> when setting
> 
> TERM=vs100; export TERM
> 
> (why "vs" and not "vt" ?!?)

Because 'vs100' is an alias for 'xterm' in the termcap database [*].  So,
setting TERM=vs100 is equivalent to setting TERM=xterm.

> all the curses applications work with colors. btw, "wsvt25l1" dumps curses
> app's core.

Probably because the application doesn't check the return from initscr().
initscr() will return ERR if it can't initialise the terminal and then no
curses variables will be have been initialised.  So, referencing stdscr
(for example) will result in undefined behaviour, such as a core dump.  One
program that does check is vi - try running it with TERM=wsvt2511.  I guess
that it was meant to be 'wsvt25' not 'wsvt2511'

J

[*] See `grep vs100 /usr/share/misc/termcap`.
-- 
                    My other computer also runs NetBSD
                          http://www.netbsd.org/