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From: gk5g+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Gary Keim)
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.andrew
Subject: Re: color settings on monochrome screen
Message-ID: <EbXAG_K00VsWA_XGcC@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 10 Jan 91 19:46:18 GMT
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Excerpts from misc: 8-Jan-91 color settings on monochrom.. Anthony
Edwards@northsta (625+0)

> My Console and Typescript windows have dim writing in them, like their
> intensity is around 0.6.  Is this a new feature in PL7 since PL4? 

Yes.  In patch.007 color support was added to the graphic layer.  This
behavior indicates that you've set some color preferences that could not
be realized in your enviornment (you're on a monochrome display).  

Excerpts from misc: 8-Jan-91 color settings on monochrom.. Anthony
Edwards@northsta (625+0)

> Do I have to make my preferences file more complicated to configure it
> one way for monochrome and one way for color?  And if so, what's the
> equivalent of "M?" or "S?" for color, "C?"?

In your preferences file you can set a preference based conditionally on
an environment variable.  From prefs.help:

Environment-specific preferences

    If you need to have preferences that are only active when a certain
    environment variable is set, you can use the following preference
    forms:

    ?E=environmentvariable=value:preference
    ?E!environmentvariable=value:preference

    Meaningful colons within these specifications can be quoted with the
    backslash character ("\").  For example, the following line would
    cause typescripts you start while the "DISPLAY" environment variable
    is "pgh:0" to be 600x600 pixels.

    ?E=DISPLAY=pgh\:0:typescript.geometry:600x600

So you could define an environment variable that indicates whether or
not you are using a color monitor.  In your .cshrc you could add a line
like:

if (`sys` == "sun4_40") then
	setenv COLORMONITOR YES
endif

and add this line to your preferences:

?E=COLORMONITOR=YES:ez.ForegroundColor: blue

As well, you could use the DISPLAY variable if you are logged in remotely.

?E=DISPLAY=foobar\:0:ez.ForegroundColor: blue

Gary Keim
ATK Group