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keyboard/font problem

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skippylou
Posts: 1
Joined: 2017-04-20 17:18

keyboard/font problem

#1 Post by skippylou »

About a year or so ago I installed a program mvt4apl on my Ubuntu 16.04 desktop. It is a program that allows you to run the original IBM 360 software for the APL language on a PC. This installation was smooth and worked. Unzip two packages into specific directories, install a font, verify that you are using a US-English keyboard and run a script. OK, for a variety of reasons I recently switched to Debian 8.7.1 installed from cinnamon live cd. Tried the exact same install procedure and get to the APL login page (after 2000 lines of installation jargon in Klingonese). As you may know, APL uses a nonstandard keyboard layout and several nonstandard characters; none of these work. I searched the installation output for words like "fatal", "error", "missing" etc. I did find several instances of this line:

HHC00136W Error in function setenv(): cannot set CUU: Not thread safe--setting disabled

Searched my file system for "setenv" and didn't find any scripts or executable programs. Tried installing the new font several ways:

1: Sudo gnome-font-viewer apl360i-semi-italic_ISO-8859.1.ttf

2: manually copied the ttf file to /usr/share/fonts/, /usr/local/share/fonts/, ~/.fonts

3. ran sudo fc-cache -fv to read and cache all fonts

Still no joy.

I've been using various versions of linux for over 10 years but am still a novice when it comes to fixing problems. Any ideas as to what I should try next?

User avatar
GarryRicketson
Posts: 5644
Joined: 2015-01-20 22:16
Location: Durango, Mexico

Re: keyboard/font problem

#2 Post by GarryRicketson »

Hello skippylou, Welcome to the forum,..
My first thoughts are , Have you read this ? https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

What I would do is also try to find a forum or support board, for this program
mvt4apl . And hopefully maybe you will find some one that as had experience
with installing it on Debian,
There might be someone here as well, so no problem asking here.
The thing of it is , just because it worked on ubuntu, does not mean it would on Debian.
skippylou>>I've been using various versions of linux for over 10 year----
When I first started using Debian, and that was back when it was Debian 6 "squeeze", similar to you , I had been using other linux distros for over 10 years,
and I still am very much a novice, but any way, the point is, there was a program
I had wanted to use, but was not in the Debian repositories, and so I figured I could just get it from the site where they have it, and install it,...WRONG, it crashed my first Debian installation , so I had to start over,... I had not yet read
the above information on the wiki, so I did not realize the potential risk in installing something from outside the Debian repos,..
This does not mean you can not install it, but you will need to really research it first.
You might find a program that does the same thing in the Debian repositories ,
that would be your best option.
I have not yet had a chance to do any searches, or look for information on this program, it might help if you can tell us where you got it, what version, etc.

----disclaimer---
In case some of the resident trolls decide to tell me "If you don't know the answer, don't post",.... Yes I am all ready aware of that, but the trolls don't make the rules, and I enjoy responding to peoples questions.
----------------------------------------------------

User avatar
dasein
Posts: 7680
Joined: 2011-03-04 01:06
Location: Terra Incantationum

Re: keyboard/font problem

#3 Post by dasein »

skippylou wrote:I installed a program mvt4apl on my Ubuntu 16.04 desktop.
There's data point #1. Ubuntu is not Debian, and Debian is not Ubuntu.
skippylou wrote:Unzip two packages into specific directories, install a font, verify that you are using a US-English keyboard and run a script.

(Emphasis added)
And there's data point #2. Unzipping files and installing fonts are distro-agnostic. So the culprit just about has to be the installer script you mention.

So your question basically comes down to asking what Ubuntu-specific features are in that script. But since no one here runs Ubuntu, it's unlikely that anyone here is going to know that answer.
skippylou wrote:Any ideas as to what I should try next?
In no particular order:

- You could ask the Ubuntu maintainer for some initial tips; the fix might be as simple as changing 1 or 2 lines.

- Learn everything you need to learn about the relevant distro-specific differences and modify the install script yourself.

- If you simply must have this widget, run Ubuntu and be happy

Pick whichever option you like best.

P.S. You'll have to forgive GarryR. His technical knowledge is extremely limited, and he thinks that long-winded articulations of his ignorance make for worthwhile reading.

User avatar
GarryRicketson
Posts: 5644
Joined: 2015-01-20 22:16
Location: Durango, Mexico

Re: keyboard/font problem

#4 Post by GarryRicketson »

I stumbled on to this:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic ... N2jgh2mk7s
Hello xxxx

after 10 days I finally got around to compile some detailed answers
for you. The documentation coming with either the A+ sources, the
Debian packages, or the aplusdev.org web site are indeed very poor
in this respect.

Once you have things set up properly, "Alt+i" will give you the iota etc.


Here are all the gory details:--------- snip------
I don't know for sure, but it may be of use to you, and also that might be a very good place to ask about this, it can't hurt to ask on various sites.
------------ edited-----------
There may be some good alternative packages for Debian, in the Debian repos:
https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AplInDebian
Disclaimer: This is a Work-in-Progress page.

Apl comes under Debian under the Aplus packages. These supposedly work under xemacs or the shell.

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