vt100 bug

[utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!RMS at MIT-AI]

From: Richard M Stallman <RMS at MIT-AI>
When you type a ^S, it does not do anything to the TERMINAL.
It may make the SYSTEM stop doing output until you type a ^Q.
Whether it does this is not up to the terminal.
It is up to a flag (or at least, there ought to be one)
in the system.  In Twenex, there is such a flag, and I believe
that EMACS turns off all system processing of ^S when it is
entered and turns it back on (if it was on) when it exits,
unless you set a flag in EMACS telling EMACS not to turn it off.

So it sounds like that flag is set wrong in your EMACS, or there is
some other bug in EMACS or in Twenex, if the problem is occurring in
EMACS on a Twenex.

As for use of ^S and ^Q in general, that flow control protocol is a
bad one, and there is no excuse for making a network use it.  I
believe that it is important for me NOT to adapt to the rest of the
world's lossage (= lose because other people decided to lose).  WE
know how to make terminals and networks that let us use ^S and ^Q.
Lots of other people know how (Arpanet, Ethernet, Chaosnet, probably
even DECnet).  If someone still insists on losing, that's his own
fault.  Let HIM figure out which two commands he wants to do without.
Maybe his network was a "bargain", but it has hidden costs, and I'm
not willing to help pay them.