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DEC ReGIS Graphics News  (archived by R. S. Shuford)
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ARIS BBS [+1 215/957-1000] (SIG 44/MESS 109-110)  1990
Reprinted from \DEC Professional/ magazine, August 1990, page 22.

From: Phil Gravel

I've done programming in ReGIS.  All I do is WRITE or TYPE the appropriate
commands from a FORTRAN program.  Here are four strings from a program:

    '<ESC>POp'
    'S(E),S(C1),P[100,440]'
    'V(S),[+100,+0],[+0,-10],[+0,+10],(E)'
    '<ESC>\'

The first line puts the terminal in the ReGIS mode.  The second line puts
the graphics position at X=100, Y=440.  The origin in ReGIS is the top left
corner of the screen.  Positive X goes to the right, and positive Y goes down.

The third line draws a vector from the current position (100,440) 100 pixels
to the right at the same vertical position, then  then draws another vector up
(remember negative Y is up) 10 pixels and draws a vector back down 10
pixels. Finally, the fourth line exits the ReGIS mode.

To help you develop ReGIS applications, you can use the ReGIS Graphics
Library (RGL) by Richard Desper of the U.S. Army Materials Technology
Laboratory.  This is available from the DECUS Software Library as V00365;
it allows you to make high-level calls to ReGIS primitives.

The FORTRAN source code for VMS is available thusly

    ftp://www.decus.org/pub/lib/v00365/vaxregis.zip

This Zip file is 990467 bytes.  Be sure to transfer in binary mode.

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Newsgroups: comp.terminals
Path: cs.utk.edu!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!doc.ic.ac.uk
      !uknet!bradford.ac.uk!M.T.Shipley
From: M.T.Shipley@bradford.ac.uk (MT SHIPLEY)
Subject: Re: What is  GPO on a Vt100 "style" terminal?
Message-ID: <1993Aug22.103029.13694@bradford.ac.uk>
Lines: 147
Organization: University of Bradford, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL9]
References: <9308211704.AA13300@freenet.buffalo.edu>
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1993 10:30:29 GMT

Elizabeth M. Phillips (ad302@freenet.buffalo.edu) wrote:


: I have asked this before but it seems to have fallen on deaf  ears.

: SO once again I am repeating the question.
: what is GPO?

Well, that got my attention !:-)

I've only discovered this newsgroup a month ago, and thus must have missed
your original post.

: AVO is advanced video option  (hey I know that much!)
: but GPO eludes me, if someone could explain it I would
: be very happy.  AND if someone could give information
: on utilization of it I would be also happy.

Cut from that old VT125 manual I seem to have (remember I thought
it was a VT100 manual :-)...

   TERMINAL OPERATION
    The VT125 Graphic Terminal (Figure 1-1) is a VT100 text video text
      terminal and a graphics processor in one package.  The graphics
      processor processes graphics commands from a computer to generate
      an image in its own memory.  Then it sends a video representation
      of that image to the VT100 text terminal'l internal monitor screen
      and to an optional external color monitor.  It can also send a bit
      map representation of the image to a graphics printer.  blurb blurb
      blurb.

So it looks as if your GPO is a Graphics Processor Option. Wow, that's
ReGIS (Remote Graphics Instruction Set) graphics.

As a test, try outputting (or maybe if you can get the terminal into
"local mode", typing), the following

   Notes.  A general form of ReGIS data is when sent to an ANSI device is:

                             ESC P p ...data... ESC \
           That's subsiture ...data... for the variable sequences, and
              envelope this with the escape character, uppercase P,
              lowercase p, your data, escape, backslash


  here goes...

    ESC P p p[384,240] c[+100,+50] ESC \

circle maybe, at centre point [384,240] with circumference at (relative)
  [+100,+50].

here are some other command that I typed in, but have not finished yet...

VT125

  Coordinate range  [0..767, 0..479]
  Odd-Y simulation for vertical pixels


   Position Command
   ================

   P
     []                                   Reset pattern memory
     [<position>]                         Move to <position>
     <pixel-vector>                       Move as specified by pixel vector
     (W(M<multiplier>))                   Temporary writing controls
     (B)                                  Save current location on stack
     (S)                                  Save non-acting location on stack
     (E)                                  Pop and move to location off stack


   Vector Command
   ==============

   V
     []                                   Draw dot at current position
     [<position>]                         Draw vector to <position>
     <pixel-vector>                       Draw as specified by pixel vector
     (W(M<multiplier>))                   Temporary writing controls
     (B)                                  Save current location on stack
     (S)                                  Save non-acting location on stack
     (E)                                  Pop and draw to location off stack


   Curve Command
   =============

   C
     [<position>]                         Circle with center at current
                                          position, circumference at
                                          <position>
     (C)[<position>]                      Circle with centre at <position>,
                                          circumference at current position
     (A<degrees>)[<position>]             Arc with center at current
                                          position, starting at <position>
                                          for <degrees>
     (A<degrees>C)[<position>]            Arc with center at <position>,
                                          starting at current position
                                          for <degrees>
     (B)[<position>]...[<position>](E)    Bounded (closed) curve
     (S)[<position>]...[<position>](E)    Unbounded (open) curve
     (W(<temporary-writing-controls>))    Temporary writing controls

   Text Command
   ============

   T
     '<text>'                             Output the text <text>
     (S<size-number>)                     Set character cell size to
                                          standard size <size-number>
     (H<multiplier>)


this misses report R(), screen control S(), writing control W(),
macrographics, and no doubt some others.

notes. general format of coords is when numbers do *not* start with
a sign, they're absolute, and with a sign, they're relative.  If
the coord is unchanged since last time, you can miss it out, but
may need a comma as a placeholder.

     [200,100] is abs x=200, y=100
     [+200,-100] is rel x=currentX+200, y=currentY-100
     [200] is abs x=200, y=unchanged (same as [200,+0])
     [,-100] is rel, x=unchanged, y=currentY-100



If you need more details, then either find someone that has a terminal
thats got ReGIS (eg VT240, VT241) that borrow the PROGRAMMING MANUAL.
(note that the newer Digital graphics terminals seem not to come with
a manual included, you need to purchase it).  Also, some of the PC
VT type emulators come with ReGIS docu.

If you fail to find more out, then post here, or mail me, and I'll (yawn)
type some more documentation and examples in.


: thank you!

no prob!, (watch those !, and the use of uppercase, they make the message
          sound SHARP (to me), which I'm sure you're not.)

Martin

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Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Path: utkcs2!emory!att!ucbvax!LRW.COM!leichter
From: leichter@LRW.COM (Jerry Leichter)
Subject: re:  Re: ReGIS escape sequences
Message-ID: <9104081451.AA17652@BULLDOG.CS.YALE.EDU>
Date: 8 Apr 91 14:41:40 GMT
Lines: 57


	 > <ESC>P1p ==> Enters Graphis mode
	 > <ESC>Pp  ==> I have no idea

	If <ESC>P1p means enter graphics mode, then <ESC>Pp (which is
	equivalent to <ESC>P0p should exit graphics mode.

