Keyboard Setup?

[Matey]

Hello All;

I am very new to HP-UX in fact this is my first encounter with this OS but I am disappointed at its keyboard handling!
We also have a Sun server with the same keyboard problem.
Is there any way we could get the keyboard setup to function the same as in redhat or ubuntu Linux?

The arrow keys put nothing on the screen at all?
the tab key functions as if I am in a text editor mode (jumps few spaces)
the backspace key puts a ^? on the screen etc, etc,
Is this the way it is or some thing's wrong with this server which I have inherited?

Thank You!
This is uname -a;

HP-UX ... B.11.23 U ia64 0267.... unlimited-user license

[Matey]

Oh BTW can someone show me a link to HP-UX list of commands please?

Thank You very Much!

[Torsten.]

hp-ux servers are using different shells (sh/ksh) than linux machines (bash).

To recall a command use

ESC -
or
ESC k

Commands are here:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B3921-60631/index.html

[Matey]

Thank you very much for the reply!
(yes indeed, it is the differences in shell)...
I'll give that a try and thanks very much for the link as well!

[Matey]

BTW I even fixed the prompt;
I called bash and got the prompt.
I typed set and saw the PS1= statement
then I just added the things I like:

bash-3.2# PS1='\s-\v\u\w\$ '
bash-3.2root/# cd etc
bash-3.2root/etc#

I may be a noob but I am happy :-)

Thanks again!

[Torsten.]

... so there are more linux fans around you and one of them already installed bash ...

However, some scripts may require "sh". Keep this in mind.

[Duncan Edmonstone]

playing devil's advocate...

>I am very new to HP-UX in fact this is my first encounter with this OS but I am disappointed at its keyboard handling!
We also have a Sun server with the same keyboard problem.

Why would you _expect_ it to be like Linux? It's a different OS. Those sorts of features are "de-facto" standards, in that a lot of people expect them because they work that way in a popular OS like linux. If this was the default on HP-UX and Solaris it would upset a great number of people and maybe break a lot of functions too.

People who use HP-UX and Solaris _value_ backwards compatability a lot more than the Linux crowd, so things tend to chnage only slowly...

Also, don't be tempted to change /etc/passwd and make bash root's default shell - you will break your box, but you won't know it until you find you can't get into single user mode...

HTH

Duncan

[OldSchool]

and since you didn't mention which user you're logging in with, be aware that you should not ever change the default shell for the "root" account. Doing so can potentially cause you not to be able to access the system.

[Matey]

Thanks Torsten for the reminder.

Duncan;

I dont know? Good question!
I thought most Unix based OSes are alike
But thanks for the warning.(there at the end) sounds important enough...
Oh and OpenBSD is also too ridgid looking to me as well, I want to see colors when I do an ls so I know whats file and which is directory, executable or what?? etc..

About the keyboard function, well even in DOS we used to have some functions assigned to the arrow and F- keys.

I always thought it was a misconfiguration at the setup using System V .
I used to have Unix instructors complain about the keyboard layout etc.(I was only a lab tech)

Anyway I am trying to learn and hopefully I wont do too much damage in process.
That is why I am here asking the experts before trying things on our production server.
Thanks again!

[OldSchool]

Matey> "I thought most Unix based OSes are alike "

there are basically two or three flavors of Unix'es, those that are based around BSD, those that revolve around SystemV and those that are a little of both.

Remember that GNU is a recursive acronym "Gnu's Not Unix". Linux / GNU based systems may work alike (even to the point of sharing common command names), but they are not UNIX. Most GNU versions of the commands are heavily extended. To me, its seems easier to transition from *nix to Linux then the other way around.

Matey> "also too rigid looking to me as well, I want to see colors...."

Well, I believe that you can get that. The GNU package coreutils (IIRC) can be installed should get you there. But, it's one of those "why bother" / "ooohh cool" thing IMHO.

"About the keyboard function, well even in DOS we used to have some functions assigned to the arrow and F- keys."

OK, you've got bash installed. As I recall, you can configure the .inputrc file to map keys so that up-arrow is "command recall" and so forth. I no longer recall the details, and again, it seems a trivial issue (to me). I'd just use the ksh and a "set -o vi".

You want to see rigid, try a non-unix platform, like MVS/XA w/ green screens.