Ray Chason: Create this page; I can't find another one describing TTY

2020-02-07T04:35:17Z

Create this page; I can't find another one describing TTY

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The '''TTY''' interface is the most basic of all NetHack [[user interface]]s, present in all versions since [[Hack 1.0]]. It is configured using OPTIONS=windowtype:tty .

==Capabilities==

The exact capabilities of the TTY interface depend on the available hardware. In some cases, it may support only [[ASCII]]. If the connected device is so capable, it may support [[IBMgraphics]] or [[DECgraphics]].

On [[Windows]], the program NetHack.exe supports the TTY interface, and possibly the [[Curses interface]] as well. It supports IBMgraphics.

On [[MS-DOS]], the default user interface is configured as TTY. The interface supports IBMgraphics, and is highly modified to support [[tiles]]. MS-DOS is the only system on which the TTY interface supports tiles in any way.

On [[Unix]] (including [[Linux]] and [[Mac]]), the environment variable TERM must be set to the type of terminal in use. On a well-configured [[public server]], the login program that launches NetHack will take care of this requirement. For play on local machines, this will usually be a setting like "export TERM=xterm" or "export TERM=xterm-color", and is normally part of the default configuration. This requirement applies to any program that uses cursor control in a text window, such as [[wikipedia:vi|vi]], and is not limited to NetHack. If the screen shows gibberish or the arrow keys do not work as expected, the TERM variable is one thing to check.

[[ttyrec]]s are recordings of the output of the TTY or Curses interface.

==Etymology==

The TTY interface gets its name from the "tty" devices found on [[Unix]] systems, such as /dev/tty01. This name "tty", in term, is an abbreviation for [[wikipedia:Teletype|Teletype]], a device that in ancient times might be found connected to a tty device. An actual Teletype is very poorly suited for playing NetHack.

[[Category:User interface]]

TTY - Revision history

Ray Chason: Create this page; I can't find another one describing TTY