NCSA Telnet Developers Guide This is an ASCII-printable version of the developers' documentation. Version 2.3 release National Center for Supercomputing Applications The code and documentation are in the public domain. Compiler Notes This version was compiled with Microsoft C version 7.0. The Macro Assembler code was assembled using MASM 5.1, although it also assembles with MASM 6.0. ---------------------- TCP Kernel Calls Tim Krauskopf July 11, 1988 netsetip(ipnum) char ipnum[4]; IP address to use. Set my IP address. This routine must be called before calling netinit, in order for netinit to know what return address to use during initialization. Usually called by a session layer routine. netconfig(hw) char *hw; Hardware type - string of <10 chars. This call tells the kernel what type of hardware to use, "AppleTalk" or "Ether" on the Mac, for example. When multiple hardware types are supported, the lower layer must be informed of which type to use. Called by Snetinit() after the value is read from the configuration file. netparms(irq,address,ioaddr) int irq; Hardware parameter, irq is the interrupt request level int address; Shared memory segment address to use for starting Ethernet driver int ioaddr; Hardware I/O address parameter Set hardware dependent network configuration. The address and I/O address parameters only apply if the hardware needs them. These values are filled in by the Session layer in most cases. neteventinit() Initializes network event queue so that errors and connection information can be posted. VERY IMPORTANT. Called by Snetinit(). netarptime(secs) int secs; Amount of time in seconds to try to find local hosts or local gateways. A particularly slow machine may take five seconds to respond to an ARP request. Most return an answer within 1/2 second. This timeout produces the "local host not responding" error. netsetmask(mask) char mask[4]; Subnet mask to use for future gateway calculations Set the subnetting mask. If this is not called before netinit(), netinit() will install the default addressing mask for the class A,B or C network according to the address in netsetip. netgetmask(mask) char mask[4]; location to put the copy of the subnet mask Copies the subnetting mask. Not very useful if called before the network initialization. Session layer routines are typically used to set the value before you try to call netgetmask(). netgetip(ipnum) char ipnum[4]; Location to place IP address Get my IP address. Used when one session layer routine sets the IP address but another one needs to know the value. Any time after netsetip, netgetip can obtain a copy of the address. char *neterrstring(errno) int errno; error number of look up Get a pointer to the error string associated with "errno". Your custom error handler can use this to look up a "canned" error message. Copy the message, print it, whatever. Don't worry if the errno is -1, that is a special case that works OK. Neterrstring will always return a valid string. netinit() Sets up the hardware and initializes vars. Must be called before netopen. Use of Snetinit() is recommended instead of netinit(). It calls Sreadhosts(), netinit() and Ssetgates() for you. netsetgate(ipnum) char ipnum[4]; IP address of gateway Install this IP number as a gateway. Does an ARP request immediately, because we assume we will need its Ethernet address. dl = netdlayer(ipnum) char *dl; 48-bit Ethernet address or psuedo-address from ARP cache char ipnum[4]; IP number to look up with ARP. Queries the network with a broadcast ARP request every second and returns the Ethernet address for the requested IP address. Returns NULL on failure. Blocks for arptime seconds or until the response arrives. One of the very few blocking calls, only done this way because it is easier and ARP is so quick. netgetrarp() Pulls the local Ethernet address stored during the netinit() and sends a RARP packet every second. Waits for the response and returns 0 for success or negative for failure. If a valid response comes in, then netgetip() will return the new IP number. Unfortunately, to get everything to work, the combination netgetip(); netsetip() must be executed to set all of the internal variables. netsegsize(size) int size; new segment size to use for future connection attempts Set the maximum segment size (for incoming packets). This value will take affect on all future opening connections, whether from netopen() or netlisten(). Can be changed any time, but cannot affect current connections, only future ones. Netlisten takes this value when called, not when the connection eventually opens. netquench(limit) int limit; largest TCP window that can be advertised. Set the maximum window (for incoming packets) that future connections should allow. Will have no effect when set to a value over the program's maximum. netfromport(port) int port; TCP protocol number to use for next netopen request. When netopen starts a connection, the destination port number is requested by the application, i.e. 23 for the well-known telnet port. The return (local) port number is usually randomly generated to be unique from all local ports in use. If the application needs a specific local port number (as the default port for FTP data transfers requires), this call can force a particular number. The setting goes away after the next netopen call. pn = netopen(ipnum,service) char ipnum[4]; Address of machine to connect to, in binary int service; TCP port to attempt to connect to, often the WKA for a service int pn; port number for use in later calls to just about every routine available Open a connection to another machine (up to 30 times). Returns a file descriptor to use in later calls. Netopen is often used only in a session layer routine which