Mark Phillips wrote: > I, like Thomas Vaughan, have been having problems getting emacs to > recognise the Alt key under X. (The system is a Toshiba laptop.) > > keycode 64 = Alt_L > keycode 113 = Alt_R > keycode 115 = Meta_L > keycode 116 = Meta_R
What does emacs say when you invoke describe-key: `C-h k Alt-x' `C-h k Meta-x' Do you *really* want an Alt key? Or do you want a Meta key? When Emacs has separate Alt and Meta keys, I think it doesn't use the Alt key as Meta anymore. You appear to have both available My keyboard has this bottom row; the keycode are as shown by the `xev' command: +----+ +---+ +---+ +-----------+ +---+ +---+ +----+ +----+ |Ctrl| |Win| |Alt| | Space | |Alt| |Win| |Menu| |Ctrl| +----+ +---+ +---+ +-----------+ +---+ +---+ +----+ +----+ keycode: 37 115 64 113 116 117 109 If XFree is setup correctly, then the `Windows' key (identified above as Win), are Meta keys and the Alt keys are really seen in Emacs as Alt keys. I use the Alt key to insert 8-bit characters, like "é". The `Menu' key really works and is a synonym for `Meta-x' in Emacs (and pops up a buffer-specific menu in XEmacs). When XFree isn't properly set up, or gets confused for some reason, you can use `xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap' in some X initialisation file. Here's my ~/.Xmodmap file: --- clear Mod1 clear Mod2 clear Mod3 keycode 64 = Alt_L keycode 113 = Alt_R keycode 115 = Meta_L keycode 116 = Meta_R keycode 117 = Menu add Mod2 = Alt_L add Mod2 = Alt_R add Mod1 = Meta_L add Mod1 = Meta_R remove Lock = Caps_Lock keysym Caps_Lock = Hyper_L add Mod3 = Hyper_L keycode 22 = BackSpace --- In addition to setting Alt and Meta keys, I disable the silly Caps_Lock key and set a `Hyper' key so I can define more user keys in Emacs (Most people just set an extra Control key here). Also, I make sure to set the BackSpace key correctly. Hope this helps you and others, -- Peter Galbraith, research scientist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Maurice-Lamontagne Institute, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada P.O. Box 1000, Mont-Joli Qc, G5H 3Z4 Canada 418-775-0852 - FAX 418-775-0546 -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .