Talk:IBMgraphics

It would be nice to add directions or links here on how to set your system to use codepage 437 for users who want IBMgraphics but don't know how to set up their terminals. The list should ideally include Windows, Mac, and Unix systems (Linux console, BSD consoles, X11, others...).

For myself, I generally use a "vga" font under X11 for both Unix and Mac - in particular, the one that used to be distributed with bochs. Are there other nice, free "vga" fonts out there that people are using?

For Windows, it depends on whether you're using a 95-based version (95, 98, Me) or an NT-based version (NT, 2000, XP, posssibly Vista). I don't have a 95-based Windows within easy reach; from what I remember, it's necessary to add some lines to CONFIG.SYS so that the desired code page is available. For NT-based Windows, it should have been as easy as typing "chcp 437", but this works as expected only when running full screen or when the console font is Lucida Console. Bitmap fonts seem to load only the characters in the default code page, and changing the code page causes characters not in the default code page to display incorrectly. And then there's bug W343-3.

For X11, it depends on what terminal program you're using: xterm, Konsole, gnome-terminal, or something else. For these, it may be easier to use DECgraphics instead. Perhaps you might start that section, and tell us how you configure your terminal program? Be sure to note what terminal program you're using, or at least whether you're using KDE, Gnome, or something else.

This is actually not quite right. While individual terminal programs may offer additional codepages or translations of their own, every X11 program has access to all the installed X11 fonts, so if you just install the right X11 vga font, then any terminal program (or indeed, any other X11 app) should be able to make use of it. The above-mentioned vga font from bochs is in http://switch.dl.sf.net/bochs/bochs-2.0.tar.gz - explode it and look for vga.pcf. Another one is distributed with BitchX: ftp://ftp.bitchx.org/pub/BitchX/misc/vga11x19.tar.gz - explode it and look for vga11x19.pcf. In both cases, after installing the font, you just run your terminal program (xterm, rxvt, eterm, whatever) with "-fn vga" or "-fn vga11x19" as appopriate.

Later versions of Konsole and gnome-terminal had the brilliant idea of not providing any way to select a bitmap font (which anything ending in pcf will be). You'll have to run xterm or one of those others instead.--Ray Chason 15:37, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Issue using CP437 on PuTTY

I use PuTTY on Windows XP (SP3) with CP437 set to connect to NAO. My rc file there sets IBMgraphics. Everything works correctly, until I visit the Rogue level, at which point the character representing the player is not shown, and characters to the right of my position are sometimes moved one character to the left.

An easy workaround is to unset IBMgraphics when on the Rogue level. I tried setting the PuTTY font to Lucida Console, but no luck. I was wondering if anyone else had this issue, and whether there was a better solution?

--Rogerb-on-NAO 09:43, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Answer re IBMgraphics vs DECgraphics

To 88.73.241.94: I'm not too sure how to fit this into the article, so I'll say it on the talk page. The main purpose of either IBMgraphics or DECgraphics is to draw the walls in continuous lines, a thing not possible using just ASCII. The one that's better depends mainly on your operating system and configuration.

The short rule is this: Use the one that looks better.

The long rule is this:

• If you're playing on a public server (you're probably playing on Linux, even if you're accessing it with a copy of PuTTY on Windows), use DECgraphics.

• If you're playing directly on MS-DOS, Windows, or OS/2, use IBMgraphics.

• If you're playing on Linux using only the text interface, use either IBMgraphics or DECgraphics.

• If you're using any version of X11 (aka "X-Windows"), on any operating system, and using a terminal emulator within that, use DECgraphics.

--Ray Chason 17:12, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Also, if you're connecting to a public server using Windows's default telnet client, use IBMgraphics. Dr. 8-Bit 20:06, June 15, 2010 (UTC)

missing links

82.128.198.8 added: COMMENT: Where can one find konwert or filterm? They are not on my distro, and can't find them via Google... someone please put links here ;-) --Tjr 11:55, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

luit solution described here does not work

No matter what I do, the luit solution here does not work (neither for locally started Nethack or on servers). Most of the game map is black instead.

try luit -encoding 'CP437' nethack. I've already edited that into the page. --WildPenguin (talk) 13:26, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

IBMgraphics work fine on the FreeBSD console

At least in my experience, IBMgraphics work without any modification on the FreeBSD console. If there are no complaints within the next week, I think I'll edit that in. Elronnd(talk) 17:45, 30 July 2016 (UTC)