does name to IP address translation before calling netopen. See Snetopen() for open which includes name translation. cnt = netread(pn,buf,len) int pn; port number from netopen() char *buf; pointer to data space to read into int len; maximum length of data to read int cnt; returns # of bytes read, -1 on closed connection, 0 for waiting Similar to UNIX read, but using a file descriptor from netopen(). Does not block EVER. cnt = netwrite(pn,buf,len) int pn; port number from netopen() char *buf; pointer to data space to write from int len; length of data to try to write int cnt; returns # of bytes written, -1 on closed connection, 0 for waiting Similar to UNIX write, but using a file descriptor from netopen(). Does not block EVER. netclose(pn) int pn; port number from netopen() Close a connection, like closing a file. You must make sure (with netpush()) that all data which went through netwrite() to this file descriptor has been sent before closing. Before closing, you will also want to read all of the available data from the connection if you don't want to lose it. netshut() Shut down communication, disable interrupts. It is not wise to call any network routines at all after calling netshut(). netsleep(secs) int secs; number of seconds to wait before returning This is what keeps the network drivers alive. It makes sure that any required ACKs are sent. Often called with a parameter of zero, but can be made to wait some # of secs. Has a resolution of 1/18th of a second on PC, 1/60th on Mac. netest(pn) int pn; port number from netopen() Returns 0 if the connection is in established mode, <0 if one side or the other has closed the connection. cnt = netpush(pn) int pn; port number from netopen() int cnt; number of bytes still waiting to be delivered (outgoing) Sets push bit on transmit, returns size of output queue (unacknowledged data). Check to see that this value is zero before calling netclose(). Unless you don't care. netqlen(pn) int pn; portnumber from netopen() Returns the number of bytes waiting to be read (incoming) which have been acked, but have not been taken from the queue. netroom(pn) int pn; port number from netopen() Get information on buffer space from a port. netroom returns the number of bytes available for a netwrite() command to write into. If the TCP is caught up, this will be WINDOWSIZE, if we are loaded, this could be zero. netgetftp(a,pn) int a[8]; return values int pn; port number from netopen() Get information about an active connection. Returns the IP address of the other machine which is connected to you and the incoming and outgoing TCP port numbers in use. a[0] to a[3] is the IP number of the other host. Note that these are integers, not characters! a[4] and a[5] are the high and low bytes (yet stored in integers) of your local port number. a[6] and a[7] are the high and low bytes of the other side's port number for this connection. pn = netlisten(service) int service; TCP port number to listen to. int pn; Returns a port number equivalent to a netopen() port number Listen to a TCP port number. The TCP will establish the connection for you automatically. You will be notified with an event when the connection occurs. Try not to get the TCP port number confused with the netopen() port number. The TCP port number defines the network connection between machines while the netopen() port number is a local descriptor for a given connection. netusend(ipnum,port,retport,buf,len) char *ipnum[4]; IP number of other machine int port,retport; to and from ports for the other machine's UDP socket char *buf; data to be sent in the packet int len; number of bytes of data to send, must fit in 512 byte packet Send a UDP packet to another machine, to a certain port, with the data in buf, length n. netulisten(port) int port; port to be sensitive about Listen for a UDP packet on a certain incoming port. Often port is the same as retport on a netusend(). Any packets for this port will be kept for reading later. Another packet for this port before a neturead will overwrite the last one. This should be expanded later to give similar socket addressing as TCP uses. theevent = netgetevent(class,theclass,dat) int class; Classes to search for (OR combination) int *theclass; Actual class of the event returned (return value) int *dat; Data which tags the event int theevent; Which event has occurred Receive the next event in the queue. Classes are in whatami.h. Not usually called by the user because the user will want the session layer handling of Sgetevent(). Returns 0 on no event available. netputevent(class,event,dat) int class; Class of the event to post int event; Which event within that class to post int dat; The data to carry in the event queue Place an event into the event queue to be picked up later. The user may want to define classes to be posted this way. See Sgetevent(). netputuev(class,event,dat) int class; Class of the event to post int event; Which event within that class to post int dat; The data to carry in the event queue Place an event into the event queue. First checks to see if there already is an identical such event. If so, another copy will not be posted. netposterr(enum) int enum; Error number in errorclass. Post a user error message. The error message is one from the list in TOOLS.C. This message will wait in the queue until an ERRORCLASS event is requested. cnt = neturead(buf) char *buf; data area to drop the UDP packet (<512 bytes) int cnt; actual length of the packet which is ready Reads the data from a UDP packet which was received. Returns the number of bytes read into buf, or -1 if there is no packet available to read. Automatically clears the incoming UDP buffer for the next read. Session Layer routines hostform.h Include