Leander Berwers,
> After I do a 'more (binary file)' often my command prompt and everything I
> type is unreadable. This has probably something to do with ANSI. How can I
> correct this 'problem'?
Don't more (or less) binary files. It's an "ASCII thing". The
American Standard Code for Information Interchange divided the space of
256 8-bit character into categories and assigned meanings to each characters.
The general concept is called code space multiplexing and divides one
communication channel (the serial cable) into many (human<->human,
modem<->modem, host<->host, etc.). The codes from 0x20-0x7e make up the
"printable ascii" set and are designated for human endusers. The codes from
0x00-0x1f, and 0x7f were assigned specific meanings for modem<->modem and
host<->host communication (go to the next line, end of transmission, slow
down transmission, etc.) The codes from 0x80-0xff were designated for
application use, with some recommended assignments.
When you more or less a binary file, the terminal and host interpret
the non-printable characters (0x00-0x1f, and 0x7f-0xff). If done
intentionally, this adds boldface, tables, invisible fields, animation,
line drawing, and other features to available presentation formats. A
random binary file is unlikely to have desirable results. It is similar
to letting the mythological monkey make your ATM deposit.
One way to view the contents of a binary file is to use od -vb <file>.
See "man od" for more information. Several editors such as emacs have a
hex-mode that allows you to work conveniently with binary files.
Welcome to linux,
--
Robert Meier
FANUC Robotics North America, Inc. Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Voice: 1-810-377-7469 Fax: 1-810-377-7363
