Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!ames!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpda!hpsemc!bd
From: bd@hpsemc.UUCP (Bob Desinger)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: gnumacs bindings
Message-ID: <3720007@hpsemc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-Sep-87 20:01:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: hpsemc.3720007
Posted: Wed Sep  9 20:01:21 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Sep-87 10:00:04 EDT
References: <3990001@hpesoc1.HP.COM>
Organization: HP SEMC, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 54

Rob Snyder asks:
> I wanted to get back-space to do
> delete as well, and was able to do that just fine by inserting
>	(define-key global-map "\C-h" 'delete-backward-char)
> in my .emacs file.  But how do I bind another character (control-I for
> instance) to the help prefix?

Beware of rebinding C-I; it's more popularly known as tab or backtab
depending on the state of your Shift key.  Better to rebind help to
something else.

Richard Stallman wants the DEL key to delete because it really means
"delete", and he thinks that backspace doesn't mean delete.  The
dissenting opinion is that most people, through usage, have learned to
associate the backspace key with deletion; it's hard to unlearn this.
Another problem with DEL is that it's nearly impossible to type on HP
keyboards.  Richard's opinion is that such keyboards are worthless and
shouldn't be bought, but my employer doesn't consult with me before
putting terminals in our building.  Not surprisingly, I happen to like
HP terminals, the 2392 in particular because it's fast enough to run
Gnu Emacs at 9600 baud without garbaging up the screen.  (Set your
RecvPace and XmitPace datacomm configuration to `None' instead of
`Xon/Xoff'.)  But Richard made it easy to change the definition of DEL
and C-h to suit our fancies.

If you don't mind rebinding help to the DEL key, you can get quick
relief with the .emacs line:

	(load "term/bobcat")

(The HP Series 300 monitor was known as a Bobcat.)  This swaps the
bindings for C-h [backspace] and DEL on a level so low that the help
facilities don't know about it.  In fact, the help stuff thinks you
still typed C-h to get to it, and prints something to that effect.
The advantage is speed; the disadvantage is that the online
documentation still talks about DEL and C-h as if you never swapped
them, which can be misleading during quick reading.  Another advantage
of "term/bobcat" is that it causes C-h to delete everywhere, like in
the minibuffer and other places that you'd ordinarily need to handle
on a case-by-case basis.

Some HP versions have "term/hp" which maps arrow keys, the Insert-line
key, Delete-char, and all of those guys to their Emacs functions.  Jack
Repenning has a great one that maps more of those special keys to their
Gnu bindings than any other version, and his breaks fewer functions.
(Jack, how about posting your hp.el?  And sending it to FSF?)

The appropriate library in "term/" gets loaded if your $TERM is set to
the value of the basename.  F'rinstance, if TERM=hp you get "term/hp"
loaded.  The libraries are really called lisp/term/<value-of-TERM>.el,
and most HP Series 800 implementations keep the lisp/ directory under
/usr/local/lib/emacs/.

bob desinger