1(ATERM) X Tools 1(ATERM)
NAME
aterm (Afterstep XVT) - a VT102 emulator for the X window
system
SYNOPSIS
aterm [options] [-e command [ args ]]
DESCRIPTION
aterm, version 0.3.6, is a colour vt102 terminal emulator,
based on rxvt 2.4.8 with Alfredo Kojima´s additions of
fast transparency, intended as an xterm(1) replacement for
users who do not require features such as Tektronix 4014
emulation and toolkit-style configurability. As a result,
aterm uses much less swap space -- a significant advantage
on a machine serving many X sessions.
It was created with AfterStep Window Manger users in mind,
but is not tied to any libraries, and can be used any
where.
OPTIONS
The aterm options (mostly a subset of xterm´s) are listed
below. In keeping with the smaller-is-better philosophy,
options may be eliminated or default values chosen at com
pile-time, so options and defaults listed may not accu
rately reflect the version installed on your system.
Note that aterm permits the resource name to be used as a
long-option (--/++ option) so the potential command-line
options are far greater than those listed. For example:
`aterm --loginShell --color1 Orange´.
-help, --help
Print out a message describing available options.
-version, --version
Print out a version with/without list of available
options.
-display displayname
Attempt to open a window on the named X display (-d
still respected). In the absence of this option,
the display specified by the DISPLAY environment
variable is used.
-geometry geom
Window geometry (-g still respected); resource
geometry.
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-rv|+rv
Turn on/off simulated reverse video; resource
reverseVideo.
-bg colour
Window background colour; resource background.
-fg colour
Window foreground colour; resource foreground.
-pixmap: file[;geom]
Specify image file for the background and also
optionally specify geometry of the image to be cut
out of original image, to be used as background,
with a geometry string. Note you may need to add
quotes to avoid special shell interpretation of the
`;´ in the command-line; resource backgroundPixmap.
-tr|+tr
Turn on/off pseudo transparency mode. In this mode
aterm will use part of root background as it´s own
background, emulating see-through effect; resource
transparent.
-trsb|+trsb
Turn on/off pseudo transparent scrollbar. Works the
same as -tr; resource transpscrollbar.
-tint color
Turn on pseudo transparency background tinting.
Tinting can be done fast and slow way. In fast way
it will be done by combining of background color
with tinting color using logical function. This
function defaults to AND, and it can be changed
using -tinttype option - see below. In general
solid colors like Blue, Red, Green, Cyan, Magenta,
Yellow are good, but you should experiment with it
for each background you have. True tinting is more
memory and CPU hungry - tinted copy of background
image will be created every time you move/resize
window. It alows for more smooth tinting thou. You
need to build it with --enable-transparency=yes or
--enable-background-imageyes option, to be able to
use this feature. resource tinting.
-sh amount
This option allows for darkening/lightening of the
background image amount is the %value of the
desired brightness, where 100 is the original. if
amount is less then 100 - image will be darkened.
if amount is less then 0 or more then 100 - image
will be lightened. Lightening can cause some
strange looking effects if applied on bright image.
This option causes aterm to create shaded/lightened
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copy of the background - it´s more memory cosuming
as the result. It does not make much difference,
though, if applied on non transparent background
image. resource shading.
-fade amount
This option allows for darkening/lightening of col
ors when aterm is loosing focus. amount is the
%value of the desired brightness, where 100 is the
original. if amount is less then 100 - colors will
be darkened. if amount is less then 0 or more then
100 - colors will be lightened. Lightening can
cause some strange looking effects if applied on
bright colors. This option causes aterm to use
more colors, as the result it is disabled by
default. Use --enable-fading ./configure option to
enable it. resource fading.
-bgtype type
Specify type of the transformation to be performed
on background image. Possible types are : tile -
plain vanilla tiling of the image. scale - origi
nal image will be scaled to the aterm´s size, every
time you resize window. scalev - original image
will be scaled to the aterm´s height only, every
time you resize window. scaleh - original image
will be scaled to the aterm´s width only, every
time you resize window. center - original image
will be centered in aterm´s window. notile - back
ground color will be padded to image´s right/bottom
to make it the same size as window is. notileh -
background color will be padded to image´s right to
make it the same width as window is. notilev -
background color will be padded to image´s bottom
to make it the same height as window is. cut -
aterm background will be cut out of the source
image, as if this source image was tiled across the
root window. The portion of the image that lies
underneath of window will be used. If AfterStep
Pager, asetroot or Esetroot where used to set the
root image, then this option can be used in con
junction with -tr option. In this case it will do
mentioned transformations to the root pixmap. and
use it as aterm´s background. resource background
Type.
