Re: tn5250 Questions . . .

[Scott Klement <klemscot@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

First thing to understand is...   tn5250 doesn't do any keyboard mapping.
At all.  None.  It's done by Linux and the terminal.

tn5250 interfaces with Linux using the ncurses library.   NCurses tells it
"F21 was pressed" it signals an F21 event in the software.

So the trick is to to get the system to report F21 to Tn5250.  Normally, the 
VTxxx terminals only have function keys F1-F20 defined.  The actual
terminals don't have a F21-F24.  

The 5250.terminfo and 5250.tcap in the linux/ directory that comes with
the distribution have additional definitions for F21-F24.  So, loading
these definitions makes it possible to use the extra keys.

If you look at 5250.terminfo you'll see:  kf21=\E[35~

This means that when the sequence:  <ESC> [ 3 5 ~ is read in from the
terminal, it understands that F21 was pressed.   It then tells tn5250 that
F21 was pressed.

So:

1) Load 5250.terminfo into your terminal database.  "tic 5250.terminfo" 
      should do this for you.
2) Make the 5250 definition be the active definition for your particular
      session by setting the TERM enviornment variable to be "5250".  
      It might be advisable to put this in a script that runs
      when you start tn5250, so you don't have to type it each time.
3) Make the terminal send "<ESC> [ 3 5 ~" when Shift-F9 is pressed.  
      That way, Linux will read that sequence, and it'll be identified
      as "F21".

Make sense?

Of course, you'll have to look at the 5250.terminfo file and find the
definitions for F22-F24, as well as any other keys that aren't working for
you, and do the same thing.


On Sun, 28 Jan 2001, Mike's Linux Server wrote:

> I've been using both the mtn5250 (MochaSoft and xWindows only) and the
> tn5250 software on my Caldera eServer 2.3.  What I want to do is use my
> server as a terminal server giving users access via a telnet session and
> then a 5250 session.  I need to know what would need to be changed to
> set up the 'shift F9 to shift F12' to be the 'F21 to F24' keys.  I could
> never get this to work on my RedHat 6.0 box either.  I'm using the 0.6.1
> version that I compiled, not the RPM.  There are a number of grand
> possibilities in the concept of terminal server 5250.
> 
> Mike Everidge, IS Director
> Lakeway Regional Hospital
> Morristown, TN

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