Subj : InfoCom door question
To   : All
From : Bencollver
Date : Tue Feb 07 2023 19:06:09

Recently i used telemate to run the zork 1 door.  The screenshot linked below shows mangled output.  Note the line "West of House Serial number 880429"

gopher://tilde.pink/I/~bencollver/files/zork.png

I logged the output to a file.  Below is an excerpt with control characters escaped.

Release 119 / Serial number 880429\0x0D\0x1B[19dWest of House\0x0D\0x1B[BYou
The control sequence \0x1B[19d is an xterm control sequence to set the cursor position to line 19.  The control sequence ending with lower case "d" is named "Line Position Absolute" in xterm.

Unfortunately, telemate seems to set the cursor backward.  My theory is that it interprets the control sequence in a case-insensitive way.  The control sequence ending with upper case "D" is named "Cursor Backward" in ANSI.SYS and "CUB - CURSOR LEFT" in ECMA-48.

I verified that my Default User Settings, Terminal Mode is "Auto CP437 / ANSI (iCE color) (mouse)"

Is this InfoCom door hard-coded to use xterm control sequences rather than the BBS user's terminal type?

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