[Konsole-devel] Bug#47665: serial parallel USB telnet rlogin ssh new window terminal

[erezh at cs.technion.ac.il]

Package: konsole
Version: KDE 3.0.0 
Severity: wishlist
Installed from:    RedHat RPMs
Compiler:          Not Specified
OS:                Linux
OS/Compiler notes: Not Specified

First, I'd like to mention that this request is connected to bug reports 38803, 43495, 13202, but these requests didn't go far enough.
I may be treading water here, but how about this idea:
Konsole, the KDE terminal, is quite convenient to use. However, I think its 
functionality and usefullness can be greatly improved by making it a single all-purpose terminal tool, adding the following 
abilities to it:
1. A telnet/SSH/rlogin session that can be added through the "Session" menu 
item. This should probably invoke a dialog (currently unavailable) for 
defining host/port/username/password and then start the proper sub-process. 
2. For an even more generic commuication terminal, how about integrating 
serial terminal functions (like Minicom) into Konsole? Furthermore, such 
functions can be enhanced to include PLIP (for parallel cables) and USB.
3. A p-t-p "chat" mode and symmetric file transfer may also be in order when 
in the proper mode (such as cable connection).  
4. A session manager should be added, containing information about 
target-specific sessions. This manager could also appear as a "shortcut side 
bar".
5. Each new session should have an option to start in a separate window.

Such modifications can turn Konsole into the most useful and powerful terminal 
ever - connect to any machine, through any possible medium. Still, it would 
not require new protocols to be developed, since it's all been around for 
some time now - 99% of the work would be GUI.  

An an implementation idea, I suggest using the concept of low-level per-medium 
server objects with a unified interface to be used by Konsole (I think the 
KDE people call these objects "slaves"). Each "slave" will also have an 
interface for setup, to be integrated both into the general Konsole setup 
(e.g. protocol options for telnet/SSH/..., or device options for 
serial/parallel/..) and into the new session of type .. dialog.


A conceptual session menu:
1. New Local Session (matches the existing Konsole Sessions menu)
        1.1 Shell
        1.2 Linux Console
        1.3 Midnight commander
        1.4 ...
2. New Network Session
        2.1 Telnet 
        2.2 SSH 
        2.3 Rlogin 
3. New Cable Connection Session
        3.1 By Serial Cable
        3.2 By Parallel Cable
        3.3 By USB Cable 


An alternative implementation would be to keep the existing design but add a 
premade package of scripts that would accomplish the same goals - a script to 
create a dialog for the user to specify activation parameters and then 
activate telnet, Minicom, etc. However, I think the Konsole setup should 
still be modified, and the first implementation suggestion looks more robust 
and extensible.


Sincerely,
Erez Hadad


(Submitted via bugs.kde.org)


(Complete bug history is available at http://bugs.kde.org/db/47/47665.html)