Visara LINCS Features - Manual (Page 42)

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LINCS Features
707021-001
For ASCII printers, the host prints through LINCS unmodified, known as ASCII Passthrough.
The ASCII host can send escape sequences through LINCS to modify the printer setup. LINCS
can buffer the print data, to support different baud rates between the host and the printer.
For a coax printer, LINCS converts ASCII data to an SCS data stream. That means the coax
printer must support SCS datastreams.
Flow Control
LINCS provides software flow control (XON/XOFF), or hardware flow control (RTS/CTS or
DTR/DSR) for Asynchronous connections. If the printer is busy printing for another host,
LINCS sends XOFFs to the host, and stores the host print data in a 256 byte buffer. If the host
ignores the XOFFs, print data will be discarded when the buffer is full.
Connecting to an ASCII Host
How a device connects to an ASCII host depends upon the host connection method configured
on the LINCS node. The device can connect directly to a specific host, or select a host from
any available to the device. Choosing ASCII on the Host Connection menu presents the ASCII
Host Connect panel from which an ASCII host class can be selected.
Disconnect Timer
LINCS provides an Inactivity Timeout timer, which is configurable in a ASCII Session Profile.
If a display using that profile is inactive for the timer amount, it’s host sessions are disconnected,
and the host port is then available for other users.
The host may also be configured to send a disconnect sequence to the port at disconnect time.
The disconnect sequence is typically used to update attached modems, or LOGOFF the user,
so that other users do not get that host session. The disconnect sequence is configurable on the
ASCII Session Profile panel.
A second type of LINCS timer can be used to allow a host to complete the LOGOFF sequence
after an Inactivity Timeout. If the Disconnect Security Timer is enabled on the ASCII Host
Options panel, the port will wait one minute after disconnect before allowing another user to
connect to a port.
Setup Mode
ASCII Host Setup mode lets you modify parameters for the ASCII host session to which you
are connected. If you have supervisor authority, you can modify the parameters for any ASCII
host port. If you do not have supervisor authority, you can modify the parameters only for the
ASCII host port to which you are currently connected.
On a coax display, the Erase EOF key toggles you in and out of ASCII Host Setup mode. For
an ASCII terminal, the toggle key is defined by the Keyboard Definition Utility (KDU).
Dial Panels
The ASCII Dial panels provide a means for storing commonly used dial strings and modem
initialization strings for ASCII hosts. The Dial panels also provide a way of entering dial
strings and user IDs for use with the dialback security feature. All cursor keys, tab keys, and
alphanumeric keys are active when the ASCII Dial panels are in use. In addition, a list of
active PF keys is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Only the display terminal user with
supervisor authority can modify data and toggle fields on these panels.