-txttype type
Allows you to specify logical function to be used
when displaying text. That will cause aterm to log
ically combine text with background pixels. That
only works with transparent background and back
ground image. Possible values are : and, andRe
verse, andInverted, xor, or, nor, invert, equiv,
invert, orReverse, orInverted, nand; resource
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textType.
-tinttype type
Allows you to specify logical function to be used
when tinting transparent background. That will
cause aterm to logically combine text with back
ground pixels. NOTE: If shading option is used, or
background image is specifyed - true type will
always be used. That works with bpth transparent
background and background image. Possible values
are :
Fast tinting options : and, andReverse, andIn
verted, xor, or, nor, invert, equiv, invert, orRe
verse, orInverted, nand,
Slow tinting: true - will do "true" tinting - that
means that background pixel´s RGB components will
be decreased proportionaly to the RGB components of
specified tinting color; resource tintingType.
-cr colour
The cursor colour; resource cursorColor.
-pr colour
The mouse pointer colour; resource pointerColor.
-bd colour
The colour of the border between the xterm scroll
bar and the text; resource borderColor.
-fn fontname
Main normal text font; resource font.
-fb fontname
Main bold text font; resource boldFont.
-fm fontname
Main multicharacter font; resource mfont.
-km mode
Multiple-character font-set encoding mode; eucj:
EUC Japanese encoding. sjis: Shift JIS encoding;
resource multichar_encoding.
-grk mode
Greek keyboard translation; iso: ISO-8859 mapping.
ibm: IBM-437 mapping; resource greek_keyboard.
-name name
Specify the application name under which resources
are to be obtained, rather than the default exe
cutable file name. Name should not contain `.´ or
`*´ characters. Also sets the icon and title name.
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-ls|+ls
Start as a login-shell/sub-shell; resource login
Shell.
-ut|+ut
Inhibit/enable writing a utmp entry; resource utmp
Inhibit.
-vb|+vb
Turn on/off visual bell on receipt of a bell char
acter; resource visualBell.
-sb|+sb
Turn on/off scrollbar; resource scrollBar.
-si|+si
Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on TTY output inhibit;
resource scrollTtyOutput.
-sk|+sk
Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on keypress; resource
scrollKeypress.
-sr|+sr
Put scrollbar on right/left; resource scroll
Bar_right.
-st|+st
Display scrollbar without/with a trough; resource
scrollBar_floating.
-iconic
Start iconified, if the window manager supports
that option.
-sl number
Save number lines in the scrollback buffer;
resource saveLines.
-tn termname
This option specifies the name of the terminal type
to be set in the TERM environment variable. This
terminal type must exist in the termcap(5) database
and should have li# and co# entries; resource
termName.
-e command [arguments]
Run the command with its command-line arguments in
the aterm window; also sets the window title and
icon name to be the basename of the program being
executed if neither -title (-T) nor -n are given on
the command line. If this option is used, it must
be the last on the command-line. If there is no -e
option then the default is to run the program
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specified by the SHELL environment variable or,
failing that, sh(1).
-title text
Window title -T still respected); the default title
is the basename of the program specified after the
\f3\-e\fP option, if any, otherwise the application
name; resource title.
-n text
Icon name; the default name is the basename of the
program specified after the \f3\-e\fP option, if
any, otherwise the application name; resource icon
Name.
-C Capture system console messages.
RESOURCES (available also as long-options)
aterm accepts application defaults set in XAPPLOAD
DIR/aterm (compile-time defined: usually /usr/lib/X11/app-
defaults/aterm) and resources set in ~/.Xdefaults or
~/.Xresources. Note that when reading X resources, aterm
recognizes two class names: XTerm and Aterm. The class
name XTerm allows resources common to both aterm and xterm
to be easily configured, while the class name Aterm allows
resources unique to aterm, notably colours and key-han
dling, to be shared between different aterm configura
tions. If no resources are specified, suitable defaults
will be used. Command-line arguments can be used to over
ride resource settings. The following resources are
allowed:
geometry: geom
Create the window with the specified X window geom
etry [default 80x24]; option -geometry.
background: colour
Use the specified colour as the window´s background
colour [default White]; option -bg.
