Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!slehar
From: slehar@bucasd.bu.edu (Steve Lehar)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: meta- key (called "alt") on VISUAL terminal
Message-ID: <SLEHAR.90Oct13105325@bucasd.bu.edu>
Date: 13 Oct 90 14:53:25 GMT
Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu
Distribution: comp.windows.x
Organization: Boston University Center for Adaptive Systems
Lines: 80


I have a VISUAL  X display station  hooked up  to a Solbourne computer
(Sun4 clone). Ever since we had R4 installed  on our  system, my "alt"
key, which used  to behave as a   meta- key  on  my  VISUAL  X display
station ceased to function as such.  There must be some initialization
file somewhere that should allow   this translation, but it cannot  be
anything in my own directory, because none of them were changed.  With
R4,  ALL the VISUAL  terminals on the  whole  system lost their  meta-
key capability.

Now very mysteriously, when I sit at the console of our Sun4, (not the
Solbourne) my meta- key works  fine, both in  emacs and in tcsh.  Back
in my office however, on the VISUAL, it does not.

Here's another mystery.  On the Solbourne when I call emacs, I get one
of those xemacs windows that pops up, and in  THAT emacs my  meta- key
WORKS, from  my VISUAL terminal!  If I  rlogin to our Sun4  and invoke
emacs I get a regular emacs (in the same window I was in) but  in this
one the meta- key does NOT work.  In tcsh, my meta- key never works on
the VISUAL  terminal, whichever computer I am  rlogged on to.   When I
rlogin to the sun4 and call up the Solbourne emacs (but running on the
Sun4) the meta- keys work again!

I have been working with two or three system types around here off and
on for about six months, and nobody seems to know what the problem is.

Here's some more pieces to the puzzle- I have some functions defined
in my .emacs file, for instance...
     ----------------------------------------------------------------
    | ;;;; down twenty lines ;;;;
    | (defun down-twenty-lines ()
    |   (interactive)
    |   (previous-line 20))
    | 
    | ;;;; up twenty lines ;;;;
    | (defun up-twenty-lines ()
    |   (interactive)
    |   (next-line 20))
     ----------------------------------------------------------------
which I map to my arrow keys...
     ----------------------------------------------------------------
    | ;;;; set special keys for x-terms ;;;;
    | (progn
    | 
    |   ;;;; arrow keys ;;;;
    |   (setq SS3-map (make-keymap))
    |   (define-key SS3-map "A" 'down-twenty-lines) ; up    arrow
    |   (define-key SS3-map "B" 'up-twenty-lines)   ; down  arrow
    |	 	.
    | 		.
    | 		.
    |   (define-key global-map "\eO" SS3-map)
    |   )
     ----------------------------------------------------------------
Now when  I  get the  xemacs   on  the Solbourne,  it  ignores  my key
definitions, overriding  them with some  of it's own.   It did read my
.emacs file however,  because   my up/down-twenty-lines functions  ARE
defined.  On  the Sun4, it reads and  executes my  .emacs file, and in
the process, it honors my key bindings, but does  not respect my meta-
key.

It seems that the Solbourne xemacs is reading its OWN .emacs file from
somewhere and using that to reset the meta- key to make it work again!
But  the  problem   is  not  one   with  emacs,  but   with   the  key
interpretations  in X. Now remember,  I said that  all my private init
files must be blameless, because it was only  with the new R4 that the
meta- keys lost their meaning.

Does anyone  out there  have  ANY idea as to  where  to look for  this
problem?   Is  there a secret key mapping  file that comes with X, and
tells it how to interpret the "alt" key from a VISUAL terminal?

With thanks in advance for your kind help,

--
(O)((O))(((O)))((((O))))(((((O)))))(((((O)))))((((O))))(((O)))((O))(O)
(O)((O))(((               slehar@park.bu.edu               )))((O))(O)
(O)((O))(((    Steve Lehar Boston University Boston MA     )))((O))(O)
(O)((O))(((    (617) 424-7035 (H)   (617) 353-6741 (W)     )))((O))(O)
(O)((O))(((O)))((((O))))(((((O)))))(((((O)))))((((O))))(((O)))((O))(O)