Subj : Re: How to setup the bash shell for ANSI
To   : Paradigms Shifting
From : boraxman
Date : Tue Apr 19 2022 22:13:23

 PS>  
 PS>  gc> Hi y'all, i was wondering if anyone knew how to set up the default ba
 PS>  gc> shell in Ubuntu, to be able to see ANSI art / menus for when you use
 PS>  gc> syncterm at the command line, or if your using simple telnet?
 PS>  gc> i was just curios if anyone had been successful at it?
 PS> 
 PS> Thats been on my "Linux Wish List" forever!

Not sure about Ubuntu, but you can get ansi to work on the Terminal.  I use urxvt, but I've also tested this using xterm and it works there too.  Should work with the Gnome Terminal, but I don't have this installed, so I didn't test with the Gnome Terminal.

You need to do two things, first set a font that supports it (if the one you are using doesn't), and change the terminal mode.

For the font, I use the "9x15" vga font, which is part of the xfonts-base package in Debian, and should be available in Ubuntu.  If not, a web search for a vga font will reveal.  For xterm, I use the Hack font, and that works as well.

Next, use this program
https://github.com/keaston/cp437

Just run the program with cp437 as a prefix to the command you want to run (telnet or ssh)

What you will want to do is something like
cp437 telnet bbs.mybbs.com
or
cp437 ssh user@bbs.mybbs.com

This sets the terminal to display the code and colours correctly . Works for me! If it doesn't work for you, try some different fonts. As I said, I know the 9x15 font and Hack work, others should too.

Another option is to use Qodem.  There is a terminal version "qodem" and an X11 version "qodem-x11"

Run Qodem in a terminal, and it should work.  You don't need the cp437 for qodem.

Not sure if it is available in the Ubuntu repositories, it is for Fedora but not Debian,  Qodem is a pretty good terminal program, and runs fine within a Terminal window.  I prefer to slightly over Syncterm because you can use for the GUI version a larger font. 

If not available, install from source
http://qodem.sourceforge.net/

One other option, is to start Syncterm in a terminal with the -iC option.  This uses the "curses" mode, so will run within the Terminal, but I find the results here weren't as good as with Qodem or the cp437 program and ssh.

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