Resizing terminal window (solution provided)

Question

Hello
I have an irritating problem using the terminal under xfce4
Resizing the terminal (xterm) and (terminal) running nano results in a blank terminal. All the text disapears.
Resizing the terminal running top results in the window gets bigger but the text doesn't update all the way down. allthough there are more processes running.
If I resize the window before running the programs all is well.
Do I have to provide more information??
Can someone please advice me how to correct the problem.
//Clanman

Answer 1

I think I am beginning to understand the termcapfile
Is $TERM = xterm in arch (It is in Mepis)
ARCH
the xterm termcap in arch says
xterm|X11 terminal emulator:
:tc=xterm-redhat:                          # this means that read under xterm-redhat
xterm-redhat|Red Hat xterm (backspace and delete changed):
:kD=E[3~:kb=177          # this changes delete and backspace to somting I dont understand
:tc=xterm-xfree86:                             # this means read under xterm-xfree86
xterm-xfree86|xterm-new|xterm terminal emulator (XFree86):
:am:km:mi:ms:xn:
:co#80:it#8:li#24:
:AL=E[%dL:DC=E[%dP:DL=E[%dM:DO=E[%dB:IC=E[%d@:
:LE=E[%dD:
:RI=E[%dC:UP=E[%dA:ae=^O:al=E[L:as=^N:bl=^G:bt=E[Z:
:cd=E[J:ce=E[K:cl=E[HE[2J:cm=E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:
:cs=E[%i%d;%dr:ct=E[3g:dc=E[P:dl=E[M:do=^J:ec=E[%dX:
:ei=E[4l:ho=E[H:im=E[4h:is=E[!pE[?3;4lE[4lE>:
:kD=177:
:kb=^H:ke=E[?1lE>:
:ks=E[?1hE=:le=^H:mb=E[5m:md=E[1m:
:me=E[m17:mr=E[7m:nd=E[C:rc=E8:sc=E7:se=E[27m:
:sf=^J:so=E[7m:sr=EM:st=EH:ta=^I:te=E[?1047lE[?1048l:
:ti=E[?1048hE[?1047h:ue=E[24m:up=E[A:us=E[4m:
:vb=E[?5hE[?5l:ve=E[?25h:vi=E[?25l:vs=E[?25h:
#other setting that I dont understand
MEPIS
xterm|X11 terminal emulator:
:tc=xterm-debian:
# xterm-debian is identical to xterm-xfree86 with the addition of a small
# VT220-ism regarding the backspace and delete keys; this is mandated by
# the keyboard configuration section of the Debian Policy Manual.
xterm-debian|Debian xterm (backspace, delete changed):
       :kb=^?:kD=E[3~:
       :tc=xterm-xfree86:
### Begin Debian modifications ###
xterm-xfree86|XFree86 xterm:
:is=E[!pE[?3;4lE[4lE>:
:rs=E[!pE[?3;4lE[4lE>:
:AL=E[%dL:DL=E[%dM:DC=E[%dP:DO=E[%dB:UP=E[%dA:
:LE=E[%dD:RI=E[%dC:
:al=E[L:am:bl=^G:
:cd=E[J:ce=E[K:cl=E[HE[2J:cm=E[%i%d;%dH:co#80:
:cs=E[%i%d;%dr:ct=E[3g:
:dc=E[P:dl=E[M:ho=E[H:
:im=E[4h:ei=E[4l:mi:
:ks=E[?1hE=:ke=E[?1lE>:
:k1=EOP:k2=EOQ:k3=EOR:k4=EOS:
:k5=E[15~:k6=E[17~:k7=E[18~:k8=E[19~:k9=E[20~:
:k;=E[21~:F1=E[23~:F2=E[24~:
:kn#12:
:kH=E[4~::@7=E[4~:kh=E[1~:
:@0=E[1~:kI=E[2~:kD=^?:
:*6=E[4~:kP=E[5~:kN=E[6~:
:km:
:kb=^H:ku=EOA:kd=EOB:kr=EOC:kl=EOD:
:li#24:md=E[1m:me=E[m^O:mr=E[7m:ms:nd=E[C:
:eA=E)0:as=^N:ae=^O:ml=El:mu=Em:
:sc=E7:rc=E8:sf=n:so=E[7m:se=E[27m:sr=EM:st=EH:
:ti=E7E[?47h:te=E[2JE[?47lE8:
:vi=E[?25l:ve=E[?25h:
:up=E[A:us=E[4m:ue=E[24m:xn:
:ut:Co#8:op=E[39;49m:AB=E[4%dm:AF=E[3%dm:
:pa#64:Sf=E[3%dm:Sb=E[4%dm:
//Clanman