UPDATE# WIDE SCREENS AND HORIZONTAL SCROLLING As explained in "Using MS-DOS Kermit", Kermit changes between 80 and 132 column mode upon host request (CSI ? 3 h / l) or when you give an explicit SET TERMINAL WIDTH { 80, 132 } command. Until now, 132-column screens were possible only on PCs with video adapters that provide a 132-column text mode. As of version 3.13, MS-DOS Kermit also includes support for DEC VT 132-column mode and Data General compressed text on EGA and VGA video adapters, which do not provide 132 columns in text mode, by entering graphics mode and writing the characters dot-by-dot. 128 columns are displayed rather than 132 due to the PC's screen geometry but you can use MS-DOS Kermit 3.13's new horizontal scrolling feature to see the rightmost 4 columns (see below). Normally, Kermit only keeps 80 columns in its screen-rollback memory. If you want to be able to roll back screens of 132 (or, for DG terminal emulation, up to 207) columns, you must set the KERMIT environment variable WIDTH to 132 (or the desired number) in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, for example: SET KERMIT=WIDTH 132 The KERMIT environment variable must contain a WIDTH definition before you start MS-DOS Kermit in order for it to take effect. NOTE: The KERMIT=WIDTH value and SET TERMINAL WIDTH value are two different things. The former controls memory allocation in the rollback buffer, the latter controls the actual display width (virtual or real) of your screen. You can specify whether Kermit should use text (fast) or graphics (slow) mode for compressed text with the new command: SET TERMINAL COMPRESSED-TEXT { GRAPHICS, TEXT } Text mode will not actually display compressed text unless your video adapter supports this function (see below), but Kermit's virtual screen is adjusted to the terminal-emulation width. For example, if your screen shows 80 characters per line, but your terminal width is 132, then wrapping occurs at column 132 (perhaps off the screen) rather than column 80, and Kermit reports its screen width as 132 (e.g. in response to a report-request escape sequence). If your logical screen width is greater than the physical screen width, MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 lets you scroll the screen horizontally by pushing keys. The new keyboard verbs are: \Klfpage Scroll left one "page" (= 20 columns) (screen moves right) \Klfone Scroll left one column \Krtpage Scroll right one page (screen moves left) \Krtone Scroll right one column These verbs are unassigned by default. Here are the commands you could add to your MSCUSTOM.INI file if you wanted to assign them to the gray (T-pad) arrow keys on the extended (101) PC keyboard: SET KEY \4427 \Krtpage ; Left arrow makes screen move left on page SET KEY \5491 \Krtone ; Ctrl-Left arrow moves screen one column to left SET KEY \4429 \Klfpage ; Right arrow makes screen move right one page SET KEY \5492 \Klfone ; Ctrl-Right arrow moves screen one column right When these keys are used in combination with the PageUp/Down keys, your screen becomes a "virtual window" on your session, which you can move around in arbitrary directions. By analogy with SET TERMINAL ROLLBACK { ON, OFF }, which tells Kermit whether to move a rolled-back screen automatically to the bottom when new characters arrive from the host, the new command: SET TERMINAL HORIZONTAL-SCROLL { AUTOMATIC, MANUAL } tells Kermit whether to scroll horizontally when a character arrives that would be displayed to the left or right of the visible screen. By default, horizontal scrolling is MANUAL during VT terminal emulation, and AUTOMATIC during DASHER emulation. MANUAL means you have to push keys to scroll the screen horizontally, AUTOMATIC means that Kermit moves the screen to "catch" incoming characters. Of course, for 132-column operation, it is always better if your video adapter supports 132 columns directly -- the video board does all the work, which is much faster than writing screen dots in software! This works if Kermit knows which kind of video adapter you have (Kermit determines this from a hopefully unique "signature" in the video BIOS) and it knows how to set the desired video modes. Here is a list of such boards: ATI EGA and VGA Wonder AST, Dell, and other boards based on Western Digital VGA boards AT&T / Olivetti Everex Viewpoint EV-659, FVGA-673, EV-678, Micro Enhancer Deluxe IBM SVGA (= Tseng ET4000, e.g. on PS/ValuePoint) IBM XGA Paradise AutoSwitch EGA Mono Paradise Professional Paradise VGA Plus 16 (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware) Paradise VGA Plus (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware) Paradise VGA Professional (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware) Paradise VGA1024 STB VGA/EM (Tseng TVGA) STB VGA/EM Plus (Tseng 4000), VGA/EM-16, VGA/EM-16 Plus Tseng Labs EVA board with 132-column kit installed Tseng Labs UltraPAK mono/Hercules with 132 column modes Tseng Labs ET4000 SVGA VESA-compatible video BIOS Video 7 Vega Deluxe with 132X25.COM driver installed and Video 7 VGA If you have an adapter capable of 132-column operation, but Kermit does not know how to activate it, set up your COLS132.BAT and COLS80.BAT files to do the switching, as described in "Using MS-DOS Kermit". For Data General DASHER terminal emulation, screen widths up to 207 are supported for purposes of horizontal scrolling, but no more than 128 can be shown across the screen at a time. DG terminal emulation is in text mode by default. As soon as the host commands the terminal to display compressed text, Kermit switches the entire screen to 132-column text mode if your video adapter supports it, and otherwise switches to (slower) graphics mode. As in VT terminal emulation, this behavior is controlled by the SET TERMINAL COMPRESSED-TEXT command. Unlike VT terminals, DASHER terminals (and MS-DOS Kermit, when in graphics mode) can display compressed and regular text on the screen at the same time. .