Re: just now made an emacs (on gnome). Problem: thinks I'm vt100 or something!

[Tim X]

dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:

> In article <871v49x6f6.fsf@puma.rapttech.com.au>,
> Tim X  <timx@nospam.dev.null> wrote:
>>dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>>
>>> Just made an emacs (23.1) on Solaris 10 sparc.  Was
>>> using gnome when I did it.
>>>
>>> ./configure  ... ... --with-gif=no  ...
>>>
>>> Now, I thought that the use for libgif (or giflib?) was
>>> so that you could show *photographs*, things like that.
>>>
>>> (I used the with-gif=no because, on comp.unix.solaris,  that was 
>>> how I was told to do the configure.)
>>>
>>> Anyway, that and the make (gmake) worked ok.
>>>
>>> And when I actually ran the newly-built emacs (in ../src/),
>>> hooray!, I finally had an emacs on this otherwise naked machine.
>>>
>>> But it sure didn't look like the ntemacs I'm running on xp,
>>> with the large fancy colorful "script" EMACS it showed on
>>> starting up.
>>>
>>> No such luck.  What I got was like 30 years ago emacs running
>>> on an ADM-3a or vt-100: took no advantage of the gnome gui
>>> it was running under.
>>>
>>> Question: could that "no gif" do that?  (I hope not!)
>>>
>>> So, what might I have done wrong?
>>>
>>> ---
>>>
>>> I was executing it from terminal-window's tcsh command-line,
>>> rather than by clicking an icon.  SURELY that has nothing
>>> to do with it -- but do tell me if I'm wrong.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Not sure why you have been told not to include gif support, but it
>>should have nothing to do with the issues you have observed. 
>>
>>Sounds like you did a non-X build. Look at the output from configure and
>>make sure it includes X and an appropriate GUI lib such as gtk+ (given
>>your running gnome) or one of the older X gui libs.
>>
>>Note also that the fancy 'Emacs' coloured startup screen may not appear
>>if you don't have the appropriate fonts or have set a font that prevents
>>emacs from drawing that flashier initial screen. In this case, yhou will
>>just get a very plain startup screen that looks very similar to the one
>>for non-GUI versions. 
>>
>>The output from configure is the first place to look when tyring to
>>determine why a newly compiled emacs isn't looking right. Pay particular
>>attention to the font related stuff as you want anti-aliased fonts and
>>that an appropriate X library is being included. 
>>
>>BTW, isn't the latest released 23 version 23.2? Probably should be
>>building that version rather than one with known bugs.
>>
>>Tim
>>
>>-- 
>>tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au
>
> Maybe, but it's sure gotta be better than 21 or even 22,
> yes?
>

Depends on individual requirements and preferences. Yes, the emacs 23
version has better font handling with antialiasing and better handling
of character encoding as well as some new modes. On the other hand,
there have been a number of reports that it is slower with X over a WAN
and you have more library dependencies to satisfy to get the new
features. If your unlucky enough to depend on one of the features which
are fixed in 23.2, you may find it even less of an improvement than
expected. 

I personally like it, but I don't use X over a WAN anymore and I'm on
Linux, so satisfying library dependencies is fairly easy compared to
some other platforms and none of the bugs fixed between 23.1 and 23.2
had an obvious impact on the functionality I use. 

I just think if your going to the trouble to build from sources, you may
as well build from the most recent production release rather than an
older release which has known issues. 

Tim


-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au