I've been trying to spend some time customizing my menus, welcome screen, and such on my BBS. However, I've had a few niggling issues. When I create an ANSI image with something like Tetradraw and then convert it with ans2asc I get errors about invalid ANSI codes. Maybe this is a problem with Tetradraw. Can someone suggest a good ANSI editor? Preferably for Linux, but I'll use a DOS app if need be. I did try TheDraw, but it adds a little tag at the bottom I don't want.

I'd just go with pure ANSI, but when I add @-Codes to the file, and Synchronet displays it, it doesn't appear correctly. I think maybe the lines are pushed out by the number of characters taken up by the text replacing the @-codes.

I've also tried using CTRL-A codes manually, but I haven't found a way to input the CTRL-A character under Linux. echicken suggested using "\1", but that is just displayed literally and not converted.

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I've also tried using CTRL-A codes manually, but I haven't found a way to input the CTRL-A character under Linux. echicken suggested using "\1", but that is just displayed literally and not converted.

Right; I suppose that'll only work in some situations. I usually only use CTRL-A codes in output that's being generated on the fly, not in loaded text files (apart from text.dat). I'm sure there's still a way to do it, but probably a very annoying way.

Have you tried PabloDraw? (Last time I checked, you could use it on Linux.)

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echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230
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I've been trying to spend some time customizing my menus, welcome screen, and such on my BBS. However, I've had a few niggling issues. When I create an ANSI image with something like Tetradraw and then convert it with ans2asc I get errors about invalid ANSI codes. Maybe this is a problem with Tetradraw. Can someone suggest a good ANSI editor? Preferably for Linux, but I'll use a DOS app if need be. I did try TheDraw, but it adds a little tag at the bottom I don't want.

I believe there are some ANSI codes that are unsupported by ans2asc. I've seeen
ans2asc report codes that it didn't convert but the resulting .asc file still looked fine.

Personally, TheDraw is still my favorite ANSI editor. Before converting its ANSIs to asc, I usually open the ANSI file in a text editor and remove the extra
line(s) it adds to the bottom of the ANSI.

Nightfox

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Re: Control-A codes under Linux
By: echicken to Doctor Who on Fri Mar 11 2016 01:48 pm

Right; I suppose that'll only work in some situations. I usually only use CTRL-A codes in output that's being generated on the fly, not in loaded text files (apart from text.dat). I'm sure there's still a way to do it, but probably a very annoying way.

Have you tried PabloDraw? (Last time I checked, you could use it on Linux.)

I think I looked at PabloDraw at one time. I'll take another look at it. I may also try other methods like non-native Synchronet codes (e.g. Renegade pipe codes).

Being creative with menus is hard enough. Doing actual art is a real challenge for me. I'm always amazed when I see ANSI art by talented artists. I'd like to know if there are any good tutorials on ANSI art.

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þ Synchronet þ The 5th Dimension: the5thd.synchro.net

Re: Control-A codes under Linux
By: Doctor Who to All on Fri Mar 11 2016 12:00 pm

I've been trying to spend some time customizing my menus, welcome screen, and such on my BBS. However, I've had a few niggling issues. When I create an ANSI image with something like Tetradraw and then convert it with ans2asc I get errors about invalid ANSI codes. Maybe this is a problem with Tetradraw.

Maybe. It sounds like Tetradraw is adding cursor positioning (animation) sequences to the file. These can't be converted (for the most part) to Ctrl-A codes.

Can someone suggest a good ANSI editor? Preferably for Linux, but
I'll use a DOS app if need be. I did try TheDraw, but it adds a little tag at the bottom I don't want.

I don't know about TetraDraw, but in TheDraw, use the "block save" (Alt-B) feature to select just the text you want to save. That will eliminate any extra spaces at the end and also prevent any "animation" sequences from being added.

I'd just go with pure ANSI, but when I add @-Codes to the file, and Synchronet displays it, it doesn't appear correctly. I think maybe the lines are pushed out by the number of characters taken up by the text replacing the @-codes.

Yeah, that makes sense. Ctrl-A files are best (for non-animated display files).

I've also tried using CTRL-A codes manually, but I haven't found a way to input the CTRL-A character under Linux. echicken suggested using "\1", but that is just displayed literally and not converted.

The '\1' thing (for Ctrl-A) only works in JS, Baja and in the ctrl/text.dat file. Many editors have methods for inserting character "literals" (including ctrl characters), but that is a painful way to edit a BBS display file.

digital man

Synchronet "Real Fact" #57:
The last version of Synchronet to run on MS-DOS and OS/2 was v2.30c (1999). Norco, CA WX: 49.8øF, 94.0% humidity, 8 mph ESE wind, 0.09 inches rain/24hrs

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Re: Control-A codes under Linux
By: Doctor Who to All on Fri Mar 11 2016 12:00 pm

I've been trying to spend some time customizing my menus, welcome screen, and such on my BBS. However, I've had a few niggling issues. When I create an ANSI image with something like Tetradraw and then convert it with
ans2asc I get errors about invalid ANSI codes. Maybe this is a problem with

you are not required to run ans2asc on your ansi files.
if necessary, you can use your editor to save as .ans with ansi codes and .asc with no ansi codes.
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Re: Control-A codes under Linux
By: Doctor Who to All on Fri Mar 11 2016 12:00 pm

errors about invalid ANSI codes. Maybe this is a problem with Tetradraw. Can someone suggest a good ANSI editor? Preferably for Linux, but I'll use a DOS

I like Syncdraw, though I run it under Win10 it does have linux flavors. It's very TheDraw like but exports CTRL-A files as well as ANSI and several others. No animation abilities, but I don't think CTRL-A Codes allow for that anyway.

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Re: Control-A codes under Linux
By: Ted Thompson to Doctor Who on Mon Mar 14 2016 03:24 pm

I like Syncdraw, though I run it under Win10 it does have linux flavors. It's very TheDraw like but exports CTRL-A files as well as ANSI and several others. No animation abilities, but I don't think CTRL-A Codes allow for that anyway.

I'll look for SyncDraw. Though I've been spending a little more time with TheDraw. I think the invalid ANSI code errors only occur when certain features are used. I know I got the error when putting in a line length limit but no error when not setting a limit to line length, so that is apparently one cause.

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