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Before you begin to use screen you'll need to make sure you have
correctly selected your terminal type, just as you would for any other
termcap/terminfo program. (You can do this by using tset,
qterm, or just set term=mytermtype, for example.)
If you're impatient and want to get started without doing a lot more
reading, you should remember this one command: C-a ? (see section Key Binding). Typing these two characters will display a list of the
available screen commands and their bindings. Each keystroke is
discussed in the section on keystrokes (see section Default Key Bindings).
Another section (see section Customizing Screen) deals with the contents of your
`.screenrc'.
If possible, choose a version of your terminal's termcap that has
automatic margins turned off. This will ensure an accurate and
optimal update of the screen in all circumstances. The next best thing
is an auto-margin terminal that allows the last position on the screen
to be updated without scrolling the screen (such as a VT100). This also
allows the entire screen to be updated. If all you've got is a
"true" auto-margin terminal, screen will be content to use it,
but updating a character put into the last position on the screen may
not be possible until the screen scrolls or the character is moved into
a safe position in some other way. This delay can be shortened by using
a terminal with insert-character capability.
If your terminal is of the second type (firm-margined `am'), you will
want to let screen know about this, since a normal termcap
doesn't distinguish this type of automatic margins from a "true" `am'
terminal. You do this by specifying the `xn' capability in your termcap
(see section Termcap), or by using the `-L'
command-line option. screen needs this information to correctly
update the screen. You don't need to worry about this if your terminal
type starts with `vt', as screen assumes `xn' in that case.
See section Special Terminal Capabilities, for more information about telling
screen what kind of terminal you have.
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