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1 This file describes what you must or might want to do to termcap entries
2 to make terminals work properly and efficiently with Emacs. Information
3 on likely problems with specific types of terminals appears at the end
4 of the file.
6 *** What you want in a terminal ***
8 Vital
9 1. Easy to compute suitable padding for.
10 2. Never ever sends ^S/^Q unless you type them, at least in one mode.
12 Nice for speed
13 1. Supports insert/delete of multiple lines in one command.
14 2. Same for multiple characters, though doing them one by
15 one is usually fast enough except on emulators running on
16 machines with bitmap screens.
18 Nice for usability
19 1. Considerably more than 24 lines.
20 2. Meta key (shift-like key that controls the 0200 bit
21 in every character you type).
23 *** New termcap strings ***
25 Emacs supports certain termcap strings that are not described in the
26 4.2 manual but appear to be standard in system V. The one exception
27 is `cS', which I invented.
29 `AL' insert several lines. Takes one parameter, the number of
30 lines to be inserted. You specify how to send this parameter
31 using a %-construct, just like the cursor positions in the `cm'
32 string.
34 `DL' delete several lines. One parameter.
36 `IC' insert several characters. One parameter.
38 `DC' delete several characters. One parameter.
40 `rp' repeat a character. Takes two parameters, the character
41 to be repeated and the number of times to repeat it.
42 Most likely you will use `%.' for sending the character
43 to be repeated. Emacs interprets a padding spec with a *
44 as giving the amount of padding per repetition.
46 WARNING: Many terminals have a command to repeat the
47 *last character output* N times. This means that the character
48 will appear N+1 times in a row when the command argument is N.
49 However, the `rp' string's parameter is the total number of
50 times wanted, not one less. Therefore, such repeat commands
51 may be used in an `rp' string only if you use Emacs's special
52 termcap operator `%a-c\001' to subtract 1 from the repeat count
53 before substituting it into the string. It is probably safe
54 to use this even though the Unix termcap does not accept it
55 because programs other than Emacs probably won't look for `rp'
56 anyway.
58 `cs' set scroll region. Takes two parameters, the vertical
59 positions of the first line to include in the scroll region
60 and the last line to include in the scroll region.
61 Both parameters are origin-zero. The effect of this
62 should be to cause a following insert-line or delete-line
63 not to move lines below the bottom of the scroll region.
65 This is not the same convention that Emacs version 16 used.
66 That is because I was led astray by unclear documentation
67 of the meaning of %i in termcap strings. Since the termcap
68 documentation for `cs' is also unclear, I had to deduce the
69 correct parameter conventions from what would make the VT-100's
70 `cs' string work properly. From an incorrect assumption about
71 %i, I reached an incorrect conclusion about `cs', but the result
72 worked correctly on the VT100 and ANSII terminals. In Emacs
73 version 17, both `cs' and %i work correctly.
75 The version 16 convention was to pass, for the second parameter,
76 the line number of the first line beyond the end of the
77 scroll region.
79 `cS' set scroll region. Differs from `cs' in taking parameters
80 differently. There are four parameters:
81 1. Total number of lines on the screen.
82 2. Number of lines above desired scroll region.
83 3. Number of lines below (outside of) desired scroll region.
84 4. Total number of lines on the screen, like #1.
85 This is because an Ambassador needs the parameters like this.
87 `cr', `do', `le'
88 Emacs will not attempt to use ^M, ^J or ^H for cursor motion
89 unless these capabilities are present and say to use those
90 characters.
92 `km' Says the terminal has a Meta key.
94 Defining these strings is important for getting maximum performance
95 from your terminal.
97 Make sure that the `ti' string sets all modes needed for editing
98 in Emacs. For example, if your terminal has a mode that controls
99 wrap at the end of the line, you must decide whether to specify
100 the `am' flag in the termcap entry; whichever you decide, the `ti'
101 string should contain commands to set the mode that way.
102 (Emacs also sends the `vs' string after the `ti' string.
103 You can put the mode-setting commands in either one of them.)
105 *** Specific Terminal Types ***
107 Watch out for termcap entries for Ann Arbor Ambassadors that
108 give too little padding for clear-screen. 7.2 msec per line is right.
109 These are the strings whose padding you probably should change:
110 :al=1*\E[L:dl=1*\E[M:cd=7.2*\E[J:cl=7.2*\E[H\E[J:
111 I have sometimes seen `\E[2J' at the front of the `ti' string;
112 this is a clear-screen, very slow, and it can cause you to get
113 Control-s sent by the terminal at startup. I recommend removing
114 the `\E[2J' from the `ti' string.
115 The `ti' or `vs' strings also usually need stuff added to them, such as
116 \E[>33;52;54h\E[>30;37;38;39l
117 You might want to add the following to the `te' or `ve' strings:
118 \E[>52l\E[>37h
119 The following additional capabilities will improve performance:
120 :AL=1*\E[%dL:DL=1*\E[%dM:IC=4\E[%d@:DC=4\E[%dP:rp=1*%.\E[%a-c\001%db:
121 If you find that the Meta key does not work, make sure that
122 :km:
123 is present in the termcap entry.
