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2.3.6 Colors in the Unix version

The UNIX verison of MsgEd TE, by default, presents itself in spartanic black and white, because this is most compatible with any existing terminal type. Even if you use the Color configuration keyword to define custom colors, MsgEd TE still will transform all your color definitions into a black and white equivalent.

If you want to see MsgEd TE displayed in nice colors, you need to enable extended ANSI color codes:

Switch Colors On         # enable ANSI color codes
Include ~/.msged.colors  # include the color configuration

Of course you need a terminal that supports ANSI color codes. Among others, these are the Linux console (but not the Linux xterm!), the FreeBSD console, the "color-xterm" or "xterm-color" or "nxterm" terminal emulators, and the FreeBSD xterm. You can use Conditionals to switch the Colors switch either on or off depending on the TERM variable. See Conditional Statements in the Configuration File, for more information.

The sample color scheme file color.004, that you copied to ~/.msged.colors during the installation process, contains color settings with sensible values. If, after adding the two lines from the example above to your configuration file, parts of the screen or message text are invisible, your terminal probably does not correctly support ANSI color codes.