file which contains the structure of the machine information record and the configuration information record. Use these structures with the following calls to read or manipulate machine specific information. Includes struct machinfo and struct config. whatami.h Currently contains the definition of PC vs. Mac in terms of program and compiler settings to get the code to compile on both the Mac and PC. Also includes netevent.h. netevent.h Contains the list of event types, both low-level event types used internally, and the events which the application program will pay attention to. See documentation section on rules for event handling that explain what you can do with events. Sgetconfig(conp) struct config *conp; Pointer to a config structure which will receive a copy of current data Copies the config structure to user memory. The hosts file contains a lot of configuration information that the application may need to know. The structure of the data area is in hostform.h. mp = Shostlook(name) char *name; name of machine to get information about struct machinfo *mp; Pointer to machine information record Takes a machine name (standard ASCII string) and returns a pointer to the machine information record associated with that name. Searches the sname field first, then the hname field. Returns NULL if not found. The structure definition is in hostform.h. Take care when writing to fields in this structure (i.e. don't). If you mess up the data, strange things may happen. Shostlook does a simple lookup on the name field, so the "default" record can be looked up if necessary. mp = Sgethost(name) char *name; name or IP number of machine to get information about struct machinfo *mp; Pointer to machine information record Takes a machine name or IP number in ASCII format (192.17.20.10) or a special shorthand form (#10) and returns a pointer to the machine information record associated with that name. Uses Shostlook() to look up name if number is not used. Returns NULL if not found. The structure definition is in hostform.h. Sgethost guarantees that the record returned has a valid IP number which Snetopen() will accept. Sgethost should be the primary lookup call to determine whether the domain name server is required or not. If the IP number is given, a pointer to the "default" machine is returned with a temporary IP number installed. "default" cannot be returned as a real machine because Sgethost guarantees a real IP number in the machine record. mp = Slooknum(mnum) int mnum; Machine number to look for struct machinfo *mp; Pointer to machine information record Used primarily for domain lookups, this number is unique for all entries in the memory host list. mp = Slookip(ipnum) char *ipnum; IP number of the host to look for struct machinfo *mp; Pointer to machine information record Look up host information when you know the host's IP number. Used by background ftp server. mp = Smadd(name) char *name; ASCII name of the host to add to the memory host list struct machinfo *mp; Pointer to machine information record Adds a machine to the host list, generating a unique host number for it. Copies the configuration information from "default". Returns a pointer to the machine record created. Returns NULL if no memory could be allocated. Be careful updating the information in the machine record. If the name already exists somewhere as a session or host name, it just returns that record pointer. Shostfile(newname) char *newname; pointer to new configuration file name Takes a pointer to static storage of the host file name. The storage associated with the name must remain allocated. Default is "config.tel". Typically called with an argv[] parm. Snetinit() Calls Sreadhosts(), netinit(), neteventinit(), and Ssetgates() for you and initializes the timer queue. Returns non-zero on error. Sreadhosts() sets up the config structure, so Sgetconfig() can be called after Snetinit(). RARP handling is done in Snetinit() - if RARP fails, Snetinit returns -2 -- this condition requires a netshut() to clear any interrupt drivers. A -1 return means that the netinit() never succeeded so the interrupt drivers were never installed. Sreadhosts() Reads the hosts file, using the filename provided by nethostfile(). Uses the new type of config file. Sets Smachlist to NULL before reading the file and creating the list. Processes and logs all information to the config structure or into the machinfo list. Calls some of the setup options for ftp, rcp, screen modes, etc. Called by Snetinit, user does not need to call this routine. Ssetgates() This routine is called by Snetinit() automatically. It sets the netmask with the field read from the hosts file, turns on ftp and rcp if they are specified in the hosts file, and traverses the machinfo list to set up any gateways which are marked. pn = Snetopen(mp,tport) struct machinfo *mp; Machine information record obtained from Sgethost() int tport; TCP port to attempt connection with int pn; Port number passed through from netopen() Tries to connect to the specified port on that machine and returns the port descriptor for netread and netwrite. Should be used instead of netopen(). Calls netopen() and uses any special configuration information found in the machinfo record. Sets a timer for the connection timeout which will be posted in an event. You cannot access this connection until you are notified with an event that shows the connection opened or failed. Sdomain(name) char *name; name of the machine to look up, s/b in DOMAIN format Tries to use the DOMAIN name server to look up the IP number of the named host. Sdomain() posts appropriate events to notify you of the results. If the name does not have any periods, the default suffix from the config structure is