How to Configure Terminal.app for Unix-SPIRES and Prism

The following instructions are to be done after launching Terminal.app located in your Applications/Utilities folder.

PART 1. If you have an account on the Spires machine, then you need to make changes there. Otherwise, skip to PART 2 below.
Issue the following command in Terminal.app to login to your <SunetID> on the Spires machine.

ssh <SunetID>@spires.stanford.edu

Substitute your actual SunetID in place of <SunetID> in the command above. Once you login to your account on the Spires machine, you need to edit your .login file there. We recommend using "wylbur", by issuing the following command:

wylbur .login

Your .login should already contain a "setenv TERMINFO ..." statement. After that statement, add another "setenv" like the following:

setenv TERM vt100x

The "vt100x" terminal type is Terminal.app's equivalent of "samson". "SAVE" your modified .login file as follows:

SAVE * REPLACE

EXIT from wylbur, and logout of the Spires machine.

SPECIAL NOTE:
System variables are normally all-UPPER case, and are defined in one of two ways, depending upon the shell-type.
Shells like "bash" and "sh" both use this form:

export VARNAME=value

Shells like "tcsh" use the following form:

setenv VARNAME value

PART 2. You will now make changes to Terminal.app itself. Below are samples of a few commands you may wish to add to your .login or .bash_login in your home directory under Terminal.app. You can use any text editor such as "vi" or "wylbur" or "textedit". It might be easier to edit a file that doesn't have a dot as its first character, so you should use Teminal.app to "cp .login mylogin", for example. Then send "mylogin" to the text editor and insert the lines below. When you are done, and have saved the updated file, you can move it back using something like "mv mylogin .login".

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin:.
export HOST=$HOSTNAME
export PRINTER='Stylus_C60'
stty erase ^H
alias spires='ssh <SunetID>@spires.stanford.edu'

Substitute your actual SunetID for <SunetID> in the alias command listed above. You will get to the Spires machine using that alias.

Substitute your actual locally attached PRINTER name for 'Stylus_C60' in the export command listed above, or delete the command.

You should install 'vt100x' and 'vt100s' using the 'vterm.install' script in the 'vterm.dmg' file you can download by clicking on this link. After downloading, just double-click on the vterm.dmg icon to open the disk-image. Then double-click the 'readme.txt' file and follow its instructions.

Below are a series of pictures showing the windows for setting various features in Terminal.app. The first is the window obtained by clicking on the "Terminal" name near the left end of the menu bar. Preferences is the next window, selected by the "Preferences..." entry in Terminal Settings. "Window Settings..." opens the Terminal Inspector window, which has a choice list. You can see the other windows selected by each of those choices. Depending upon your version of Terminal.app, be sure to set either "Delete sends Ctrl-H" in the "Preferences..." Advanced pane, or "Delete key sends backspace" in the "Window Settings..." Keyboard pane. All the pictures directly below are from Tiger (10.4.x). For Leopard (10.5.x), see the pictures later.

If you wish to adjust colors, you'll need a free plugin to make life easier. Visit either of these two sites (depending on Tiger or Leopard) to obtain the plugin:

http://culater.net/software/TerminalColors/TerminalColors.php -- for Tiger.
http://ciaranwal.sh/2007/11/01/customising-colours-in-leopard-terminal -- for Leopard.

Terminal Settings	Preferences Settings
Window Choice List	Shell Settings
Processes Settings	Emulation Settings
Buffer Settings	Display Settings
Keyboard Settings	Window Settings
Color Settings	The following only exists if TerminalColors is installed
ANSI Colors Settings	Colors Settings