On Mon, 14 Sep 1992 15:23:54 CDT Natalie Maynor <[log in to unmask]> said: >What extra keystrokes? I normally use a macro for the address. I can't >see that any extra keystrokes are involved in mail. 1. 'tell lsv command', wait, reply arrives on your screen. 2. Assuming you use an editor for sending mail, rather than the 'cat >' like mode: 'mail lsv', wait, 'command', exit sequence, confirm that you want to send now, wait, *beep* new mail arrived, 'mail', wait, then whatever the command is that shows the message text. UGA is a pretty fast server, even with unix there is no problem of having the output messing up your screen if you just wait the few seconds it takes the answer to come back. The problem is that on YOUR machine it takes much more than the standard 2 x 5 sec. >The main reason I'm replying is to ask another question. What do you >mean by "presenting" interactive messages? I'm just curious, as I'm >assuming others may be. It depends on the environment you work in and the application you are running. If I edit a file on VMS, there is a message window in which the message shows, I can review it later if I miss the message. At the prompt the message is printed on a new line and my command input is redisplayed. With VM, at the prompt the message goes to the output window which is totally separate from the input window and causes no confusion, on a line on its own of course. In CMS fullcrap mode you get a cute message window popping up, some people like that, I hate having to do something to the silly window to get rid of it and recover the pixels - especially when some idiot is sending me messages every 5 seconds. Fortunately that mode is optional. When editing files without SET FULLSCREECH ON, the message is displayed when you hit RETURN or a function key, on a freshly cleared screen. There are all sorts of applications on both systems which can pre-format or filter these messages and display them in more sophisticated ways. In no case is the message printed right in the middle of what your were doing, overlaying existing text and so on. I am sure unix is in theory capable of doing better than that, but unfortunately that is what happens in practice, and another reason why unix people hate TELL. Eric