Subject: Noblink patch for Linux 1.0 available
From: [email-masked] (Bill Paul)
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 00:34:47 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce

Greetings:

This is to announce the release of an updated/improved version of my
software cursor patch for Linux 1.0. Currently, it is available for
sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/incoming as noblink-1.0.tar.gz. It should
eventually come to rest at the following locations:

sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/kernel/misc-patches

and

tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/patches

This version patches cleanly into Linux 1.0, as well as some of the later
pl15-ALPHA versions (pl15h and higher). There are also two major improvements:

1) All problems associated with restoring the hardware cursor using
   'cursor blink; cursor underline' have been fixed. The underline cursor
   will be the right size no matter what video mode you use. I hope. :)

2) You can now set the software cursor to any one of 16 colors instead of
   just 8 (this is for VGA/SVGA hardware only -- this feature is disabled for
   monochrome and CGA displays). Note that this is accomplished by playing
   with certain VGA registers. One side effect is that 'setterm -blink'
   will produce high intensity colors instead of blinking text as it normally
   does. You will want to play with it a bit to see if you want to use the
   fueature or not. To enable the 16 color mode, compile and install the
   new cursor program and type 'cursor 16color'. You can then chose from one
   of the 8 extended colors if you wish. Typing 'cursor 8color' will switch
   back to 8 color mode. Also note that trying to select one of the 
   additional 8 colors will not work unless '16color' mode has been selected
   first.

As always, bug reports, fixes, complaints, high praise and sainthoods are
welcome and engouraged. Cash will not be accepted without two forms of
i.d. and a major credit card.

Share and enjoy!

-Bill Paul
[email-masked] or
[email-masked]