Cas Caswell wrote:

>  As it turns out, the Unix community has recognized the problems inherent in
> the Telnet protocol, in terms of LAN usage (ie character passing and echoing).
> They implemented a concept called Line Mode. Basically the client does the
> echoing and forwards the data on the CR. If you're interested, you can have
> a look at RFC1116.

[notes about DC1/DC2 block mode snipped]

There is an intermediary here -- character mode applications (client and
server alike) can use the Nagle algorithm (don't have the RFC number
handy, sorry).  The Nagle algorithm specifies that every character in a
telnet application need not be transmitted as an individual packet, but
rather buffered and "held" for a period of time awaiting an additional
character in an attempt to aggregate the packets into larger but fewer
packets transferred.  This improves performance and reduces network
overhead, but if implemented in a full-duplex mode can lead to echoed
characters appearing in "spurts".

The interesting part is that Nagle can be applied at the client level,
server level, or even the stack itself.  Finding out if you have it or
not is left as an exercise for the reader :-)

Jeff Kell <[log in to unmask]>