Sorry, not quite - for two reasons, one of which doesn't happen to apply here.

1.  It is NOT true than an omitted numerical parameter in an ANSI escape or
control sequence defaults to 0.  Each sequence defines its own default; for
example, the set/reset sequences have no default, as far as I know, and things
like Cursor Right default to 1.  (In practice, many sequences DO default to 0,
and some of the others are hacked to get the same effect, since they treat an
actual argument of 0 as 1.  Cursor Right may actually act like that.)

The (rather academic) point of all this is that you can't look at an unknown
sequence with an omitted numerical parameter and say much of anything about
what it will do.

2.  ESC P actually is "DCS"; it introduces a Device Control String.  (In
8-bit mode, DCS can be encoded as a single byte with hex value 90.)  The
String introduced by a DCS nominally continues until the next String Termina-
tor (ST - ESC \, or hex 9C).  I say "nominally" because the ANSI 3.64 spec
leaves open the question of what aborts a DCS.  The particular kind of DCS is
specified by the final character, "p" here for ReGIS.  (There can be one or
more intermediate characters, usually specifying numerical parameters, between
them.  The meaning of these parameters is specific to the particular type of
DCS.)  Another kind of DCS is Sixels, specified by final character "q".

All DCS types that DEC has defined avoid using most control characters, and
will terminate - nominally in error - if they receive many "meaningless"
control characters.  In particular, ESC (not part of ST) will cause them to
abort.

So ... all that said ... what does the mystery parameter to the ReGIS DCS
do?  I think the possibilities have grown over the years, but here is what
they do on a VT330/VT340:

	DCS p or DCS 0 p
		Re-enter ReGIS at the point where it was last exited.  Does
		not display commands.

	DCS 1 p
		Enter ReGIS at command level; ReGIS begins a new command.
		Does not display commands.

	DCS x+2 p, x=0 or 1
		Like DCS x p, but displays commands on the screen's bottom
		line.

That is:  When ReGIS "exits", what it really does is suspends exactly where
it is.  DCS 0 p continues from where it left off; DCS 1 p first cleans up and
restores ReGIS to command mode.  In a ReGIS string, ST xxx DCS 0 p is, in
effect, a "subroutine call", executing xxx in normal ANSI mode.

							-- Jerry

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Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Path: utkcs2!emory!att!ucbvax!UALR.BITNET!GRSPANGLER
From: GRSPANGLER@UALR.BITNET (CTRL-Z)
Subject: regis commands
Message-ID: <05DD5CFD20C00776@UALR.BITNET>
Date: 8 Apr 91 13:40:00 GMT
Lines: 53

>       I am trying to program a VT241 to change the colours on the screen,
>with the aid of a .COM file kindly sent to me by David Sigler
><sigler@wheel.enet.dec.com>, but I am at a loss as to what some of the
>escape sequences do. I don't seem to have any relevant manuals, and the
>master index for the big gray wall does not have ReGIS listed !
>
>       The particular sequences I am after are :
>
>       <ESC>P1p
>       <ESC>Pp
>
>as well as the strings which ReGIS uses to set its colours.

well, according to this here vt240 manual of mine:

Sequence               Meaning
esc Pp (or esc P0p)    enters regis at previous command level (no
                       commands displayed).
esc P1p                enters regis at highest command level (no
                       commands displayed).

example color changing command

s(m3(r)) or s(m3(h120l50s100))

either one changes the background color to red.  s is a Screen command, m is
output Mapping, the 3 stands for position 3, and the r in the first command
stands for Red in the rgb color scheme and the other stands for red in the
Hue/Lightness/Saturation scheme.

>       On the same subject (sorta), is there any way to stop EDIT/EDT doing
>a terminal reset when you go into screen mode? I have even tried editing
>from a 2 line .COM file like :
>
>$ EDIT/EDT/COMMAND=[directory]EDTINI.EDT
>$ reset colours command
>
>but VMS doesn't like the "change" command in my EDTINI.EDT anymore!
>
>       I can set the terminal to VT100 mode, which stops EDT from resetting
>the screen colours, but then ALL-IN-1 doesn't see my VT200 keys (Select,
>Find etc). If I set my terminal to VT200, 7 or 8 bit, (which keeps ALL-IN-1
>happy) then EDT resets things.

sorry, can't help ya with that one.

================================================================================
USMailNet: Guy R. Spangler  2801 S University Ave  Little Rock, AR  72204
AT&TNet:   (501)569-8712
BITNet:    GRSPANGLER@UALR.BITNET
InterNet:  I don't know yet, but when I do you'll be the first to know.

Disclaimer: What?!?!?  I didn't say that!!!!!

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Path: utkcs2!ornl!rsg1.er.usgs.gov!ukma!asuvax!ncar!noao!arizona!arizona.edu
      !cerritos.edu!orion.oac.uci.edu!gordius!gordius!mike
From: mike@gordian.com (Michael Thomas)
Subject: Re: how many colors can I get in REGIS?
Message-ID: <1991Nov19.003445.3022@gordian.com>
Date: 19 Nov 91 00:34:45 GMT
References: <1991Nov15.171130.11075@athena.mit.edu>
Sender: news@gordian.com
Reply-To: mike@gordian.com (Michael Thomas)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Gordian; Costa Mesa, CA
Lines: 29

-- 

   Having written a Regis emulator (ACK!), I think I'm qualified to say
that Regis doesn't have any real preconceived notion of the number of 
bits/pixel. The Vt330 has only 2 bits/pixel whereas the Vt340 has 4 bit/pixel.
The form of the command to change the forground color slot
  W(In)
where _n_ is the slot could really be anything. I think that most regis 
implementation just truncate the high bits over the actual number of bits
per pixel (as opposed to say saturating...). I know for certain that the
Regis emulator for the DS3100 (running Ultrix) definately supports 16 colors
and wouldn't suprise me if it supported 256 colors (I think this pretty much
comes with the teritory being written under X). I have little doubt that
the VMS regis emulator is the same as the Ultrix emulator. All of the other
commands like setting the color of a slot, setting the plane mask etc, have
the same overall structure as the Write command.
  Hope this helps...

