* Head title 1 Today's increasing abundance of dif- ferent types of com- puter terminals(1) bodes well for the satisfaction of the diverse needs and desires of computer terminal users.(2) __________ (1)See attached list. (2)Footnote... Dbo -1- D* Head title 2 Before any new ter- minal can be connec- ted to a computer system, however, an appropriate inter- face must exist. This interface, inevitably involving both system hardware and software, must cope with the terminal's speed, character set, line discipline, special features, lack of Dbo -2- D* Head title 3 features, and other idiosyncrasies.(3) In many cases, the physical association of such an interface __________ (3)See reference (3) for a more complete description of terminal differences. Dbo -3- D* Head title 4 with a terminal is dynamic; most general-purpose time-sharing systems are accessed via switched telephone lines. Although dedicating certain access lines to each terminal type is the simplest approach, economy dictates that as many ter- minal types as pos- sible be served by Dbo -4- D* Head title 5 each group of dedi- cated lines. The greatest economy oc- curs when all ter- minals can use the same group of lines. If different ter- minal types are to use the same access lines, it is neces- sary for the system to be able to iden- tify the terminal type. This paper addresses the Dbo -5- D* Head title 6 terminal-type iden- tification problem. TERMINAL PROPERTIES While it is the dif- ferences between types that brings about the need for identification, it is often these dif- ferences that permit identification. The properties and abil- ities of terminals may be classified and examined for Dbo -6- D* Head title 7 their effect on the necessity for and the possibility of type indentifica- tion. The concern here is with typewriter-like ter- minals employing asynchronous charac- ter communications. The first properties to be enumerated are fundamental ones; i. e, properties that cannot be ignored Dbo -7- D* Head title 8 when communicating with the terminal. Character code and format. In addition to the character - bit-pattern rela- tionship, this includes(end) extra line Dbo -8- D* Head title 9 another extra line. Dbo -9- D