added to the lookup. All domain events return a machine number which can be looked up with Slooknum() to find out which machine is referred to. Remember, the local host file lookup is faster, so look up the machine name with Sgethost() first. Returns 0 on success, -1 if there is no name server to query. Snewns() Rotate name servers. If there is more than one nameserver in the machine list, the one with the next highest number will become the current nameserver. Wraps to nameserver 1 when there are no more nameservers. Ssetns(ipn) char ipn[4]; IP number of nameserver to become primary nameserver. For situations when your primary nameserver is not indicated in the config file, but is obtained over the network somehow, this sets that host up as nameserver #1. The ns #1 set by Snewns() will rotate to ns #2 as necessary. Stask() Should be called instead of netsleep() to support the timer queue and network updates. Sgetevent() calls Stask() for you. The FTP server can't function without repeated Stask() calls. Stimerset(class,event,dat,howlong) int class; Class of event which should be posted int event; Event number which should be posted int dat; Associated data which should be posted int howlong; Seconds to wait before posting this event Stimerset() adds events to the timer queue. Stask() contains the checks to post any events which have come due. Stimerunset(class,event,dat) int class; Class of event which should be dequeued int event; Event number which should be dequeued int dat; Associated data which should be dequeued Searches the timer queue for a matching entry and removes the entry from the queue without generating an event. The timer may have just gone off with the event in the event queue. This procedure will not prevent that event from occurring, only those which have unexpired timers are removed. theevent = Sgetevent(class,theclass,dat) int class; Classes to search for (OR combination) int *theclass; Actual class of the event returned (return value) int *dat; Data which tags the event int theevent; Which event has occurred Sgetevent() does the background processing of ftp, rcp and domain name lookup. Events are posted with netputevent() and are usually posted by lower layer routines. Calling Snetopen() will guarantee that you will get either a CONOPEN or CONFAIL event depending on how things went. The associated data for CONXXXX events is always the port number of the connection involved. The routine will return 0 if there are no events available. Class types are in whatami.h and the user may define new events and classes as described under "events". Currently, it is quite common to receive undesired extra events which are for ports which you don't have defined. Check the data tag for validity. FILE *Sopencap() Opens the capture file with the previously stored name. Returns a file pointer or NULL if there is an error. Use Snewcap() to change the name. Always opens for append. Snewcap(name) char *name; Name to use for a capture file Copies the name into private storage for use by Sopencap(). Limit of 80 chars on name length (no warning). Stekmode(m) Sftpmode(m) Srcpmode(m) Scwritemode(m) int m; Value of boolean flag to set Sets modes and turns switches for the session layer. Tek is tektronix mode. FTP and rcp turn the listeners on and off. When writemode is 1 (true), direct writes to the screen should be enabled. Tek and writemode are simply services to the upper layers, they only store the boolean flag. Stmode() Sfmode() Srmode() Scmode() Returns the value of the boolean flag set above. Snewpsfile(s) Snewhpfile(s) Snewtekfile(s) char *s new file name to use For each of the graphic options, Postscript, tek and HPGL, the configuration structure maintains a filename as a service to higher layers. These routines change those filenames. Pointers to the filenames are obtained through the structure copy which is retrieved from Sgetconfig(). Scheckpass(user,passwd) char *user; User name to check the password of char *passwd; The password to check the validity of Returns true if the passwd associated with the user field matches the value in the password file associated with telnet. If there is a password file and the username is not present, returns false. If no password file is specified in the hosts file, returns true. Sneedpass() Returns a boolean flag indicating whether we need to check FTP passwords. The determination is made depending upon whether there has been a filename specified with the passfile option in the config file. Scompass(password,encrypt) char *password; The password to compare char *encrypt; The encryption to check against Checks to see if the encrypted string has been encrypted from a particular password string. Returns true or false. Sftpname(s) char *s; Space to copy the name of the file being transferred The name of the current file being transferred by FTP is stored internally. Use Sftpname() to get a copy of that internal name. Sftphost(host) char *host; Space to copy the name of the host involved. The IP number of the FTP client for FTP transfers is stored internally. Use Sftphost() to get a copy of that internal number. Then you can look up the host's name with Slookip(). Sftpuser(user) char *user; Space to copy the username. The name field from the FTP USER command is stored internally. Use Sftpuser() to get a copy of that name. Sftpstat(bytes) long *bytes; Pointer to long, number of bytes The value copied into this long int returns number of bytes transferred or left to transfer in the currently active ftp transfer. Used to update status displays. Events -- how to use them The routines netgetevent() (at a low level) and Sgetevent()(at the session level) look for events which are stored in NCSA Telnet's event