Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1754038AbWLROC7 (ORCPT ); Mon, 18 Dec 2006 09:02:59 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754036AbWLROC7 (ORCPT ); Mon, 18 Dec 2006 09:02:59 -0500 Received: from smtpout04-04.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net ([64.202.165.199]:34912 "HELO smtpout04-04.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S1754037AbWLROC6 (ORCPT ); Mon, 18 Dec 2006 09:02:58 -0500 Message-ID: <45869F8F.2020009@seclark.us> Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 09:02:55 -0500 From: Stephen Clark Reply-To: Stephen.Clark@seclark.us User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux 2.2.16-22smp i686; en-US; m18) Gecko/20010110 Netscape6/6.5 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: James Cloos CC: Jan Engelhardt , Pavel Machek , James Lockie , Kernel Mailing List Subject: Re: [Fwd: escape key] References: <1166058290.2964.15.camel@monteirov> <20061213214140.df6111f5.randy.dunlap@oracle.com> <4580E985.2090208@lockie.ca> <20061216084542.GD4049@ucw.cz> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2549 Lines: 64 James Cloos wrote: >>>>>>"Jan" == Jan Engelhardt writes: >>>>>> >>>>>> > >Jan> HOWEVER, unix people probably _had a reason_ to make ESC generate >Jan> part of what function keys do. > >You are looking at it backwards. The Escape key generates an ASCII >escape. The funtion keys (including the cursor keys) generate escape >sequences because the vt100 won out the title as the most ubiquitous >async serial terminal, and linux devs chose to have the console be >(mostly) vt100 compatable. As xterm, et al had done before. > >The terminals (the actual hardware) used ASCII, so it was normal to >use Escape to initiate the sequences used by the function keys. > >And that concept goes back a *lot* longer than unix. (Hmm. I can't >remember. Did TOPS-20 or its predecessor have glass terminals in the >day? I did get to use a DEC paper terminal a couple of times, but >that was connected to a VMS box back in the '80s; most of the time it >sat in the corner collecting dust....) > >At any rate, given that Escape was used to initiate sequences sent to >the terminal for funtions such as moving the cursor around the screen, >clearing rows or cols, et al it must have only seemed natural to also >have it initiate sequences /from/ the terminal which did not fit into >standard ASCII. That was after all Escape's purpose in the ASCII std. > >If you do want to change the console's terminal emulation, a good >first step would be to check whether any existing terminal already >uses something other than Escape to initiate function key sequences, >and, if so, promote that as the alternative to vt100-esque emulation. > >Finally, note that the reason vt100 was chosen for the console was to >make it more useful for users who were physically at a linux box, were >logged in on the console, and from there logged in to remote servers. >That does remain something which the console *must* support. > >-JimC > > Also ansi came along and pretty much put their blessing on what DEC had done and made the escape sequences a standard. Steve -- "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Ben Franklin) "The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." (Thomas Jefferson) - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/