		Michael Thomas	(mike@gordian.com)
		___________________________________________
		USnail: 20361 Irvine Ave
		        Santa Ana Heights, Ca,
			92707-5637
		PaBell: (714) 850-0205
			(714) 850-0533 (fax)

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Newsgroups: comp.terminals,comp.sys.dec
Path: utkcs2!darwin.sura.net!mips!mips!decwrl!deccrl!news.crl.dec.com!news
      !nntpd.lkg.dec.com!royalt.enet.dec.com!sherwin
From: sherwin@royalt.enet.dec.com (Jim Sherwin)
Subject: Re: VT240/REGIS control codes needed!
Message-ID: <1992Jul30.163508.4361@nntpd.lkg.dec.com>
Sender: usenet@nntpd.lkg.dec.com (USENET News System)
Organization: DEC -- Video, Image and Printer Systems Group
References:   <JOE.92Jul28233246@oilean.oilean.uucp>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 17:16:44 GMT
Xref: utkcs2 comp.terminals:3347 comp.sys.dec:10498


In article <JOE.92Jul28233246@oilean.oilean.uucp>,
 joe@oilean.oilean.uucp (Joe McGuckin) writes...
>
>I'm the proud owner of a VT240 in reasonably good shape. I'd like
>to be able to use the graphics capability. Can someone send or email or
>point me to to where I can get this info?

	Given that REGIS was proprietary to DEC VT's, perhaps the best
	source would be DEC documentation.  The following 3 manuals
	might be of interest to you.

	EK-VT125-GI	VT125 REGIS PRIMER
	EK-VT240-HR	VT240 PROGRAMMER POCKET GUIDE
	EK-VT240-RM	VT240 PROGRAMMER REFERENCE MANUAL


	I believe all of these are still orderable thru our DECdirect
	catalog @ 1-800-DIGITAL (1-800-344-4825).

	The VR201 was a monochrome monitor used on either of our
	Rainbow, DECmate or Professional 3xx series of personal
	computers.  It can be connected to the VT240 system box also.
	Doing so yields a 12" (I think) monochrome graphics terminal.

	BTW the VT240 was either a monochrome or color graphics terminal
	depending on the monitor used; VR240 = monochrome; VR241 = color.
	These VR24x monitors were, I believe a Toshiba product.

 <>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
 <> "When things are going well,   \    Jim Sherwin a.k.a.                  <>
 <>  someone will inevitably        \   sherwin@royalt.enet.dec.com         <>
 <>  experiment detrimentally."      \  !decwrl!royalt.enet.dec.com!sherwin <>
 <>               Boyle's Second Law  \ sherwin%royalt.enet@decwrl.dec.com  <>
 <>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>

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Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Path: cs.utk.edu!ornl!rsg1.er.usgs.gov!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net
      !agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!network.ucsd.edu!mvb.saic.com!info-vax
From: Arne Vajhøj <ARNE@kopc.hhs.dk>
Subject: Re: WANTED: ReGis to Postscript converter
Message-ID: <01GYODNQTBHE9GV7LQ@kopc.hhs.dk>
Date: Thu, 27 May 1993 16:46:11 +0100
Organization: Info-Vax<==>Comp.Os.Vms Gateway
Lines: 13

> I'm searching for a program that will convert my ReGis files to
> postscript.  I need color postscript output.  If there is anything
> like this out there please let me know.

If you have CPS or DCPS installed, then you can RUN SYS$LIBRARY:TRN$REGIS_PS !

                                                          Arne

Arne Vajhøj                             local DECNET:  KO::ARNE
Computer Department                     PSI:           PSI%238310013040::ARNE
Business School of Southern Denmark     Internet:      ARNE@KO.HHS.DK

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Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Path: cs.utk.edu!gatech!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!mvb.saic.com!info-vax
From: Jerry Leichter <leichter@lrw.com>
Subject: Re: GIGI terminals
Message-ID: <9506021839.AA17916@uu3.psi.com>
Date: Fri,  2 Jun 95 14:31:03 EDT
Organization: Info-Vax<==>Comp.Os.Vms Gateway
X-Gateway-Source-Info: Mailing List
Lines: 56

>	...The VT125 was strange in lots of ways.  The RGB output carried only
>	the graphics video, while its built-in monochrome display mixed the
>	graphics video with the standard VT100 character-cell video.  (This is
>	different from the GIGI -- using the GIGI in "character mode" caused
>	writes to the graphics bitmap.)  Had a very limited color palette and
>	map, too -- you got to use a whopping four colors out of 64 available.

The original VT100 was much more than a terminal - it really was a base
display system.  There was room and power in the box to add all kinds of
interesting things.  At one extreme was the VT103, which put a whole Q-bus
backplane and an 11/23 inside the box.  There weren't any disks small enough
to put in there at the time, but everything else needed for a "PC" was there.
I've still got one - long story.

The VT125 was a similar design.  The VT100 remains unchanged - the logic
remains in the two-chip DC-something set, it has its own memory, its own
D/A converters, etc.  The graphics part of the VT125 is a completely indepen-
dent processor.  As I recall, it hooks into the incoming line in front of
the VT100, and scans the data stream for the escape sequence that enters
ReGIS mode.  Then it takes over, grabbing characters until the ReGIS command
to exit back to text mode arrives.

At the other end, the VT125 has its own screen bitmap, and its own D/A conver-
ters.  An analogue mixer combines the signals from the text and graphics
pieces.

This design has some handy features.  For example, you can scroll the text
under the graphics without affecting the graphics - very handy for debugging.
People got used to this, and used it - assuming, for example, that clearing
the textual data would leave the graphics image unchanged.  They also made
assumptions about the size and positional relationships between the text and
graphics images, using textual data to anotate graphics images.

All these assumptions were invalid on every later ReGIS implementation - all
later implementations used a common bitmap for text and graphics.  Many
ReGIS-using programs failed to work properly on VT240's as a result.  GIGI's
also used the common bitmap approach, but they and VT125's were used by
disjoint groups of people, for the most part, so the incompatibilities weren't
obvious earlier.

As to the four colors:  It's hard these days of multi-megabit chips to imagine
just how much memory cost in those days.  I think the VT100 and VT125 use 8
Kbit chips!  That's why AVO was a (moderately expensive) option on the origin-
al VT100:  All it added was a bunch more memory.  Two bits per pixel was the
limit within the VT125's cost budget.  (By the way, you of course got your
4 colors on the "graphics" plane, plus the 4 white intensities available on
the "text" plane - yes, "bold" on the original VT100 wasn't implemented by
using a different "thicker" character bitmap, but by turning the beam up
higher.  The reverse video background was a low-intensity white.  I think bold
plus reverse used the "normal" foreground intensity.  The actual brightness
levels were quite precisely specified and controlled (relative to the general
screen brightness, of course - you could change that) - one of the high-cost
individual components in a VT100 was the high-precision resistor pack used to
implement the voltage divider that defined the screen intensities.)