queue. Sgetevent() calls netgetevent(), so if you are using the session layer library, you will never call netgetevent(). Sgetevent() sifts through the events and captures events related to the background name serving and ftp file transfers. All other events are passed through to the application. Classes Events are divided into classes to help different portions of the application look for only certain kinds of events. When you call one of the getevent routines, the class which you pass to the routine is a mask of the OR combination of the classes that you want to retrieve from the event queue. When the routine returns with a greater than zero event number, that mask will have been transformed into the exact class to which the returned event belongs. The classes are defined below. Events For each class, several events are defined. They are documented individually, along with the use of the data value which is returned from the getevent call. User-defined events Applications programmers are welcome to use class 0x80 (128) for their own events. Events in each of the predefined classes in the range 128-255 are also available for use. Specifically, use events 128-255 of the USERCLASS because they will be more convenient to use. Use of any events or classes not in these ranges may conflict with future NCSA software. If you want certain events to be defined by NCSA, let us know. The official "defined events" list will be updated periodically. Timer events Stimerset() and Stimerunset() control a separate queue from the event queue. The important thing to know is that when a timer goes off, it places its specific event into the event queue. You may use user-defined event types to set timers for yourself in this queue. Some events like DOMFAIL and CONFAIL are caused by timers if something doesn't occur to unset the timers for those events. minitel.c Look at minitel.c for the simplest possible telnet. This one doesn't even have a telnet command parser and it only talks to BSD hosts. It does show you how to handle events for the simple cases. The following events are defined in netevent.h: #define USERCLASS 1 #define ICMPCLASS 2 #define ERRCLASS 4 #define SCLASS 8 #define CONCLASS 0x10 #define ERR1 1 /* an error message is waiting, ERRCLASS */ #define IREDIR 1 /* ICMP redirect, ICMPCLASS */ #define CONOPEN 1 /* connection has opened, CONCLASS */ #define CONDATA 2 /* there is data available on this connection */ #define CONCLOSE 3 /* the other side has closed its side of the connection */ #define CONFAIL 4 /* connection open attempt has failed */ #define UDPDATA 1 /* UDP data has arrived on listening port, USERCLASS */ #define DOMOK 2 /* domain name ready */ #define DOMFAIL 3 /* domain name lookup failed */ #define FTPCOPEN 20 /* FTP command connection has opened */ #define FTPCLOSE 21 /* FTP command connection has closed */ #define FTPBEGIN 22 /* FTP transfer beginning, dat =1 for get, 0 for put */ #define FTPEND 23 /* FTP transfer ending */ #define FTPLIST 24 /* FTP file listing taking place */ #define FTPUSER 25 /* FTP user name has been entered */ #define FTPPWOK 26 /* FTP password verified */ #define FTPPWNO 27 /* FTP password failed */ #define RCPBEGIN 30 /* RCP beginning */ #define RCPEND 31 /* RCP ending */ #define UDPTO 1 /* UDP request from DOMAIN timed out, SCLASS */ #define FTPACT 2 /* FTP transfer is active, keep sending */ #define TCPTO 3 /* TCP for DOMAIN timed out */ #define RCPACT 4 /* rcp is active, needs CPU time */ #define RETRYCON 5 /* retry connection packet, might be lost */ Class USERCLASS Event UDPDATA To get this event you must have already called netulisten with a port number. A UDP packet with some data has arrived for you on that port. The data field for the event is the UDP port number which you were listening to. In the future, you will be able to listen to multiple ports and the data field will become important. Port 998 is arbitrarily used by our domain name server. Event DOMOK To get this event, you must have already placed a domain name request. You may get more than one DOMOK for one request. The data field contains the machine number of the name you looked up. You can look up the machine record with Slooknum() now. The IP number has been placed into the record. A Snetopen() with that machine record should succeed now. Event DOMFAIL To get this event, you must have already placed a domain name request. You may get more than one DOMFAIL for one request. The data field contains the machine number of the name you looked up. That machine name could not be resolved. You may also have an error event waiting for you which explains why the resolve failed. Event FTPCOPEN A command connection has been established to your background FTP server. NCSA Telnet uses this to post informative messages. Event FTPCLOSE The command connection for your server FTP has closed. Event FTPBEGIN A file transfer to or from your machine has begun. The data field=1 for get (transfer from) and 0 for put (transfer to) transfers. Event FTPEND A file transfer or a LIST command has ended. Event FTPLIST A LIST command has begun for your background FTP. Event FTPUSER A USER command has been entered for the background FTP. Event FTPPWOK An FTP PASS command has been entered and verified by comparing to the entries in the password file. Event FTPPWNO An FTP PASS command has been entered and rejected by failing to match anything in the password file. Event RCPBEGIN Someone has started an rcp transfer to or from your computer. Event RCPEND That rcp has ended. Class ICMPCLASS Event IREDIR The netsleep() routine automatically does a netgetevent() for ICMP redirect messages and performs the addressing change required by the ICMP redirect. When an ICMP redirect packet is