Re: rxvt as Bash login console

[Brian Dessent <brian at dessent dot net>]

David Christensen wrote:

> 1.  The font looks like a scalable font; I prefer the 7x12 bit-mapped
>     font so that I can put six consoles on my desktop (1280x1024) and
>     the stroke width makes the characters legible.  "man rxvt" and
>     playing around with the "-fn" (7x14, 7x13, 7x12) option didn't
>     produce a desirable result.  Nor did Shift+KP_Add or
>     Shift+KP_Minus. "locate font" led me to
>     /usr/share/groff/1.18.1/font, but grep'ing for "7x14" found
>     nothing.  Is there a way I can get the 7x12 bit-mapped font in
>     rxvt?

Try -fn "FixedSys".  There might be other ways to get the bitmap fonts
by name.  There are a ton of .fon files in the %WINDIR%\Fonts directory,
you can try specifying them by name.  Maybe -fn "8514fix".

The above applies to W11 mode.  If you're using X11 mode then you'll
have to use a proper X11 font specifier such as
"-misc-fixed-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*".

Personally, I can't stand the bitmapped fonts.  Your objection seems to
revolve around the size, but you can change that.  I use -fn "Lucida
Console-11" and find it the best of all the monospaced fonts.  Vary the
number to change the size.

> 2.  It looks like there's a slight problem with the rxvt man page:
> 
>         dpchrist@p42800e:~$ man rxvt
>         /usr/bin/tbl:<standard input>:310: `.' not last character on lin
> e
>         /usr/bin/tbl:<standard input>:310: giving up on this table
> 
>     Looking at the same page using cmd.exe./Bash, the error message
>     flashes by just before the man page is displayed, and is gone after
>     exiting the man page.

The rxvt manpage has always had problems.  I don't think the above
warning detracts from the ability to read the output though.

> 3.  Copying from the rxvt console to the Windows (XP Professional SP2)
>     clipboard using Ctrl+C causes a new prompt to be displayed.  Is
>     there a way to avoid/ prevent this?  "man rxvt" "/copy" reveals
>     nothing.

That's because ^C is not the copy command in rxvt.  (It's being
interpreted by bash as "abort this command".)  In rxvt you don't do
anything to copy, it's done as soon as you highlight.

> 4.  How do I paste from the clipboard to rxvt?  "man rxvt" "/paste"
>     reveals nothing.

Press the middle mouse button or shift-Ins to paste.  (section TEXT
SELECTION AND INSERTION in the manpage.)

> 5.  The rxvt consoles appear to be always on top.  How do I turn this
>     mode off?

I've never had that happen.  Are you using W11 (native) or X11?

Brian

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