Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 23:45:29 -0400 From: drifter@stratos.net To: David Wolfskill <dhw@whistle.com>, drwho@xnet.com, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Alt key in text mode... Message-ID: <19980728234529.A2381@stratos.net> In-Reply-To: <199807281600.JAA00264@pau-amma.whistle.com>; from David Wolfskill on Tue, Jul 28, 1998 at 09:00:52AM -0700 References: <19980727181203.A18900@drwho.xnet.com> <199807281600.JAA00264@pau-amma.whistle.com>
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On Tue, Jul 28, 1998 at 09:00:52AM -0700, David Wolfskill wrote: > >Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 18:12:03 -0500 > >From: "M. Maxwell" <drwho@xnet.com> > > >Ok, I'm getting a little irritated about this one. > > >I need to get the Alt key to work in text mode. Right now, I try typing: > > > Alt+BackSpace > > >Nothing happens. > That's because FreeBSD defaults to using a key map which doesn't use ALT keys. The way to solve this is to have FreeBSD load a keymap that does use ALT keys. This can be done most conveniently in /etc/rc.local via the kbdcontrol command. man kbdcontrol for details... But, basically, if you include a line like this: /usr/sbin/kbdcontrol -l /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/MyCoolAltMap, then kbdcontrol will load in that map file. There are many files in /usr/share/syscons/keymaps that can be loaded. Look around, but becareful to load the correct keymap with -l, otherwise you might experience some unexpected results! Note, I was not able to find a keymap that best suited me, so I had to actually handcraft one. If you still haven't solved this problem, I can email you a copy... -Rob > It *might* be of some use if you were to mention what precisely what > behavior you were wanting/expecting from that particular key combination. > > After all, the VT-100s I've seen don't even *have* an "Alt" key. > > >Instead, I have to hit escape, backspace. > > Well, that would accomplish an "escape sequence," which may or may not > have any relation to anything else. > > >Not only is it annoying, but in Emacs, the annoyance becomes a problem. > > I'll take your word for it; I've never had a desire to use Emacs. Not a big Emacs fan myself, yet I find Emacs keybindings very useful on the command line of various shells, including bash, zsh, and even /bin/sh (with -o emacs set). It is very annoying using the ESC route... > > david > -- > David Wolfskill UNIX System Administrator > dhw@whistle.com voice: (650) 577-7158 pager: (650) 371-4621 > -- drifter@stratos.nospam.net (remove nospam to send) "Am I the only one that cringes every time I hear somebody refer to a disk drive as a 'solution'? It's bad enough I have to listen to that marketing hype from vendors, but now it seems to be infiltrating every-day conversation. I'll decide if that 9GB hard drive is a 'solution' to my problem or not, thank you very much..." To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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