[HECnet] Cisco DECnet routers and NML

[Thomas DeBellis]

Let me clarify this a bit.  Leaving LAT aside, Tops-10 and Tops-20 
implement two remote terminal protocols for DECnet.  The Digital common 
one is CTERM, which runs on all (or most) platforms.  Unfortunately, 
there are some minor problems with the current Tops-20 CTERM 
implementation that are annoying.  For example, you can't use space as 
an un-pause character, which I've been doing since about 1978.  Fixing 
it (if possible) means I've got to wade into the monitor and that could 
mean months before I come back up for air.

I remembered a previous remote terminal protocol (NRT) that I think was 
available in either late Phase II or Phase III, but only between 20's 
(and eventually 10's).  It is in no way as rich as CTERM (the difference 
perhaps being reminiscent of that between FTP and DAP), but it is far 
less complex.  It appears to have been modeled in some ways along the 
lines of the Tops-20 ARPA NCP NVT (without the IAC negotiations).  The 
interface is close enough so that the Tops-20 TELNET program can use it.

However, the Tops-20 NRT CLIENT (SETHOST) appears to have been 
effectively abandoned in favor of the CTERM client and this is 
understandable, given that CTERM was the common platform and corporate 
direction.  That it is unfortunate as NRT is more efficient.  Most 
importantly, NRT doesn't have the above annoyances.   But SETHOST needed 
further productization.  Like FAL/DAP, bugs hurtled out of it as I 
started using it.  MRC had modified it to assume a 2020 (I.E., Tops-20 
4.2) which denied other efficiencies.  Right now, I've got about eight 
fixes and enhancements in.  It's quite tolerable.

The other reason for dusting off NRT is that would allow run FAL with 
the proper credentials as the top-level fork of a separate job.  Right 
now, it runs privileged, (either SC%WHL or SC%OPR on Tops-20 or JACCT or 
[1,2] on Tops-10.   Although checking is done, this is still A Bad Idea. 
The FTP server, for example runs as a top-level fork.  The changes to 
the Tops-20 NRT server are very small to allow me to do the same thing 
with FAL.

If other DECnet based operating systems support NRT, then I would like 
to know about that.  Right now, the client checks the remote OS and 
won't connect if it isn't Tops-10 or Tops-20.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> On 5/4/20 7:24 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>
> Implementing where? I thought TOPS-20 as well as Tops-10 already had 
> it. It's even on the RSX distribution...
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> On 2020-05-05 00:29, Thomas DeBellis wrote:
>>
>> Right now, I'm working on SETHOST, which is a client for the earlier 
>> NRT protocol (Network Remote Terminal) that predates CTERM on the 36 
>> bit platform.  It's more efficient than CTERM (I have yet to compare 
>> it with LAT) and will do certain things that I like that the Tops-20 
>> implementation of CTERM doesn't.
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