From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Tim X Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Interactive programs and dumb terminals (emacs shell) Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:15:59 +1000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <87bqrsydf4.fsf@tiger.rapttech.com.au> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1152855635 8366 80.91.229.2 (14 Jul 2006 05:40:35 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 05:40:35 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Jul 14 07:40:34 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1G1GPe-0007Xe-60 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 07:40:30 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1G1GPd-0001SQ-M2 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 01:40:29 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!newscon04.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.net!pln-c!lotsanews.com!sn-xt-sjc-03!sn-xt-sjc-08!sn-post-sjc-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: Gnus/5.110006 (No Gnus v0.6) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:QAG6P1n2nH51GhYx53QoJ4+MwQg= Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Original-Lines: 34 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:140328 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:35953 Archived-At: "john maclean" 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