termcap question

[Madison Kelly]

Henry Spencer wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Feb 2005, Madison Kelly wrote:
> 
>>...The guy told me to edit my '/etc/termcap' file to 
>>create a new console ('linux' and 'xterm' didn't work) that "used those 
>>codes (see below) for the arrow keys.".
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, he didn't really know what he was talking about.  The
> /etc/termcap file *documents* the codes sent by keypresses (among other
> things), in a software-readable form that programs can understand; it does
> not *control* which codes are sent.  (In fact, *his program* should be
> looking the console up in /etc/termcap to find out what codes to expect,
> rather than arrogantly assuming that it knows what the keys will send.)
> 
> There *is* machinery in Linux for controlling what codes the keys send --
> unlike old serial terminals, the interpretation of a PC's keyboard is
> entirely under software control -- but it doesn't consult /etc/termcap, as
> far as I know.  It's complicated and messy, and I haven't done battle with
> it for a while, so other people can probably explain its intricacies
> better than I can... 
> 
>                                                           Henry Spencer
>                                                        henry-lqW1N6Cllo0sV2N9l4h3zg at public.gmane.org

   Ya know, I away from MS to escape the "it's not my problem" mentality 
of the commercial software industry and this is doing a fine job of 
reminding me why. *sigh*

   Thank you very much for your reply. Maybe I didn't understand what 
exactly he wanted me to do. There is obviously some miscommunication so 
I will try to talk to them to get some clarity. Thanks again!

Madison

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Madison Kelly (Digimer)
TLE-BU, The Linux Experience; Back Up
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