							-- Jerry

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Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Path: cs.utk.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!pacbell.com
      !gw2.att.com!oucsboss!piccard-mac.cats.ohiou.edu!undetermined
From: "Richard D. Piccard" <piccard@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu>
Subject: Re: What is SIXEL?
Message-ID: <D8DFGC.Cxw@boss.cs.ohiou.edu>
X-Nntp-Posting-Date: Wed May 10 12:36:10 1995
Organization: Computer Services - Ohio University
References: <01HQBZK950028WWF1K@kopc.hhs.dk>
            <hshubs-1005950830350001@denim.ultranet.com>
Date: Wed, 10 May 1995 16:36:11 GMT
X-Url: news:hshubs-1005950830350001@denim.ultranet.com
Lines: 39


For those who don't know about the GIGI, a little bit of history:

Also known as the VK-100, the GIGI was DEC's Apple II:  it had BASIC (I
think from Microsoft) in ROM, and looked about like an Apple II.  There
was supposedly an ability to download and upload BASIC programs, but so
far as I know, VMS never supported that, except through user-written
software. 

In about 1982 or 1983 we got several of them when I was at Kalamazoo
College.  They took an external monitor, with RGB cables.  As I recall,
the resolution was at least VGA-equivalent, years before IBM did VGA, 
and they had THREE-BIT color: black, white, red, green, blue, cyan,
yellow, and magenta.  The funny thing was that we got them as part of a
promotion, with a discount on some nice BARCO monitors.  The discount
was in the form of a coupon!  It was a very handsome 8 x 10 certificate,
but it was a coupon, nonetheless!

I had the impression that the ReGIS graphics language was invented as 
part of the GIGI project, although it did show up on several later 
terminals.  Can any of the Digits on this discussion confirm or deny 
that? 

The first versions of TPU, with the EDT-emulator, half-way supported
them, but it was not a happy match.  They were pretty much an orphan
product at birth, but they did have the effect of making me think poorly
of the first Macintosh as a graphics DISPLAY (512 x 384, ONE-BIT), since
I was slow understanding the issue of a graphical USER INTERFACE :-(

It has been a while since I thought about the GIGI!

Dick Piccard
Academic Technology Manager
Computer Services
Ohio University
piccard@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Path: cs.utk.edu!darwin.sura.net!udel!news.sprintlink.net!crash!cmkrnl!jeh
From: jeh@cmkrnl.com (Jamie Hanrahan)
Subject: Re: GIGI information requested.
Message-ID: <1993Oct23.130956.2889@cmkrnl.com>
Date: 23 Oct 93 13:09:56 PDT
References: <CF968v.3zM@news.iastate.edu>
Organization: Kernel Mode Systems, San Diego, CA
Lines: 66

In article <CF968v.3zM@news.iastate.edu>, tzb76@isuvax.iastate.edu writes:
> 	I have one or two of these graphics terminals, and have
> become curious as to their capacities. What sort of graphical
> resolution and color range do they have? 

Not much.  The basic field is 240 pixels high by, I believe, 768.  It supports
Y-addressing in the range 0-439 (to provide "square pixels"), but each pair of
y-coordinates is mapped to a single physical scan line.  eg anything you to 
do to a pixel with y-address 0 or 1 affects the physical pixel at y-address 
0.  

It gets worse.  The display memory is set up as a one-plane bitmap, 768 x 240.
Then for each set of 12 pixels on a horizontal line, there is a set of four
attributes bits.  Three of them specify one of the eight standard colors
(Black, blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, magenta, or white), and the fourth
specifies blinking.  ie within any given horizontal line, pixels 0 through 11
can be individually off (ie displaying the chosen background color) or on, but
the ones that are on must all have the same color and blinking attributes;
repeat for pixels 12 through 23, etc. 

This allows for only 64 attribute changes per horizontal scan line.  So, you
can plot things with reasonable horizontal resolution, and poor vertical
resolution by PC standards, but TERRIBLE horizontal resolution if you want
differently-colored things to be near each other, X-coordinate-wise. This makes
drawing pie charts, among other things, pretty much impossible unless the pie
wedges are moved slightly apart from each other in the X-dimension.  Line
graphs are ok as long as all the lines are the same color (but what fun is
that?).  Multicolored bar charts can be made to work if you are careful to
align the bars within these attribute groups.  (ie keep the bars multiples of
12 pixels wide and put their left edges on an X-coordinate that's divisible by
12, then you can put differently-colored bars right next to each other.) 

> And perhaps more
> importantly, how do I do something as simple as plot points
> of varring colors on the screen? They have a little internal
> basic, but Ive never been able to figure out how to make them
> do anything graphical from within that, and I asume that
> positioning the cursor, and ploting points of various colors
> at the direction of a host, is simply a mater of a few
> escape sequences of which I am ignorant. 

These beasts accept a command language known as ReGIS - Remote Graphics
Instruction Set.  It's not bad.  There are some moderately advanced features in
the terminal, like arc- and circle-drawing, curve-fitting, and fill to a
horizontal line (not arbitrary polygon fill).  It supports downloadable fonts. 

There was once a package of utilities, the "GIGI Utilities", later renamed
"ReGIS Utilities", from DEC.  This included a font editor, a primitive object-
based graphics editor, a slide show program, a graphing program, and a few
other things.  I believe this is now available from the DECUS Library. 

Someone else mentioned that the VT125 programming manual came reasonably close
to describing the GIGI's variant of ReGIS.  This is true; however the VT125 is
different in many details.  It has only two bit planes in the graphics memry
but there is none of this nonsense about attribute blocks.  Also the VT125 can
display four selectable colors from a pallette of 64, while the GIGI can
display eight fixed colors from a pallette of eight.  If you want GIGI manuals,
look for manuals with "VK100" in the document part number -- that was the
GIGI's "other" designation.  Both are EXTREMELY primitive compared to a PC with
even a standard VGA card, and the available software is very primitive compared
to what you can get almost-free for a PC.  Which isn't intended as a slam at
DEC -- they're both fairly old products.  But these days I wouldn't waste my 
time with either of them, even if I got them free.  

	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Systems, San Diego CA
Internet:  jeh@cmkrnl.com (JH645)  Uucp: uunet!cmkrnl!jeh  CIS: 74140,2055

 --:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--

Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Path: cs.utk.edu!stc06.ctd.ornl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!decwrl
      !svc.portal.com!portal.com!cup.portal.com!Chris_F_Chiesa
From: Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com
Subject: Re: GIGI terminals
Date: 30 May 1995 14:20:19 -0700
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 21
Sender: pccop@unix.portal.com
Message-ID: <139585@cup.portal.com>
References: <01HQBZK950028WWF1K@kopc.hhs.dk>
  <hshubs-1005950830350001@denim.ultranet.com>
  <D8DFGC.Cxw@boss.cs.ohiou.edu>
  <hshubs-1105950010510001@denim.ultranet.com>
  <1995May14.113119.7675@ais.com>
  <hshubs-1405952248360001@denim.ultranet.com> <ngmmlGakfayV071yn@iol.ie>
  <hshubs-2905951326060001@denim.ultranet.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: news1.unix.portal.com

Howard S Shubs (hshubs@bix.com / hshubs@ultranet.com) writes:
>In article <ngmmlGakfayV071yn@iol.ie>, mccrohan@iol.ie wrote:
>
>>That last statement is ot completely accurate. yes, on its own the VT125
>>was monocrome. However it came equipped with three BNC RGB connectors
>>that could be plugged into a standard BARCO or equivalent monitor to
>>display colour without any extra VT125 hardware.
>
>This is news to me.

