PiDP-8/I Software

Check-in [02377ee417]
Log In

Many hyperlinks are disabled.
Use anonymous login to enable hyperlinks.

Overview
Comment:Improved explanation of new SCREEN_MANAGER=dtach option.
Downloads: Tarball | ZIP archive
Timelines: family | ancestors | descendants | both | screen-mgr-none-dtach
Files: files | file ages | folders
SHA3-256: 02377ee4179edf7098ed45d0d310c3f936fef47fb75a34168cd3f4acf3c0b147
User & Date: tangent 2020-01-26 21:46:10.872
Context
2020-01-26
21:47
Markdown fix check-in: 936d63bd1c user: tangent tags: screen-mgr-none-dtach
21:46
Improved explanation of new SCREEN_MANAGER=dtach option. check-in: 02377ee417 user: tangent tags: screen-mgr-none-dtach
21:34
URL fix check-in: 07a0439868 user: tangent tags: screen-mgr-none-dtach
Changes
Unified Diff Ignore Whitespace Patch
Changes to README.md.
︙︙
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773

774

775

776

777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793

794
795
796

797
798
799
800
801
802
803

we’d have to export the console [another way][scons] or you’d have to
fire it up interactively any time you wanted to use it. This scheme lets
us have it both ways.

The `SCREEN_MANAGER` setting is for use by those that need something
other than GNU `screen`. There are several alternatives:

*   **`screen`**: The default, per above

*   [**`tmux`**][tmux]: A popular alternative to `screen`, especially on
    BSD platforms

*   [**`dtach`**][dtach]: A minimalist alternative to `screen` which
    handles only the terminal attach/detach features.

    In addition to the virtues called out on the program’s home page,
    this option has a side benefit for some PiDP-8/I users: `screen` and
    `tmux` assume an ANSI X3.64 terminal (e.g. DEC VT102 or xterm),
    because they interpret escape codes to provide features such as
    their scrollback buffer. It is somewhat rare to use the PiDP-8/I
    with an ANSI terminal as the PDP-8 predates that standard by many

    years, so a lot of the software for those systems assumes either a

    dumb teletypewriter or some other terminal type, such as a Tek 4010

    series. In the latter case, these ANSI screen managers can get in

    the way and mess things up. Thus this option.

*   **`none`**: Effectively aliases the `pidp8i` and `pidp8i start`
    commands, attaching the simulator to the local console. The `pidp8i
    stop` command becomes a no-op, since stopping the simulator is then
    done in the standard SIMH way: <kbd>Ctrl-E, quit</kbd>.

Note that the alternative screen managers are not installed by default.
If you set `SCREEN_MANAGER=tmux`, you must then ensure that `tmux` is in
fact installed before the `pidp8i` script goes to try and use it. On
Raspbian, this is done by:

        $ sudo apt install tmux

Switching between configured screen managers must be done while the
simulator is stopped.


[dtach]: https://github.com/crigler/dtach
[gscr]:  https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/
[scons]: /wiki?name=Serial+or+Telnet+PDP-8+Console

[tmux]:  https://tmux.github.io/


## <a id="os8di"></a>The OS/8 RK05 Disk Image

For the first several years of the PiDP-8/I project, the OS/8 RK05 disk
image included with the PiDP-8/I software (called `os8.rk05`) was based








|


|


|


|
|
|
|
|
>
|
>
|
>
|
>
|
















>



>








753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809

we’d have to export the console [another way][scons] or you’d have to
fire it up interactively any time you wanted to use it. This scheme lets
us have it both ways.

The `SCREEN_MANAGER` setting is for use by those that need something
other than GNU `screen`. There are several alternatives:

*   **`screen`**: The default, per above.

*   [**`tmux`**][tmux]: A popular alternative to `screen`, especially on
    BSD platforms.

*   [**`dtach`**][dtach]: A minimalist alternative to `screen` which
    provides only its terminal attach/detach features.

    In addition to the virtues called out on the program’s home page,
    use of this option has a side benefit for some PiDP-8/I users:
    `screen` and `tmux` assume an [ANSI X3.64 terminal][ansit] (e.g. DEC
    VT102 or xterm), because they interpret escape codes to provide
    features such as their scrollback buffer. It is uncommon to find
    PDP-8 software that uses ANSI terminal escape codes since almost all
    PDP-8 computers sold predate that standard. Most PDP-8 software
    assumes a dumb teletypewriter, and of the software that does make
    use of a smart terminal, there’s a good chance it wants something
    else, such as a [Tek 4010][t4010] series terminal. These ANSI screen
    managers can therefore get in the way and mess things up.

    `dtach` doesn’t interfere with terminal escape code handling; thus
    this option.

*   **`none`**: Effectively aliases the `pidp8i` and `pidp8i start`
    commands, attaching the simulator to the local console. The `pidp8i
    stop` command becomes a no-op, since stopping the simulator is then
    done in the standard SIMH way: <kbd>Ctrl-E, quit</kbd>.

Note that the alternative screen managers are not installed by default.
If you set `SCREEN_MANAGER=tmux`, you must then ensure that `tmux` is in
fact installed before the `pidp8i` script goes to try and use it. On
Raspbian, this is done by:

        $ sudo apt install tmux

Switching between configured screen managers must be done while the
simulator is stopped.

[ansit]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code
[dtach]: https://github.com/crigler/dtach
[gscr]:  https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/
[scons]: /wiki?name=Serial+or+Telnet+PDP-8+Console
[t4010]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tektronix_4010
[tmux]:  https://tmux.github.io/


## <a id="os8di"></a>The OS/8 RK05 Disk Image

For the first several years of the PiDP-8/I project, the OS/8 RK05 disk
image included with the PiDP-8/I software (called `os8.rk05`) was based
︙︙