FreeBSD, legacy termcap, rxvt, screen, 256 colors and so on

If you are reading this it's likely that you already feel the pain that's caused by the combination of the programs i mentioned in the title.

Having them play together nicely especially over a ssh connection from another box can be really annoying. I spent quite some time to figure out a nice working setup which isn't too hackish (like setting TERM=xterm-color or so..)

I write a howto over at forums.freebsd.org so have a look there too. Here is the short version.

You will need a $HOME/.termcap file containing this:

rxvt-256color|rxvt-256color terminal (X Window System):
  :tc=rxvt-unicode:
  :tc=rxvt:

In your shell rc file (e.g. .bashrc) add something like this for screen:

if [ -f ${HOME}/.termcap ]; then
  TERMCAP=$(< ${HOME}/.termcap)
  export TERMCAP
fi

Finally tell screen what to do in your .screenrc file (all in one line):

termcapinfo xterm-color|xterm-16color|xterm-88color|xterm-256color|rxvt*
'Co#256:AB=\E[48;5;%dm:AF=\E[38;5;%dm'

Still doesn't work? Don't blame me. :)
(Check if your programs were compiled properly with 256 color support)

Don't be evil

Don't be evil Google says. Google also says that "you can make money without doing evil". (Point 6)
Well, seems like Google stands up to their motto, so go Google go! (Sorry, german article only)

Weekend Trip (or so..)

This weekend i headed out for a short trip to Ab which orbits Errai. I managed to capture the two stars just before dawn.

Well.. to be honest: cosmic journeys are not so cheap at the moment. They'd cost you several (thousands?) years of your life (Ray Kurzweil anyone?). Thus i decided to go out for a walk in the neighbourhood to enjoy "our" sun which wasn't visible here for about a month. Passing by this building with its huge walls of glass the reflection caught my eye and i was lucky enough to capture it.
I hope the Ablings(german or french only, sorry) are not to disappointed that i didn't visit them..