Can I get more info on my laptop screen?

[Wanderlust]

Hey everyone,

I've been playing Angband on a Debian laptop in console mode. I'd like some advice tweaking the window setup!

Right now I have the map in the upper-left, inventory upper-right, monster list lower-left, and monster memory lower-right.

This is mostly great with one big problem, which is the fact there's only a single line for messages. I could play and read much faster if I had a window for messages. But I don't seem to be able to get more than 4 subwindows at a time, with my console setup.

Is there a better way?

[Nick]

angband -mgcu -- -n6

will get you 6 windows.

[fph]

Or also

angband -msdl

which has a better interface for windows sizing and selection in my opinion.

[Wanderlust]

Perfect,

angband -mgcu -- -n6

works perfectly for me. I get large windows in all 4 corners of the screen with two thinner subwindows in the middle, which is absolutely perfect. Monster and object recall work great in the same subwindow.

All in all I now have much more useful info on my screen and a vastly improved playing experience.

SDL has its charms but for me personally, the simple console interface will always be my favorite.

[Nick]

SDL has its charms but for me personally, the simple console interface will always be my favorite.

There is an option for fullscreen with SDL, in case you're reconsidering.

[Wanderlust]

I'll definitely try the fullscreen SDL to see what it's like. For now I'm delighted with my new 6-subwindow console setup.

Besides, the console has certain specific advantages that any other interface would have a hard time competing with. I can switch from Angband to actual work in less than 2 seconds, inside the same environment. Best of all, my wife can't tell the difference when she walks in the room. (My 6-year old son can, though. He is fascinated by Angband!)

[Wanderlust]

The subwindows are now working great in console mode.

I also tried:

angband -msdl

But my system doesn't seem to have that available. It says:

angband: Unable to prepare any 'display module'!

angband --help

only lists -mgcu and -mx11 as options.

Do I need to do something to enable the -msdl option? Maybe there's a compile option I need to use?

The -mx11 option works fine and looks very nice. But it uses a much larger font and I have not been able to make the subwindows work at all in that version.

Thanks for the help. As new Angband addict, I'm finding that learning the interface and other options is a huge key to opening up the enjoyment of the game -- far more than any other game I've ever played.

[Nick]

I also tried:

angband -msdl

But my system doesn't seem to have that available. It says:

angband: Unable to prepare any 'display module'!

angband --help

only lists -mgcu and -mx11 as options.

Do I need to do something to enable the -msdl option? Maybe there's a compile option I need to use?

You have to have the correct libraries installed - IIRC it's SDL_image, SDL_ttf and sdl_mixer if you want sound (and if it works - that varies among distros).

[MadeOfBees]

SDL_Image can be tricky on some distros, make sure yours is slotting them correctly.

[fph]

If you have a Debian-based distro (includes Ubuntu) and are compiling from source, you need to

 $ sudo apt-get install autoconf gcc libc6-dev libncurses5-dev libx11-dev \
             libsdl1.2-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev libsdl-mixer1.2-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev \
             libgtk2.0-dev libglade2-dev

(source: http://trac.rephial.org/wiki/Compiling) and then (re)compile as usual (./configure && make && make install or ./configure --with-no-install && make). If you look at the output of configure, at the end it will tell you if it found the SDL libraries or not.

[Nick]

If you have a Debian-based distro (includes Ubuntu) and are compiling from source, you need to

 $ sudo apt-get install autoconf gcc libc6-dev libncurses5-dev libx11-dev \
             libsdl1.2-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev libsdl-mixer1.2-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev \
             libgtk2.0-dev libglade2-dev

(source: http://trac.rephial.org/wiki/Compiling) and then (re)compile as usual (./configure && make && make install or ./configure --with-no-install && make). If you look at the output of configure, at the end it will tell you if it found the SDL libraries or not.

When all else fails, read the instructions

In fact, libgtx and libglade are no longer necessary (they're from the removed gtk port), and to enable sdl you need a --enable-sdl as another argument to configure.

[fph]

Thanks for the correction! Could someone with a rephial account please remove libgtk and libglade from the instructions on the wiki? I don't have one, or I would do it myself.

[Nick]

Could someone with a rephial account please remove libgtk and libglade from the instructions on the wiki? I don't have one, or I would do it myself.

Done. This thread is full of sensible ideas!

[Wanderlust]

There is an option for fullscreen with SDL, in case you're reconsidering.

I've been unable to try this out until today because SDL wasn't working on my system. Today I got it working and set up Angband with fullscreen SDL for the first time. It's a huge improvement! My new favorite way to play. Thanks for the tip