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Customized PuTTY for prettier TradeWarring
https://mail.black-squirrel.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=21684		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  cogwheel [ Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Customized PuTTY for prettier TradeWarring
For those of you already using PuTTY, I have released a modified version (source) which adds a configuration option to return the cursor to the top left after a clear screen (Settings->Terminal->Clear screen homes cursor). TradeWars' ANSI files expect this behavior of DOS' ANSI.SYS which is technically in violation of the ANSI standard. I've attached a screenshot comparing the two versions landing on Terra.


If you don't already use PuTTY and would like to have a go, I've also created an installer package that includes PuTTY, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono (my favorite monospace font), and is pre-configured to connect to my TradeWars server, including all the appropriate appearance settings to make it look right. You can change the settings to log into whichever server you want, or use pageant.exe to give you easy access to multiple configurations.

Attachments:
File comment: Comparison pic
putty-compare.jpg
putty-compare.jpg [ 549.23 KiB | Viewed 9687 times ]
Author:  the reverend [ Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Customized PuTTY for prettier TradeWarring
nice. i recall there was another annoyance with putty, but i can't remember exactly what it was... hmm. oh yeah i think i remember... something about ESC[0m doesn't reset the BRIGHT flag. TW assumes that ESC[0m will reset all flags, not just the color flags. or maybe it applied the BRIGHT flag to background colors too. i can't remember - its been a few years since i tried putty.

did you submit your new feature to the putty project so that future 'official' versions can have the option? then again, putty may be a dead project...
Author:  cogwheel [ Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Customized PuTTY for prettier TradeWarring
the reverend wrote:
nice. i recall there was another annoyance with putty, but i can't remember exactly what it was... hmm. oh yeah i think i remember... something about ESC[0m doesn't reset the BRIGHT flag. TW assumes that ESC[0m will reset all flags, not just the color flags. or maybe it applied the BRIGHT flag to background colors too. i can't remember - its been a few years since i tried putty.


Oh yeah, I did notice that when the foreground is bold putty makes the background bold too. Didn't bug me nearly as much as the other problem so i guess it slipped my mind. It shouldn't be too hard to fix now that I know where to look.

Quote:
did you submit your new feature to the putty project so that future 'official' versions can have the option?


Sure did.



Edit: on second look, i think the problem with bold backgrounds was caused by the "Terminal/Enable blinking text" setting being turned off. It will switch between blinking or bold bg depending on that setting.
Author:  the reverend [ Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Customized PuTTY for prettier TradeWarring
cool. so did you resolve the bright background issue with the 'enable blinking text' setting? at first blush this isn't very intuitive.
Author:  cogwheel [ Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Customized PuTTY for prettier TradeWarring
It's actually pretty conventional behavior. I remember the old AcidDraw used to give you the option of switching between blinking foreground or bold background, and I seem to remember some other terminal program working like that as well. I suppose the option itself could be worded a bit more intuitively, but I don't know if that really warrants another patch ;)
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