Altos 2086 Questions

[Dave Hammond]

In article <6774 at ozdaltx.UUCP> rcj at ozdaltx.UUCP ( Dallas) writes:
>I am currently doing some work on an Altos 2086 Xenix box and have
>a few questions regarding it.  
>
>   1) Is there a way to have virtual consoles in this version of Xenix?

If this is the same Xenix (3.0?) which runs on the 586, 686, and 886, it
is derived from V7 unix and predates sxt's, pty's (pseudo-terminals)
which are the devices used to provide multiscreens on serial lines.

>      I have a few terminals which need to switch out of one appliaction
>      and into mail fairly often, and saving their documents, exiting
>      the word processing package, and going into mail is a time 
>      consuming endevour.

If the application offers an "execute shell command" key or command, you
could have the users escape to some mail services menu.  If you make the
menu command name short, it won't feel like so much work.  Or, if your
terminals have the capability to redefine function keys, you might make
a key transmit the entire "escape to mail" sequence.  This makes
accessing the mail menu feel like a "hotkey"-accessed operation.

>   2) On the topic of word procesing packages, we are currently using 
>      Rword, which in my esteamed opinion, needs help.  I contacted
>      Altos and they mentioned a product called Uniplex.  Does
>      anyone have any insight on this product?  Are there any other 
>      companies which have ported software to the 2086?  I have 
>      heard rumors that it is binary compatible with SCO, but don't
>      know if this is true.

The main editor portion of Uniplex looks and feels almost exactly like
SCO Lyrix.  The basic editing commands are identical, although I didn't
get far enough into Uniplex to see if the more complex editing functions
are compatible with Lyrix.  Uniplex also provides some nice add-in
modules, like a popup calculator.

>   3) Are there any good, simple, shell programs out there?  We are
>      running a simple shell script for our menus at the moment, 
>      and before I dive into re-writing these from scratch, I though
>      I would ask the net if there were any pre-written ones available.

If you go with Uniplex, you can extend their menu system to add your own
options.  Otherwise, there have been several menu packages posted to
comp.sources.{unix,misc} recently.

--
Dave Hammond
daveh at marob.masa.com
uunet!masa.com!marob!daveh