[comp.emacs] Installing MicroEmacs 3.10e on Sun 3's and 4's running 4.0.3

drk@athena.mit.edu (David R Kohr) (07/06/90)

I'm having trouble installing MicroEmacs 3.10e (the "interim" release) 
on Sun 3 and Sun 4 systems running Sun/OS 4.0.3.  In particular,
if in the "estruct.h" file I define the system type to be SUN (set SUN to
be 1), it won't even compile.  Then if I use BSD or V7, I can compile OK,
but there seems to be a problem in the terminal-handling code: prompts
cease to appear below the mode line (like when you do "^X^F", or "find-file",
to open a new input file), but user input does appear.  I tried using
both the original unix.c and newunix.c files when compiling, but had
this problem each time.

If someone could tell me how to properly  set up "estruct.h" for such
a system, and whether or not I should use "newunix.c" rather than "unix.c",
I would be most appreciative.  I'm also interested to hear just how well
UE now handles function and cursor movement keys using termcap--there
were lots of patches posted to bring it up to v. 3.10e, but I don't
know which ones really are reflected in that release, and how to actually
bind commands to function keys nowadays.

Finally, has anyone put together a version of UE that uses curses rather
than termcap for screen and keyboard handling?  It seems to me that that
might help fix up a lot of the problems UE has when running under Unix.

--
David R. Kohr     M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory      Group 45 ("Radars 'R' Us")
    email:    DRK@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (preferred)  or  KOHR@LL.LL.MIT.EDU
    phone:    (617)981-0775 (work)	      or  (617)527-3908 (home)

decouty@irisa.fr (Bertrand Decouty) (07/06/90)

In article <1990Jul6.005529.16835@athena.mit.edu> drk@athena.mit.edu (David R Kohr) writes:
| I'm having trouble installing MicroEmacs 3.10e (the "interim" release) 
| on Sun 3 and Sun 4 systems running Sun/OS 4.0.3.  In particular,
| if in the "estruct.h" file I define the system type to be SUN (set SUN to
| be 1), it won't even compile.  Then if I use BSD or V7, I can compile OK,
| but there seems to be a problem in the terminal-handling code: prompts
| cease to appear below the mode line (like when you do "^X^F", or "find-file",
| to open a new input file), but user input does appear.  I tried using
| both the original unix.c and newunix.c files when compiling, but had
| this problem each time.
| 

First, use BSD flag, not SUN. 

Next, if all is fine and me310e starts, your trouble lies certainly in
.emacsrc. At the beginning of .emacsrc, there is a line such as "set
$discmd FALSE". This line tells emacs to not display any message in status
line, until $discmd is TRUE. Comment this line (add ;) and you will see the
error message, with the line number.

Alternatively, type "^X A $debug<return>TRUE<return>" and you will see any
message. 

You can also, -feature of me310e?- change current buffer to .emacsrc by
typing: "^X b [.emacsrc]<return>" (i do not remember if [] are needed). the
cursor, in the new buffer, will be on the faulty line. 

I have installed me310e on sun3/sun4/Gould NP1/pyramid. I have included many
patches, along with new things and bug corrections. I use newunix.c.

For now, i have seen 3 bugs remaining, which occurs rarely (by chance):

- sometimes ^S acts as xoff. Improper initialisation of tty? (remember, it
is random!). Just hit ^Q ^G (to cancel) and type esc X <name of the command>
- with hscroll TRUE, emacs hangs when it has to scroll right the full
window. (nothing to do except kill process...) (random also)
- when doing ^K or ^O, the cursor jumps some lines forward then goes back to
the true position, like in cmode when you type a ')' or '}'.

The version currently in use here is available on ftp server irisa.irisa.fr,
in pub/m-emacs3.10e directory.

| If someone could tell me how to properly  set up "estruct.h" for such
| a system, and whether or not I should use "newunix.c" rather than "unix.c",
| I would be most appreciative.  I'm also interested to hear just how well
| UE now handles function and cursor movement keys using termcap--there
| were lots of patches posted to bring it up to v. 3.10e, but I don't
| know which ones really are reflected in that release, and how to actually
| bind commands to function keys nowadays.
| 
Really fine. It looks at Function and cursor keys definition in /etc/termcap.

| Finally, has anyone put together a version of UE that uses curses rather
| than termcap for screen and keyboard handling?  It seems to me that that
| might help fix up a lot of the problems UE has when running under Unix. |

Under System 5, emacs uses curses (which emulates termcap calls), because
there is no termcap and emacs does not know about terminfo. 

Last point about System5, a friend of mine has installed our version on
PC/RT 6150, AIX V??, and told me that the BIG trouble of me3.9 (blocking
read or something like that which uses 100% cpu!) was OUT! Good news for
HP-UX users, too (next port to be done here).

| -- | David R.
| Kohr     M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory      Group 45 ("Radars 'R' Us") |    
| email:    DRK@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (preferred)  or  KOHR@LL.LL.MIT.EDU |    
| phone:    (617)981-0775 (work)	      or  (617)527-3908 (home)


Bertrand Decouty.

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