Disk printer.

When this option is enabled, the printer initialization and deactivation strings will be sent to the printer file only once.

If this option is not enabled, the printer initialization and deactivation strings will be sent to the printer file each time it is opened and closed.


Video Definitions
Help for Video Definitions

These options let you set default values which affect the appearance and behavior of the display.

For more information, select:

Cursor Type

Number of Columns

Screen Display

Auto Wrap

Page Mode:elink

CR after LF

LF after CR

Enable Margin Bell


Cursor Type

The cursor type selection determines the display characteristics of the terminal emulation cursor.   The choices are:

1.	Full Block - the cursor covers the entire character display cell.

2.	Partial Block - the cursor covers the center portion of the character display cell.

3.	Underline - the cursor is a line at the bottom of the character display cell.

Any of the cursor display shapes may be chosen to display as either blinking or solid.


Number of Columns

If 80 is selected, the emulation will be initialized in 80-column mode.  If 132 is selected, the emulation will be initialized in 132-column mode.


Screen Display

If Normal is selected, the foreground and background screen colors are displayed normally. If Reverse is selected, the foreground and background colors are reversed.


Auto Wrap

Note:  This parameter also is called Automatic New Line.

When enabled, this option specifies that the cursor should automatically move to the first character position in the next line when data is entered in the last position on the current line.  If the current line is the last line on the screen and scrolling is enabled, the screen will scroll.

If this option is disabled, the cursor will stick at the last position of the current line.  Additional data entered or received will overwrite the display position until a cursor movement command, such as a carriage return, is processed.


CR after LF

If this option is enabled, Softerm automatically performs a carriage return function (cursor to first display position) in addition to a linefeed function (cursor down one line) whenever a linefeed character (0A hex) is received.  If this option is disabled, no additional processing is performed for linefeed characters.


Page Mode

This option sets the scrolling mode of the terminal.  When Page Mode is enabled, scrolling is disabled and functions which normally cause scrolling will cause a wraparound to the top row.

When Page Mode is disabled, scrolling is enabled and the cursor will continue to scroll down one line at a time, each time the cursor is sent past the column limit on the last line of the displayed screen area.

Note:  Page Mode is dependent on the Auto Wrap option being enabled.


LF after CR

If this option is enabled, Softerm automatically performs a linefeed function (cursor down one line) in addition to a carriage return function (cursor to first display position) whenever a carriage return character (0D hex) is received.  If this option is disabled, no additional processing is performed for carriage return characters.


Enable Margin Bell

If checked, the audible alarm is sounded when a character is entered at column 74. If not checked, no alarm is issued.


Keypad Mode
Help for Keypad Mode

The option Keypad Mode allows the default operating mode of the numeric keypad to be selected.

For additional information, select:

Keypad Mode


Keypad Mode

If set to Numeric and the Numeric Lock key is On, the keypad will generate numbers.  If the Numeric Lock key is Off, the keypad will generate Local Edit Functions.

If set to Application and the Numeric Lock key is On, the special keypad applications mode is enabled and generates special code sequences.  If the Numeric Lock key is Off, the keypad will generate Local Edit Functions unless used with the Alt key, in which case an Application Mode sequence will be generated.

Note:  The host may override the setting of this option.


Break Enabled Mode
Help for Break Enabled Mode

This option determines if the BREAK function is enabled.  If this option is set to No, the BREAK function is disabled.


Break Enabled

If this option is set to No, the BREAK function is disabled.


Tab Stop Settings
Help for Tab Stop Settings

Default tab stops are set every 9 columns.  To change tab stop settings, use the cursor keys to select the approprite tab position and press Space to toggle the setting, or click on the appropriate tab position to toggle the setting.