next up previous
Next: 1.4 Manual Format Up: 1. Introduction Previous: 1.2 Initialization Files

1.3 Ncurses and the Terminfo Database

As mentioned earlier, Ved is written to use the ncurses library. If you don't have a recent copy of this installed on your computer, the most current version is available at http://www.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses/4.2. When writing Ved we upgraded to patch level 990101. If you are having problems with Ved and have an earlier version of ncurses, we suggest you upgrade.

When upgrading, please make sure that you properly install the shared libraries and the new ncurses header files. For a start, do a ``./configure -help'' in the ncurses source directory. If you have no idea what is going on, please consult with your resident gru.

It is essential that you have a proper terminfo entry for you terminal. Most common terminals are automatically installed with the ncurses installation. One annoying point is that the default installation doesn't support colors on an Xterm. To overcome this you should change the TERM variable from ``xterm'' to ``xterm-xf86-v33''.

If you are using an XTerm and find that the cursor is placed on random lines when you exit Ved, you should check the above site for the latest XTerm upgrade. We are using ``XFree86 3.9Nz(92)'' without any difficulties.


next up previous
Next: 1.4 Manual Format Up: 1. Introduction Previous: 1.2 Initialization Files
2004-05-02