Re: xt5250 Colors and GHOST Characters....

[Scott Klement <tn5250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Fred,

It sounds very much like you need to create a "correct" termcap entry 
for your system.  In my experience, the termcap entries are very 
OS-dependent...   For example, the  Linux one doesn't work on FreeBSD or 
vice-versa... and from your symptoms, the one you're using (I don't know 
if you're using the FreeBSD or Linux one or if you've created your own 
or what) doesn't work properly on your system, either.

What you're experiencing really has little to do with TN5250.  It has to 
do with the inconsistent and haphazard way that terminals work on Unix 
systems.  Trying to make a 5250 emulator that will work with every 
possible Unix terminal is a thankless and nearly impossible task, 
because the terminals are so inconsistent, and the termcap entries that 
are supposed to standardize them have only limited features, etc.

Rest assured that TN5250 is sending the code to clear the screen -- so 
if you have characters that are not clearing, it's because you're 
terminal isn't interpreting that code according to the termcap entry.

Likewise, TN5250 is sending the attribute for underlines... but your 
termcap isn't working with that entry.

TN5250 is sending the codes for colors.... but your terminal isn't 
working with that.   This is the sort of frustration that comes from 
this sort of project, and is the reason why folks have created GTK and 
X11 terminal front-ends for TN5250, so they don't have to muck around 
with the limitations of dealing with Unix terminal capabilities...

Anyway... if you want to fix the problem, you need to create a termcap 
(or terminfo -- whatever your OS uses) that specifies the correct 
settings for colors, underlines, and clearing the screen.   It sounds 
like the xterm-color is pretty close, but needs a little tweaking. (I 
remember xterm-color -- but it's been MANY years since I've seen a 
system that required it... makes me wonder if you're using a very old 
version of X11)

The other alternative is to try to get James Rich's x5250 (which doesn't 
use Unix terminal caps, but interfaces directly with X11) to run.


fschnittke@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hi Scott:
>
> I removed  "-tn xterm-5250" from xt5250 like you said (as well as the -bg 
> -fg -cr stuff), and commented the color mappings in my.Xdefaults file, but 
> that just gave me a white background with black text.
>
> I also tried adding  "-tn xterm-color" to xt5250. Now that gave me all the 
> right colors, but no lines (like the iSeries command line).
>
> One other thing I noticed, and this seems to be a bit more of a problem, 
> GHOST Characters:
>
> If I'm on a screen (any screen), then go to another screen, quite often 
> characters from the first screen remain and can be seen on the next and 
> subsequent screen(s). These characters will stay there until I go to a 
> screen where that or those character positions on the screen are 
> re-written. I noticed this in both xt5250 as well as TN5250. Just 
> wondering if anyone's seen that before?
>  
>  
> Regards, 
>  
>  
> Fred Schnittke  MCSE, MCP,
> Network Administrator
> VETERINARY PURCHASING company limited
> 485 Queen Street West,
> P.O. Box 1150,
> St. Marys, Ontario,
> N4X 1B7
> 519.284.1371 x252