foreground: colour
Use the specified colour as the window´s foreground
colour [default Black]; option -fg.
colorn: colour
Use the specified colour for the colour value n,
where 0-7 corresponds to low-intensity (normal)
colours and 8-15 corresponds to high-intensity
(bold = bright foreground, blink = bright back
ground) colours. The canonical names are as fol
lows: 0=black, 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue,
5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white, but the actual colour
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names used are listed in the COLORS AND GRAPHICS
section.
colorBD: colour
Use the specified colour to display bold characters
when the foreground colour is the default.
colorUL: colour
Use the specified colour to display underlined
characters when the foreground colour is the
default.
cursorColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the cursor. The
default is to use the foreground colour; option
-cr.
cursorColor2: colour
Use the specified colour for the colour of the cur
sor text. For this to take effect, cursorColor
must also be specified. The default is to use the
background colour.
reverseVideo: boolean
True: simulate reverse video by foreground and
background colours; option -rv, False: regular
screen colours [default]; option +rv. See note in
COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
scrollColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default
#B2B2B2].
troughColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the scrollbar´s trough
area [default #969696].
backgroundPixmap: file[;geom]
Use the specified image file, and cut the area
defined by geometry string out of it.
transparet
Turn on/off pseudo transparency mode. In this mode
aterm will use part of root background as it´s own
background, emulating see-through effect;
tinting: color
Turn on pseudo transparency background tinting.
Tinting can be done fast and slow way. In fast way
it will be done by combining of background color
with tinting color using logical function. This
function defaults to AND, and it can be changed
using -tinttype option - see below. In general
solid colors like Blue, Red, Green, Cyan, Magenta,
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Yellow are good, but you should experiment with it
for each background you have. True tinting is more
memory and CPU hungry - tinted copy of background
image will be created every time you move/resize
window. It alows for more smooth tinting thou. You
need to build it with --enable-transparency=yes or
--enable-background-image=yes option, to be able to
use this feature.
-shading: amount
This option allows for darkening/lightening of the
background image amount is the %value of the
desired brightness, where 100 is the original. if
amount is less then 100 - image will be darkened.
if amount is less then 0 or more then 100 - image
will be lightened. Lightening can cause some
strange looking effects if applied on bright image.
This option causes aterm to create shaded/lightened
copy of the background - it´s more memory cosuming
as the result. It does not make much difference,
though, if applied on non transparent background
image.
backgroundType: type
Specify type of the transformation to be performed
on background image. Possible types are : tile -
plain vanilla tiling of the image. scale - origi
nal image will be scaled to the aterm´s size, every
time you resize window. scalev - original image
will be scaled to the aterm´s height only, every
time you resize window. scaleh - original image
will be scaled to the aterm´s width only, every
time you resize window. center - original image
will be centered in aterm´s window. notile - back
ground color will be padded to image´s right/bottom
to make it the same size as window is. notileh -
background color will be padded to image´s right to
make it the same width as window is. notilev -
background color will be padded to image´s bottom
to make it the same height as window is. cut -
aterm background will be cut out of the source
image, as if this source image was tiled across the
root window. The portion of the image that lies
underneath of window will be used. If AfterStep
Pager, asetroot or Esetroot where used to set the
root image, then this option can be used in con
junction with -tr option. In this case it will do
mentioned transformations to the root pixmap. and
use it as aterm´s background.
textType: type
Allows you to specify logical function to be used
when displaying text. That will cause aterm to
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logically combine text with background pixels. That
only works with transparent background and back
ground image. Possible values are : and, andRe
verse, andInverted, xor, or, nor, invert, equiv,
invert, orReverse, orInverted, nand.
tintingType type
Allows you to specify logical function to be used
when tinting transparent background. That will
cause aterm to logically combine text with back
ground pixels. NOTE: If shading option is used, or
background image is specifyed - true type will
always be used. That works with bpth transparent
background and background image. Possible values
are :
Fast tinting options : and, andReverse, andIn
verted, xor, or, nor, invert, equiv, invert, orRe
verse, orInverted, nand,
Slow tinting: true - will do "true" tinting - that
means that background pixel´s RGB components will
be decreased proportionaly to the RGB components of
specified tinting color.
menu: file[;tag]
Read in the specified menu file (note the `.menu´
extension is optional) and also optionally specify
a starting tag to find. See the reference documen
tation for details on the syntax for the menuBar.
path: path
Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding
files (XPM and menus), in addition to the paths
specified by the RXVTPATH and PATH environment
variables.
font: fontname
Select the main text font used [default 7x14];
option -fn.
fontn: fontname
Specify the alternative font n. The default font
values:
boldFont: fontname
Specify the name of the bold font to use if colorBD
has not been specified and it is not possible to
map the default foreground colour to colour 8-15
[default NONE]. This font must be the same height
and width as the normal font; option -fb.
