README.FUNCKEY 2.0 KB

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  1. Most function keys consist of multi-character sequences starting
  2. with ESCape. How long do you wait after seeing an ESC before you
  3. decide the key is an "ESCape" and not the first character of a
  4. function key sequence? Not very long, huh? But what if the
  5. source may be an xterm, a serial line, a telnet/rlogin network
  6. connection, or even a radio packet TNC. The ESC could arrive a
  7. long time before the next character in a sequence. There is no
  8. single answer. I try to do what I can to guess, but you may want
  9. to play with the 'eto' interactive command to diddle the timeout.
  10. Don't make the timeout too short or ECU won't recognize the HOME
  11. key and you'll have to go somewhere and kill ECU from another
  12. terminal.
  13. Function keys work fairly well so long as you
  14. follow these suggestions (feel free to experiment with each to
  15. see if they are appropriate for your keyboard):
  16. 1. After pressing ESCape, expect a delay before it is processed.
  17. Wait for a second or so before pressing any other keys:
  18. 2. Don't press and hold ESC or extended keys (avoid auto-repeat).
  19. 3. After pressing a key you think should be accepted, if you hear
  20. a bell or if nothing happens, wait a half a second or so and try
  21. the key again.
  22. Greater magicians than me have trouble in this area and many
  23. high class programs don't get it right either. I've lost a
  24. great deal of sleep over this one. Maybe it is stable now.
  25. Starting with 3.20, all keyboards must have a funckeymap entry
  26. (see README.KEYBRD) matching the terminal type of the executing
  27. screen. Previous versions assumed terminal type "ansi"
  28. indicated an SCO AT-attached keyboard as part of a multiscreen.
  29. Other terminal types required a similar entry in a file named
  30. nonansikeys. Converting preexisting nonansikeys files to
  31. funckeymaps files can be accomplished by merely renaming the file.
  32. If you are an SCO user, you must also add one entry to the new file
  33. if it is not already there (the old models/nonansikeys did in
  34. fact contain the required entry). See README.KEYBRD for further
  35. detail.