I'll vouch for it.  At a HamFest flea market three weekends ago, I saw a
GiGi terminal with Barco color monitor for sale...  Considered buying it,
but didn't.  

I -was- going to post with some information about ReGIS and Sixel, and
software that uses/used it, when this thread first got started, but I
haven't had time.  Is there still an interest?  You may wish to email
me if so.

Chris Chiesa
  Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com

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Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Path: cs.utk.edu!gatech!news.sprintlink.net!crash!cmkrnl!jeh
From: jeh@cmkrnl.com (Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Systems)
Subject: Re: GIGI terminals
Message-ID: <1995Jun1.211123.5662@cmkrnl>
Date: 1 Jun 95 21:11:23 PDT
References: <01HQBZK950028WWF1K@kopc.hhs.dk>  <hshubs-2905951326060001@denim.ultranet.com>
Organization: Kernel Mode Systems, San Diego, CA
Lines: 25

In article <hshubs-2905951326060001@denim.ultranet.com>, hshubs@denim.ultranet.com (Howard S Shubs) writes:
> In article <ngmmlGakfayV071yn@iol.ie>, mccrohan@iol.ie wrote:
> 
>>That last statement is ot completely accurate. yes, on its own the VT125
>>was monocrome. However it came equipped with three BNC RGB connectors
>>that could be plugged into a standard BARCO or equivalent monitor to
>>display colour without any extra VT125 hardware.
> 
> This is news to me.

It's true.  You actually needed four cables though, since the VT125
did not emit sync on green.  So you needed a monitor with a separate
h/v sync input.  To make things even stranger, the VT125 had no output
jack labeled "sync" -- you used its monochrome video output as the
sync source. 

The VT125 was strange in lots of ways.  The RGB output carried only
the graphics video, while its built-in monochrome display mixed the
graphics video with the standard VT100 character-cell video.  (This is
different from the GIGI -- using the GIGI in "character mode" caused
writes to the graphics bitmap.)  Had a very limited color palette and
map, too -- you got to use a whopping four colors out of 64 available.

	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Systems, San Diego CA
Internet: jeh@cmkrnl.com (JH645)  CompuServe: 74140,2055  


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Newsgroups: comp.terminals
Path: utkcs2!darwin.sura.net!tulane!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu
      !destroyer!gumby!kzoo!tweaver
Message-ID: <1992Apr27.141252.24528@hobbes.kzoo.edu>
Article-I.D.: hobbes.1992Apr27.141252.24528
References: <1992Apr27.011512.20757@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
Organization: Kalamazoo College
Date: 27 Apr 1992 14:12:52 GMT
From: tweaver@hobbes.kzoo.edu (Tim Weaver)
Subject: Re: Sure I remember the GiGi..

> Like sure I remember the DEC GiGi Terminal
> They had a whole room full of them at Red River College
> a few years back.  The terminal had built in Basic
> and a graphics command language that enabled you
> to draw circles, lines, ovals etc. (as you said Regis)
> 
> While Im posting here... I am calling in using a VT100 which
> I bought at a garage sale for $5.  Can any one tell
> me what each of the set up bits are?
> I don't have a manual and had to change to 8 bits no parity
> using a scope.  Would sure be nice if someone could tell me
> which bit is the screen saver, if there is one.
> 

 Scroll 0-Jump               Shifted 3   0-#
 |      1-Smooth             |           1-British pound sign
 | Autorepeat 0-Off          | Wrap Around 0-Off
 | |          1-On           | |           1-On
 | | Screen 0-Dark Bkg       | | New Line 0-Off
 | | |      1-Light Bkg      | | |        1-On
 | | | Cursor 0-Underline    | | | Interlace 0-Off
 | | | |      1-Block        | | | |         1-On
 | | | |                     | | | |

 1 1 0 1       1 1 1 1       0 1 0 0       0 0 1 0       <--Standard Settings

               | | | |                     | | | |
               | | | Auto XON/XOFF 0-Off   | | | Power 0-60 Hz
               | | |               1-On    | | |       1-50 Hz
               | | Ansi/VT52 0-VT52        | | Bits Per Char. 0-7 Bits
               | |           1-ANSI        | |                1-8 Bits
               | Keyclick 0-Off            | Parity 0-Off
               |          1-On             |        1-On
               Margin Bell 0-Off           Parity Sense 0-Odd
                           1-On                         1-Even


Also, If you're interested, we have 4 GIGI's that work!  We are willing to
part with for $50 + shipping.

Also, Broken terminals available for parts free if you are willing to come
and pick them up (vt100's and zenith z-29's).
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Tim Weaver  (tweaver@kzoo.edu), Database Programmer/Analyst, 616-383-5656 
   Snail:    Kalamazoo College    1200 Academy Street    Kalamazoo  MI 49007
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 --:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--

Newsgroups: comp.terminals
Path: utkcs2!stc06.ctd.ornl.gov!news.he.net!newsfeed.direct.ca!chippy.visi.com
      !news-out.visi.com!news.IAEhv.nl!news.cs.utwente.nl!news.nic.utwente.nl
Message-ID: <33AACED3.665C100C@snt.student.utwente.nl>
References: <33a87e33.3322742@netnews.worldnet.att.net>
Organization: University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 20:41:23 +0200
From: "A. van Slooten" <auke@snt.student.utwente.nl>
Subject: Re: DEC GIGI: Jumper Settings/Info?

