RFC 106 UNKNOWN TELNET · SURVEYS · ARPANET

User/Server Site Protocol Network Host Questionnaire

A ten-question survey for learning how ARPANET hosts handled terminals and character input.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
March 1971
AUTHORS
T.C. O'Sullivan
STREAM
Legacy
DOI
10.17487/RFC0106

RFC text

Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗
NETWORK WORKING GROUP                                           NIC 5776
Request for Comments #106                              Thomas O'Sullivan
                                                                     RDS
                                                            3 March 1971

                       USER/SERVER SITE PROTOCOL
                       NETWORK HOST QUESTIONNAIRE



        The answer to a number of questions about the characteristics
and operation of Network HOSTS will be useful to implementers of some
early versions of TELNET, and/or to the USER/SERVER SITE PROTOCOL
Committee in their consideration of a full TELNET PROTOCOL
specification.


        Questions of current interest are covered on the attached
questionnaire.  The Technical Liaison contact at each HOST site is asked
to review these questions and fill in the answers as soon as convenient
after receipt.


        One of the members of the committee listed below will contact
each HOST site by telephone in the next few days to record the answers.

   Committee members include:

         Bob Long                   SDC

         John Melvin                SRI/ARC

         Ed Meyer                   MIT/MAC

         Tom O'Sullivan             RDS


        Results of the questionnaire will be tabulated and distributed
as an RFC.

                      NETWORK HOST QUESTIONNAIRE*

                        For TELNET Consideration

Installation __________________________  Prepared By _______________

System**  _____________________________  Date  _____________________

1.)    Does system operate on keyboard terminal input on one
       character at a time (e.g. searching for a special
       character other than end of line), or does it accumulate
       a line at a time and operate on the line when a
       special character is entered, e.g. Carriage Return (CR)?

         [ ]  Line at time

         [ ]  Character at time

         [ ]  Both (Explain) __________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

2.)    What maximum buffer size does your system provide for
       input of a physical line from a keyboard terminal, and
       for output to a terminal, printer, or screen?

            Input______Char

            Output_____Char

       Remarks: ____________________________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

=================
 * If there is insufficient space on the questionnaire, continue
   answers on back of page.

** Fill out separate questionnaire for each HOST to be directly
   interfaced to an IMP.

Network HOST Questionnaire (Continued)

3.)    Describe the effect in your system of use of the following
       keying conventions.  Indicate how implemented, i.e. is there
       a hardware interrupt?  Does the terminal respond?  How?
       What is sent into system as data, what is echoed, etc.
       If the key(s) are not available, so indicate (as may be
       the case for Newline for some systems, line feed for 2741's,
       etc.). If available but has no meaning, so indicate.

       Key Strokes        Implementation           System Action

          CR       __________________________   __________________

          LF       __________________________   __________________

          NL       __________________________   __________________

        CR,LF      __________________________   __________________


              Terminal Type =  __________________________


       If appropriate, enter data for other terminal types on the
       back of this page.


4.)    What special character or characters are used in your
       system to awaken some process during the entry of data
       from a terminal (e.g. control C for some systems, break on
       others, etc.)?

       Character(s)                 Operation

       ___________    ___________________________________________

       ___________    ___________________________________________

       ___________    ___________________________________________

       ___________    ___________________________________________

Network HOST Questionnaire (Continued)

5.)    List the types of keyboard terminals and codes supported
       by your system.

       __________________________________________________________

       __________________________________________________________

       __________________________________________________________


6.)    What internal code(s) is used in your system to represent
       character sets?  If not ASCII nor EBCDIC, attach a copy of
       the code.

       __________________________________________________________

       __________________________________________________________

       __________________________________________________________


7.)    For each terminal type do you support it in:

       Half Duplex (Pure) _______________________________________

       Half Duplex (with Break or Attention) ____________________

       Half Duplex (Break & Reverse Break) ______________________

       Full Duplex (without echo) _______________________________

       Full Duplex (with echo) __________________________________


8.)   For optional echo systems, at initial connect time
      is the terminal assumed to require an echo?

            [ ] Yes

            [ ] No

Network HOST Questionnaire (Continued)


9.)   Does your system perform error detection (e.g. parity
      check) on terminal input and, if so, is this a hardware
      or software check?

      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________

      _____________________________________________________________



10.)   Does your system support punched paper tape input?  If so,
       what sort of end of line sequence is used?

       _____________________________________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

       _____________________________________________________________

       [ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
            [ into the online RFC archives by S.M.H. 5/97 ]

ISO Plain Language

On this page
PROBLEMPeople considering a full TELNET protocol needed information about how Network hosts and their terminals worked.
MECHANISMA committee asks each host's Technical Liaison to complete a questionnaire, then plans to call the sites and record the answers.
WHAT IT CONTAINSThe RFC contains the blank questionnaire and says the answers will be tabulated and distributed separately.

§1Why the Committee Asked

RFC 106 says that information about Network host characteristics and operation would help implementers of early TELNET versions and the User/Server Site Protocol Committee. The Technical Liaison at each host is asked to review the form.

A committee member planned to contact each site by telephone to record its answers. The RFC says the results would later be tabulated and distributed as an RFC.

The committee wants to learn how each host works before settling on a full TELNET protocol. It plans to collect answers from the people responsible for each site.

§2Terminal Input and Characters

The form asks whether a system handles keyboard input one character at a time, a line at a time, or both. It asks for maximum input and output line buffers and the effects of carriage return, line feed, newline, and their combinations.

It also asks which characters awaken a process during input, which terminal types and codes the system supports, and which internal character set it uses.

Several questions ask what happens when a person types, including whether the computer reacts to each character or waits for a whole line. The form also asks which keyboards and character codes the host understands.

§3Other Questions and the Results

The remaining questions cover supported duplex modes, whether an optional-echo terminal is assumed to need echo at connection time, and whether terminal input receives error checks such as parity checking. The form also asks about punched paper tape and its end-of-line sequence.

RFC 106 prints questions only; it contains no completed host responses.

The form asks about echo, input errors, and paper-tape terminals. This RFC is blank, so it does not report any host's answers.