Re: Question

[Randwulf Haskins <rh%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA>]

    From: Richard M. Stallman <rms@mit-prep>
    To: info-gnu-emacs@mit-prep, info-emacs@mc

    Currently, when using an Ann Arbor Ambassador
    terminal, GNU Emacs determines some screen settings
    (such as the number of lines to use) from the TERMCAP
    and then sends characters to the terminal to make it
    display that many lines, etc.

    A user has complained about this, ...

I'm curious as to what his complaint would be.  When one is
using UNIX, one comes to expect random things to be sent to
one's terminal.

    His suggestions are either make Emacs not set up the
    screen geometry at all, thus assuming it is already
    set up as specified, or to make it send the "init
    string" and assume that sets it up as specified.

The "right" thing would probably be to read the TERMCAP file
and send the init string from there.  I'm assuming that the
only time you have to worry about this is if the person has
not loaded any TERMCAP into his/her environment and starts
up the editor?  (This is equivalent to the common problem on
the -20 of people not setting their terminal types to
something other than Default, in which case EMACS asks them
on startup what they are on.)  If they already have the TERMCAP
stuff in their environment, presumably the terminal is in the
geometry they want?  The ZEMACS on MIT-EDDIE seems to deal with
this properly, since I just hacked a termcap to do AAA's with
30 lines and everything seems to have worked fine.

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