AIX 3.1, info -a and arrow keys

[Vic Abell]

If you're having trouble making info -a accept VT100 arrow key sequences
via a network connection from a remote terminal emulator (mine is a NeXT
work station with the Stuart 2.0 emulator), try setting the ESCDELAY
environment variable.

	% setenv ESCDELAY=1250
or
	$ ESCDELAY=1250; export ESCDELAY

This works around a bug in info or curses that keeps one or the other
from waiting a suitable amount of time after an ESC to see if it is the
head of a sequence ("ESC [ C" is a VT100 right-arrow).  This is a problem
for me, because my NeXT software sends the ESC in one TCP/IP packet and
the `[' and `C' together in a subsequent one.  Without the ESCDELAY, info
would sometimes see the three characters as a right arrow, and at other
times see the ESC by itself as a cancellation of the menu access (via ^O).

The delay is apparently specified in milliseconds.  IBM suggested 1000,
but I found a slightly larger value more reliable.  Your mileage may vary.

My compliments to the local IBM technical rep - Ross Aiken - for locating
the ESCDELAY workaround shortly after I was able to explain the cause of
the problem.

Via Abell <abe at mace.cc.purdue.edu>