received, this event is posted by the ICMP routine. Bugfix in 2.2 makes sure ALL redirects are registered. Class ERRCLASS Event ERR1 There is currently only one error event which pertains to all of the possible errors. These events should be reclassified as ERRWARNING, ERRINFO, ERRFATAL, etc., so the rest of this class is reserved. The data field contains the error number which can be looked up with neterrstring(). Class SCLASS (session class) The entire SCLASS is for special session layer events. You will not receive these events from Sgetevent() because they are always removed. Event UDPTO The current UDP domain request timed out. Event FTPACT When FTP is active, it uses as much CPU as it can get. To get more CPU it posts events back to itself. Event TCPTO not used, we don't need TCP lookups. Event RCPACT rcp posts this event back to itself when it needs CPU. Event RETRYCON Snetopen() posts this in a timer to send multiple SYN packets if the first one is lost. Class CONCLASS Event CONOPEN A connection has just opened. This may be a connection which you are listening to, or one which you are trying to open with Snetopen(). Remember Snetopen() does not block until the connection is open. The data field returns the port number (descriptor) of the connection. Event CONDATA Data has arrived for a certain port number. The data field contains that port number. Because this event always comes up when there is data in the incoming TCP buffer, you never have to poll netread() to find out if there is data to be read. If you get CONDATA events, there is data to be read, if you are not getting CONDATA events, then there won't be data to be read. Unless you drop an event, of course. CONDATA events which arrive after a CONCLOSE event or a netclose() call may get a -1 return from netread(), indicating that the connection has no more data or does not exist. Event CONCLOSE If the host you are talking to decides to drop the connection, or reset it, then you may get a CONCLOSE event. This can be interpreted as the last CONDATA event that you will get. There may be a large amount of data waiting for you to pick it up with netread() even after receiving a CONCLOSE event. The correct procedure is to take data from netread() until you receive a 0 or -1 return code and then call netclose() to finalize your side of the connection. Event CONFAIL The timer ran out on a connection which you tried to open. This does not mean that you are done. You must netclose() to allow the memory for that port to be re-used. Virtual Screen Kernel Calls Gaige B. Paulsen October 31, 1987 updated July 14, 1988 int VSinit(max) int max; Maximum number of Virtual screens to allow. Initializes the Virtual Screen Kernel for use with up to max screens. Returns 0 if successful. VSscrn *VSwhereis(i) int i; Virtual Screen to examine. Returns the current address of the virtual screen control record. This is used for debugging. int VSnewscreen( maxlines, screensave, maxwid, IDC) int maxwid; How wide can this window be. Only tested for 80 and 132. int maxlines; Maximum number of lines to save. int screensave; Is scrollback enabled at start? int IDC; Do we have support for insert and delete of characters. Creates a new screen if possible. VSnewscreen returns a number >=0 if it succeeds, which is to be used as the window parameter(w) in all subsequent calls to vs routines. If the return value is <0, there was an error, and no screen was created. VSdestroy(w) int w; Window number to destroy. Destroy the window corresponding to w. Returns an error if applicable. VSdetatch(w) int w; Window number to detach. Detach the window corresponding to w. Returns an error if applicable. Note that this function currently just calls VSdestroy(w). Previously and hopefully sometime in the future as well, it did/will allow for the destruction of a screen without freeing memory. VSredraw(w,x1,y1,x2,y2) int w; Window number to redraw. int x1, y1,x2,y2; Bounds of the rectangle to be drawn, in local window coordinates. Redraw the portion of window w which lies within (x1,y1) - (x2,y2). The coordinates are local to the window and should NOT be adjusted for scrollback, as most of scrollback is handled by the VS routines and not the RS. VSwrite(w,ptr,len) int w; Window number to write to. int len; How many characters to write. char *ptr; Where to get the characters. The big routine. This one is called to write a character stream to the virtual screen w. VSwrite calls VSem to parse the emulation. VSclear(w) int w; Window number to clear. Clear the virtual screen of window w. char VSkbsend(w,k,echo) int w; Window number to send the characters from. int echo; Boolean - whether to local echo the key. unsigned char k; VT-100 key code to send Sends the VT-102 representation of the key represented by k. This routine uses somewhat of a hack by calling RSsendstring which is supposed to know how to send characters to whichever port corresponds to window w. The echo flag only applies to special keys (like arrows) and will cause them to echo on the local screen as they are transmitted. VSclearall(w) int w; Window number to clear all of. This routine currently does nothing. It was originally intended clear the current screen and all of the scrollback as well as setting the top of the scrollback to the top of the available storage space, but this was deemed unnecessary.....at least for now. VSreset(w) int w; Window number to reset. Resets the virtual screen (w) with respect to VT-100 modes. Changes the wrap mode to off and clears the screen as well as setting all other modes to their ORIGINAL POWER-ON defaults as specified by the VT-100 programmers manual. char *VSgetline(w,y) int w; Window number to get line from. int y; Line from which to get