Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!sri-unix!hplabs!decwrl!labrea!su-russell!goldberg From: goldberg@su-russell.ARPA (Jeffrey Goldberg) Newsgroups: comp.terminals Subject: Lines and columns under 4.3 Message-ID: <234@su-russell.ARPA> Date: Thu, 8-Jan-87 23:22:10 EST Article-I.D.: su-russe.234 Posted: Thu Jan 8 23:22:10 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 9-Jan-87 22:44:02 EST Reply-To: goldberg@su-russell.UUCP (Jeffrey Goldberg) Organization: Stanford University, CSLI Lines: 40 Summary: Workaround needed for known "bug" Basically my question is is there a work around to the fact that under 4.3 some programs (vi and more in particular) don't inspect the termcap entry to determine the number of lines or the number of columns of a given terminal. I recently got an account on a 4.3 machine (a VAX 780) and I moved some stuff over from a machine running 4.2. What I have is my own little termcap file that contains the entry for an hp9836 which I found on one of the local Vaxen and works fine, and my own thing which is just a 36 with 40 lines instead of 24. This works fine on the 4.2 machine, but doesn't on the 4.3 machine. Vi and more behave as if I were working on a 24 line terminal. Looking at the manual page for termcap on 4.3 I find under BUGS and CAVEATS: "Lines and columns are now stored in the kernel as well as in the termcap entry. Most programs now use the kernel information primarily; the information in this file is used only if the kernel does not have any information." I don't pretend to begin to understand where the kernel gets its information about these terminals, but there is no indication that anyone has ever defined a terminal with the name that I give it. So I don't understand how the kernel could have prior knowledge of it. I do use tc extensively in my entries. Should I just duplicate the stuff in different entries instead of using tc? Jeff Goldberg ARPA: goldberg@russell.stanford.edu, goldberg@csli.stanford.edu UUCP: ...!hplabs!russell.stanford.edu!goldberg cryptography, terrorist, DES, drugs, cipher, secret, decode, NSA, CIA, NRO. The above is food for the NSA line eater. Add it to your .signature and you too can help overflow the NSA's ability to scan all traffic going in or out of the USA looking for "significant" words. (I am told that this is no joke.)