From: condict AT opengroup DOT org (Michael Condict) Subject: Re: ncurses/termcap, just won't clear the screen? 21 May 1997 16:55:24 -0700 Approved: cygnus DOT gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Distribution: cygnus Message-ID: <199705201611.MAA03601.cygnus.gnu-win32@postman.osf.org> X-Authentication-Warning: postman.osf.org: Host hare.osf.org [130.105.7.99] didn't use HELO protocol Original-To: kunglao AT prairienet DOT org Original-cc: gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com, condict AT opengroup DOT org In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 19 May 1997 17:00:08 -0000." <199705192156 DOT QAA29407 AT bluestem DOT prairienet DOT org> Original-Sender: owner-gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com In message <199705192156 DOT QAA29407 AT bluestem DOT prairienet DOT org>, you write: > I've just rebuilt termcap & ncurses, that went fine. But now I'm > trying to run some of the test programs that ncurses has. And it > appears that it just cannot erase the screen. The curses is set to > the top of the window, but all the text is still there. I've tried a > few different things for my TERM env variable, linux, ansi, pc-ansi, > vt100, etc. They all behaved the same. > > Might I have forgotten a step somewhere? I rebuilt termcap and the "less" program, which configured itself to use libtermcap. When it comes up, it says that my tty is not fully functional, and then it treats it like a dumb scrolling teletype. It doesn't even know how to scroll backwards one line -- instead, it redraws the whole screen. I also observe that visual-history editing in bash (which uses termcap) has the same defect. Unlike the Unix version, where it displays commands that are longer than one line on multiple screen lines, allowing you to move back and forth among any of the lines, the Win32 version uses the fallback method of scrolling sideways and showing you "<" or ">" characters to indicate that some of the line is off the screen. This requires only space and CR to implement, i.e. it works on a completely dumb tty. So it looks like termcap (and ncurses too?) are almost completely non-functional. Michael Condict m DOT condict AT opengroup DOT org The Open Group Research Inst. (617) 621-7349 11 Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 - For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to "gnu-win32-request AT cygnus DOT com" with one line of text: "help".