Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site fortune.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!ihnp4!fortune!rpw3 From: rpw3@fortune.UUCP Newsgroups: net.info-terms Subject: Re: Re: VT100 Compatible Terminals (and - (nf) Message-ID: <2547@fortune.UUCP> Date: Thu, 16-Feb-84 04:03:27 EST Article-I.D.: fortune.2547 Posted: Thu Feb 16 04:03:27 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Feb-84 02:40:12 EST Sender: notes@fortune.UUCP Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA Lines: 33 #R:dual:-28300:fortune:5200002:000:1416 fortune!rpw3 Feb 16 00:32:00 1984 To be fair, getting rid of "magic cookies" (we call them attribute character positions) is not free. You have to double the size of your video RAM, since every character now has to have a full set of attribute bits (instead of inheriting them from the nearest attribute position to the left of it). For the cheapest terminals, this used to make sense, since RAM was very expensive. These days, you're talking about another 2-3 bucks for an 80 x 25 terminal (maybe $6-10 retail?). Chickenfeed. Besides, the logic gets a little simpler with the added RAM, so the cost difference is much closer to zero (that's why WE have attribute-per-char, at least). The biggest gain is being able to underline (or reverse video or boldface) within a word, which makes it possible for editors to show you on the screen the area about to be affected by a change without breaking words at the beginning or end of the area. Rob Warnock UUCP: {sri-unix,amd70,hpda,harpo,ihnp4,allegra}!fortune!rpw3 DDD: (415)595-8444 USPS: Fortune Systems Corp, 101 Twin Dolphins Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065 p.s. There goes another word that used to have a "precise" meaning, namely, "cookie". A cookie used to be (still is around here) a token, a handle, a file descripter, an index, something you gave back to a caller that he/she could later use to touch a resource, a ticket. "Cookie" did NOT mean "an ugly hack". (C.f. "hacking" vs. crime)