the pointer This routine in now out of date and SHOULD NOT BE USED unless you really know what you are doing. It retrives a pointer to the data string associated with line (y) of the screen (w). This ONLY works with lines that are on the active vt100 screen (lines 0-23). VSsetrgn(w,x1,y1,x2,y2) int w; Window number to set the display region for. int x1,y1,x2,y2; The vs's bounding rectangle in GLOBAL VS coordinates . Set the current display region for window w to (x1,y1)- (x2,y2). This will perform scrollback/scrollforward/scrollleft/scrollright/etc. as necessary to make the current screen reflect the values of the passed display region. It restricts you from doing anything really stupid (I hope). VSgetrgn(w,x1,y1,x2,y2) int w; Window number to scroll forward in. int *x1,*y1,*x2,*y2; Where to retrieve the display region into. Get the current value of the display region (as set by setrgn and/or modified by the scroll routines as well as auto--scroll). Pass pointers to the integers you would like to have the values put into. VSscrolback(w,in) int w; Window number to scroll back in. int in; Number of lines to scroll back. Scroll back in lines in window w if possible. Note that this routine will prevent you from scrolling back beyond the top of the buffer, so it is safe to call it whenever you get a request to scroll back further, even if you don't know if there is data left to scroll back into. VSscrolforward(w,n) int w; Window number to scroll forward in. int n; Number of lines to scroll forward. Scrolls forward n lines in window w. See VSscrolback for details. VSscrolright(w,n) int w; Window number to scroll right in. int n; Number of columns to scroll right. Scrolls right n columns in window w. See VSscrolback for details. VSscrolleft(w,n) int w; Window number to scroll forward in. int n; Number of columns to scroll left. Scrolls left n columns in window w. See VSscrolback for details. VSscrolcontrol(w,scrolon,savescroll) int w; Window number to set scroll variables for. int scrolon; Do we scroll or don't we? int savescroll; Save cleared lines into scrollback. Changes the value of the scrolon variable in window w, therefore disabling and enabling scrollback, not really necessary. If savescroll is on, all clearscreen commands will load the text into the scrollback buffer. VSsnapshot(w) int w; Window number to take snapshot of. Currently does nothing. Will/should eventually make a copy of the current screen into the scrollback buffer. This is most easily done by sending 24 line feeds and then copying the values of lines (-24) - (-1) into 0-24. But, I hope to do this before 2.1 and the source release. int VSmaxwidth(w) int w; Window number to retrieve the maximum width of. Retrieves the current maximum width of window w. Used primarily to get the maximum possible size of a selection for copying. NOTE: a 132 column window in 80 column mode returns 80. long VSgettext(w, x1, y1, x2, y2, charp, max, EOLS) int w; Window number to get text from. int x1,y1,x2,y2; The starting and ending points of the text in global VS coordinates . char *charp; Pointer to the destination of the gotten text. char *EOLS; Pointer to the string to be used for end of line. long max; Maximum number of characters charp can hold. Copies a section of text from window w, which corresponds to an area starting from the x1th character of line y1 to the x2th character of line y2, inclusive of all of the characters on lines y1+1 to y2-1 into a buffer pointed at by charp to exceed no more than max and inserting the string pointed at by EOLS whenever there is a line transition. (...whew...) This is mainly used for copy and print of VS data. Extraneous blanks are ommitted at the end of lines by searching backward to the beginning of the line. Global VS coordinates vs. local coordinates Global Global coordinates are used to represent a range of information that can span the entire VS space as it currently exists. To accurately portray the area, we must have some standard method of referring to scrollback. For this, we have chosen to refer to the top of the currently active VT-102 screen as line 0, the bottom of the active screen as line 23, and the lines of scrollback as negative offsets from line 0. Hence, a line that has been scrolled off by a CR-LF would be seen as line -1. To perform actions such as scrolling back to the top of the virtual screen, you would ask for lines from (top of buffer) to (top of buffer +length of display window). Similarly, if you wished to scroll to make the right hand side of a 132 column window visible, you would ask for the columns from (maxwidth -20) to (maxwidth). Local Local coordinates are used to represent things that happen relative to the area being displayed by the Virtual Screen. An example would be a portion (or all) of the virtual screen being made visible. This action would cause whichever lines are in the visible area to be redrawn, therefore you will need to inform the VS routines to do this. Since the VS routines attempt to maintain as much of the information about scrollback by themselves so as not to burden you with extraneous information, you pass these coordinates as local to the currently active screen. Therefore, a full redraw would be line 0 character 0 through line 23 character 79, which would then be translated by VSredraw to whatever global coordinates are appropriate. Replacing the Terminal Emulation package in the VS routines. The VS routines can be used as a basis for just about any 24 line screen terminal emulator. This document shows how to use the internal routines in vsintern.c to construct a vsem.c file as a basis for a new terminal emulator. VSem(c,ctr) - char *c pointer to the buffer to use as input to the emulator int ctr