Configuring function keys for vt102

[Bill Campbell]

On Mon, Oct 15, 2007, Bob Rasmussen wrote:
...
>It is not clear to me whether this person is working a) ON the Linux 
>console, b) connecting to it from a dumb terminal, or c) connecting to it 
>from a terminal emulator. I'll give some hints along each road:
>
>a) If you're using the Linux console, you probably want to set your 
>terminal type to "linux". This has had consistent behavior for quite some 
>time. You don't need to "program" the F-keys then, you need only to make 
>sure filePro recognizes them. There should be a linux terminal type 
>definition in both the /etc/termcap and the filePro termcap (unless it is 
>ancient).
>
>b) A true VT102 has only 4 function keys, labeled PF1 through PF4. 
>Probably not a good choice.

I have found that the VT220 emulation works well with many dumb
terminals.  It is generally well supported, and has a full
selection of function keys.

FWIW, I really liked it when the PF1->PF4 keys were placed
immediately above the numeric keypad on many terminals including
several of the early Wyse terminals.  It was very easy for
someone doing heads-down data entry to hit them without taking
their fingers off the keypad.  I hacked the FilePro termcaps so
that PF4 did the same as <ESC><ESC> to further this goal.  When
the PC-101 keyboard became ubiquitous and the function keys were
no longer near the keypad, I used the PgDown key for the same
function as it only requires a slight reach from the keypad.

Bill
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