Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pacbell!pbhyf!rob
From: rob@PacBell.COM (Rob Bernardo)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm
Subject: Re: vt220's and elm??
Keywords: termcap?
Message-ID: <5160@pbhyf.PacBell.COM>
Date: 30 Apr 89 15:21:34 GMT
References: <880@psc90.UUCP>
Reply-To: rob@PacBell.COM (Rob Bernardo)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Lines: 49

In article <880@psc90.UUCP> rem@.UUCP (Bob Mahoney?) writes:
+We are having one problem: as a mixed computing enviroment, we have all flavors
+of terminals.  Elm seems to mis-paint a DEC vt220 screen, almost as though it
+can't see the first couple of tabs.  (It all goes thataway ->>!)
+
+If we setenv TERM vt100, all is well, regardless of the actual setting of the
+220...

Since when you lie that your terminal is a vt100 everything goes okay,
and since ELM gets *all* its information from your termcap/terminfo
entry, either:

	1. One field that differs between the two entries is wrong.

	2. One field that differs between the two entries is not
	   handled properly by ELM.

Knowing the ELM curses code quite well and having heard no complaints
of this sort before, my professional hunch is strongly #1.

Unfortunately, not having a vt220, I can't check the problem out. Want
to help us out? Do the following. (I'm posting this because this is
good advice for people who are befuddled when trying to track down
termcap/terminfo bugs.)

	1. Make a list of terminal cap strings that differ between the
	   vt100 and vt220 entries.

	2. Make an entry you can play with. (If termcap, most systems
	   will allow you to define TERMCAP in your environment to point
	   to the name of a file to use in place of /etc/termcap. If terminfo,
	   set TERMINFO to point to an alternate directory in place of
	   /usr/lib/terminfo.

	3. Make an entry for vt220. Repeat the following until the problem
	   goes away.

		a. Change one field that differs between the vt220 and vt100
		   entries to the vt100 value.

		b. Test to see if the screen painting problem has gone away.

This procedure will isolate the field in your termcap/terminfo entry that
is either wrong or that elm doesn't deal with properly.
-- 
Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell UNIX/C Reusable Code Library
Email:     ...![backbone]!pacbell!pbhyf!rob   OR  rob@pbhyf.PacBell.COM
Office:    (415) 823-2417  Room 4E850O San Ramon Valley Administrative Center
Residence: (415) 827-4301  R Bar JB, Concord, California