125 Watch out for termcap entries for VT100's that fail to specify
126 the `sf' string, or that omit the padding needed for the `sf' and `sr'
127 strings (2msec per line affected). What you need is
128 :sf=2*^J:sr=2*\EM:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:
130 The Concept-100 and Concept-108 have many modes that `ti' strings
131 often fail to initialize. If you have problems on one of these
132 terminals, that is probably the place to fix them. These terminals
133 can support an `rp' string.
135 Watch out on HP terminals for problems with standout disappearing on
136 part of the mode line. These problems are due to the absence of
137 :sg#0: which some HP terminals need.
139 The vi55 is said to require `ip=2'.
141 The Sun console should have these capabilities for good performance.
142 :AL=\E[%dL:DL=\E[%dM:IC=\E[%d@:DC=\E[%dP:
144 The vt220 needs to be set to vt220 mode, 7 bit, space parity
145 in order to work fully with TERM=vt220.
147 If you are using a LAT terminal concentrator, you need to issue these
148 commands to turn off flow control:
150 set port flow control disable
151 define port flow control disable
153 On System V, in the terminfo database, various terminals may have
154 the `xt' flag that should not have it. `xt' should be present only
155 for the Teleray 1061 or equivalent terminal.
157 In particular, System V for the 386 often has `xt' for terminal type
158 AT386 or AT386-M, which is used for the console. You should delete
159 this flag. Here is how:
161 You can get a copy of the terminfo "source" for at386 using the
162 command: `infocmp at386 >at386.tic'. Edit the file at386.tic and remove
163 the `xt' flag. Then compile the new entry with: `tic at386.tic'.
165 It is also reported that these terminal types sometimes have the wrong
166 reverse-scroll string. It should be \E[T, but sometimes is given as \E[S.
168 Here is what watserv1!maytag!focsys!larry recommends for these terminals:
170 # This copy of the terminfo description has been fixed.
171 # The suggestions came from a number of usenet postings.
172 #
173 # Intel AT/386 for color card with monochrome display
174 #
175 AT386-M|at386-m|386AT-M|386at-m|at/386 console,
176 am, bw, eo, xon,
177 cols#80, lines#25,
178 acsc=``a1fxgqh0jYk?lZm@nEooppqDrrsstCu4vAwBx3yyzz{{||}}~~,
179 bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z,
180 clear=\E[2J\E[H,
181 cr=\r, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\E[D, cud=\E[%p1%dB,
182 cud1=\E[B, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C,
183 cup=\E[%i%p1%02d;%p2%02dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A,
184 dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[1M,
185 ech=\E[%p1%dX,ed=\E[J, el=\E[K, el1=\E[1K\E[X, flash=^G, home=\E[H,
186 hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ich=\E[%p1%d@, ich1=\E[1@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[1L,
187 ind=\E[S, indn=\E[%p1%dS, invis=\E[9m,
188 is2=\E[0;10;38m, kbs=\b, kcbt=^], kclr=\E[2J,
189 kcub1=\E[D, kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A,
190 kdch1=\E[P, kend=\E[Y, kf1=\EOP, kf10=\EOY, kf11=\EOZ,
191 kf12=\EOA, kf2=\EOQ, kf3=\EOR, kf4=\EOS, kf5=\EOT,
192 kf6=\EOU, kf7=\EOV, kf8=\EOW, kf9=\EOX, khome=\E[H,
193 kich1=\E[@, knp=\E[U, kpp=\E[V, krmir=\E0, rev=\E[7m, ri=\E[T,
194 rin=\E[%p1%dT, rmacs=\E[10m, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m,
195 sgr=\E[10m\E[0%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p9%t;12%;%?%p7%t;9%;m,
196 sgr0=\E[0;10m, smacs=\E[12m, smso=\E[7m, smul=\E[4m,
198 #
199 # AT&T 386 color console
200 #
201 AT386|at386|386AT|386at|at/386 console,
202 colors#8, ncv#3, pairs#64,
203 is2=\E[0;10;39m,
204 op=\E[0m,
205 setb=\E[%?%p1%{0}%=%t40m
206 %e%p1%{1}%=%t44m
207 %e%p1%{2}%=%t42m
208 %e%p1%{3}%=%t46m
209 %e%p1%{4}%=%t41m
210 %e%p1%{5}%=%t45m
211 %e%p1%{6}%=%t43m
212 %e%p1%{7}%=%t47m%;,
213 setf=\E[%?%p1%{0}%=%t30m
214 %e%p1%{1}%=%t34m
215 %e%p1%{2}%=%t32m
216 %e%p1%{3}%=%t36m
217 %e%p1%{4}%=%t31m
218 %e%p1%{5}%=%t35m
219 %e%p1%{6}%=%t33m
220 %e%p1%{6}%=%t33m
221 %e%p1%{7}%=%t37m%;,
222 use=at386-m,
223 #
224 # Color console version that supports underline but maps blue
225 # foreground color to cyan.
226 #
227 AT386-UL|at386-ul|386AT-UL|386at-ul|at/386 console,
228 is2=\E[0;10;38m,
229 use=at386,