[Simh] GOLD Keys and such

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-12-19 01:21, Will Senn wrote:
> All,
>
> In working with the simulator and ancient OSes (in this case, RT-11XM
> 5.3), I am coming across key-combinations that are beyond my ken, such
> as GOLD-COMMAND and Line-Feed. I think I may be able to figure something
> out for line-feed (CTRL-J, maybe?), but I have no idea how to generate a
> GOLD-COMMAND keypress. Is there a simple solution, or a known standard
> way to make another key (say F5) serve as the GOLD-COMMAND key?

Uh, first of all you need to understand what ASCII is. Linefeed is an 
ASCII character with a decimal value of 10.
The most common method of generating a linefeed on a terminal keyboard 
is by pressing control+J, but some terminals (such as a VT100) have a 
specific key that generates the character as well, and depending on 
terminal, other methods or rules might apply. But we're still talking 
about an ASCII character with a specific value. When received by a 
terminal, it will move the cursor one line down, or if at the bottom 
line, scroll the screen one line up. There is not much more to say about 
that one.

GOLD and COMMAND on the other hand are specific keys on DEC terminals, 
that both sent specific sequences of characters when pressed. As such, 
this is a bit more complicated. You could of course just send those 
sequence of characters yourself, but it might be non-trivial to remember 
the exact sequence, and there might also be timeouts in some software 
that could defeat you if you try typing them in by hand.
Also, different DEC terminals might have sent different sequences for 
those keys, so the exact sequence might depend on what terminal you 
appear to have.

All that said, if we talk about a VT100, then GOLD is the same as PF1, 
which is above the numeric keypad. COMMAND is on the numeric keypad "7" 
(if I remember right), but be aware that the numeric keypad do not 
necessarily send the characters that are shown on the keytops. That 
depends on in which mode the terminal is in. In application mode, the 
numeric keys also send sequences of characters.

Having said that, if you are using xterm (for example), and have a 
keyboard with a numberic part, then usually F1 is actually mapped to be 
the same as a VT100 PF1, and the numeric keys actually work the same way 
as on a VT100, so you should be fine just pressing F1 numeric-7, and 
there is your GOLD COMMAND.
If you want more details on what sequences these keys generate, check 
the VT100 manual on Bitsavers, or ask here.

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol