Next: , Previous: , Up: Installation on Linux, FreeBSD, or other Unixes   [Index]


2.3.3 How Terminal I/O is handled on Unix

MsgEd TE does neither use the curses library for most of its tasks, nor does it make use of termcap or terminfo data bases. The way that MsgEd TE uses to create its full screen interface is to emit ANSI x3.64 character control sequences. This is a common subset of control sequences that is recognised, among others, by VT52, VT100, VT200 and higher VTxxx terminals, by xterm, by the FreeBSD and the Linux console, by the OS/2 telnet program, and others. In order to enable special features like color support based on the TERM variable, you can use IF constructs in the configuration file, as shown in the sample configuration file.

I have tested this on several Unix boxes and it worked remarkably well. For optimum results, you should use the scheme.004 color scheme file found in the doc/ resp. samples/ subdirectory. If you have problems seeing the cursor in an xterm, you should start the xterm with the option ‘-cr white’.

If the display is corruped by system log daemon messages or similar, you can at any time during program execution press Ctrl-L to redraw the screen.