BSD & Sys5 Job Control

[dcm at sfsup.UUCP]

In article <114 at dolphy.UUCP> jmg at dolphy.UUCP writes:
>(Caveat: Much of this is from memory! ("Embarassment is the highest
>state of conciousness" - Anon.))
>
> [...]
>I believe that ATT has
>a decent interface somewhere or a shell modified for job control -
>there's money to be made with a decent Sys5 job control interface.
>Shl is a program that only does the following: create a seperate shell on
>same terminal; switch from one to the other; cause them to suspend on
>input or output; resume them; and change what - if anything - they'll wait for.
>All the functionality one wants.  However, shl is not a real shell, lacking
>all the language constructs, aliases, etc.
>
>In summary: I used to use BSD job control but on system 5, with shl, I
>do not.  It's too clumsy.

DISCLAIMER:  While I do work for AT&T, the opinions expressed herein do
		not represent those of AT&T, Bell Laboratories or any
		affiliate thereof.

Well, there is a good explanation for shl... it's a kludge!  Allow me to
illucidate.  Shl is actually a hacked down version of a much more elegant
user interface.  For those who haven't seen a 5620 Dot-Mapped Display it's
an intelligent terminal with upto 1M of RAM, a 68000 or a Bell MAC 32000 
processor, 800x1024 pixel (88x70) display, and a window manager in firmware
With a dmd you can have 6 windows active with the host (beginning to sound
familiar?)  Well, after 6 concurrent windows, the shell on any other terminal
seems very 1 dimensional.  So, somewhere along the way, someone hacked the
layer manager out of the window manager and it became shl.  Shl was an
afterthought.  So, no, there is no great shell that works with shell layers
and (sigh) nothing quite like BSD job controls.  The dmd however is really
a lot of fun.


David C. Miller, consultant
AT&T Information Systems
190 River Road
Summit, NJ  07901
(201) 522-5149

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