Re: Interactive programs and dumb terminals (emacs shell)

[Tim X <timx@nospam.dev.null>]

"john maclean" <jayeola@gmail.com> writes:

> Hey Chaps,
>
> I've been using M-x shell recently and getting the hang of the
> difference between this shell and say /bin/bash.
>
> My question is in the cases where one installs a program (via say
> apt-get -y install foo) which then prompts you for some configuration
> settings. The emacs shell is a "dumb terminal" as I understand it and
> interactive programs that use ncurses
> won't work. Install latex, tetex or xorg and you'll get asked system
> settings like your resolution, paper size etc.
>
> How can I over come this? ( Hope that this is all clear).
>

A couple of things possibly worth trying out.

1. apt-get can be configured to use text mode rather than a gui style
   interface, such as with dialog or whiptail etc. So, if you are
   configured for text mode, then you should be able to run apt-get
   within a 'dumb' terminal without any problems.

2. Instead of using M-x shell, you could try M-x term. This is a more
   sophisticated terminal emulator and will probably support curses
   based apps.

Tim



-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au