Distinguishing terminals from specific vendors..

[patnim17]

Hi,
We are running a java application on a HP Unix Box (11). The users connect to this unix box using dumb Terminals from different vendors. Some of the Terminals (from a specific vendor) seems to have a problem with this application during startup.
My Question is, in the unix startup shell scripts is there a way I can find if the request is comming from the particula dumb terminal from a specific vendor.

In other words, I want to know any indication from the terminal that would tell me if it is from a specific vendor..

pat

 

[SamBones]

Boy, this is digging up old memories.

Just speaking for DEC terminals, like the VT100, VT220 and so forth, there is an escape sequence you can send to the terminal that will make it report the terminal type and capabilities. You can query this to tell what kind of terminal is attached.

Something like...

echo '\033[c'

You'll have to experiment, or look up your terminal codes to see if this will work or not.

Also, the codes returned are pretty cryptic. You'll have to look them up too.

 

[patnim17]

thanks for the response. The fact that there is a possibility for doing something like this is helpful. I will try somthing on these lines..and see if it helps.

thanks
pat

 

[edfair]

How do you find out about issues? Do you have "last" in your flavor of unix? That would show who logged in at a specific time and the port.

You could also have a reporting section in the .profile that could indicate time , port , and capabilities.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[patnim17]

Is there any documentation on what codes can we try and what command to use to get hte terminal info?

 

[fredericofonseca]

As sambones mentioned, this will vary from terminal to terminal, even within same vendor.

You will need to look up on the programming manual of each individual terminal.

Regards

Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd

http://www.syssoft-int.com

FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[patnim17]

edfair,

When we run this application, it works fine, but in some of the screen in the application it displays an inverted "?".

That is the issue that I am tryint ot reslolve. An Inverted "?" indicates that some characters from the application was not interpreted by the dumb terminal correctly...

 

[elgrandeperro]

There was an old command, called qterm that did terminal determination, written by Michael A Cooper. Although it might not be actively improved, the code might still work.

 

[edfair]

I've generally found that these types of issues can be caused by 3 different causes:
speed problems in transfer or screen writing
handshaking issues
communication problems.

Do you have another terminal, not neccessarily the same type, that you can connect in receive only mode in parallel to the receive circuits of the existing terminal. Both terminals would show the incoming character stream so you could determine if it is communication or terminal issue.

I've also seen the problem with computer serial ports not honoring handshake.

Tell us about your operating system and the communication hardware on the computer end.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.