> The blank line days back to the first days of packet radio when
> people used dumb terminals with blinking cursors.
TM> Actually I think the original reason for not having any
TM> prompt (or welcome text for that matter) in TheNet and BPQ
TM> nodes was and is the ambiguity of the AX.25 protocol. The
TM> "node" station couldn't by any means detect whether the
TM> connecting station was a user or another node setting up an
TM> interlink connection. So it is safer to stay silent and wait
TM> for the user to type something first.
This is exactly right, and it so documented in the BPQ software. It was BPQ
where the problem first came up, since people can connect to the node itself
and then issue an application command such as "BBS." AX.25 has no mechanism
for stating the PID on the SABM frame, but only on an I-frame afterward.
TM> In NOS and in Linux this is now solved with different SSID's
TM> and LinuxNode already has a welcome text so this is no reason
TM> for not having a prompt.
This is how most people use the system, and distinguishing by SSID is the
recommended configuration for BPQ. The problem with BPQ is that it only
supports two SSIDs internally, one for the node and one for the default
application. If you want more than one application, you need to educate users
to connect to the node and issue the necessary command without a prompt.
TM> No (blinking) cursor?! Wow, someone here made the comparison
TM> to a unix shell not having a prompt. Well, working without a
TM> cursor - now that's what pain really is!
Why not send alternating underscore and backspace characters to the user, each
in a separate frame, in case he does not already have a blinking cursor? The
packet delay might make the blink rate a little irregular, but it should work.
-- Mike