1) Term doesn't work! Why not??!! This is one of the most tremendously useful questions I have ever been asked. You will notice that it contains all the pertinent information I might want to know, like what version of term they are using, and exactly what the symptoms are, and what machine they are running it on, and what they have tried, etc etc. However here are a few things to try before mailing me with details. :) a) Create a ~/.term/termrc file at both ends with the two lines "escape 0-31" and "escape 128-159" in it. Then try term. If this works, try shortening the ranges as much as possible. Experience indicates that most people will be able to get away with either nothing, or "escape 17" and "escape 19", or escaping 17, 19, 145 and 147. b) If 'a' doesn't work, it's possible that you have a seven-bit line. Try using a termrc with the two lines "sevenbit" and "escape 0-31" in it. It is important to know that the termrc at each end must have 'sevenbit' in it. If you do need to mail me please include as much of the following list as is relevant: Term version(s): Remote system: Local system: Local modem type & UART type: Remote modem type & UART type, if known: A detailed description of the problem. A description of what you have tried. A transcript of the problem, if possible. Code that produces the problem, if possible. A patch to fix it, if you know the solution. 2) Term doesn't run as fast as it should. Why not?? Several ways to speed up term. Here are the most common... a) Escape as few characters as possible. Escaping 32 characters will cut thru-put by about 12-15%. b) If you escape a character on one end, add a corresponding 'ignore' on the other. I.e. if you 'escape 17' on the remote end, put a 'ignore 17' on the local end. c) Sevenbit mode will completely block all compression. This means term won't compress and neither will your modem. However this is still more efficient than escape 128-255. This will probably be fixed with a future release. d) There is still a little black magic involved in getter term to run at full speed. By this I mean, I can't describe a step by step procedure for all situations, but normally with enough playing with termrc options, modem settings, and stty settings you can get 99% performance. Usually, the best way to learn how to optimize speed, is to try it first with no hardware problems. To do this, try running termtest as: './termtest -s ', and optimize the speed to better than /9 cps with the termrc file. Then putting in your serial line's restrictions such as escape characters, sevenbit, stop bits, etc. Now at any time you should be able to use ./termtest to determine what is the maximum speed you should be obtaining for compressed data. 3) 'txconn' doesn't seem to work. a) Make sure you have 'xhost +' on both machines. b) X windows take awhile to open; be patient. c) Make sure you are running txconn on your remote machine, not your local machine. d) The syntax of txconn for term 2.X is slightly different than from term 1.X. Be sure to read the manual page. e) Try instead "tredir 6009 6000" 4) X windows take a long time to open, and then run very slowly. a) Try picking up a copy of sxpc from sunsite.unc.edu. Don't ask me how to install it; I've never used it. Expect about 20% speed improvement. b) Try compiling your favorite X applications on your home machine. For applications like xarchie, this is a big win. 5) Trsh just hangs when I execute it. Trsh is an endless source of problems. a) Try using something simple like: trsh -s echo trsh works in simple mode If this works, then you can use "trsh" with the "-s" option. Try defining NO_PTYEXEC in config.h and recompile. b) Try using telnet instead. i.e. Do once "tredir 4023 23". Then you should be able to connect with the command "telnet localhost 4023". If this works, you may wish to recompile telnet with the instructions in README.porting, so you don't have to do the tredir command every time you establish a term connection. Also, you can compile rlogin, so you don't have to login every time. 6) Is there a term mailing list? Yes there is; it is a channel of the linux-activists stuff. Try mailing: echo X-Mn-Admin: join term | mail linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi A help file is available upon request from the same address. 7) Is there a term internet news group? No, but please use comp.protocols.misc. If the traffic gets large enough, someone can propose a split for term. 8) I get a : gethostbyname: ... error when term starts. Why? This means that your `hostname` is not set properly set. Term will still work despite this error, but won't automatically recognize your hostname. 9) I did tredir 4021 21, but people still can't ftp my machine. You need inetd.term.tar.gz There is a copy on physics.purdue.edu. It should appear at other sites sometime. Also, in.ftpd needs to be compiled with term support. 10) Is there an easier way to port software than recompiling? Under Linux, you can use "termify", also available on physics.purdue.edu. Eventually "termify" may be ported to other OS's that use shared libraries. Under Solaris 2.x, you can use "termwrap". Unlike "termify" it uses LD_PRELOAD, so SUID programs won't work. Unfortunately, the same trick won't work under Linux yet... (Although, people are working on it. LD_PRELOAD works, but you can't access the original functions yet. At least that is what I was told last time I checked.) 11) I've termified in.ftpd and am using inetd.term, but I get the following error when I try transferring data: 425 Can't build data connection -1 7f000001 2104: Transport endpoint is already connected. connected. I don't understand why, but from neither the localhost or remotehost can you use the name 'localhost' with termified in.ftpd. If you simply use the full hostname instead, it should work. i.e. ftp localhost 4021 fails, but ftp `hostname` 4021 works.