What it is for? --------------- This is a TERMINFO file, a file that describes the various escape sequences to Unix like computers. TERMINFO files are the sucessor the old (if not ancient) concept of TERMCAP files. Usually, a host sends characters to a terminal and the terminal display this characters. However special tasks, like clearing the screen, need special ways to deal. Here the host sends a control sequence that will not be displayed, but shown on the screen instead. Each terminal now uses it's own set of commands. They are often similar, but nod identical. So a TERMINFO file is needed to tell the host which sequence to send to which terminal for clearing the screen etc. This file here is for TeraTerm 1.3, a freely available Telnet client. Teraterm tries to emulate the wellknown VT terminals. But it can do more than the VT terminals (e.g. display colors) and it lacks some of their more obscure features, so it demands its own set TERMINFO file. In what environment does it run? -------------------------------- I tested this TERMINFO file an Linux with ncurses. A friend of mine tested it on an older version of SCO. How do I install the files? --------------------------- Copy "teraterm.ti" to the place there it belongs. On my linux system, it was /usr/share/terminfo. Sometimes it is /usr/lib/terminfo or something similar. Consult "man tic" for more info. "tic" is the terminfo-compiler. You must compile the human readable terminfo.ti file using "tic terminfo.ti". Then you need to set then environment variable TERM to teraterm. In a bash shell, this is done via "TERM=teraterm". Sometimes the TERM variable is also set automatically. This is done - if you have a nice in.telnetd daemon that asks TeraTerm for it's name - if your setup files for your shell (like /etc/profile or ~/.bashrc) doesn't redefine your TERM variable - if you enter the two lines "AnswerBack=teraterm" and "TermType=teraterm" into your TERATERM.INI file How have you done this files? ----------------------------- This file have been created by looking at the source code of TeraTerm to gather all the ESC sequences. Then I created the teraterm.ti file and tested I tested it with a couple of programs, did a refinement here and there. Finally, it seemed to work well (e.g. with mc, joe, vi, less etc). But I'm not a TERMINFO or curses expert, so there might lure a bug in the background. Also, it might be possible that this or that entry could be done more efficient. If you see such a thing, please drop me a note. Which sequences do you use for the function keys? ------------------------------------------------- I used the standard Linux sequences for the special and function keys (e.g. F1..F12, Pos1, Ins, Del, PgUp, PgDn etc). Sometimes applicates (like "mc" or "joe" have the escape sequences hardcoded into them. So I guess it is better that I use the keyboard sequences of the Linux "console" driver in all applications as well as in the telnet package. Therefore, you might want to adapt your KEYBOARD.CNF file or use mine for TeraTerm. Are the any special tips you have for me? ----------------------------------------- TeraTerm is not very fast in scrolling. So I if you set an alias to call "less" with the parameters "-h4" to scroll 4 lines at maximum (and use complete redraws in all other cases), you will have a much faster screen update. See also my tip on how the TERM variable will be set automagically from in.telnetd above. How can I improve the TermInfo file? ------------------------------------ Just read "man terminfo", look at the "terminfo.ti" file and edit it. Run it throught "tic" and test what you've changed. Send the changes back to me, holger@d.om.org. Areas of improvement: - use ($1B or $80) instead of the sequence $1B [ (save you one byte per for escape sequences, but works only on eight-bit clean connections. But that is nowadays standard) - create a working "sgr" line, be sure that afterwards the background color works as expected (use "dialog" to test that). - "bold" does not work as expected. It should switch from normal intensity to bright colors (see the test program that you find in /usr/src/ncurses/test/ncurses. Option "c", color test, shows you all the colors in normal and in bright, using the bold attribute. I wonder if TeraTerm supports that anyway. Without the bold capability, the "dialog" doesn't look very nice. - create a another entry, "teraterm-bw", that has a black background and white characters. This is the default for normal terminals and also for the Linux console. Some programs actually assume this, e.g. the digital clock in /usr/src/ncurses/test/gdc. My goal was that every application look identical at the Linux console and on TeraTerm. What have been changed so far? ------------------------------ 11-Apr-97 hs created 30-Apr-97 hs modified so that both "mc" and "dialog" do work as expected. And finally, where can I get TeraTerm? -------------------------------------- You find it at http://www.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html or in source code from Tera Term version 1.3 for MS-Windows 3.1 (Turbo Pascal for Windows 1.5 or for DELPHI 1.0) ftp://ftp.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/PC/terminal/teraterm/ttsrcv13.zip ftp://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/pc/misc/terminal/teraterm/ttsrcv13.zip Tera Term Pro version 2.0 for MS-Windows 95/NT (Watcom C/C++ 10.5) ftp://ftp.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/PC/terminal/teraterm/ttsrcp20.zip ftp://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/pc/misc/terminal/teraterm/ttsrcp20.zip