Re: tn3270, mset and map3270

[der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>>> In Unix, all serial ports are ttys and all ttys are serial ports.
>>> Both directions of this implication are wrong.
>> To the extent that the former is true, I agree with the latter.
>> But the former isn't quite true; for example, [Sun kbds/mice]

It also occurred to me, after I sent that, that ptys (which have been
around a fairly long time) are ttys but not serial ports.

>>> The downside of this approach is that if you want to be able to run
>>> screen-mode programs from a serial console [...] the realities of
>>> the system structure require that curses be moved into the kernel
>>> as a device driver.
>> I'm not so sure.  I don't see that as being necessary; it could be
>> done with the help of a program which speaks "serial terminal" out
>> one side and "full-screen interface" (whatever that turns out to be)
>> out the other.
> Not for the console,

I don't see serial console as being any different from any other serial
line in this respect.

Dumb-tty programs work same as always.  Full-screen programs just
require the use of that full-screen glue program I mentioned.  This
could mean just turning the curses code (wherever it got moved to) on
or off.  It could mean something analogous to ptys for the new
full-screen interface this whole thing involved inventing.  It could be
that every serial line always has both a glass-tty interface and a
full-screen interface attached to it, with programs using whichever one
they consider appropriate.  There may be other alternatives that don't
come to my mind offhand.

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