
This is README for Linux/UNIX BIEW users. Please read this file carefully!

From version 5.0 biew can use ncurses library, so it is possible to
(well, at least to try :) run it on all platforms supported by ncurses.

I have tested this release with following OS'es:

Linux 2.0, 2.2 (ncurses, vt100, native console : ok)
FreeBSD 3.2 (ncurses: ok)
BeOS 4.5 (vt100: awful, but it's possible to see something :)

Maintainer of Linux/Unix BIEW is Konstantin Boldyshev <konst@linuxassembly.org>
Suggestions/feedback/bugreports/etc are gladly accepted.


Differences
-----------

Key modifiers are mapped as:

CTRL+A - ALT
CTRL+C - CTRL
CTRL+S - SHIFT

i.e. pressing CTRL+A in terminal mode acts as holding down ALT,
and so on. CTRL+Z resets modifiers to defaults. Modifiers are
also reseted after any function key is pressed.

There are some limitations on output, i.e. you can't see all characters
as they are (output is filtered to avoid unexpected behavior).

Configuration file is ~/.biewrc, not biew.ini.


Linux direct console
--------------------

Current Linux version of biew supports two work modes:
console and vt100 compatible terminal. Console version
should act EXACTLY as dos/os2/win32 version, this means
that you can't switch virtual consoles by pressing ALT+Fx,
because these keys are used by biew.

Terminal mode should work on any vt100 compatible terminal.

Linux console version uses:

- scan codes (not keystrokes)
- direct video output via /dev/vcsa

Console mode has major disadvantage on 2.0 kernels: if it hangs
keyboard you can't do anything, except pressing reset (certainly
you can terminate it remotely from other machine on network, or
through terminal connected to serial port); on 2.2 you can simply
use magic SysRq key to terminate it.

IMPORTANT! If you run biew on pure VT and "Direct Console Access" flag
is enabled -- console mode is invoked; otherwise terminal mode is used.


Compiling the source
--------------------

You will need GNU make and gcc.

Edit makefile and choose CONFIG_I386 and CONFIG_UNIX.

Decide what you want: ncurses or vt100. Usually ncurses should be the
right choice: edit makefile.inc and enable USE_NCURSES. If pseudographics
is screwed (and only then) try to enable USE_NCURSES_PSEUDO.

If you want to compile Linux direct console version, choose CONFIG_LINUX
in makefile.


ChangeLog
---------

Changes since 5.0.0pre10

- first ncurses version
- completely rewritten keyboard management (max performance)
- VT100: screwed video output fixed
- Linux console: 'w' bug fixed


TODO:
- vt switching through CTRL+ALT+Fx
- better pseudographics support
- mouse support
