configuring an HP 700/96 console to work with a K420

[Cathy Squires]

Hello,

I am trying to configure an HP 700/96 console to work with a K420. This particular K420 was working just fine when it was taken off line and stored it and the monitor in the warehouse. Unfortuanly, someone took the monitor and I'm trying to figure out the configureation I had in there. So far, the K420 will boot up without the monitor attached, but only gets to the C440 error (wrong monitor attached)

I have the monitor & K420 connected with a 2454G cable, and the following set in terminal config (I only put down the ones I think were the most important to getting this to work.
Serial 1/Serial 2
local echo
Xmit Fnctn (A) No
SPOW (B) No
InhEolWrp(C) Yes
Line/Page (D) Line
InhHndShk(G) Yes
InhDC2(H) No
BlkXferTrigr DC1
ExcXfer (N) No
TermMode EM100

I'm still trying to find my old notes, but so far no luck and I need to start rebuilding this machine soon.

BTW, is it possible to redirect the output to hypertermial?

Thanks in advance
ecs

[Denver Osborn · Accepted solution]

Have you tried using the default configs?

Power of 700/96 console
Press and hold the "D" key when you power it on
Wait about 5-10 sec, then release the "D" key

You'll see "Default configs used, press return to clear" or something like that... press return at that point and see if you get anywhere.

Hope this helps,
-denver

[TwoProc]

I think using the above mentioned reset to default would probably more correct.

Two settings that look funny to me are "local echo" and "Line" mode instead of Page mode. But, I'm just guessing on that. Also, I don't usually use "EM100" for vt100 emulation (the HP terminal types have scrollback functionality)- but that's just a preference, not a requirement to see a connection.

[Cathy Squires]

THANK YOU BOTH VERY MUCH, It worked perfectly!!

I really do love this forum, I always get the info I need and quickly

[Cathy Squires]

.....

[Bill Hassell]

You wrote:

> Two settings that look funny to me are "local echo" and "Line" mode instead of Page mode. But, I'm just guessing on that. Also, I don't usually use "EM100" for vt100 emulation (the HP terminal types have scrollback functionality)- but that's just a preference, not a requirement to see a connection.

- "local echo" means that each key pressed on the keyboard will be shown on the screen. Normally (in HP-UX) this is handled by the computer so if you set it, you should now see two copies of each keypress. The reason for the echo is to show that the remote computer is connected - keyboard will look inoperative when the computer doesn't echo back.

- LINE mode is the default and leaves this smart terminal in dumb mode. PAGE mode means that you can type on the screen and edit characters -- but nothing is sent to the computer. Then the ENTER key transmits the page back to the computer. This was very popular in the days of shared modems (multiplexers) but is not used today. HP's commercial OS called MPE would selectively enable LINE and PAGE mode for certain applications so users never had to set this option.

As far as the HP vs EM100 mode, HP is the preferred method for HP-UX, especially on the older machines like the K and D series. As you've seen, vt100 is truly dumb -- no softkeys, no memory, etc. HP is a smart terminal and tools like swinstall and Glance will take advantage of the terminal features to make navigation much easier.

As far as using a dumb emulator like hyperterminal, that will work fine. Just use a printer cable (also known as a null-modem or crossover cable).

Once you get your system rebuilt, make sure you change /etc/profile to automatically handle any terminal type using the ttytype command. Replace all this code:

# set term if it's not set

if [ "$TERM" = "" -o "$TERM" = "unknown" -o "$TERM" = "dialup" \
-o "$TERM" = "network" ]
then
eval `ttytype -s -a`
fi

export TERM

# set erase to ^H, if ERASE is not set
if [ "$ERASE" = "" ]
then
ERASE="^H"
export ERASE
fi
stty erase $ERASE

with:

eval $(ttytype -a)

[TwoProc]

Re: Bill - local echo - that's correct, and that's why I said it "looked funny" - it's normally not used b/c of the double characters - unless the connection in use is half duplex - an ugly way to connect.

Re: line mode vs page mode: I stand corrected.

The really goofy thing here is - neither of those settings (and lots of the others) should have caused the C404 error right? Wouldn't it have merely made the formatting look bad/ugly/and-at-times-somewhat-unreadable, but still the console would connect?

[Bill Hassell]

> The really goofy thing here is - neither of those settings (and lots of the others) should have caused the C404 error right? Wouldn't it have merely made the formatting look bad/ugly/and-at-times-somewhat-unreadable, but still the console would connect?

Correct. The C440 error is based not on the terminal emulation options but the appearance of the RS-232 port to the processor ROMs (BCH). The 700/96 has multiple ports and there are settings that control which port is active and which control signals are set. The 700/96 is a truly smart terminal but with highly versatile products, misconfigurations are easy and thus the 'd' key reset feature.