how many characters to read from the input buffer This is the main emulation routine. It is the entry point from VSwrite and should be the only thing that needs to be replaced when changing the terminal emulation. escflg: current escape state 0 - normal character wait 1 - have escape, waiting for next character 2 - escape '[' sequence, waiting for parameters 3 - escape '#' sequence 4 - escape '(' sequence 5 - escape ')' sequence c: pointer to character currently being parsed VSIw: points to the window structure for the current window. VSIwn: is the current window number VSI routines from vsintern.c for use in emulation VSIreset() - Cause a terminal reset VSItabinit() - Initialize tabs to default stat (every 8 characters) VSItabclear() - Clear the tab at the current position VSIdellines(n,s) - delete n lines at s (current line if s<0) VSIinslines(n,s) - insert n lines at s (current line if s<0) VSIeeol() - erase to end of line VSIebol() - erase to beginning of line VSIel(s) - erase the entire line s (current line if s<0) VSIeeos() - erase to end of screen VSIebos() - erase to beginning of screen VSIes() - erase the whole screen VSIrange() - check and resolve range errors for x and y VSIdraw( VSIwn, x, y, a, len, c) - draw len characters at (x,y) in attribute a with the chars at c VSIinsstring(len,start) - insert len characters at the current position with the chars at start VSIdelchars(x) - delete x characters at the current position VSIinschar(x) - insert x blank characters at the current position VSItab() - move to next tab stop VSIsave() - save current x, y, a VSIrestore() - restore previous x,y,a VSIindex() - index one line VSIrindex() - reverse index one line VTsendpos() - Send the VT-100 cursor report VTsendstat() - Send the VT-100 status report VTsendident() - Send the VT-100 identity report VSIsetoption(toggle) - Set the VT-100 option depending on toggle How to write a new PC driver There are six routines which must be provided in a new driver. All of these routines are currently provided in assembly language in one file. When you write a new driver, you will probably take a current driver and replace each of the six routines in the file. The current examples are in the ENET subdirectory and the three best examples are: NET501.ASM 3COM 3C501 driver. Uses interrupts, and will be a reasonable template for other interrupt-driven drivers. I highly discourage trying to improve this driver for the 3C501. I've tried. NETUB.ASM Ungermann-Bass (IBM) NIC board driver. Does not use interrupts. This driver may be a good template for simple shared-memory boards which divide the memory into pages. NET5210.ASM MICOM NI5210 driver. The NI5210 uses the Intel 82586 chip. You will need the Intel databook for this chip in order to understand the driver. This driver should be directly applicable to all boards which are built around the 82586. Works with 8K or 16K boards. Only uses 8K of a 16K board, so save your money. With dual-ported RAM and intelligent chipsets, interrupts are entirely unnecessary. The board will automatically buffer a certain number of packets which are picked up when NCSA Telnet has time to process incoming packets. TCP takes care of preventing overruns. The six routines are described below. They generally return -1 on error. getaddr() is usually called first and etopen must be called next for any of the other routines to make sense. Function pointers for the routines are declared and installed in PCTOOLS.C. A new driver should install new pointers right alongside the existing ones. etopen(eaddr,irq,addr,ioaddr) char eaddr[6]; Hardware ethernet address to use on board. int irq; Interrupt request level from configuration file. int addr; Shared memory base segment address from configuration file. int ioaddr; I/O address from configuration file. This routine must do all of the initializations for the Ethernet board. Any interrupt drivers must be placed, interrupts turned on, base register variables set up, packets initialized and the address set for the board. Do not return until you are receiving packets. Most drivers will ignore some of the fields provided. Map them to whatever values are appropriate for your hardware. getaddr(eaddr,addr,ioaddr) char eaddr[6]; Buffer to place address. int addr; Base segment address for shared memory int ioaddr; Base I/O address for board Some of these parameters are also ignored, depending upon the hardware. The hardware address from the board's EPROMs should be copied into the eaddr buffer. This address is generally given back to etopen, so getaddr cannot depend on etopen's initialization. etclose() Shut down Ethernet board. Primarily to turn off interrupts. This routine can be just a RET for non-interrupt boards. recv() Receive a packet. Used only for boards that do not use interrupts. The interrupt handler generally replaces the need for recv(). The interrupt handler or recv() must use my undocumented buffering scheme. Generally, keep the same code and replace the board handling side. xmit(packet,size) char *packet; Address of packet to transmit. int size; Size of packet to transmit, including all headers. Send out one packet. This is generally not interrupt driven. The packet size may be smaller than the minimum Ethernet packet size. If so, this routine must take care of the details. The frame to transmit always includes the entire Ethernet frame header, so non-802.3 drivers may need to strip the header to modify higher layer code. etupdate() Remove one packet from the buffer. This routine is generally unmodified from driver to driver. The incoming packet is not copied from the buffer until fully processed, so the driver must wait until etupdate() is called before freeing the space back to the buffer.