Re: [Gaim-devel] gaim-text interface

[Ethan B. <ebl...@cs...>]

Matthew Ford spake unto us the following wisdom:
>   - the behavior of the keyboard controls is clumsy and non-intuitive.=20
>     After a considerable period playing with the interface, I still=20
>     couldn't figure out when to press left/right, up/down or enter.

I agree that some commands are not intuitive, but I can't say I ever
had a problem with these particular bindings.  That said, I had j/k
and ^p/^n bound for a reason.  ;-)

>   - the window resizing controls do not work properly. The text inside th=
e=20
>     window fails to realign itself properly to the size of the window, an=
d=20
>     the border of the window changes permanently to an ugly blue pattern=
=20
>     of letters when I resize it.
>=20
>   - I can't get the ALT controls to work from a remote SSH session (maybe=
=20
>     a problem with my X11 software, admittedly). Since the whole point of=
=20
>     a console interface is to enable remote control, there should be=20
>     alternative controls for people with ALT problems - like the ESC-ESC=
=20
>     sequence in Emacs. Gaim-text is unusable without the ALT controls.

This is almost certainly a terminfo problem.  Many, if not most,
systems are plagued with incorrect or incomplete terminfo for the
terminals they ship.  In fact, some distributions (and terminal apps!)
intentionally break their terminfo databases in the name of
"compatability" with broken terminals.

I suggest installing rxvt-unicode, putting the rxvt-unicode terminfo
on all involved machines (including those you ssh *to*, which may not
be running urxvt themselves), and trying again.  If the problem
disappears, it is a terminfo problem.

> Why would anyone want a console-based Gaim anyway, you might ask, when a=
=20
> graphical one is so much prettier? I would like to be able to run an AIM=
=20
> client inside a "screen" session, and re-attach myself to it remotely, so=
=20
> I can see all the messages I've received while away - and continue a=20
> conversation I started previously in a different physical location.

I think most people using gaim-text are running it inside screen, for
these very reasons.  I know I am.

I'm personally more concerned with the inability to do any number of
things at normal typing speeds over a connection with any latency or
loss, due to the keystroke parsing.  The absolute values of
keybindings can be adjusted later.  ;-)

Regarding your problems with arrow keys in Terminal.crapp; I think
this was fixed at some point, *provided* that the Terminal.app
terminfo is correct (it almost assuredly is not, given the other
horrendous shortcomings of that piece of software).

Ethan

--=20
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764