PRO/5 Workstations Under MS-DOS and MS-DOS Networks
At invocation, PRO/5 will first attempt to determine if it is attached to a workstation. If it is, PRO/5 will get the workstation name (always "/dev/con" in MS-DOS), and scan the ALIAS lines read from the config.bbx file, attempting to match the realname field. When PRO/5 has a match of the workstation name from the system and a realname from an ALIAS line, the bbxname is remembered and used as the device for the FID(0). For users with unusual configurations, all of the searching may be overridden using the "BBTERM=" environment variable. When set, this variable overrides the workstation name lookup and makes PRO/5 open the device named in the "BBTERM=" variable.
If PRO/5 cannot find an alias line fitting your workstation after reading config.bbx, it uses a device named "IO" for your channel 0 device. This device is always present in PRO/5. Opening and reading the "IO" device is a direct attachment to your stdin and stdout handles. Remember that the "IO" device is not a workstation and will not translate mnemonics sent to it, nor will it report the same information in the FIN(0) that a workstation will. This can cause problems in starting software on a workstation running as "IO". These problems normally show up as reports of "garbage on the screen" or !ERROR=41 after starting your application.
All workstations used in PRO/5 are defined in the config.bbx file using an ALIAS line in the following form:
alias bbxname realname type modes
|
Parameter |
Description |
|
alias |
Identifies the following information as an alias (i.e., bbxname is an alias for realname). For TCP/IP and UDP sockets, the alias must begin with N. |
|
bbxname |
This is a reference to the name of the workstation. PRO/5 workstation names are normally in the range of 'T0'..'T9', 'TA'..'TZ'. Some application code may expect workstations in the range 'T0'..'T99'. All workstation names in PRO/5 start with the letter "T." |
|
realname |
MS-DOS name of the console device or the "con" driver. If the "driver=" mode is used, this name must be "/dev/con". The device does not have to actually be a workstation. |
|
type |
Determines how PRO/5 will control your workstation. Several different programs, known as "drivers," are provided with PRO/5 to control different workstation screens for various MS-DOS systems. Normally, you would use one of these drivers and enter "doscon" for this field. Although it is not preferred, you may use the MS-DOS ANSI driver and place "ansi" in this blank. If you choose the ANSI driver then you must make sure that the "DEVICE=ANSI.SYS" line has been placed in your config.sys file. The install utility will assume "doscon" if you do not explicitly select ANSI. If "doscon" appears in this field then the driver to use must appear in modes (see FID(0) ). |
|
modes |
Specifies additional information about the terminal device. The following modes may be set. |
|
Mode |
Description |
|
dma |
Direct memory addressing. All displays used by IBM PCs and compatibles have memory associated with the display. If DMA is selected, PRO/5 will update the display by writing directly to this memory area; otherwise PRO/5 will use available system functions to update the display. Using DMA will increase the display update speed but will decrease compatibility. Some "compatibles" support the same system functions as IBM PCs but do not support the same DMA conventions. |
|
ekb |
Extended keyboard. The MS-DOS IBM-PC display driver has been enhanced to include support of extended keyboards (12 function keys). Use of this mode enables programming of all function and edit keys on the keyboard. The "FL" (function load) sequence is 0 to 11 for F1 to F12, 12 to 23 for shift F1 to shift F12, etc. The "EL" (edit load) sequence begins with the numeric pad 0 to 9 for numeric keys 0 to 9, 10 to 19 for control of numeric pad, etc. |