Re: BiCon issues

["Khaled Hosny" <khaledhosny at eglug dot org>]

On 10/20/07, أحمد المحمودي <aelmahmoudy at users dot sourceforge dot net> wrote:
> as-salamu alaykom,
>
> On Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 02:49:23PM +0200, Khaled Hosny wrote:
> > Use left alt-shift, right alt-shift won't work (I have no idea why), I
> > think BiCon is not maintained any more, looks like people are giving
> > up with Arabic terminals.
>
>   Neither left nor right alt-shift work !
>
> > I think debian doesn't allow running "loadkeys" for normal users, look
> > at bicon script, it'll give you an idea about what it is trying to do.
> > I usually use my distro's admin tools to set and Arabic capable
> > terminal font and keymap, then run bicon.bin directly.
> I tried 'loadkeys /usr/share/bicon/keymaps/arabic.map.gz' I get the
> following:
>
> Loading /usr/share/bicon/keymap/arabic.map.gz
> Segmentation fault (core dumped)
>
> It core dumped when I ran it as root too. Maybe that's why the alt-shift
> isn't working ?
>
Apparently yes, you didn't load the keymp in order to switch layouts.

> > >   2. BiCon doesn't update the windowsize when gnome-terminal gets resized.
> > Even in linux console, it assumes a fixed columns and rows number, I
> > do use "resize" utility that comes with xterm as a workaround.
> In linux virtual console, there's a window that is resized, but in
> xterms (like gnome-terminal?) the terminal window can be resized. And
> the 'resize' utility is not a practical solution, because what if I
> resize the terminal while some app. is running (like elinks), that
> means, I should close 'elinks', run resize, then run 'elinks' again.
> Btw, 'resize' is not needed, I found this in my .bashrc which
> automatically updates LINES & COLUMNS values:
>
> shopt -s checkwinsize
>
> But again, if I in a bicon environment, I'll have to close the running
> app & open it again, so that the LINES & COLUMNS updated values have
> their effect.
>
I was suggesting it as a workaround, it is a bug in bicon, but unless
someone volunteers to fix it, you'll have to live with it.

> > >   3. While typing arabic text, joining & RTL is not done. Please see
> > >      typing_arabic.png which is a screenshot of what happens when I type
> > >      arabic in a vim session (same thing happens in mutt and elinks).
> > I failed to get vim to show Arabicx properly with any terminal exept
> > mlterm, Arabic is missed in either BiCon or putty's terminal.
> > >   6. When viewing an arabic webpage using 'elinks', the page is rendered in the
> > >      opposite direction to that it should be, attached with this email is
> > >      elinks.png, which resulted when I browsed to the website
> > >      http://islammemo.cc. Note that the menu that starts with "أخبار
> > >      اليوم" is on the left of the webpage, while if you browse that site
> > >      using Firefox, you'll find that it is on the right of the webpage.
> > >      Also please note that the terminal tab height became thicker
> > >      compared to the other screenshots.
> > I think this is more an elinks issue, try this in gnome-terminal without BiCon.
>
> I didn't have these problems with 'acon'.
>
It is bicon bug then.

-- 
  Khaled