Date: Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:14:50 -0600 From: Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: vt100 Strangeness Message-ID: <201001090414.o094Eokb038745@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
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I have observed the following behavior for several years. When in command mode in vi, the h and l keys move the cursor left and right. If you are computer user that happens to be blind and using a talking console, the l lets you hear each character as you go over it. In freebsd, you do hear the letters and several punctuation marks, but one does not hear the digits for some reason. If you were running the cursor over 139.78.100.1, for example, you hear . . . . The numbers are there and you hear them if you output the screen, but the OS doesn't repaint them digits. Why? I used the screen utility for many years and this masked the problem but I have recently changed to a version of Debian Linux that has speech generation built in to the console. Since there 6 virtual consoles so screen is not as necessary but it is still useful at times. When not using screen, the silent digits are kind of weird when stepping across them and it can even make it harder to know when to stop if correcting them. I have not seen this behavior in other Unix forms. It is not a show stopper, but I would like to have some idea what to change to hear all printable characters. This may also explain why the bell character goes silent in vi. You should hear it when hitting Escape in Command mode and when the cursor hits the end of the line, but it is silent in vi. You do hear it if the shell emits the Bell. You also hear digits as you type them in. It's just if you move the cursor over them that you don't hear the digits. Thanks for any ideas. This is a strange one, I admit. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK Systems Engineer OSU Information Technology Department Telecommunications Services Group
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