I have always more or less ignored dump's -b argument, assuming it wassomething only relevant for output to tapes (which I never do; even ourbackups that eventually wind up on tapes get sent to standard output formangling by Amanda ).

Except today I was getting disappointing dump speeds from a system withfast disks, so I decided to experiment with it. And boy have I beenwrong.

Cursors on 'dumb' serial terminals blink because their location usually is the most important spot on the screen; it was where your typingwould go. Blinking made sure that you weren't going to lose track of it.

Cursors in terminal emulators blink because people haven't botheredto rethink this in the face of multiple windows. (I'm not sure thatthey've thought about it deeper than 'dumb terminal cursors blink, let'simitate them'.)

That's a strong statement