Michael King wrote:
>
> Does anyone have  jumper settings/documents/info for A DEC graphics
> terminal called GIGI?  I'd be much obliged if you'd send them to me.
> thanks in advance.
>
> Michael King
>
> <mhking@worldnet.att.net>

Well, if you _really_ want to know, try:

    http://snt.student.utwente.nl/~auke/dec/gigi/

    [Alas, link is stale in 2005]

I've put most anything you'd want to know up there, if you still miss
something, tell me :)

Regards,

Auke

 --:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--

From a table at "http://snt.student.utwente.nl/~auke/dec/gigi/gigitech.html"


               GIGI Set-up

               TM0 VT52
               TM1 ANSI 
                         Sets the escape sequence processing to VT52 or ANSI. 
               MB0 Off
               MB1 On 
                         Enables or disables the margin bell. 
               KC0 Off
               KC1 On 
                         Enables or disables audible keyclick. 
               KR0 Off
               KR1 On 
                         Enables disables autorepeat. 
               SM0 Off
               SM1 Jump
               SM2 Smth
               SM3 Wrap 
                         Sets scrolling characteristics. 
               RV0 Off
               RV1 On 
                         Enables or disables reverse video. 
               HM0-9 
                         Specifies horizontal margins for screen image. 
               HP0-9 
                         Sets horizontal position of screen image. 
               IL0 Off
               IL1 On 
                         Enables or disables interlace. 
               PF0 60Hz
               PF1 50Hz 
                         Specifies the power frequency as either 50 or 60Hz. 
               VM0-9 
                         Specifies vertical margins for screen image. 
               VC0 Off
               VC1 Text
               VC2 Grph
               VC3 Both 
                         Controls cursor visibility. 
               AW0 Off
               AW1 On 
                         Specifies whether to automatically generate a carriage
                         return/line feed at the end of a line on the screen. 
               LE0 Off
               LE1 On 
                         Enables or disable local echo of characters. 
               NL0 Off
               NL1 On 
                         Specifies either new line () or no new line ( only). 
               SC0 Off
               SC1 On 
                         Specifies single character or line transmission. 
               EM0 Off
               EM1 On 
                         Sets normal or double width (expanded) characters. 
               OS0 Off
               OS1 On 
                         Enables or disables the character overstrike feature. 
               TD0 Norm
               TD1 Text
               TD2 Ctrl 
                         Sets text-mode control-character display
                         characteristics. 
               GD0 Norm
               GD1 Text
               GD2 Top
               GD3 Bot 
                         Sets the graphics debug display characteristics. 
               GP0 Off
               GP1 "!" 
                         Enables or disables GIGI to interpret the graphics
                         prefix character.
               UK0 U.S.
               Uk1 U.K. 
                         Specifies the US or UK character set. 
               TS0 110
               TS1 300
               TS2 600
               TS3 1200
               TS4 2400
               TS5 4800
               TS6 9600
               TS7 19.2 
                         Set the speed at which GIGI transmits data. 
               RS0 110
               ...
               RS7 19.2 
                         Set the speed at which GIGI receives data. 
               LL0 Locl
               LL1 onln 
                         Specifies whether GIGI runs offline or under
                         control of the host computer (online). 
               PE0 Off
               PE1 Even
               PE2 Odd 
                         Specifies even, odd, or no parity transmission.

               XO0 Off
               XO1 On 
                         Specifies whether to use XON and XOFF flow control.
               CI0 EIA
               CI1 20mA 
                         Specifies EIA or 20mA line interface. 
               HS0 110
               ...
               HS7 19.2 
                         Sets transmission rate for hardcopy comm port. 
               TL0 Off
               TL1 On 
                         Enables or disables the graphics tablet locator mod

 --:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--

Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 22:56:35 -0400
Newsgroups: comp.terminals
Message-ID: <DF7N4.1104$Ip.32707@cac1.rdr.news.psi.ca>
From: J.K. Know <jk@oslo.net>
Subject: vt340 riGES graphics driver

Hi All.

I am looking for a vt340 riGES graphics driver. Something similar to the old
ANSI.SYS, but one that can do the terminal/graphic emulation.

Does anyone know if it exists and where I can find it??


THANKS,
Peter

 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec
Organization: Stratus Computer (DE), Inc., Maynard, Massachusetts
Message-ID: <rshu_20000426104500@stratus.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:45:00 -0400
From: Richard S. Shuford <shuford@ 	cac.stratus.com>
Subject: Re: ReGIS graphics (was: vt340 riGES graphics driver)

"J.K. (Peter) Know" <jk(at)oslo.net> wrote:
>
>  I am looking for a vt340 riGES graphics driver. Something similar to the
>  old ANSI.SYS, but one that can do the terminal/graphic emulation.
>  Does anyone know if it exists and where I can find it??


Probably what you are really asking for is "ReGIS" graphics, which was a
feature of the DEC VT340 terminal.

ReGIS is a sufficiently complex protocol, and graphics support in MS-DOS
such a can of worms, that (practically speaking) ReGIS support cannot be
performed by an MS-DOS driver on the scale of ANSI.SYS.

That said, there have existed commercial terminal-emulation programs that
run under MS-DOS that can interpret and display ReGIS images.  It is
possible that some of these may still be available for purchase, even in
this age of Windows dominance.  You could inquire to these vendors:

    WRQ (Reflection)
    Attachmate (Zstem)
    Polygon (poly-STAR/G)
    Persoft (SmarTerm)

Oh, you were hoping for something free you could just download?  Sorry.
ReGIS is sufficiently complex that nobody ever has done the painstaking
work of implementing it and then been willing to give the product away.

If you really were asking for something you could use with MS Windows,
then you have a somewhat larger selection of commerial terminal-emulation
packages.  Links to vendors of terminal-emulation software for PCs and
rudimentary information on ReGIS are available from this Web source:

    http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html

On the other hand, you should check to make sure that ReGIS is actually
what you need.  It is possible that you are really dealing with a different
type of graphics also supported by the VT340, the so-called "sixel" format.
In that case, you have the possibility of using MS-DOS Kermit from the
Kermit Project at Columbia University:

    http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/mskermit.html

as well as one of a number of commercial products.

 ...Richard S. Shuford
--
Stratus Computer, Maynard, Massachusetts  http://www.stratus.com/
Duplex-hardware fault-tolerant computer systems running VOS, WinNT, or HP-UX.
This message does not contain the official opinion of Stratus.

 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 17:52:35 -0400
Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec
Message-ID: <AoJN4.1690$Ip.46506@cac1.rdr.news.psi.ca>
From: J.K. Know <peterp@webhart.net>
Subject: Re: ReGIS graphics (was: vt340 riGES graphics driver)

Thanks Richard,

Of course I mean ReGIS.  Its a well know fact, I can't type. I am not
necessarily looking for a Free package. I am willing to pay for it. The
trick is, I can't use a terminal program. The package is running on a PC
(yes PC and you are right ported from VAX)  in a DOS box under WINDOWS, so
you see terminal program is of no use here. I need a "ANSI.SYS" type of
driver that can handle the VT340/reGIS emulation.

Thanks
Peter

 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec
Message-ID: <sgf1nlb6qtj8@corp.supernews.com>
From: John E. Malmberg <wb8tyw@qsl.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 19:22:39 -0500
Subject: Re: ReGIS graphics (was: vt340 riGES graphics driver)

Most of the terminal emulator vendors will give you a time-bombed demo so
that you can determine their suitability.

The Reflections product can take input from a variety of sources.  However
you are probably limited in what your program can output to.

A simple course of action may be to set up your program to send it's output
to a TCP/IP port on the loopback localhost I.P. address.  Then have the
terminal emulator program connect up to it.

This way may give you the most independence of terminal emulation vendors.

