This is a quick'n'dirty FAQ with  the most annoying questions I've received
so far. :-)

Questions:

1. I can see Greek, but I can't type any!
2. Joe won't display Greek.
3. Neither will 'less'.
4. ...or bash.
5. Or Minicom, for that matter.
6. What's with that lower case delta? (or how to patch your kernel)




1. I can see Greek, but I can't type any!

Did  the test  message  display correctly? If  yes,  did  you read the
instructions?

Try typing

# cat

and typing something then. If that doesn't work either, something else
is wrong. Mail me.

Trying to type  Greek at the bash command  line (GNU readline library) will
NOT work straight away. Read the question about bash.


2. Joe won't display Greek.

Here's what to do:

  (1) man joe

  (2) man joe

  (3) man joe

  (4) joe /usr/lib/joe/joerc

In case you  don't  know what the hell  I'm  talking about in   steps 1..3,
here's a hint: the option you need is -asis.

RTFM!!!


3. 'less'

RTFM!  The  option you need is "-r".  Put it in the  definition of the LESS
environment variable in /etc/profile for permanent results.


4. Bash.

I used to be able  to enable the GNU readline  library to do Greek, but not
any more. It dumps everything in octal format.  If anyone knows why, please
mail me.

For the time being, treat bash as a non-8-bit-clean program.


5. Minicom.

This one's a bit difficult.  You'll need to patch  the source code. Patched
binaries circulate quite  a lot,  so ask   around. Contact  HELLUG (in  the
README file) for more information.


6. The lower case delta problem.

This only arises  using the 437G encoding.  Lower  case delta  is ASCII 155
there,  i.e.  128 + 27.   This  is used by  the VT-100  to start a terminal
directive. Older kernels  didn't implement this   (you had to  use the more
usual ESC [  instead).  Unfortunately, there doesn't  seem  to be a way  to
turn this off.  The only way involves patching the kernel. If you intend to
use the 437G encoding, then you  have no other  option (sorry, I use it too
and I  hate having to patch  all my kernels -- it  means I have  to upgrade
them as a whole rather than apply patches).

The good news is that the patch is very easy and doesn't need any knowledge
of programming. Here's what you do.

a. Load up /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/console.c in your favourite editor.

b. Look for the string "128+27" (no quotes).

c. You'll find something that looks like this:

                ok = tc && (c >= 32 ||
                            (!utf && !(((disp_ctrl ? CTRL_ALWAYS
                                         : CTRL_ACTION) >> c) & 1)))
                        && (c != 127 || disp_ctrl)
			&& (c != 128+27);

d. Comment out the line where your cursor is, so it looks like this:

                ok = tc && (c >= 32 ||
                            (!utf && !(((disp_ctrl ? CTRL_ALWAYS
                                         : CTRL_ACTION) >> c) & 1)))
                        && (c != 127 || disp_ctrl)
			/* && (c != 128+27) */;

   (note the /* and */ on the last line).

e. Search for 127+27 again. You'll find something like this:

			case 128+27:
				vc_state = ESsquare;
				continue;

f. Put the whole thing inside comments:

			/* case 128+27:
				vc_state = ESsquare;
				continue; */

g. That's it!  Compile  the kernel.  If  all goes well, you've just patched
your kernel to fully use the 437G encoding.
