Odyssey VT320 Emulation ======================= VT320 emulation was added to Odyssey as of version 1.41g. General Notes. -------------- This emulation does not support down-line loading of soft fonts, since the VT200/VT320 font size is not usable on an IBM type display - we *may* add this in future for users who want to download soft fonts to Odyssey with a VGA cell size - however, this would make the host application Odyssey specific, so it probably isn't a good idea. Another problem with this emulation are multinational character sets which include the Danish 0 (an O with a slash through it). The VGA character set unfortunately does not include this character. If we do add VGA soft fonts in the future then that will deal with this problem. The problem with soft fonts however is that it will tend to mess up TSR pop-up programs etc which will certainly assume the standard IBM character set in use in the PC, so if we add this feature we will certainly make it optional. A VT320 terminal has the option of running in either "7 bit" or "8 bit" mode. When this emulation runs in "7 bit" mode it reports the terminal type on the Odyssey status line as "VT320-7b", and in "8 bit" mode it reports "VT320-8b". Odyssey will run this emulation in eight bit mode only if parity is set to "none" and "Strip Parity Bit" (in setup/general) is set to "off", at the time that the terminal emulation is loaded. Keyboard -------- The notes in the Odyssey manual regarding keys in the VT100 emulation also apply to the VT320 emulation. However, VT320 has a number of extra keys, in particular it provides up to 20 programmable function keys. For this reason we recommend that you use an enhanced keyboard (102 key) with the VT320 emulation, a keyboard which is as close as PC keyboards get to the DEC equivalent. For convenience, applicable sections of the notes from the VT100 emulation are repeated here:- The numeric keypad on an IBM PC does double duty as a cursor pad. When NumLock is set the VT100 emulation will generate numbers from keypad keys if the keypad is in numeric mode, or application sequences in alternate mode. The '+' key on the keypad generates the same sequence in alternate mode as the ',' which occupies this position on the VT100 pad. If NumLock is not set then the keypad generates cursor sequences, either ANSI or application depending on the cursor key mode. Since the standard PC keypad does not have PF1-PF4 or Enter, these keys are generated using CTRL-F1 to CTRL-F4, and CTRL-F5 for Enter. On the main keyboard, the backspace key on the PC generates BS (ASCII 8) and not DEL (ASCII 127) which a VT100 user may expect. You can reverse this using the "BS key generates..." option in Setup/General. Note: A standard VT100 terminal has 24 lines. If you leave the Odyssey main menu line enabled then the Odyssey display area will only be 23 lines. For complete compatibility with mainframe applications you should disable the menu line when VT100 is used. VT100 emulation will not work in 43/50 line modes on the EGA/VGA. The Odyssey VT100 emulation does support 132 column mode, but the PC hardware is not capable of displaying this on one screen. Odyssey therefore implements "panning" which treats the physical display as a "window" on which you can view a selected portion of the 132 column display. The following keys control the portion of the 132 column region shown:- Ctrl-Home ...... Show left side Ctrl-End ...... Show right side Ctrl-Left Arrow ...... Pan 10 columns to the left Ctrl-Right Arrow ...... Pan 10 columns to the right. Added VT320 specific information:- A VT200/VT320 keyboard adds a separate arrow key cluster, a cluster of editing keys (Find/Insert etc), and 20 function keys, the first five of which generate no keystrokes, but serve local terminal functions. Arrow key cluster: If you have the old PC keyboard then you must use the numeric keypad keys, as described in the VT100 notes. On an enhanced keyboard you may use the separate arrow key cluster, which is identical to the VT320 equivalent. Editing keys: An enhanced keyboard is far more convenient for this than the old PC keyboard. This is the mapping of PC key to VT320 equivalent:- PC key VT320 equiv. Insert Insert Delete Remove Home Find End Select Page Up Prev Screen Page Down Next Screen Note that although the appearance of the PC cluster is similar to the DEC equivalent, the keytops are different. The emulation follows the PC keytops (where possible), rather than the VT320 keytops, otherwise things could get rather confusing, however you should beware of help messages from the host system (such as in VMS EDT), which indicate the correct keys graphically. If you have the old PC keyboard then you must use the numeric keypad (remembering to toggle NUMLOCK off), but the same key mapping applies. Function keys. As noted above, the first five function keys serve local terminal functions both in Odyssey and on a real VT320. This is convenient, since it means that Odyssey F1 (help) can still work. Other keys:- PC key VT320 equiv. F6 to F10 F6 to F10 ShiftF1 to ShiftF10 F11 to F20 For convenience, for those users with enhanced keyboards, VT320 key F15 (Help) is duplicated on PC key F11, and F16 (Do) is duplicated on PC key F12.