Backspace on a PC

[Jonathan I. Kamens]

In article <31042 at usc>, sweet at skat.usc.edu (Rob Sweet) writes:
|> 	I'm still rather new to Unix operating systems and I have
|> one problem that has annoyed me from the start.  Since my typing is 
|> far from flawless, I find myself needing to use the backspace key 
|> repeatedly. I am usually logged on from a PC clone, which apparently 
|> has a backspace that means Ctrl-H on Unix systems.  I am using Boyan 
|> communications software which uses the "Del" key for part of its macro 
|> setup.  I've programmed that macro to be Ctrl-B,Ctrl-D, which is 
|> essentially a backspace in E-macs, but is not effective at a Unix
|> prompt.  Any suggestions?

  A reminder: The news.newusers.questions newsgroup is for new users if
*news*, not for new users of Unix.  If you have a Unix question, it should be
posted to comp.unix.questions.  I have cross-posted this response there and
directed followups there.

	       << How to fix problems with BACKSPACE >>

If your "delete" key on the terminal you're using isn't acting as you expect
it to, it is likely that it is sending the "backspace" character instead of
the "delete" character that is expected.  This is a common problem with PC's
and Macs.  The first thing to do is to check the terminal program you are
using to see if there is a option to switch the Backspace and Delete keys.
If there isn't, you can modify what Athena expects from the terminal for
that key.  To do this, type:

	stty erase "^H" 

at the shell prompt.  That will give you backspace capabilities in
everything but emacs.  In emacs, you need to create a file called
~/.dialupemacs which contains the line:

	(global-set-key "\^h" 'backward-delete-char)

Then, when you've run emacs on dialup, type:

	M-x load-file (return) .dialupemacs

-- 
Jonathan Kamens			              USnail:
MIT Project Athena				11 Ashford Terrace
jik at Athena.MIT.EDU				Allston, MA  02134
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