Alt + Shift combinations not working in the linux console

[joao <joao@nospam.net>]

Hi,

I'd like to use emacs in the linux consoles, but the key combinations 
with Alt + Shift are not working. I'm using Red Hat 9 on various hardware.

For example, to do M-> (end-of-buffer) I normally press Alt + Shift + 
'>'. This works fine with emacs under X. It also works when I run 'emacs 
-nw' inside an xterm. It does not work under the linux console.

I compared the output of describe-key (C-h k) when I press this 
combination :

emacs under X says "M-> runs the command end-of-buffer"

emacs -nw inside an xterm says "ESC > runs the command end-of-buffer"

emacs in the linux console : describe-key does not even react to my key 
presses, I still have that prompt "Describe key:" in the minibuffer as 
if I had typed nothing at all...

This is *very* annoying, because I have french keyboards (on laptops), 
so I need Shift to get the digits, hence Alt + Shift + digit for the 
numeric prefixes. Of course, I know you can use ESC instead of Alt, but 
that's not the same... the ESC key is sooo far away, and you can't keep 
it pressed like you do with Alt, so typing becomes that less fluid.

I checked the FAQ, found nothing that applied. "stty -a" in the console 
shows cs8, not 7. Of course, TERM=linux.

Any suggestions on how I can fix this ?

Thanks,

Joao

-- 
joao at teaser dot fr