>   BS> As I understand it, it was first implemented on 36-bit
>     > DEC mainframes and was later ported/reimplemented,
>     > with command set intact, on a large number of
>     > platforms, including unix.
> 
> So it was developed for TOPS?  

No, ITS.  There's a writeup in the hacker's dictionary which leaves
out some of the crucial emacs ports (most notably, Multics emacs,
which was written in maclisp and used lisp instead of TECO for the
"extension language" for the first time..)

> Still surprising that it shunned software handshaking though, since
> it was commonly supported by DEC hardware.

Not at all.  I've heard multiple DEC employees refer to the use of
XON/XOFF handshaking as broken/brain dead.

> That's a good point about dropped characters.  So I'm right
> in thinking that it's Emacs that doesn't cope well with
> software handshaking, rather than unix?

No.  Nothing copes well with XON/XOFF.

					- Bill