hi,

The short explanation is that the install media has a .termcap file
with an entry for "rcons". The installation used to copy this
somewhere where a root login would find it.  That step is no longer
done, but the "rcons" entry wasn't added to our termcap database in
time for 1.4.1.

Not very comforting, but that's what happened.

>Unless dictated by the boss......(:+{{.....
>
>Anyway, what is needed to get vi to work correctly on pmax?

If you want full-blown support with recognition of the lk201/401
keypad (insert & friends, the up/down arrow keys, and keypad mode)
then install X and use vi in an Xterm.  Seriously.

"rcons" is derived from an emulator for the Sun-PROM tty emulator.
There's no particularly good way to map the keycap labels on a type-4
or type-5 keyboard onto an LK-201 or LK-401 keyboard -- at least not
without making people who want a vt220 look-and-feel very unhappy.

Here's the source for an (older) version of the .termcap file.  The
specialized entries for "sfb" and "mfb" are no longer needed; the
console automagically gets the tty size correct.


#
#       $NetBSD: termcap.rcons,v 1.1 1997/11/03 10:57:02 jonathan Exp $
#
#	termcap customized for pmax installation
#	From:
######## TERMINAL TYPE DESCRIPTIONS SOURCE FILE
#
#
#	Version 9.13.25
#	termcap syntax
#
#	Eric S. Raymond		(current maintainer)
#	John Kunze, Berkeley
#	Craig Leres, Berkeley
#
rcons|sun-il:\
	:hs:am:km:ms:\
	:co#80:li#34:\
	:%7=\E[194z:&5=\E[193z:&8=\E[195z:@7=\E[220z:AL=\E[%dL:\
	:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:F1=\E[234z:F2=\E[235z:IC=\E[%d@:\
	:K2=\E[218z:al=\E[L:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=^L:\
	:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ei=:ic=\E[@:im=:\
	:k1=\E[224z:k2=\E[225z:k3=\E[226z:k4=\E[227z:k5=\E[228z:\
	:k6=\E[229z:k7=\E[230z:k8=\E[231z:k9=\E[232z:k;=\E[233z:\
	:kD=\177:kN=\E[222z:kP=\E[216z:kb=^H:kd=\E[B:kh=\E[214z:\
	:kl=\E[D:kr=\E[C:ku=\E[A:le=^H:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m:mr=\E[7m:\
	:nd=\E[C:r2=\E[s:\
	:..sa=\E[0%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;m:\
	:se=\E[m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:ta=^I:ue=\E[m:up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:
#
pmax|cfb|DecStation 5000/*,3100 console, 1024x864pixel:\
	:li#57:tc=rcons:
#
sfb|mfb|DecStation 5000/*,3100 console, 1280x1024pixel:\
	:li#67:tc=rcons:
#
vt100:\
	:am:bs:ms:xn:xo:\
	:co#80:it#8:li#24:vt#3:\
	:@8=\EOM:DO=\E[%dB:K1=\EOq:K2=\EOr:K3=\EOs:K4=\EOp:K5=\EOn:\
	:LE=\E[%dD:RA=\E[?7l:RI=\E[%dC:SA=\E[?7h:UP=\E[%dA:\
	:ac=``aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~:\
	:ae=^O:as=^N:bl=^G:cb=\E[1K:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[J:\
	:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:do=^J:\
	:eA=\E(B\E)0:ho=\E[H:k0=\EOy:k1=\EOP:k2=\EOQ:k3=\EOR:\
	:k4=\EOS:k5=\EOt:k6=\EOu:k7=\EOv:k8=\EOl:k9=\EOw:k;=\EOx:\
	:kb=^H:kd=\EOB:ke=\E[?1l\E>:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:\
	:ku=\EOA:le=^H:mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:\
	:nd=\E[C:r2=\E>\E[?3l\E[?4l\E[?5l\E[?7h\E[?8h:rc=\E8:\
	:..sa=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;:\
	:sc=\E7:se=\E[m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:ue=\E[m:\
	:up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:
#
xterm|vs100|xterm terminal emulator (X11R6 Window System):\
	:am:bs:km:mi:ms:pt:xn:xo:\
	:co#80:it#8:li#65:\
	:@7=\E[[:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:F1=\E[23~:\
	:F2=\E[24~:IC=\E[%d@:LE=\E[%dD:UP=\E[%dA:\
	:ac=++\054\054..00II--``aaffgghhjjkkllmmnnooqqssttuuvvwwxx~~:\
	:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:\
	:cl=\E[H\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:\
	:ct=\E[3k:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:\
	:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
	:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
	:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
	:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:k;=\E[21~:\
	:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=^H:kd=\EOB:\
	:ke=\E[?1l\E>:kh=\E[@:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:\
	:ku=\EOA:le=^H:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:\
	:r2=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l\E<:\
	:rc=\E8:sc=\E7:se=\E[m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:ta=^I:\
	:te=\E[2J\E[?47l\E8:ti=\E7\E[?47h:u6=\E[%d;%dR:\
	:u7=\E[6n:u8=\E[?1;2c:u9=\E[c:ue=\E[m:up=\E[A:\
	:us=\E[4m: