Setting up and using the VT420 terminal emulator
================================================

This guide describes how to start and use the VT420 program .VT420 is a terminal emulation 
program which allows you to log on to a UNIX system as a normal terminal. It allows you to connect 
and communicate with hosts that support the terminal types VT100, VT220, VT320, and up to 
VT420 mode. You can use the VT420 program even if your host system is not running NFS.
If you have trouble connecting to a host with VT420, read the Troubleshooting Section at the end of 
this guide.

Starting & Terminating VT420
----------------------------
You can start VT420 by double-clicking on the VT420 icon in the VT420 Program Group:
 
The following window is displayed:.
 
Enter the name or the IP address of the host to which you want to connect, or use the arrow to display 
the Host List Box, select the Host and press OK.

Once you have connected to a host, the VT420 window will appear on your display: 

The host name or IP address you specified will appear at the top of the VT420 window, and the host 
login prompt will appear in the window. If no login prompt appears, refer to the Section 
Troubleshooting at the end of this Chapter.

Enter the login details required for your host system. Once the connection is established,  the VT420 
window will appear active on your display. You can interact with the host by choosing commands 
from the displayed menus, or by typing commands in the window.

You can terminate a VT420 session by selecting File..Exit.

You can start more than one session and use VT420 to open multiple Telnet windows on a single host 
or Telnet windows on different hosts at the same time.  

Setup options
-------------
To save your setup options, select Setup..Save. To restore the original default settings, select 
Setup..Default.

General setup option

The General menu item allows you to choose the terminal and cursor type, define keys, and the 
keypad.  The following is a list of General Setup options:
 
Terminal Mode

VT400 mode, 7 bit controls
Lets the terminal  use all available VT420 features.  The terminal normally uses 8-bit graphic 
characters and 7-bit control characters.  You can also select this mode for VT200 and VT300 
applications.  This mode is recommended for most applications.

VT400 mode, 8 bit controls
Lets the terminal use all available VT420 features.  The terminal uses 8-bit control characters.  If your 
application uses 8-bit control characters, you must select this mode.

VT100 mode
This mode lets the terminal operate as a VT100 terminal.  Use this mode for applications which 
require VT100 compatibility.

VT52 mode
Lets the terminal support VT52 applications.  VT52 mode is not compatible with VT100 and VT400 
modes.

The default terminal mode is VT400 mode, 7 bit controls.

Terminal ID
The terminal emulator can report to the remote host as different terminal types.  If your operating 
system or application programs on the remote host need (or only support) some specified types of 
terminal, you may change the Terminal ID parameter to fit the requirement.
In ANSI modes (VT100 or VT400 mode), you may set your terminal ID to VT420, VT320, VT220, 
VT102, VT101 and VT100 ID.  In VT52 mode, the terminal only has VT52 ID.
The default terminal ID is VT220 ID.

User Defined Keys Lock 
The User Defined Keys (UDK) can be changed or not changed by the remote host.  If UDK is locked, 
the remote host can not change the definition of UDKs. However, you may change the UDK 
definitions locally.  See User Defined Keys Setup.
The default value of UDK is unlocked.

Cursor Keys Mode
Cursor keys act in two modes: Normal cursor mode and Application cursor mode.  The cursor keys 
send different codes to the remote host in different cursor modes.  Normally, you don't need to change 
this parameter.  It may be changed by control codes of the remote host.
The default Cursor Keys mode is Normal cursor keys.

New Line
When No New Line is selected, the terminal will only send Carriage Return (CR) code to the 
remote host when you press the Enter key.  Otherwise, it will send both Line Feed (LF) and CR code 
to the remote host in "New Line" mode.
The default value of this is "No New Line".

Keypad Mode
Keypad acts in two ways:  Numeric mode and Application mode.  Normally you don't need to change 
this mode setting.  It may be changed by control codes from the remote host.
The default value is Numeric mode.

Display Setup options

The Display Setup menu allows you to choose the terminal page width, screen background, cursor 
style, and scrolling method. The following is a list of Display Setup options:
 
Page Width
The width of the terminal can be 80 columns or 132 columns.  If you change the width of the page, 
the display of the terminal screen will be cleared.
The default page width is 80 columns. If you change the number of columns displayed, make sure 
your UNIX terminal definition files are setup accordingly. 

Control Representation
If you select the option for Display controls, VT420 will first display, interpret, and then execute 
control codes received from the remote host.  When you select Display Control mode, all control codes 
are displayed using a special font.  This is usually used for debugging.

Auto Wrap
Auto Wrap allows to you to choose whether or not the text will automatically wrap to the next line 
when you reach the right margin.

No Auto Wrap
Having reached the end of a line, the terminal will display each additional line character in the last 
column of the line and each character will overwrite the previous character at the that position.

Auto Wrap
Having reached the end of a line, the terminal will display the additional character on the next line.  
By default, the terminal does not invoke an auto-wrapping mode.

Screen Background
Selects light text on a dark background, or dark text on a light background.
The default is  Dark Background.

Page Arrangement
Allows you to select the number of lines per page.  The following number of lines per page are 
supported.
	6x24, 5x25, 4x36, 3x48,2x72, or 1x144.
The default page setting is 6x24 lines. If you change the number of columns displayed, make sure 
your UNIX terminal definition files are setup accordingly. 

Cursor Style
Allows the cursor to be enabled or disables. You can select the block or underline cursor when the 
cursor is enabled.

Scroll Mode
Smooth Scroll
Lets the terminal scroll the screen whenever it detects a scroll request.

Jump Scroll
Prevents the terminal from scrolling until there is no longer any characters received.  This mode make 
the terminal scroll at a faster rate.
The default setting is smooth scroll.

Status line
Turns the bottom status line on/off.

Display font width
Changes the size of the font displayed.

Keyboard Setup options
 
Keyboard layout

PC Layout
Allows you to use the PC keyboard definition for sending key codes to the remote host.

ANSI Layout
Allows you to use ANSI keyboard definition for sending key codes to the remote host.  This layout is 
convenient for you if you are familiar with the ANSI keyboard.

Margin bell
Allows you to enable or disable the margin bell.  If the margin bell is enabled, the speaker will sound 
when the cursor is eight characters from the right margin.
In default case, the margin bell is disabled.

Backspace key
Allows the Backspace key to send a Delete code.  Some applications require the Backspace key to 
send Delete code- in such cases select this option.
By default, the Backspace key is to send the Delete code.

Character mode
Allows you to select keyboard operating mode.

User Defined Keys
User Defined Keys (UDK) are function keys which can be configured to send a code sequence 
required by a remote application. These keys are F1 to F12 on the top row of your keyboard, and can  
include the Shift key and the Alt key. 
To define the code sequence for a key, select UDK from the Setup pull-down menu. The following 
form is displayed.
 
This window lists the definition for every UDK.  If you want to define or change the definition of 
UDK, double click the key in the list box. The UDK definition dialog box appears as follows:
 
You can modify your definition sequence in the edit box.  To input control characters in the sequence, 
use "\xnn"  format, where "nn" is the hexadecimal code for the control character. You may use \r" for 
a Carriage Return character. For example, to enable <Shift> F1 to be used as a shortcut key for 
logging off by sending <Ctrl> d, set up the key as follows:
 
Clear All Button
Press the Clear All button to clear all defined UDKs.

OK Button
Press the OK button to exit UDK setup and allow the change of UDK definitions to take effect.

Printer Setup options

Select the Printer button to see the Printer Setup dialog box.
In this dialog box
, you can designate the output device for your printer setup. The Printer Setup dialog contains the 
following options:

Normal
This option sends no output to the printer.  This is the default.

Auto
This option sends the current line of text to the printer when the terminal receives a line feed 
character.  This mode is most useful when the printer is operating in scrolling mode; it does not work 
well in full-screen mode.  This mode may be toggled on and off by the user as well as by host 
software.
 
Keymap
VT420 also provides a keyboard  remapping table on the VT420 Sub menu which allows you to 
modify the default keyboard setup 
To a computer, the keys on your keyboard are simply an input device for transmitting signals to 
applications.  Most keys send instructions to enter an alphanumeric character (such as a, b, c, 1,2,3,).  
Some keys send signals to perform a function such as delete a character, start a new line, or perform a 
computation (adding, subtracting, etc.).
Further, most DEC and UNIX applications are written for VT keyboards, which have special keys not 
included on PC keyboards.  With VT420, you can use keyboard mapping to assign the functions of 
these extra VT keys to a key or combination of keys on a PC keyboard.
 
You can remap many keys (or the keys with Shift, Ctrl and Alt) to send specified codes or code 
sequences.  The remapped key will send the new mapping codes instead of normal codes to the remote 
host and will be restored to send normal codes including UDKs when you clear the remapped ones. 
The keymap can be saved into a file and takes effect when the terminal is reset or restarted.  You can 
also load the keymap from a file.

To change or view the definition of a remapped key
1.	Press the key or click on the key using the mouse  You can also press Shift, 
Ctrl and/or Alt keys first. If it is possible to remap the particular key you 
have chosen,  the definition will appear in the Key Name and Key Definition 
edit box.

2.	Click on the Remap button. Use "\xnn" format to input control codes, 
where "nn" is hexadecimal code for the control character.

3.	Click the  OK button to remap the key, or Cancel button to cancel the 
change or the Clear button to clear the remapping definition.

Loading and saving keymaps
To save a keymap, click on the Save button from the Keyboard Map windows shown above. Save the 
file with the suffix .kmp (eg: mykeys.kmp

To load a keymap, click the Load button from the Keyboad Map windows shown above.

Color Mapping Setup

You can simulate host session color schemes or create your own window colors by using the Color 
Mapping Setup.

Within this dialog box you can choose preset color schemes or make your own & assign specific 
colors to specific character attributes.  A number of preset color schemes are available.  These color 
schemes include colors for text attributes and background.

Assigning Colors to individual Text Attributes
You can assign any color shown on the Available Colors palette to any one of the Text Attributes or to 
the screen background.
 
Saving and loading setups 
You can save and load different setups for the VT420 program and create icons to run those setups 
from the Windows 95 desktop.

The syntax for the command is as follows:
	vt420.exe @<filename>.420 <host_name or address>
To save a setup, create the setup you require, and then click on File..Save As. Name the file with a 
.420 extension (eg: mysetup.420).

To load VT420 with this setup, you can select File..Load from the main VT420 window or you can 
run it as follows:
1.	From the Windows 95 desktop, click on Start..Run.
2.	Enter the command as shown above making sure you include the drive and 
directory where the VT420 program and file are stored (by default c:\xnfs).
The following example runs the VT420 program with mysetup.420 to UNIX system called unixsys1.
 
You can create icons to run the commands automatically. The following instructions describe how to 
create the new icon from the Microsoft Window 95 desktop.
1.	Click the right hand mouse button on Start then Open 
2.	Click on the Programs folder and then select the Program Group where 
you want the icon to appear.
3.	Click on File..New..Shortcut. Enter the command as described above and 
click on Next. Enter a name for the icon.
4	Click on Finish. The icon will now appear in the program group you 
specified and can be run whenever you require.
5 	If you wish to change the icon or alter any other details, highlight the icons 
and  select File..Properties for the icon.
Now, you can run your specified VT420 settings to the specified host by simply clicking on the icon.

Troubleshooting	

Symptom: Cannot connect to remote host message.
Check you can ping the remote host.
If you used an IP address, check it is correct.
If you used a Host name, check that the IP address for the host has been correctly defined using host 
edit.
Check the remote host supports telnet and that the telnet daemon is running.

Symptom: window appears but no login prompt
Check the remote host supports telnet and that the telnet daemon is running.
