vt100-w no longer displays in 132 columns on DEC VT420 terminal

[James Brierley]

I have a DEC VT420 terminal connected to my Ubuntu system, set up for 'wide' (132 column) mode. Until recently, possibly although not definitely when I began testing Precise, running getty with the vt100-w profile ensured that when I logged in, applications such as top, nano or weechat would use all 132 columns. Now, though, everything is squashed into 80 columns even with all the same settings (on the VT420 and Ubuntu machine).

When I log in on the terminal and type

$ echo $TERM

I get the expected 'vt100-w'. However:

$ tput cols

results in '80' and sure enough, only the first 80 columns of the screen are filled.

I strongly doubt this is a problem with the terminal as all its settings were 'known good' and I have checked and double-checked them for correctness.

Admittedly, I can work around this by issuing

$ stty 132

and then everything works as expected. However, I am curious as to why none of the 'wide' terminfos are working any more and believe there may be a bug here somewhere.
---
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xfe6f4000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'VIA VT1708S'
   Components : 'HDA:11060397,1043836c,00100000'
   Controls : 44
   Simple ctrls : 21
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'U0x46d0x805'/'USB Device 0x46d:0x805 at usb-0000:00:12.2-1, high speed'
   Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
   Components : 'USB046d:0805'
   Controls : 2
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
   Capabilities: cvolume cvolume-joined cswitch cswitch-joined penum
   Capture channels: Mono
   Limits: Capture 0 - 6144
   Mono: Capture 4608 [75%] [24.00dB] [on]
Card2.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:2 'M44'/'M Audio Delta 44 at 0xec00, irq 20'
   Mixer name : 'ICE1712 - multitrack'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 55
   Simple ctrls : 37
Card3.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:3 'HDMI'/'HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfe8e8000 irq 19'
   Mixer name : 'ATI RS690/780 HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002791a,00791a00,00100000'
   Controls : 4
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card3.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=f4f5b7b3-95b1-47a3-97da-8b7031b46114
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120301)
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 radeondrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=62a1305b-ef07-4168-8292-c82e0718a496 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
SourcePackage: linux
Tags: precise precise
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
dmi.bios.date: 07/23/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 2105
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: M4A785TD-V EVO
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr2105:bd07/23/2010:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnM4A785TD-VEVO:rvrRevX.0x:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[James Brierley (jmb8710)]

And I of course meant to write

$ stty cols 132

above.

[Thomas Dickey (dickey-his)]

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 06:30:05PM -0000, James Brierley wrote:
> And I of course meant to write
>
> $ stty cols 132

Output from "infocmp vt100-w" will show if the terminal database has the
right values. For example:

# Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /usr/share/terminfo/v/vt100-w
vt100-w|vt100-w-am|dec vt100 132 cols (w/advanced video),
 am, mc5i, msgr, xenl, xon,
 cols#132, it#8, lines#24, vt#3,
 acsc=``aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~,
 bel=^G, blink=\E[5m$<2>, bold=\E[1m$<2>,
 clear=\E[H\E[J$<50>, cr=^M, csr=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dr,
 cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=^H, cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=^J,
 cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C$<2>,
 cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH$<5>, cuu=\E[%p1%dA,
 cuu1=\E[A$<2>, ed=\E[J$<50>, el=\E[K$<3>, el1=\E[1K$<3>,
 enacs=\E(B\E)0, home=\E[H, ht=^I, hts=\EH, ind=^J, ka1=\EOq,
 ka3=\EOs, kb2=\EOr, kbs=^H, kc1=\EOp, kc3=\EOn, kcub1=\EOD,
 kcud1=\EOB, kcuf1=\EOC, kcuu1=\EOA, kent=\EOM, kf0=\EOy,
 kf1=\EOP, kf10=\EOx, kf2=\EOQ, kf3=\EOR, kf4=\EOS, kf5=\EOt,
 kf6=\EOu, kf7=\EOv, kf8=\EOl, kf9=\EOw, lf1=pf1, lf2=pf2,
 lf3=pf3, lf4=pf4, mc0=\E[0i, mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, rc=\E8,
 rev=\E[7m$<2>, ri=\EM$<5>, rmacs=^O, rmam=\E[?7l,
 rmkx=\E[?1l\E>, rmso=\E[m$<2>, rmul=\E[m$<2>,
 rs2=\E>\E[?3h\E[?4l\E[?5l\E[?8h, sc=\E7,
 sgr=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;$<2>,
 sgr0=\E[m\017$<2>, smacs=^N, smam=\E[?7h, smkx=\E[?1h\E=,
 smso=\E[7m$<2>, smul=\E[4m$<2>, tbc=\E[3g,

If the output on your machine says "cols#132", it is not an ncurses problem.

If it says "cols#80", then it is a problem with the Debian package - or local
configuration.

For instance, if the "reconstructed" comment points to your home directory,
then the solution is to delete $HOME/.terminfo

--
Thomas E. Dickey <email address hidden>
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

[James Brierley (jmb8710)]

It does indeed say 'cols#132', so it is then not an ncurses problem (I'll trust you on this since you wrote it!) It points to the entry in /usr/share/terminfo, there was no ~/.terminfo.

I'm not sure where the problem lies in that case.

[Thomas Dickey (dickey-his)]

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 10:13:16PM -0000, James Brierley wrote:
> It does indeed say 'cols#132', so it is then not an ncurses problem
> (I'll trust you on this since you wrote it!) It points to the entry in
> /usr/share/terminfo, there was no ~/.terminfo.
>
> I'm not sure where the problem lies in that case.

Thinking about it a little more, tput would get its notion of the
screensize from the stty-related settings first, and also could
be seeing a bogus environment variable:

       If the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS are set, or if the pro-
       gram is executing in a window environment, line and column information
       in the environment will override information read by terminfo. This
       would affect a program running in an AT&T 630 layer, for example, where
       the size of a screen is changeable (see ENVIRONMENT).

A hardware vt100 wouldn't do the stuff that an operating system uses to
determine screensize, so "stty -a" (I think) would either show zeros or
would show some default value (probably just zeros).

If those look okay, then there's always running "strace" to see what
inputs tput might be getting.

--
Thomas E. Dickey <email address hidden>
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. From a terminal window please run:

apport-collect 919338

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[James Brierley (jmb8710)]

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[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Does this issue go away if you boot back into an Oneiric(11.10) kernel?

[James Brierley (jmb8710)]

Unfortunately I have reinstalled since I first posted this and thus have no old kernels on my system. I will download the Oneiric kernel manually and report back.