[Techtalk] Re: [Grrltalk] Backspace char (was Instant messaging)

[Akkana Peck]

Val asks:
> >How do you change the backspace character in talk?  I hate:
> >
> >"Hi, my namme is^H^H^H^H Val"

Jacinta Richardson writes:
> Usually it's:
> 
> stty erase ^v^h
> 
> as in ctrl-V, then the key you wish to change to be your erase key.

Only trouble is, if you do that, then the backspace key probably
won't work any more, because in most linux keymaps, backspace
sends ^? (Delete) rather than ^H (Backspace).

You can fix this by remapping Backspace to send an actual Backspace,
in one of two places: xmodmap, which only works under X, or
the console keymap, which works on the console.  Under Debian,
changing the console keymap also changes the bindings under X,
and it's easy to do.  On Redhat and Fedora, this isn't the case,
so you'll probably have to use xmodmap, which is way harder.

I started to write up instructions on how to change the keymap,
but it came out long, so I turned it into a web page instead:
http://shallowsky.com/linux/keymap.html

That page is slanted toward Debian because I haven't made much
progress grokking Fedora's keyboard handling in X.  If anyone
has any hints along those lines, please chime in!
(Though actually, this topic would be more suited to techtalk,
so I'm cc'ing and directing followups there.)

	...Akkana