The Datanet 8 (or DN8) computer handles communications between terminals and some other host computer. Currently, the DN8 at Waterloo handles terminal I/O for the WATBUN DPS-8, but sooner or later it may be incorporated as part of a larger network.
The DN8 is called a "front end processor". It performs terminal-handling functions that would be a waste of a larger computer's time. For example, it is the DN8 that collects input lines as you type them in. The DN8 is the one that deletes a character when you type a backspace and deletes a line when you type CTRL-X. It is only when you type a carriage return that the input line is sent on to the DPS-8 mainframe.
The DN8 is not the only front end processor that Watbun has. The DN8 currently handles Datapac calls, while other terminals are routed through a different front end machine.
Users connected to TSS through Datapac may issue special commands to the DN8 directly. This is done by typing CTRL-W (which is also called an Attention Level 0 message). When you type this, the DN8 will type "$*$" to prompt for input and will then accept a command line. The command will be executed when you type carriage return. If you wish to execute a second DN8 command, you must again start by typing CTRL-W.
Explanations of the special DN8 commands can be obtained through
expl dsa NAME
where NAME is the name of the command you want described. For example, "expl dsa dis" explains the DIS command.
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