lost esc keys - ancient history

[Loren Buck Buchanan]

In article <9011041640.AA25355 at snow-white.merit-tech.com> goss at SNOW-WHITE.MERIT-TECH.COM (Mike Goss) writes:
>You have stumbled across one of the most ancient and mysterious Unix problems
>ever to vex the minds of historians!  I don't think I've ever worked on
>a Unix system that did NOT have this problem, going back to a Perkin-Elmer
>3220 running Unix Version 7 (not a misprint; Version 7 came before System V,
>for reasons known only to AT&T).
>
>Anyone who can solve this problem once and for all will certainly earn
>the thanks of Unix users everywhere, and perhaps a shot at a Nobel prize
>or Turing award, or at least an Edgar.

The answer is simple, ensure that the escape sequence arrives at the UNIX
system in one piece, and also ensure that vi, emacs, etc. is not swapped
during the time the escape sequence is being processed.  Oh, dear me, that
is not a simple solution is it ;-)?

Well, an alternate solution is to remap the keys on your terminal to use
a different charcter than escape as the signal character.  A one bit change
from 0x1b to 0x1f (control-_) and then also changing your ex.rc file to
recognize the new signal key.

A third solution is to ignore arrow keys (and function keys altogether,
which is the solution I have used successfully for years).

OK, now where do I go to get my prize ;-) ;-) ;-).

B Cing U

Buck

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