Terminal handling

ITS knows about a limited set of terminal types, most of which are not popular today. If the screen seems to contain strange codes, try typing :TCTYP AAA which is for a terminal close to the VT100. There is also the program CRTSTY which knows about a large number of terminals. The PiDP-10 comes with a few terminal emulators that work well with ITS, e.g. dp3300 for a Datapoint 3300 and vt52 for a VT52.

Various terminals display text somewhat differently. The Esc key, called Altmode, echoes as $ or ◊. The _ underscore will sometimes display as a ← left arrow, and ^ caret as ↑ up arrow.

ITS and its applications do not use backspace to delete text. Backspace will echo as ^H and may be used as a command; e.g. in DDT it starts a program. To delete text, use the Delete key i.e. ASCII DEL, which is called Rubout.

When program output fills the screen, generally ITS will pause and print --More-- or **MORE** at the last line. Typing space will resume the program. Typing Delete will "flush" (e.g. remove) the remaining output. Any other key will also flush, but provide that key as input.