From owner-freebsd-hackers Tue Mar 25 07:45:40 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id HAA19418 for hackers-outgoing; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 07:45:40 -0800 (PST) Received: from ui-gate.utell.co.uk (ui-gate.utell.co.uk [194.200.4.253]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id HAA19411 for ; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 07:45:34 -0800 (PST) Received: from shift.lan.awfulhak.org (shift.utell.net [97.3.0.21]) by ui-gate.utell.co.uk (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id PAA29288; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 15:45:27 GMT Received: from shift.lan.awfulhak.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by shift.lan.awfulhak.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA00578; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 15:45:26 GMT Message-Id: <199703251545.PAA00578@shift.lan.awfulhak.org> X-Mailer: exmh version 1.6.9 8/22/96 To: sthaug@nethelp.no cc: hans@brandinnovators.com, sos@ravenock.cybercity.dk, brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk, brian@utell.co.uk, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Backspace = ^H In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 25 Mar 1997 16:11:39 +0100." <9207.859302699@verdi.nethelp.no> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 15:45:26 +0000 From: Brian Somers Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > This is more of a religious issue than anything else. There are lots > of system which use the Delete character (177) to delete a character :-) > I prefer a system where ^h is help in emacs, and the arrow key above the > enter key is mapped to Delete, which deletes characters. > > Please don't go around and claim that there is 'one editor that gets > it wrong', and using ^h to delete characters is more logical than using > Delete. Both of those characters are equally logical. > > Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no > True - the only really "solid" argument that I've seen however is the ascii table. Perhaps there should be an easier way of doing things - maybe (in the case of FreeBSD) a sysctl variable that allows the default erase char to be changed: /etc/sysconfig: # Specify NO if you like things inconsistent, erase defaults to # ^h, BS sends ^?, DEL sends ^h # Otherwise specify your erase char (^h or ^? usually) erasechar=NO /etc/rc.i386: if [ ."$erasechar" != .NO ]; then sysctl xxxxx.erasechar=$erasechar kbdcontrol -l blah blah BS=$erasechar fi I still prefer the system that says 0x7f is the "Backspace key" and erase is 0x7f - I personally don't care about the delete key. I do most of my typing on a laptop and couldn't tell you offhand where the hell the DEL key is anyway :) -- Brian Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour !