*BSD News Article 91874


Return to BSD News archive

Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news-pull.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-stk-11.sprintlink.net!news.nkn.net!news.panther.net!nemesis!uhclem
From: uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org (Frank Durda IV)
Subject: Re: Backspace = ^H
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Organization: The Big Blue Box
Message-ID: <E7KvDC.ILE@nemesis.lonestar.org>
References: <5h2c01$4i2@reader.seed.net.tw> <5h6e83$1mk@ui-gate.utell.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 02:39:11 GMT
Lines: 30
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:37685

Brian Somers (brian@shift.lan.awfulhak.org) wrote:
: What's the argument for BS=^h ?

: Surely everyone agrees that since the dawn of time, dumb terminals
: have sent ^? for the BS key.

Only if you bought them from DEC after 1979, circa VT100.

I've got (or had) a Beehive, ADM-3, Teleray 1060, Teleray 11M, ACT-V,
a genuine DEC VT50, DEC VT52, DEC LA36 (DECwriter II), DEC LA120
(DECwriter III), a GE Terminet KSR printer, Radio Shack DT-1, and a
Wyse 75 (aka DT-100) AND ALL of these produce 0x08 when you hit the
backspace key, just like the Teletype ASR33/35/37s all did,
the original DUMB terminals.  So did the Singer terminals and a dozen
brands long forgotten.   Few, if any, had an option for changing what
code the backspace key produced away from 0x08.

Even Hayes AT-compatible modems recognize 0x08 as a backspace by default,
not ^?.

Sending ^? for as a substitute for backspace came along much later in
isolated equipment and as such is incompatible.

That's why in the ASCII chart 0x08 is called BACKSPACE.   :-)

Frank Durda IV <uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org>|"The Knights who say "LETNi"
or uhclem%nemesis@rwsystr.nkn.net           | demand...  A SEGMENT REGISTER!!!"
					    |"A what?"
or ...letni!rwsys!nemesis!uhclem	    |"LETNi! LETNi! LETNi!"  - 1983