MTS Volume 4 - Terminals and Networks (3278)

MTS 4: Terminals and Networks in MTS
CONVERSATIONAL ________________________ OPERATION
The _______________________________________________
Conversation Buffer, Input Area, and Window
July 1988
The Ontel has a special hardware memory area called the conversation ____________
buffer, ______ which is used to save the most recent portion of the terminal
session dialogue. When the user submits a line from the terminal to the
system, or when the system writes an output line to the terminal, that
line is added to the end of the conversation buffer. As the terminal
session progresses, the oldest lines of the session are discarded from
the conversation buffer as new lines are added. Note that device
commands are not ___ recorded in the conversation buffer unless they are
transmitted.
The Ontel screen is divided into two memory areas, the input area and
the window.
The input __________ area is always displayed as the last nonblank line on the
screen. This area acts as a holding buffer between the user and the
system. Input lines are sent from the input area to the system. Note
that when a user types characters in the input area, those characters
are not sent to the system until the RETURN key is pressed. Thus
changes may be made to the line before it is sent to the system.
The lines displayed above the input area are called the window. ______ At
any point in a terminal session, the window contains a copy of the first
80 characters of each of the most recent lines in the conversation
buffer. Up to 22 lines can be displayed at one time. Thus this part of
the Ontel screen is termed a "window" through which portions of the
conversation buffer may be viewed. The section "Moving the Window"
describes how the window can be moved to the right or left to view the
undisplayed parts of long lines, and how it can be moved forward or
backward to view all parts of the conversation buffer.
Input/Output _______________________ Procedures
After an Ontel terminal has been turned on and it has warmed up, a
percent sign (%) followed by a blinking box (the cursor) will appear in
the upper lefthand corner of the screen (the underscore "_" is used to
represent the cursor):
16 The Ontel Display Terminal