UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I guess the COBOL program that runs on the machine I'm connecting to expects SCO-ANSI

It may be the program that's malfunctioning, not SSH...

Hi.

I have also found that both sides of the connection need to be the same for the best results. So, for example, in Gnome Terminal, I make sure I am using TERM=vt100. When I connect to other systems, either I enter TERM=vt100 or it is in the startup file, e.g. .bash_profile

It might be useful to see what the other side is thinking you are using by entering

Code:

echo $TERM

immediately after you login to the remote system. If it is different from the local system, then I suggest that you change one or the other so that they are the same, and see what happens ... cheers, drl

Remote system expects SCO-ANSI

Code:

TERM=scoansi

---------- Post updated at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous update was at 02:48 PM ----------

Oh I don't think SSH or the program are malfunctioning, I just need to find the right combination of settings. Hopefully.

Hi.

So you did the echo $TERM from each of the emulators as well as on the remote session with that emulator? ... cheers, drl

---------- Post updated at 22:18 ---------- Previous update was at 21:58 ----------

Hi.

I set TERM=scoansi, and connected to my SuSE box with ssh. This is the exchange:

Code:

vm-suse:~> cat /etc/issue
Welcome to openSUSE 11.4 "Celadon" - Kernel \r (\l).


vm-suse:~> echo 05
05
vm-suse:~> echo $TERM
scoansi

I cannot duplicate your problem.

The original response looks similar to terminal settings like colors and such. Is the response you got from entering "05" from the command line or from the COBOL program?

Has the program ever worked successfully? If so, from which emulator? ... cheers, drl

Yes, the SSH connection seems fine outside of the program I'm using. I can connect ok and get a normal-looking prompt. It's when I start up the COBOL program that things get funny.

PowerTerm is what we use in the office, it's the only emulator that appears to work without hiccups.

In iTerm I get funny chars but if I ignore them the program seems to act normally.

The X11 that came with my Mac (or maybe on the Dev Tools, I forget) almost works normally aside from the first line of every menu not being legible.

I forget what happens in Gnome Terminal (on PPC Debian) but it was not quite right.

Incidentally, the following text appears when starting up the COBOL program but doesn't show up on the machines in the office. I think because PowerTerm forces an 80 col x 25 row window? The little bit at the end is because I was using iTerm at the time.

Code:

RM/COBOL Runtime - Version 11.01 for Large File Linux (Intel).
RM/COBOL Runtime System issued to MYEMPLOYER.
Configured for XX users.
Copyright (c) 1985-2007 by Liant Software Corp.  All rights reserved.
Registration Number: 0X-0000-00000-0000
=14;12C

---------- Post updated at 04:22 AM ---------- Previous update was at 04:18 AM ----------

Oh and to answer your other question The response/odd chars only happen in the COBOL program.

Hi.

In looking at the PowerTerm description at 3270,TN3270 5250, TN5250 Terminal Emulation with VBA for Windows. :
I would guess that the COBOL program is trying to drive the terminal in those modes ( 3270, 5250), and the odd sequences mean something to those kinds of terminals, but not to a vanilla ansi emulation.

If so, there are two packages on Debian that may be of interest:

Code:

c3270 - Curses program for telnet sessions to IBM mainframes
x3270 - X11 program for telnet sessions to IBM mainframes

There are notes at the bottom of the page at tn5250 that suggest related programs.

I think this is related to the COBOL program as Corona688 suggested, except that it may not be malfunctioning, just that it does not have the context that it was written for.

At any rate, this does not seem to me like a directly-related Linux or SSH issue ... cheers, drl

( edit 1: typo, missing word "not" near bottom )