Is there an infocmp entry for your terminal type, or is curses using a generic database entry for your terminal? (What output do you get from infocmp ?) Look for man pages for infocmp and tic .
Hi Don...
I assumed that OP has already done the tricks available inside ncurses. It looks as though each of the default eight colours can be altered as required within the limits of the terminal in use.
However they don't seem to work for him...
A_NORMAL Normal display (no highlight).
A_STANDOUT Best highlighting mode of the terminal.
A_UNDERLINE Underlining.
A_REVERSE Reverse video.
A_BLINK Blinking.
A_DIM Half bright.
A_BOLD Extra bright or bold.
A_PROTECT Protected mode.
A_INVIS Invisible or blank mode.
A_ALTCHARSET Alternate character set.
A_CHARTEXT Bit-mask to extract a character.
COLOR_PAIR(n) Color-pair number n.
COLOR_BLACK 0
COLOR_RED 1
COLOR_GREEN 2
COLOR_YELLOW 3
COLOR_BLUE 4
COLOR_MAGENTA 5
COLOR_CYAN 6
COLOR_WHITE 7
init_color(COLOR_RED, 700, 0, 0);
init_color(COLOR_BLACK, 0, 0, 0);
init_color(COLOR_WHITE, 1000, 1000, 1000);
EDIT:
Just had an idea...
How about issuing:-
COLOR_WHITE 15
init_color(COLOR_WHITE, 1000, 1000, 1000);
This was the original bright white number in CGA mode when the flashing bit was disabled from the ancient BIOS interrupts...
Therefore the bold attribute should not be needed...
Not sure how to answer, but ..... (my ignorance is showing:o)
bill-alpha-118: infocmp -D
/etc/terminfo
/usr/share/terminfo
ill-alpha-117: infocmp
# Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm-256color
xterm-256color|xterm with 256 colors,
am, bce, ccc, km, mc5i, mir, msgr, npc, xenl,
colors#256, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, pairs#32767,
acsc=``aaffggiijjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~,
bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z, civis=\E[?25l,
clear=\E[H\E[2J, cnorm=\E[?12l\E[?25h, cr=^M,
csr=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dr, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=^H,
cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=^J, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C,
cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A,
cvvis=\E[?12;25h, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dl=\E[%p1%dM,
dl1=\E[M, ech=\E[%p1%dX, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K, el1=\E[1K,
flash=\E[?5h$<100/>\E[?5l, home=\E[H, hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG,
ht=^I, hts=\EH, ich=\E[%p1%d@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L,
ind=^J, indn=\E[%p1%dS,
initc=\E]4;%p1%d;rgb\:%p2%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p3%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p4%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X\E\\,
invis=\E[8m, is2=\E[!p\E[?3;4l\E[4l\E>, kDC=\E[3;2~,
kEND=\E[1;2F, kHOM=\E[1;2H, kIC=\E[2;2~, kLFT=\E[1;2D,
kNXT=\E[6;2~, kPRV=\E[5;2~, kRIT=\E[1;2C, kb2=\EOE,
kbs=\177, kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\EOD, kcud1=\EOB, kcuf1=\EOC,
kcuu1=\EOA, kdch1=\E[3~, kend=\EOF, kent=\EOM, kf1=\EOP,
kf10=\E[21~, kf11=\E[23~, kf12=\E[24~, kf13=\E[1;2P,
kf14=\E[1;2Q, kf15=\E[1;2R, kf16=\E[1;2S, kf17=\E[15;2~,
kf18=\E[17;2~, kf19=\E[18;2~, kf2=\EOQ, kf20=\E[19;2~,
kf21=\E[20;2~, kf22=\E[21;2~, kf23=\E[23;2~,
kf24=\E[24;2~, kf25=\E[1;5P, kf26=\E[1;5Q, kf27=\E[1;5R,
kf28=\E[1;5S, kf29=\E[15;5~, kf3=\EOR, kf30=\E[17;5~,
kf31=\E[18;5~, kf32=\E[19;5~, kf33=\E[20;5~,
kf34=\E[21;5~, kf35=\E[23;5~, kf36=\E[24;5~,
kf37=\E[1;6P, kf38=\E[1;6Q, kf39=\E[1;6R, kf4=\EOS,
kf40=\E[1;6S, kf41=\E[15;6~, kf42=\E[17;6~,
kf43=\E[18;6~, kf44=\E[19;6~, kf45=\E[20;6~,
kf46=\E[21;6~, kf47=\E[23;6~, kf48=\E[24;6~,
kf49=\E[1;3P, kf5=\E[15~, kf50=\E[1;3Q, kf51=\E[1;3R,
kf52=\E[1;3S, kf53=\E[15;3~, kf54=\E[17;3~,
kf55=\E[18;3~, kf56=\E[19;3~, kf57=\E[20;3~,
kf58=\E[21;3~, kf59=\E[23;3~, kf6=\E[17~, kf60=\E[24;3~,
kf61=\E[1;4P, kf62=\E[1;4Q, kf63=\E[1;4R, kf7=\E[18~,
kf8=\E[19~, kf9=\E[20~, khome=\EOH, kich1=\E[2~,
kind=\E[1;2B, kmous=\E[M, knp=\E[6~, kpp=\E[5~,
kri=\E[1;2A, mc0=\E[i, mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, meml=\El,
memu=\Em, op=\E[39;49m, rc=\E8, rev=\E[7m, ri=\EM,
rin=\E[%p1%dT, rmacs=\E(B, rmam=\E[?7l, rmcup=\E[?1049l,
rmir=\E[4l, rmkx=\E[?1l\E>, rmm=\E[?1034l, rmso=\E[27m,
rmul=\E[24m, rs1=\Ec, rs2=\E[!p\E[?3;4l\E[4l\E>, sc=\E7,
setab=\E[%?%p1%{8}%<%t4%p1%d%e%p1%{16}%<%t10%p1%{8}%-%d%e48;5;%p1%d%;m,
setaf=\E[%?%p1%{8}%<%t3%p1%d%e%p1%{16}%<%t9%p1%{8}%-%d%e38;5;%p1%d%;m,
sgr=%?%p9%t\E(0%e\E(B%;\E[0%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p7%t;8%;m,
sgr0=\E(B\E[m, smacs=\E(0, smam=\E[?7h, smcup=\E[?1049h,
smir=\E[4h, smkx=\E[?1h\E=, smm=\E[?1034h, smso=\E[7m,
smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g, u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n,
u8=\E[?1;2c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd,
Yes, all of the "tricks" that I can think of. And also, yes, using color 15 for the white background and 16 for the black foreground (see the attachment) seemed to be the best combination for a "true" black-on-white screen.
(BTW, the reason for worrying this issue to death is that the application will be used when the computer is outside in bright light. Optimal viewing requires maximum contrast between background and foreground, and we have found that a pure white background with black fonts works the best.)