can't get started with emacs

can't get started with emacs

[cycjec]

 One one system (NetBSD) Control-H doesn't bring up 
 the help screen.  The backspace key deleted the
 next forward character, not the previous one.

 I can't get the Control-H to work here either.
 Once I am able to get the Help menus to work
 and get the key navigation going, I can proceed.
 Any advice appreciated.

Apology: (was: can't get started with emacs)

[cycjec]

cycjec <cycjec@yahoo.com> wrote:
> One one system (NetBSD) Control-H doesn't bring up 
<snip more details>

I find I asked a similar question weeks ago and
got at least a partial answer.  The admins haven't
yet upgraded.

> Any advice appreciated.

That still holds.

Also, I won't be using X.  No X on shell account(s) that's
why.  There's quite specific reasons for that, but they
aren't really germane.

Anyone successfully emacs on a shell account can
reach me more quicly cycjec apud freeshell punctum org.

Re: can't get started with emacs

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

"cycjec"<cycjec@yahoo.com> writes:

>  One one system (NetBSD) Control-H doesn't bring up 
>  the help screen.  The backspace key deleted the
>  next forward character, not the previous one.
>
>  I can't get the Control-H to work here either.
>  Once I am able to get the Help menus to work
>  and get the key navigation going, I can proceed.
>  Any advice appreciated.

First, it depends on the terminal you use.  But I think if you don't
change your terminal configuration, M-x normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
RET should help.



For example, in xterm you can Control-left-click to get a menu in
which you can change settings such as "Delete is DEL" and "Backarrow
Key (BS/DEL)"  (also important for emacs, "Meta sends Escape" and "Alt
sends Escape").

You will want to select these options such as C-h sends BS and Delete
sends DEL.  If you type in emacs C-q C-h C-q DEL you should see: ^H^?


Then, if you cannot configure correctly these keys, you can in emacs
use the command:
M-x normal-erase-is-backspace-mode RET
to switch between C-h calling up help or deleting.



For the navigation keys and in general function keys, notice that thru
a terminal only ASCII codes can be sent.  So your terminal (or
terminal emulator) must encode these keys as code sequences that have
to be decoded by emacs.    I have in my ~/.emacs these global-set-key
to interpret some of them:

(case window-system
  ((nil)
   (.EMACS "Setting terminal keyboard")
   (global-set-key "^[OF"    (function end-of-buffer))
   (global-set-key "^[OH"    (function beginning-of-buffer))
   (global-unset-key "^[[")
   (global-set-key "^[[15~"  (function set-justification-left)) ; <f5>
   (global-set-key "^[[17~"  (function set-justification-center)) ; <f6>
   (global-set-key "^[[18~"  (function set-justification-right)) ; <f7>
   (global-set-key "^[[19~"  (lambda()(interactive)(beep))) ; <f8>
   (global-set-key "^[[20~"  (lambda()(interactive)(beep))) ; <f9>
   (global-set-key "^[[21~"  (lambda()(interactive)(beep))) ; <f10>
   (global-set-key "^[[23~"  (lambda()(interactive)(beep))) ; <f11>
   (global-set-key "^[[24~"  (lambda()(interactive)(beep))) ; <f12>
   (set-keyboard-coding-system 'iso-8859-15)
   (normal-erase-is-backspace-mode 0)
   (.EMACS "C-h = %S" (key-binding "\C-h"))
   (.EMACS "DEL = %S" (key-binding "\C-?")))
  ((x)
   (.EMACS "Setting X keyboard")
   (define-key global-map [(delete)]    "\C-d")
   (make-face-bold 'bold-italic))
  ((mac)
   (.EMACS "Setting Macintosh keyboard")
   (setq *window-manager-y-offset* (+ 24 24))
   (set-keyboard-coding-system 'mac-roman)
   (setq mac-command-key-is-meta t
         mac-reverse-ctrl-meta   nil)
   (translate-powerbook-keyboard)))

-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__