Of course their is always a DECterm on OpenVMS/Alpha for something faster
and lower cost than a VAX.

 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 08:07:50 +0100
Organization: RDEL
Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec
Message-ID: <3907E746.63782910@rdel.co.uk>
From: Paul Williams <flo@rdel.co.uk>
Subject: Re: ReGIS graphics (was: vt340 riGES graphics driver)

"Richard S. Shuford" wrote:
>
> ReGIS is sufficiently complex that nobody ever has done the
> painstaking work of implementing it and then been willing to give
> the product away.

I'm not surprised! When I received the VT330 Programmer Reference
Manual, I was all excited when I saw a section entitled "How ReGIS
Interpolates Curves" ... until I read this:

  You may use a certain equation that draws curves, but ReGIS may or
  may not use the same equation you use. However, ReGIS does draw the
  curve through each point that you specify.

There you go folks, the nuts and bolts of curve generation! From their
behaviour, I'd say they were Catmull-Rom splines, but I've never checked
by writing an emulator.

 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Newsgroups: comp.terminals
Organization: The University of Arizona
Date: 07 May 2000 18:41:40 -0700
Message-ID: <m3vh0pes2z.fsf@uranium.math.arizona.edu>
From: Robert S. Maier <rsm@uranium.math.arizona.edu>
Subject: ReGIS lives!

I've recently seen several postings on ReGIS graphics.  This is to let
everyone know that ReGIS isn't forgotten: the next release of the GNU
plotting utilities (see URL below), which should appear in a week or two,
will include ReGIS support.

The plotting utilities include the GNU libplot library, which has a
Postscript-like API for generating 2D vector graphics.  So beginning with
the new release, you'll be able to draw, programmatically, Bezier curves
and other Postscript-style paths on ReGIS displays.  For text, a full set
of Hershey fonts will be supported.

My hope is that the new ReGIS driver will produce output that will look
good on both the DECwindows terminal emulator, and DEC's graphics terminals
(VT340, VT330, VT241, VT240).  Maybe even on the VT125 and GIGI?

The initial release of the driver will support only the eight basic
foreground and background colors (black, white, red, green, blue, cyan,
magenta, and yellow).  Also, there won't be any support for filling paths.
Filling arbitrary paths, including ones that extend beyond the boundary of
a ReGIS display, will require writing some sophisticated clipping code.
That's on my agenda, so filling will eventually be added.

I hope there are still some ReGIS users out there who can experiment with
the driver!  Bug reports will be welcome.

--Robert

-- 
Robert S. Maier   | Internet: rsm@math.arizona.edu
Dept. of Math.    |
Univ. of Arizona  | FAX:   +1 520 621 8322
Tucson, AZ  85721 | Voice: +1 520 621 6892 (department)
U.S.A.            |        +1 520 621 2617 (office)

Maintainer of the GNU plotting utilities package
(see http://www.gnu.org/software/plotutils/plotutils.html ).

 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Newsgroups: comp.terminals
References: <6DF38.10682$MO1.23307@telenews.teleline.es>
Message-ID: <3C5473F3.72C5E8B6@mndmttr.nl>
Organization: XS4ALL Internet BV
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 22:41:07 +0100
From: Luuk van Dijk <lvd@mndmttr.nl>
Subject: Re: VT420 terminal emulator for linux

Hagoromo wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm searching a VT420 terminal emulator for Linux,
> with page memory support and/or Regis Graphics.
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> Enzo Toscano

Hi,

I've been asking around for a Free Regis terminal emulator and I've been
told there isn't any.  So I decided to hack it on-to an existing free
X-based terminal emulator (haven't decided which one yet) and release it
under a free licence (BSD or GPL) when

        a) my customer -- for whom i need this -- funds it
        b) anyone else funds it
        c) or otherwise: when time permits, which is probably not until after
           the summer


I am a free-lance sw. engineer, with a passion for Free Software but
I can't really afford the time off for such a project.  Wether option a
is going to happen
I'll find out this week.

However, If you or anyone else is a candidate for option B, please do
get in touch.


Luuk van Dijk


 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Newsgroups: comp.terminals
References: <3C45F4C4.536B4AD2@mndmttr.nl>
    <3C467CEE.4C325C4C@uk.thalesgroup.com> <3C546F67.EB86CC69@mndmttr.nl>
Message-ID: <3C547940.92F47478@tinyworld.co.uk>
Organization: http://vt100.net
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 22:03:45 +0000
From: Paul Williams <celigne@tinyworld.co.uk>
Subject: Re: REGIS graphics specs wanted

Luuk van Dijk wrote:
>
> ... If he's not funding
> it, (nor anyone else that may present himself) it may still happen
> but probably at a *much* lower priority.
> 
> Will post updates & results here, if anyone's interested.

I am. If you have other questions about the ReGIS implementation on the
VT330/VT340, post them here. I have a VT330 and will be quite happy to
test its behaviour.

- Paul


 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Newsgroups: comp.terminals
NNTP-Posting-Host: dialup-4.131.76.0.Dial1.Dallas1.Level3.net
NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 05:56:34 PDT
Message-ID: <6Koee.5544$V01.4911@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 12:56:34 GMT
From: Kevin L <kevinl01@earthlink.net>
Subject: What's the state of ReGIS these days?

Referring to the ReGIS graphics capabilities of the VTx40.

It looks really neat, and I'm thinking about adding ReGIS to an open-source
emulator within a couple years.

1)  Are a lot of people still using ReGIS for critical work?

2)  Are a lot of people still developing new applications that use ReGIS?

3)  Has an open-source implementation of ReGIS emulation already emerged?

4)  Are there any open-source ReGIS output drivers outside of GNU plotutils?

In short, is this a standard that is almost abandoned, or is it still happily
in production out there?

 ..............................................................................

Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec
NNTP-Posting-Host: list.stratagy.com
References: <6Koee.5544$V01.4911@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <rshu_20050511140001@stratagy.com>
Organization: The Late, Great Stratagy Users Group
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 14:00:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Richard S. Shuford <shuford@list.stratagy.R3M0VE-THlS-PART.com>
Subject: Re: What's the state of ReGIS these days?

Kevin L <kevinl01(at)earthlink.net> wrote:
|
| Referring to the ReGIS graphics capabilities of the VTx40.
| It looks really neat, and I'm thinking about adding ReGIS to an
| open-source emulator within a couple years.
| 1)  Are a lot of people still using ReGIS for critical work?
| 2)  Are a lot of people still developing new applications that use ReGIS?
| 3)  Has an open-source implementation of ReGIS emulation already emerged?
| 4)  Are there any open-source ReGIS output drivers outside of GNU plotutils?
| In short, is this a standard that is almost abandoned, or is it still
| happily in production out there?


