denbeste@cc5.bbn.com.UUCP (06/06/87)
I tried very hard to mail this to mcinerny@rochester - but that isn't
an ARPANET address (in the form I tried "mcinerny@rochester.edu"), and
my USENET gateway (harvard) doesn't know where rochester is. Sorry, I
gotta post this.
I very much like the UW server recently posted, and tried to get it
running - and like someone else on the net, I had trouble getting the
termcap working for it for vi. There seem to be several problems with the
standard ANSI termcap, and I have finally whittled it down to the point
where there is only one error left. I can't figure out how to get rid
of that one by manipulating the termcap.
Then I read in news today that mcinerny had previously posted a termcap, so
I went back and got it. Your termcap doesn't solve the problem, nor does
it correctly handle another one which I already found and fixed.
First, the one I do know about: If you enter 'vi' with no file, it should
run tilde's down the left margin - and it doesn't. To fix it, delete
the "bs" option from the TERMCAP. (It can louse up other things, as well.)
The other problem is demonstrated as follows: Again in vi, build a
section of dense text - three or four long lines would be fine.
Now move your cursor to the middle of the top line, and hit "j".
This should go straight down, but instead it goes to the left margin.
The reason seems to be that the uw-client, or perhaps intuition or
amigados, are taking the linefeed and converting it to a CR-LF.
I have proved that this isn't happening at Unix.
It may be necessary to filter out line-feeds and convert them to
cursor-movement calls instead. I know, slow - but it only has to keep
up with 2400 baud for my purposes...
(Oh, by the way, I am on an Ultrix system - maybe some other vi doesn't
use LF in this way... I am interested in the fact that vi seems to
do this unrelated to any setting in the termcap.)
I have finally broken down and ordered a C-compiler today - should come
next week - but I ordered from Manx and your source seems to be Lattice.
I'm going to see if I can fix this problem - but first I'll probably have to
manxify the source. I hope you don't mind. (By the way, I'll proably
fail - so don't send mail asking for the source until I announce I've
succeeded, if I do.)
Even with this minor problem UW is a very nice environment. I've been
using it (indeed, I'm typing this with it) as two un-resized screens in
interlace mode and it is extremely handy!
For instance, I can call up something to look at it (right now I'm looking
at mcinerney's termcap) while typing in vi...
--
Steven C. Den Beste
Bolt Beranek & Newman, Cambridge MA
denbeste@bbn.com (ARPA or CSNET)
Disclaimer: Disclaimer? Why bother? Nobody pays attention to what I say, anyhow.