The best TERM type on AIX for use with PuTTY, and which PuTTY settings should be tweaked

aixputtytermxterm

I manage many AIX machines, generally version 5.3.

Basic terminal function works just fine, but it seems like some things don't. For example nmon displays lqqx instead of the line drawing characters.

lqnmonqqqqqqqqr=ResourcesqqqqqqqqHost=sigloprodqqqqqqRefresh=2 secsqqq11:29.
1 Memory qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqx
x          Physical  PageSpace |        pages/sec  In     Out | FileSystemCx
x% Used       97.4%      1.3%  | to Paging Space   0.0    0.0 | (numperm) 5x
x% Free        2.6%     98.7%  | to File System    0.5    1.5 | Process   2x
xMB Used    7980.3MB    26.2MB | Page Scans        0.0        | System    1x
xMB Free     211.7MB  2021.8MB | Page Cycles       0.0        | Free       x
xTotal(MB)  8192.0MB  2048.0MB | Page Steals       0.0        |           -x
x                              | Page Faults       3.0        | Total    10x
x------------------------------------------------------------ | numclient 5x
xMin/Maxperm     781MB( 10%)  3904MB( 48%) <--% of RAM        | maxclient 4x
xMin/Maxfree     248   1088       Total Virtual   10.0GB      | User      7x
xMin/Maxpgahead    2    128    Accessed Virtual    3.2GB 31.8%  Pinned    1x
x                                                                          x
xqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqx
x                                                                          x
x                                                                          x
x                                                                          x
x                                                                          x
mqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqj

I am currently using the xterm terminal type on AIX, specifying utf8 encoding in putty, Using unicode line drawing code points in putty, and using the Deja Vu Sans Mono font, which should include all line drawing characters

nmon does display correctly when I run it from an xterm on that same machine.

Current terminfo entry for TERM=xterm is as follows:

sigloprod ~ $ echo $TERM
xterm
sigloprod ~ $ infocmp
#       Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /usr/share/lib/terminfo/x/xterm
xterm|vs100|xterm terminal emulator,
    am, km, msgr, xenl,
    cols#80, it#8, lines#25,
    batt1=f1, batt2=f1md, bel=^G, bold=\E[1m,
    box1=lqkxjmwuvtn, box2=lqkxjmwuvtn, civis=\E[?25l,
    clear=\E[H\E[2J, cnorm=\E[?25h, cr=\r,
    csr=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dr, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\b,
    cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=\n, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C,
    cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A,
    cvvis=\E[?25h, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dl=\E[%p1%dM,
    dl1=\E[M, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K, font0=\E(B, font1=\E(0,
    home=\E[H, ht=\t, hts=\EH, ich=\E[%p1%d@, ich1=\E[@,
    il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=\n, kbs=\b, kcub1=\E[D,
    kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A, kdch1=^?,
    kf1=\E[11~, kf10=\E[21~, kf11=\E[23~, kf12=\E[24~,
    kf2=\E[12~, kf3=\E[13~, kf4=\E[14~, kf5=\E[15~,
    kf6=\E[17~, kf7=\E[18~, kf8=\E[19~, kf9=\E[20~,
    khome=\E[H, kich1=\E[2~, knl=\r, knp=\E[6~, kpp=\E[5~,
    ktab=\t, mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, nel=\n, rc=\E8,
    rev=\E[7m, rf=/usr/share/lib/tabset/vt100, ri=\EM,
    rmcup=\E[?7h, rmkx=\E>, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m$<2>,
    rs1=\E>\E[1;3;4;5;6l\E[?7h\E[m\E[r\E[2J\E[H, sc=\E7,
    sgr=\E[%?%p1%t;7%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p3%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p6%t;1%;m%?%p9%t\E(0%e\E(B%;,
    sgr0=\E[m\E(B, smcup=\E[?7h\E[?1l\E(B\E=, smkx=\E=,
    smso=\E[7m, smul=\E[4m$<2>, tbc=\E[3g,

Best Answer

Try Putty's Configuration menu: Window -> Translation -> Received data assumed to be in which character set -> UTF-8

If UTF-8 isn't it, try some of the other values.