Kevin:

I brought your question to the attention of Luuk van Dijk.
He wrote back as follows:

    I considered adding ReGIS to "xterm" a couple of years ago, because
    a customer of mine used DEC PDP-11 computers with custom written
    (FORTRAN) software from the 1980's.  (The OS was RSX-11, I think).
    They used them to process-control water-pumping and -cleaning
    plants (with uptimes of over 7 years!).  The logging software
    produced some graphics with ReGIS, and I made a proposal to do
    some stuff with  that.  It took a long time before they decided
    against it.  Meanwhile these machines have been phased out, and
    I moved on to other things.

    From what I gathered back then, the ReGIS protocol is not very
    hard; most of the work would go into researching how to divert
    the character stream in xterm to your own graphics thing.  The
    Tektronix support already in xterm would be, more or less, an
    example of how to do that, so my estimates at the time were:

      3 days of reading code and experimenting (xterm is a mess!)
      2 days for a ReGIS char-stream-to-Xwindow ReGIS interpreter
        (including testing)
    and
      1 day to integrate the one in the other.

    From what I gathered, everyone who would want this would find the
    "terminals" faq, and from the deafening silence after my querying
    around in that neighbourhood, concerning whether anybody would
    use/need this, I concluded that I was probably the only one at
    the time :-)

    Still, it would be fun to do this sometime.

    L.

So, ReGIS has some clever capabilities, but it has waned in popularity,
and I'd be surprised to see new development using it.

There is no open-source implementation of a ReGIS-rendering client.

As I have previously noted, there are some commercial packages that
emulate VT340 terminals and can render ReGIS graphics (as well as
sixel and probably some others).  I keep information on these
available from the "DEC" page of my "Terminal Information" website:

    http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html

(Look for the link "If you need ReGIS, you can purchase an emulator.")

During the 1980s, a handful of open-source programs that produced
ReGIS output were accumulated in the old DECUS library, which now is
under control of the Encompass User Group.

Such programs were typically written in FORTRAN for running under a
DEC operating system (VMS or RSX, usually).  A few descriptions are
still online, with the actual package retrievable by anonymous FTP.

    VAX ReGIS Graphics Library (V00365)
    http://www.decus.org/libcatalog/description_html/v00365.html
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00365/vaxregis.zip

    REGTRDG: ReGIS Translator for DECgraph (V00229: FORTRAN and C)
    http://www.decus.org/libcatalog/description_html/v00229.html
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00229/regtrdg.zip

    ReGIS to HPGL Conversion Program (V00297)
    http://www.decus.org/libcatalog/description_html/v00297.html
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00297/reg2hpgl.zip

    VT200 TOOLKIT (V00181: BASIC and C)
    http://www.decus.org/libcatalog/description_html/v00181.html
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00181/toolkit.zip
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00181/toolkit.doc

    FONT2XX (V00159) [custom character sets for VT220 terminals]
    http://www.decus.org/libcatalog/description_html/v00159.html
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00159/font2xx.zip
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00159/font2xx.doc

    VT100 Graphics Editor (V00377)
    http://www.decus.org/libcatalog/description_html/v00377.html
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00377/ge.zip
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00377/ge.doc

    VTOUTPUT (V00348)
    http://www.decus.org/libcatalog/description_html/v00348.html
    ftp://ftp.encompassus.org/lib/v00348/vtoutput.zip

Some ReGIS software may have been included in one of the "OpenVMS
Freeware" collections, but I have not really dug into it.

    http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/freeware/

You might also find some ReGIS-producing software at the archive
maintained at Process Software by Hunter Goatley:

    http://www.process.com/openvms/

That's how things stand today.

 ...RSS

-- 
Have a Cow, Man!
http://www.stonyfield.com/

 ..............................................................................

Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec
References: <6Koee.5544$V01.4911@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>
    <rshu_20050511140001@stratagy.com>
Message-ID: <3ef6u7F2r8coU1@individual.net>
Organization: Weaver Consulting Services Inc.
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 16:06:27 -0400
From: Peter Weaver <newsgroup@weaverconsulting.ca>
Subject: Re: What's the state of ReGIS these days?

Richard S. Shuford wrote:
> Kevin L <kevinl01(at)earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>> Referring to the ReGIS graphics capabilities of the VTx40.
>> It looks really neat, and I'm thinking about adding ReGIS to an
>> open-source emulator within a couple years.
>> 1)  Are a lot of people still using ReGIS for critical work?

Don't know about "a lot" but I know of one. ReGIS is used to display
both on screen and on printed reports through DCPS.

>> 2)  Are a lot of people still developing new applications that use
>> ReGIS?

This particular application went on-line in the year 2000, so I would
call that new.

If anyone out there has the ReGIS file that shows a chemistry set with
bubbles flowing through some tubes then please let me know. I haven't
seen it since I had access to a GiGi terminal in school.


-- 
Peter Weaver
Weaver Consulting Services Inc.
Canadian VAR for CHARON-VAX
http://www.weaverconsulting.ca/

 ..............................................................................

Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec
References: <6Koee.5544$V01.4911@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>
    <rshu_20050511140001@stratagy.com>
Message-ID: <howard-44435F.22000311052005@news.supernews.com>
Organization: ='SEQUENTIAL'
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 22:00:03 -0400
From: Howard S Shubs <howard@shubs.net>
Subject: Re: What's the state of ReGIS these days?

In article <rshu_20050511140001@stratagy.com>,
 "Richard S. Shuford" wrote:
>
> That's how things stand today.

Don't forget the GiGi, which is much more to the point:

    http://www.daedalus.co.nz/don/computing/gigi.html
    http://members.tripod.com/~ilkerf/cdoc/decregis.html (search for GiGi)

-- 
Though I've tried, I've fallen... / I have sunk so low
I have messed up / Better I should know

 ..............................................................................

Newsgroups: comp.terminals, comp.sys.dec, comp.os.vms
References: <tFM6e.184$II.110@news.itd.umich.edu>
    <xFmge.1368$II.579@news.itd.umich.edu> <rshu_20050511150001@stratagy.com>
    <4282AEBD.260D40E7@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <1188vvk2kfs9qbe@corp.supernews.com>
Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 10:22:44 -0000
From: Thomas Dickey <dickey@saltmine.radix.net>
Subject: Re: DO HLP HLD BRK PRN and other keymappings

In comp.terminals David J Dachtera <djesys(at)comcast.net> wrote:
>
> If you have access to a VMS system, look at SYS$SYSTEM:SMGTERMS.TXT.
> There in, you'll find descriptions of the escape sequence transmitted by
> the active function keys. (Roughly equivalent to the termcap file in
> UN*X-land, but must be "compiled" into TERMTABLE.EXE.)

It's analogous, but contains less information (at least I've not seen it
describing the color escape sequences, and iirc, is rather limited for
the line-drawing).  It does, as you note, list the function-keys.

-- 
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net/
 ftp://invisible-island.net/


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