You can add the entry for the vb capability in your own termcap file, if it doesn't already define one. Dennis Henriksen (duke@diku.dk) suggested to insert the following line in the termcap entry for linux (note that the entry is called console in old distributions):
:vb=\E7\E[?5h\E[?5l\E[?5h\E[?5l\E[?5h\E[?5l\E[?5h\E[?5l\E8:\ |
The trailing backslash is used to escape the newline in the database. Dennis' code does the following (his own words):
Save the cursor position (uust a safety precaution).
Change the background color several times between normal and reverse.
Restore the cursor position.