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mfont: fontname
Select the main multiple-character text font used
[default k14]; option -fk.
mfontn: fontname
Specify the alternative multiple-character font n.
If compiled for multiple-character fonts, the Roman
and multiple-character font sizes should match.
multichar_encoding: mode
Set the encoding mode to be used when multicharac
ter encoding is received; eucj: EUC Japanese encod
ing [default for Kanji]. sjis: Shift JIS encoding.
big5: BIG5 encoding; option -km.
greek_keyboard: mode
Set the Greek keyboard translation mode to be used;
iso: ISO-8859 mapping (elot-928) [default]. ibm:
IBM-437 mapping (DOS codepage 737); option -grk.
Use Mode_switch to toggle keyboard input. For more
details, see the distributed file README.greek.
title: text
Set window title string, the default title is the
command-line specified after the -e option, if any,
otherwise the application name; option -title.
iconName: text
Set the name used to label the window´s icon or
displayed in an icon manager window, it also sets
the window´s title unless it is explicitly set;
option -n.
mapAlert: boolean
True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell charac
ter. False: no de-iconify (map) on receipt of a
bell character [default].
visualBell: boolean
True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell charac
ter; option -vb. False: no visual bell [default];
option +vb.
loginShell: boolean
True: start as a login shell by prepending a `-´ to
argv[0] of the shell; option -ls. False: start as
a normal sub-shell [default]; option +ls.
utmpInhibit: boolean
True: inhibit writing record into the system log
file utmp; option -ut. False: write record into
the system log file utmp [default]; option +ut.
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print-pipe: string
Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default
lpr(1)]. Use Print to initiate a screen dump to
the printer and Ctrl-Print or Shift-Print to
include the scrollback as well.
scrollBar: boolean
True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb.
False: disable the scrollbar; option +sb. Note
that the scrollbar type (with/without arrows) is
compile-time selected.
smallfont_key: keysym
If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a smaller
font [default Alt-<]
bigfont_key: keysym
If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a bigger
font [default Alt->]
saveLines: number
Save number lines in the scrollback buffer [default
64]; option -sl.
termName: termname
Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the
TERM environment variable; option -tn.
meta8: boolean
True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th
bit. False: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress as an
escape prefix [default].
modifier: string
Set the Meta key to be enabled by modifier Mod1,
Mod2, Mod3, Mod4 or Mod5.
backspacekey: string
The string to send when the backspace key is
pressed. If set to DEC or unset it will send
Delete (code 127) or, if shifted, Backspace (code
8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate DEC
private mode escape sequence.
deletekey: string
The string to send when the delete key (not the
keypad delete key) is pressed. If unset it will
send the sequence traditionally associated with the
Execute key.
cutchars: string
The characters used as delimiters for double-click
word selection. The built-in default:
BACKSLASH `"´&()*,;<=>?@[]{|}
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keysym.sym: string
Associate string with keysym sym (0xFF00 - 0xFFFF).
It may contain escape values (\a: bell, \b:
backspace, \e, \E: escape, \n: newline, \r: return,
\t: tab, \000: octal number) or control characters
(^?: delete, ^@: null, ^A ...) and may enclosed
with double quotes so that it can start or end with
whitespace. The intervening resource name keysym.
cannot be omitted. This resource is only available
when compiled with KEYSYM_RESOURCE.
THE SCROLLBAR
Lines of text that scroll off the top of the aterm window
(resource: saveLines) and can be scrolled back using the
scrollbar or by keystrokes. The normal aterm scrollbar
has arrows and its behaviour is fairly intuitive. The
xterm-scrollbar is without arrows and its behaviour mimics
that of xterm. When build with --enable-next-scroll aterm
will have NeXT-ish scrollbars. They look nicer and easier
in use, but have slightly larger size. Their look and size
can be tweaked at compile time by modifying parameters in
rxvt.h.
Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next.
Scroll up with Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Prior.
Continuous scroll with Button2.
MOUSE REPORTING
To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the
scrollbar or the normal text selection/insertion, hold
either the Shift or the Meta (Alt) key while performing
the desired mouse action.
If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar
actions are disabled -- on the assumption that we are
using a fullscreen application. Instead, pressing Button1
and Button3 sends ESC[6~ (Next) and ESC[5~ (Prior),
respectively. Similarly, clicking on the up and down
arrows sends ESC[A (Up) and ESC[B (Down), respectively.
TEXT SELECTION AND INSERTION
The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is
similar to xterm(1).
Selection:
Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to
the end of the region and release; Right click to
extend the marked region; Left double-click to
select a word; Left triple-click to select the
entire line.
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Insertion:
Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or
Shift-Insert) in an aterm window causes the current
text selection to be inserted as if it had been
typed on the keyboard.
CHANGING FONTS
You can change fonts on-the-fly, which is to say cycle
through the default font and others of various sizes, by
using Shift-KP_Add and Shift-KP_Subtract. Or, alterna
tively (if enabled) with Alt-> and Alt-<, where the actual
key can be selected using resources smallfont_key/big
font_key.
LOGIN STAMP
aterm tries to write an entry into the utmp(5) file so
that it can be seen via the who(1) command, and can accept
messages. To allow this feature, aterm must be installed
setuid root on some systems.
COLORS AND GRAPHICS
If graphics support was enabled at compile-time, aterm can
be queried with ANSI escape sequences and can address
individual pixels instead of text characters. Note the
graphics support is still considered beta code.
In addition to the default foreground and background
colours, aterm can display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI
colours plus high-intensity bold/blink versions of the
same). Here is a list of the colours with their rgb.txt
names.
It is also possible to specify the colour values of fore
ground, background, cursorColor, cursorColor2, colorBD,
colorUL as a number 0-15, as a convenient shorthand to
reference the colour name of color0-color15.
Note that -rv ("reverseVideo: True") simulates reverse
video by always swapping the foreground/background
colours. This is in contrast to xterm(1) where the
colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise been
specified. For example,
aterm -fg Black -bg White -rv
would yield White on Black, while on xterm(1) it
would yield Black on White.
ENVIRONMENT
aterm sets the environment variables TERM, COLORTERM and
COLORFGBG. The environment variable WINDOWID is set to
the X window id number of the aterm window and it also
uses and sets the environment variable DISPLAY to specify
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which display terminal to use. aterm uses the environment
variables ATERMPATH, then RXVTPATH and finally PATH to
find XPM files.
FILES
/etc/utmp
System file for login records.
/usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
Color names.
SEE ALSO
xterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4), tty(4), utmp(5)
See rxvtRef.html rxvtRef.txt for detailed information on
recognized escape sequences and menuBar syntax, etc.
BUGS
Check the BUGS file for an up-to-date list.
Cursor change support is not yet implemented.
Click-and-drag doesn´t work with X11 mouse report overrid
ing.
Graphics support is fairly crude.
FTP LOCATION
aterm-0.3.6.tar.gz can be found at the following ftp sites
ftp://ftp.afterstep.org/apps/aterm
CURRENT PROJECT COORDINATOR
Project Coordinator
Sasha Vasko <sashav@sprintmail.com>
Web page maintainter
Sasha Vasko <sashav@sprintmail.com>
<http://members.xoom.com/sashav/aterm>
Online support
You can meet maintainers online, get support,
report bugs and make sugestions on AfterStep IRC
channel: #afterstep on EFnet.
Mailing list
Support for aterm can be obtained from AfterStep
mailing list <afterstep@linuxcenter.com>. To sub
scribe mail to: <afterstep@linuxcenter.com> sub
ject: subscribe.
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Here is also mailing lists of original rxvt, but I
doubt that rxvt guys will be wiling to support
aterm:
The Rxvt Workers <rxvt-workers@babayaga.math.fu-
berlin.de> mailing list has also been established
for rxvt development, to subscribe, email to <rxvt-
workers-subscribe@babayaga.math.fu-berlin.de>.
There is also a mailing list for announcements of
new releases of rxvt. To subscribe, email to <rxvt-
announce-subscribe@babayaga.math.fu-berlin.de>.
AUTHORS
John Bovey
University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
wrote the Greek Keyboard Input
mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
Wrote the menu system.
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
Rewrote screen display and text selection routines.
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - )
Sasha Vasko <sashav@sprintmail.com>
branched rxvt with Alfredo Kojima additions to
aterm.
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