--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@
 	     [ AC_MSG_RESULT(CPUNO_ADJUST disabled) ] )
 
 dnl ncurses useable?
-MP_WITH_CURSES
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES(ncurses,ncurses,[
+	CURSES_LIB="$ncurses_LIBS"
+	AC_CHECK_HEADER([ncurses.h],AC_DEFINE(HAVE_NCURSES_H)],
+	AC_MSG_ERROR([ncurses not found])))
 AC_SUBST(CURSES_LIB)
 
 dnl check for use_default_colors() ... not available in  ncurses  << 4.x