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- Pcomm v1.1
- Additional Notes for users of
- AT&T Unix PC 7300/3b1
-
- 1) The shared libraries on your system contain Terminal Access
- Method (TAM) routines in lieu of curses(3) routines. However,
- many of the routines have the same names! This means that
- curses library is not compatible with the shared library. So,
- to circumvent the problem, an alternate shared library "link
- directive file" is needed. The Ifile.sh file is a shell script
- that is run by the Makefile to create this alternate file. The
- alternate file has the references to the TAM routines removed
- (actually, they just have an 'x' placed in the names). The
- actual shared library binaries are NOT altered. We just fool
- the linker into believing that the TAM routines aren't there.
-
- 2) Before Pcomm can be compiled, the curses library routines
- must be installed on your system. The diskette labled
- "Curses/Terminfo Programmer's Package" is a part of the "Unix
- Developement Set". Likewise, before Pcomm can be used, the
- terminfo database must be installed. The diskettes labled
- "Curses/Terminfo End User Package" and "Terminfo Database" are
- a part of the "Unix Foundation Set"
-
- 3) If you are running Unix version 3.0 or older, you must edit
- the "config.h" file to change the OLDCURSES definition from
- "#undef" to "#define". I understand the older version of
- curses(3) is very buggy.
-
- 4) Did you know that your system can use DEC vt100 style line
- drawing character? Curses automatically uses the "alternate"
- character set (if found) to draw the boxes and lines rather than
- using the '-' and '|' characters. To allow your system to use
- this feature, there are two things you must do:
-
- 1) Load the line drawing font in slot 1 prior to running
- a program requiring them. This can be done by typing:
-
- setf /usr/lib/wfont/BLD.ft 1
-
- ...or permanently install this font in slot 1 by adding
- the following two lines to the end of the /etc/rc file:
-
- sfont /usr/lib/wfont/BLD.ft 1
- setf /usr/lib/wfont/BLD.ft 1
-
- 2) Tell curses(3) about the alternate character set by
- editing the terminfo database.
-
- To get a copy of the terminfo entry to play with,
- you type:
-
- infocmp -I s4 > s4.ti
-
- now add the following line (with a leading tab) to the
- 's4.ti' file:
-
- acsc=+h\,g.e-fjjkkllmmnnqqttuuvvwwxx,
-
- recompile the new entry:
-
- tic s4.ti
-
- 5) The "tset" command is broken on every version of Unix this
- box has ever seen (it is commented out of /etc/profile for a
- good reason). One of tset's functions is to send a string to
- initialize the settings of the terminal and to set the tab
- stops. The fact that this function doesn't work is often
- overlooked because the console (as well as a lot of other
- terminals) doesn't require any initialization. However, if you
- call into your system from a remote terminal that *does* require
- initialization, you've got trouble.
-
- For example, curses(3) looks at the terminfo database to see if
- your terminal has "hardware tabs", if so, it expects the tab
- stops to be set. Ignoring tabs by using "stty -tabs" (to
- convert tabs to spaces) won't work, in fact, curses(3) RESETS
- things as if you had typed "stty tabs"! In this case, you must
- use the "tabs" command before running Pcomm.
-
- Likewise, my terminfo entry for PCPLUS v1.1's emulation of a
- vt102 has "^[)0" in the initialization string to load the line
- drawing character set. But, since tset is broken, I've got to
- cat a file containing the above command sequence before running
- Pcomm.
-