the old no working alt key in linux console

the old no working alt key in linux console

[Harry Putnam]

As smart as emacs has gotten surely there is some simple technique to
get emacs to use the alt key in console mode.

I haven't had to deal with this for a long time, and am finding piles
of serioiusly complex stuff on google about fixing it.

Working in chroot on linux console (lubuntu) I'm having to use the
escape key to do common things like M-x M-w (copy).  Is there some
simple way to control this...

I'm on emacs 26 .. that what ubuntu has available on the repo.
Working in an xterm but when I call emacs it will only open in -nw
inside the terminal.

Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>
> Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:27:03 -0500
> 
> As smart as emacs has gotten surely there is some simple technique to
> get emacs to use the alt key in console mode.
> 
> I haven't had to deal with this for a long time, and am finding piles
> of serioiusly complex stuff on google about fixing it.
> 
> Working in chroot on linux console (lubuntu) I'm having to use the
> escape key to do common things like M-x M-w (copy).  Is there some
> simple way to control this...
> 
> I'm on emacs 26 .. that what ubuntu has available on the repo.
> Working in an xterm but when I call emacs it will only open in -nw
> inside the terminal.

What does Emacs see when you press Alt-SOME-KEY?

Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Harry Putnam]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>
>> Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:27:03 -0500
>> 
>> As smart as emacs has gotten surely there is some simple technique to
>> get emacs to use the alt key in console mode.
>> 
>> I haven't had to deal with this for a long time, and am finding piles
>> of serioiusly complex stuff on google about fixing it.
>> 
>> Working in chroot on linux console (lubuntu) I'm having to use the
>> escape key to do common things like M-x M-w (copy).  Is there some
>> simple way to control this...
>> 
>> I'm on emacs 26 .. that what ubuntu has available on the repo.
>> Working in an xterm but when I call emacs it will only open in -nw
>> inside the terminal.
>
> What does Emacs see when you press Alt-SOME-KEY?

Looks like a tiny circle with forward slash accoss it:
 ` ø '

Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Harry Putnam]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>
>> Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:27:03 -0500
>> 
>> As smart as emacs has gotten surely there is some simple technique to
>> get emacs to use the alt key in console mode.
>> 
>> I haven't had to deal with this for a long time, and am finding piles
>> of serioiusly complex stuff on google about fixing it.
>> 
>> Working in chroot on linux console (lubuntu) I'm having to use the
>> escape key to do common things like M-x M-w (copy).  Is there some
>> simple way to control this...
>> 
>> I'm on emacs 26 .. that what ubuntu has available on the repo.
>> Working in an xterm but when I call emacs it will only open in -nw
>> inside the terminal.
>
> What does Emacs see when you press Alt-SOME-KEY?

Sorry, that circle slash was produced by C-h l

Here is what you asked for:

Alt-some-key  so I pressed Alt a, Alt b, Alt c

 ` á â ã ' 

Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Harry Putnam]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:

> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>
>>> From: Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>
>>> Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:27:03 -0500
>>> 
>>> As smart as emacs has gotten surely there is some simple technique to
>>> get emacs to use the alt key in console mode.
>>> 
>>> I haven't had to deal with this for a long time, and am finding piles
>>> of serioiusly complex stuff on google about fixing it.
>>> 
>>> Working in chroot on linux console (lubuntu) I'm having to use the
>>> escape key to do common things like M-x M-w (copy).  Is there some
>>> simple way to control this...
>>> 
>>> I'm on emacs 26 .. that what ubuntu has available on the repo.
>>> Working in an xterm but when I call emacs it will only open in -nw
>>> inside the terminal.
>>
>> What does Emacs see when you press Alt-SOME-KEY?
>
> Sorry, that circle slash was produced by C-h l
>
> Here is what you asked for:
>
> Alt-some-key  so I pressed Alt a, Alt b, Alt c
>
>  ` á â ã ' 

Egad, I'm thinking straight this morning.

Here it is: Alt-a, Alt-b, Alt-c and Alt-x  

Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Harry Putnam]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:

> Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:
>
>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>>
>>>> From: Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>
>>>> Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:27:03 -0500
>>>> 
>>>> As smart as emacs has gotten surely there is some simple technique to
>>>> get emacs to use the alt key in console mode.
>>>> 
>>>> I haven't had to deal with this for a long time, and am finding piles
>>>> of serioiusly complex stuff on google about fixing it.
>>>> 
>>>> Working in chroot on linux console (lubuntu) I'm having to use the
>>>> escape key to do common things like M-x M-w (copy).  Is there some
>>>> simple way to control this...
>>>> 
>>>> I'm on emacs 26 .. that what ubuntu has available on the repo.
>>>> Working in an xterm but when I call emacs it will only open in -nw
>>>> inside the terminal.
>>>
>>> What does Emacs see when you press Alt-SOME-KEY?
>>
>> Sorry, that circle slash was produced by C-h l
>>
>> Here is what you asked for:
>>
>> Alt-some-key  so I pressed Alt a, Alt b, Alt c
>>
>>  ` á â ã ' 
>
Egad, I'm NOT thinking straight this morning.

>
> Here it is: Alt-a, Alt-b, Alt-c and Alt-x  

` á â ã ø '

Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Andreas Schwab]

What do you get from (current-input-mode)?

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 7578 EB47 D4E5 4D69 2510  2552 DF73 E780 A9DA AEC1
"And now for something completely different."

Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Tim Cross]

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Part of the reason this can seem complicated is due to the different layers
involved and some confusing terminology.

Most of the time, reference to 'GNU Linux console' refers to using the
virtual console i.e. no GUI, no X and not an xterm. People often refer to
working in the 'linux console' when they mean working at the command line
shell in an xterm.  To further confuse matters, there are multiple xterm
emulators, so even when they speak of xterm, there are different variants.

The reason this is relevant is that the issue you are experiencing can be
caused at many levels. If you are working in a real GNU linux console, then
you probably need to install an appropriate keymap for the console before
Emacs will see Alt+ key combinations.  If on the other hand, you are
actually running emacs from a shell running in an xterm emulator, then it
is highly likely that the xterm emulator is not passing the Alt+ key
combinations through and Emacs is simply not seeing them.  things become
complicated because some emulators do and some don't and they all seem to
have different ways for changing the behavior.

If your using an xterm emulator which honours the traditional XTerm class
setting via .Xresources/.Xdefualts, you need to add

XTerm*metaSendsEscape: true

to the configuration and either restart your session or do an xrdb
--merge to add that change into the database.

Note that restart your session means restart your X session, not just
the xterm you are using to run emacs.


On Sun, 5 Jan 2020 at 07:28, Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:

> As smart as emacs has gotten surely there is some simple technique to
> get emacs to use the alt key in console mode.
>
> I haven't had to deal with this for a long time, and am finding piles
> of serioiusly complex stuff on google about fixing it.
>
> Working in chroot on linux console (lubuntu) I'm having to use the
> escape key to do common things like M-x M-w (copy).  Is there some
> simple way to control this...
>
> I'm on emacs 26 .. that what ubuntu has available on the repo.
> Working in an xterm but when I call emacs it will only open in -nw
> inside the terminal.
>
>
>

-- 
regards,

Tim

--
Tim Cross

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Re: the old no working alt key in linux console

[Stefan Monnier]

> Most of the time, reference to 'GNU Linux console' refers to using the
> virtual console i.e. no GUI, no X and not an xterm. People often refer to
> working in the 'linux console' when they mean working at the command line
> shell in an xterm.  To further confuse matters, there are multiple xterm
> emulators, so even when they speak of xterm, there are different variants.

And then there's fbterm ;-)


        Stefan