Re: need terminfo for serial console?

[Dr. Tilmann Bubeck]

--- Christoph Plattner <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> to cover all aspects of the TERM-I/O stuff, also the tty (in ourcase the
> serial)
> flow control has to be added. XON/OFF or even RTS/CTS flow control
> (XON/OFF is
> really missed by me, perhaps I will add it, if I have a good idea to
> implement
> this in "polling" mode !).
> 
> But if we really think about that "big step" then we should do a
> reconstruction.
> We should add a "virtual terminal" for the VGA/keyboard to have one TTY
> inter-
> face to control one well defined interface wiyh TERMIOS. So the terminal
> setting should be a "terminal" not at "serial" !
> 
> BUT BUT BUT
> Do we really want this whole stuff ?
> Is it not an overkill for an boot loader ?

Well, I'm not sure. I changed from lilo to grub mainly because it is able to
do much more on the command line before booting the operating itself. I see
this as a very big advantage. I see grub as a "mini-OS" before booting the
real one. For this it is important to properly support keyboard/screen even at
serial console.

You were right, if this would be a very BIG thing to implement, but because we
only need a few functions of terminfo this is not very big. I think that a few
hundreds line should be enough.

I looked at char_io.c and found the following escapes which are to be
converted to terminfo:

cursor_left, cursor_right, cursor_address (goto_xy), clear,
cursor-position-request, bold-on/off

This should be quite easy to do?

The approach you showed (terminal layer between program and console) seems
very good and not too hard to archieve. Or am I wrong?

Till






> "Dr. Tilmann Bubeck" wrote:
> > 
> > --- "Yoshinori K. Okuji" <address@hidden> wrote:
> > > At Sun, 28 Apr 2002 20:50:56 +0200,
> > > Dr.Tilmann Bubeck <address@hidden> wrote:
> > > > Are you (the project coordinators) interested in getting a patch for
> grub
> > > > to read terminfo files on harddisk, therefore enabling it to use any
> > > > terminal emulation?
> > >
> > > If that could make the code more spaghetti-like, I wouldn't be
> > > interested in that. Also, I wonder how many people would benefit from
> > > that. So If you believe such a feature is very important, you will
> > > have to elaborate on your environment and needs.
> > 
> > it will not change the code much. The most obvious change would be, that
> all
> > your hardcoded "escape strings", like "\e%dJ" will be replaced by
> something
> > link "cursordown(X)". This is a new function which will get the escape
> code
> > from the terminfo table. It will therefore work with any terminal, not
> just
> > vt100.
> > 
> > If YOU want, then I could make the whole thing #ifdef'ed but this would
> not be
> > necessary, because your old vt100 code will still work (because also vt100
> > together with all 1581 current terminal definitions of terminfo).
> > 
> > This feature is of interest to all people using a serial console but not
> using
> > a vt100 terminal. As you can see in terminfo (or termcap: /etc/termcap)
> there
> > are currently 1581 different terminals defined. This is, because people
> are
> > using it. They would definitevly benefit.
> > 
> > As I told you in my last mail, I had not yet started the coding. I am not
> > willing to distribute this thing as a seperate patch, but I would like
> this to
> > be included in the main tree. Surely, you cannot tell me, that you would
> > accept my patch (because maybe it will look very bad (but it will not)
> :-).
> > But if you tell me now, that you even don't like the idea, then I will not
> > start with the thing, because my spare time is rare. So I would like to
> get a
> > feeling, if you would accept the patch (if it is good programmed), and
> then
> > disucss with you the different implementation directions (e.g. you #ifdef
> or
> > not), include vt100 definitions to be backward compatible...
> > 
> > Please tell me, if you like this idea.
> > 
> > Till
> > 
> > > BTW, do you still use VT52 really? I thought it was used when I was
> > > born.
> > 
> > Well, the terminal I use is a IBM3161. I choose the name "vt52" because it
> is
> > widely known. However, my idea will cover ALL terminals not just "vt52".
> My
> > IBM3161 is cheap, small, and very good for using at my "home-server",
> which
> > resides in the cellar. Are you using a CRT? Its too big and heavy...
> > 
> > > Thanks,
> > > Okuji
> > 
> > Thank you!
> >   Till
> > 
> > =====
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|       | dr. tilmann bubeck               reinform medien- und       |
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