@njvack @b0rk I think this dates back to the days of...

@njvack @b0rk I think this dates back to the days of slow remote serial terminals, or even teletypes? If you put some really basic line editing into the terminal itself and only send the entered text when pressing "enter", the experience feels a lot more responsive - and every program doesn't need to independently write its own implementation of backspace.

But yeah, very interesting legacy thing at this point, even tho many tools still rely on the behaviour.

I think in Linux it's implemented in the kernel's pty layer rather than separately in each terminal app?

Like 8 July at 21:05 | Wall-to-wall | Open on tenforward.social

4 comments

kepstin

@njvack @b0rk I only just realized why the mode where the terminal does line editing is called "cooked" mode. It's in contrast to the mode where apps get all the key presses one by one without preprocessing - "raw" mode.

8 July at 21:14 | Open on tenforward.social

njvack

@kepstin @b0rk I do know that a lot of this dates back to teletypes and the like. "/dev/tty0" is referring to a teletype, and a pty is a pseudo-teletype, and "vt100" was a "DEC Video Terminal 100" system.

I suspect you could, today, hook a modern linux system up to a teletype over a serial line and have it work correctly with relatively little effort

Then you wouldn't have a "terminal emulator program" — you would have a literal terminal

hmm

8 July at 21:25 | Open on ruby.social

kepstin

@njvack @b0rk oh, I agree that would probably work! I don't know anyone with a teletype, but I do know that one of my friends uses a pre-ANSI (not vt100 compatible) monochrome IBM terminal connected to their Linux box with only minor issues. Issues are mostly apps that don't use terminfo or termcap and assume an ANSI terminal is in use - they often print escape codes the terminal doesn't understand. Using "screen" as a translator is the easiest workaround.

8 July at 21:31 | Open on tenforward.social

njvack

@kepstin @b0rk hmmmmm looks like you can get a DECWriter for as little as $600 plus shipping

I could spend a lot of money and learn to use `ed`

I cannot think of a worse idea, and yet

8 July at 21:36 | Open on ruby.social