Thank you once again, you are so kind to me, but after sending _I_ realized that I may have been cryptic, I'm so sorry... I don't want to use the same output that I send to the display in order to drive the printer, just the opposite thing: I wonder whether or not I can have a Linux box "talk" SEPARATELY though via ONE ONLY SERIAL LINE with a console AND a printer; or do I need two serial lines and two separate serial ports?
I my previous two messages I was meaning: sending output to the screen and getting input from the console - from the point of view of the code of the application running - does not change anything if the session is on a dumb terminal rather than on the main console (*), so now: 1) what about sending output TO A PRINTER which is NOT ON A PARALLEL PORT (lpt1, lpt2, ...) but is instead on a serial line? (Maybe I just need to write software which sends output to its stdout instead of stdprn, and that output is merely redirected to a com port... maybe such multiuser environments have typical and by now "traditional" solutions to my question... that's why I said I lack the basics.) 2) (already reproposed above) could that serial line be the same that goes to the dumb terminal? If yes, would the OS menage the distinction between the two devices or should _my_application_ (or some wrapper) be aware of the hardware each session runs on and eventually take care of sending special characters to say "this goes to the display, this goes to the printer" or should I just have two distinct cables run from the Linux box to the place where the dumb terminal and the printer are? ( (*) Nothing changes both if your application just appends output at the bottom of the screen using stdout/stderr and if you use curses to have full screen text output and input (curses uses infos from termcap or terminfo, say to drive a VT100 or much probably also a Wyse like the ones you have or plenty of other types...; if curses can handle the type of terminal you have connected, _your_ software won't need worry about what terminal the session is actually on. ) I suppose your energies are exhausted by now... but I still hope that someone will give me a clue. Nicola Bernardelli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please use <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for messages from any kind of robot, such as mailing lists. From that address no autoresponse messages will return even when I'm not at home. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Nicola Bernardelli wrote: > 1) What serial devices allow longer cables than RS232 without use > of modems (say 10-100-200 meters)? > 2) Are there multi port cards of that kind which run well with > Debian? Any brandname + model? > 3) What if the text dumb terminals connected to a Linux Box also need > a printer each (or almost any of them)? Is it possible that > data is sent to the printer and terminal via the same line? > Brandname + model? > > Thanks to anyone willing to give a clue. On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Joey Hess wrote: > Nicola Bernardelli wrote: > > 3) What if the text dumb terminals connected to a Linux Box also need > > a printer each (or almost any of them)? Is it possible that > > data is sent to the printer and terminal via the same line? > > Brandname + model? > > I have 2 old wyse 75 terminals, which have a "Aux" port. I think everything > received by the terminal also goes out this port, though I've never tried > it. On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Nicola Bernardelli wrote: > Thank you for replying... sure I'm putting one question that involves > just _the_basics_ of multi-user environments... I stopped making software > for Windog an year ago, I really had enough of Microsoft and Borland, I > bring lot of intensive C/C++ days and nights with me, I'm learning quite a > lot on Linux which I had been using for about three years before deciding > that IT IS greener grass, great tools, great minds searching QUALITY, > greener grass indeed... I still lack the basics but now I need them, as I > plan to build an application based on PostgreSQL running on a Debain > GNU/Linux box with text dumb terminals. > > So I add one more question: from a software point of view, how would > such a terminal+printer couple (if possible) get managed? Just something > to say to the OS? On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Joey Hess wrote: > Nicola Bernardelli wrote: > > So I add one more question: from a software point of view, how would > > such a terminal+printer couple (if possible) get managed? Just something > > to say to the OS? > > The way you set it up is you edit /etc/inittab and add a line similar to: > > S:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 19200 ttyS3 > > ZThis has init run a login program on the serial port. From that point on, > it's as if you were sitting in front of the main machine, you can do all the > things you'd expect to be able to do at a shell prompt. On Thu, 11 Sep 1997, Joey Hess wrote: > Nicola Bernardelli wrote: > > Ah OK, _thank_you_ again... I do this once in a while with an old 286 > > PC... my last question was related mainly to the 'printer' side of the > > couple... I mean: _supposing_ that it is possible to have terminal+printer > > on the same serial line (I still hope to get answers to the original 3 > > questions here), would your software - C programs, perl script... - still > > manage a bare printer as they do for stdout/curses or would one have to > > open a peculiar _serial_ device and send escape codes to switch from the > > display to the printer or do other such ugly things? > > I think you'd have to set TERM=dumb and not use any curses programs. I can't > imagine that my wyse terminals could translate full screen programs into > something printable, and I doubt anything else does that either. -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . 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