Running terminal version of SAM in a dtterm

[Luis Toro]

Any reason why I don't get the function buttons ( ie., F7 gets you a shell) when I run the terminal version of SAM in a dtterm ? I tried toggling using the ctrl-printscreen key to no avail.

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi Luis,

echo $TERM

It has to match what you actually are.
Try

export TERM=dtterm

HTH,
Jeff

[Luis Toro]

Jeff,

TERM is set accordingly. The ability to run a shell while in a sam session is rather useful, and its not a major ordeal to change the references from dtterm to hpterm, but I'm curious as to why the function key mappings don't show up under dtterm.

[Jeff Schussele]

Are you running SAM as root?
I *think* shell is restricted to non-root SAM users unless it's been granted by root.

Rgds,
Jeff

[Luis Toro]

Everything is the same except the term window. I am logged in as root. From an X-window, I run "dtterm &" and "hpterm &". I run terminal version of sam in each, and on the hpterm I get the function key buttons along the bottom, and on the dtterm I do not. All other functionality is there.

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

The two-line function key names are a feature of HP terminals only. dtterm is a fake terminal -- it is emulating a vt220 and the keyword is 'emulating'. The best explanation of vt terminals is found at:

http://vt100.net
or
http://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm/

where you will see just how dumb these terminals are. Now the ability of SAM to write and display function keys is dependent on the terminfo database and the TERM variable. To see if your terminfo database is correct, use the untic command:

untic $TERM

This shows all the capabilities for your current $TERM setting. man terminfo will decode all the capabilities.

SAM (and swinstall and Glance) all work best in an hpterm window as the emulator is much more sophisicated than a vt-series. Also check that you don't have some unusual Xresources identified in $HOME/.Xdefaults or other Xenvironment files on the system where you are running the dtterm window.

[Luis Toro]

Thanks for the explanation.