\b \q{Change font size when maximised}: when the window is resized,
the number of rows and columns will change, \e{except} when the window
-is \i{maximise}d (or restored), when the font size will change.
+is \i{maximise}d (or restored), when the font size will change. (In
+this mode, holding down the Alt key while resizing will also cause the
+font size to change.)
\b \q{Forbid resizing completely}: the terminal will refuse to be
resized at all.
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.font}
This option allows you to choose what font, in what \I{font size}size,
-the PuTTY terminal window uses to display the text in the session. You
-will be offered a choice from all the fixed-width fonts installed on the
-system. (VT100-style terminal handling can only deal with fixed-width
-fonts.)
+the PuTTY terminal window uses to display the text in the session.
+
+By default, you will be offered a choice from all the fixed-width
+fonts installed on the system, since VT100-style terminal handling
+expects a fixed-width font. If you tick the box marked \q{Allow
+selection of variable-pitch fonts}, however, PuTTY will offer
+variable-width fonts as well: if you select one of these, the font
+will be coerced into fixed-size character cells, which will probably
+not look very good (but can work OK with some fonts).
\S{config-mouseptr} \q{Hide \i{mouse pointer} when typing in window}
so it must usually be manually configured.
There are a lot of character sets to choose from. The \q{Remote
-character set} option lets you select one. By default PuTTY will
-attempt to choose a character set that is right for your \i{locale} as
-reported by Windows; if it gets it wrong, you can select a different
-one using this control.
+character set} option lets you select one.
+
+By default PuTTY will use the \i{UTF-8} encoding of \i{Unicode}, which
+can represent pretty much any character; data coming from the server
+is interpreted as UTF-8, and keystrokes are sent UTF-8 encoded. This
+is what most modern distributions of Linux will expect by default.
+However, if this is wrong for your server, you can select a different
+character set using this control.
-A few notable character sets are:
+A few other notable character sets are:
\b The \i{ISO-8859} series are all standard character sets that include
various accented characters appropriate for different sets of
\b If you want the old IBM PC character set with block graphics and
line-drawing characters, you can select \q{\i{CP437}}.
-\b PuTTY also supports \i{Unicode} mode, in which the data coming from
-the server is interpreted as being in the \i{UTF-8} encoding of Unicode,
-and keystrokes are sent UTF-8 encoded. If you select \q{UTF-8} as a
-character set you can use this mode. Not all server-side applications
-will support it.
-
If you need support for a numeric \i{code page} which is not listed in
the drop-down list, such as code page 866, then you can try entering
its name manually (\c{\i{CP866}} for example) in the list box. If the
change your terminal setting. On modern Linux machines, you could
try \cq{xterm-256color}.
-\S{config-boldcolour} \q{Bolded text is a different colour}
+\S{config-boldcolour} \q{Indicate bolded text by changing}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.bold}
When the server sends a \i{control sequence} indicating that some text
-should be displayed in \i{bold}, PuTTY can handle this two ways. It can
-either change the \i{font} for a bold version, or use the same font in a
-brighter colour. This control lets you choose which.
-
-By default the box is checked, so non-bold text is displayed in
-light grey and bold text is displayed in bright white (and similarly
-in other colours). If you uncheck the box, bold and non-bold text
-will be displayed in the same colour, and instead the font will
-change to indicate the difference.
+should be displayed in \i{bold}, PuTTY can handle this in several
+ways. It can either change the \i{font} for a bold version, or use the
+same font in a brighter colour, or it can do both (brighten the colour
+\e{and} embolden the font). This control lets you choose which.
+
+By default bold is indicated by colour, so non-bold text is displayed
+in light grey and bold text is displayed in bright white (and
+similarly in other colours). If you change the setting to \q{The font}
+box, bold and non-bold text will be displayed in the same colour, and
+instead the font will change to indicate the difference. If you select
+\q{Both}, the font and the colour will both change.
\S{config-logpalette} \q{Attempt to use \i{logical palettes}}
This option only affects SSH-2 connections. SSH-1 connections always
require an authentication step.
+\S{config-ssh-banner} \q{Display pre-authentication banner}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.banner}
+
+SSH-2 servers can provide a message for clients to display to the
+prospective user before the user logs in; this is sometimes known as a
+pre-authentication \q{\i{banner}}. Typically this is used to provide
+information about the server and legal notices.
+
+By default, PuTTY displays this message before prompting for a
+password or similar credentials (although, unfortunately, not before
+prompting for a login name, due to the nature of the protocol design).
+By unchecking this option, display of the banner can be suppressed
+entirely.
+
\S{config-ssh-tryagent} \q{Attempt authentication using Pageant}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.pageant}
correct server, the session will work correctly, but download
performance will be less than it could be.
+\S{config-ssh-bug-winadj} \q{Chokes on PuTTY's SSH-2 \cq{winadj} requests}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.winadj}
+
+PuTTY sometimes sends a special request to SSH servers in the middle
+of channel data, with the name \cw{winadj@putty.projects.tartarus.org}
+(see \k{sshnames-channel}). The purpose of this request is to measure
+the round-trip time to the server, which PuTTY uses to tune its flow
+control. The server does not actually have to \e{understand} the
+message; it is expected to send back a \cw{SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_FAILURE}
+message indicating that it didn't understand it. (All PuTTY needs for
+its timing calculations is \e{some} kind of response.)
+
+It has been known for some SSH servers to get confused by this message
+in one way or another \dash because it has a long name, or because
+they can't cope with unrecognised request names even to the extent of
+sending back the correct failure response, or because they handle it
+sensibly but fill up the server's log file with pointless spam, or
+whatever. PuTTY therefore supports this bug-compatibility flag: if it
+believes the server has this bug, it will never send its
+\cq{winadj@putty.projects.tartarus.org} request, and will make do
+without its timing data.
+
\H{config-serial} The Serial panel
The \i{Serial} panel allows you to configure options that only apply
~mdw / sgt / putty / blobdiff