At 11:42 AM 3/24/03 -0600, you wrote: <Snipped> >Having a vast array to choose from and loading one at a time ... THAT
>might be palatable. In fact, it would be truly spiffy if some user- >space program could take IBM-defined binary translation files and do >the right thing to the kernel's console driver from that spec, one map >at a time.
That's actually what I meant to suggest. A loadable module for translation, selected by the kernel code at boot time based on the actual or virtual hardware that is the console. Or loaded via startup script via insmod if necessary.
Whether existing IBM binary translation files are the ones that should be used is a subject I'll leave to you and others to argue. I just want a well-defined translation that "just works" no matter whether it's real iron, VM or hercules.
BTW, further testing on my part shows that at least two of the EBCDIC-unique characters do not display at all on the hercules console even with codepage 437/500 enabled -- cent sign and PL/1 not sign. Are these even available on a "real iron" HMC?
These are obviously not critical or even necessarily useful for emergency programming at the HMC, so I really don't care that they don't show up. Plus, that could be a hercules issue and not a linux issue, I haven't isolated who's doing what to whom there yet.
<Snipped> >Right. But accurate scripting in an emergency >does not also require that the translate table be symmetric. >You get input translated correctly from a number of possible >reference code pages. If the output does not match, >the operator can figure out what is happening from the context. >Again, this is for the emergency, not for "production". >(But avoid HMC for production work anyway, as IBM recommends.)
Figuring it out from the context can be a real PITA, even if you think you know what you're doing. It's hard enough to get it right without such complications.
>> >Here too, a switch after the fact would be reasonable. >> >> ??? After which fact? You lost me here. > >I mean that you could load a symmetrical table later on, >after the emergency has passed.
I don't necessarily ask for a symmetrical table, just that all the characters be correctly input fro the keyboard and displayed on the console. If an asymmetrical table accomplishes that, it's OK by me.
It *would* be nice if these console codepages were documented in a man page or info file somewhere, and not require venturing into the kernel source to resolve a simple question. Then hercules developers would be able to tailor their translation to what the kernel needs/wants (using OSTAILOR LINUX, for instance).
Thanks for your insight on this. It's been very informative. --------------------------------------------------------- Peter J. Farley III ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
