[geeks] BS vs DEL vs ARGH

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

So I'm using this Ultra 10 as a workstation.  It has both backspace
and delete keys on its type-4 keyboard.

Now, expecting them to work like everywhere -else- (where BS actually
backs up, removing the character to the left of the cursor, and DEL
removes the character to the right of the cursor) would be too much to
ask.  I mean, I'm only running a Sun-supplied window system with a
Sun-supplied rxvt on a Sun-supplied keyboard, so, of course I should
expect everything to not work harmoniously, right?

Right.

So, BS is ^H, which acts like BS as long as I'm in the window system,
otherwise I need to use DEL, which is ^? but acts like BS.  Unless I'm
using rxvt, in which case, BS is ^?, which acts like ^? before it's
bound to erase, and DEL acts like randomly banging your head against
the function keys, generating mile-long string of escape sequences.

That's to be expected, of course.  Since every piece of equipment and
software in the equation was provided by the SAME COMPANY, I should
expect everything to work completely fucking differently, right?

Right.

Now, normally, I could rely on stty to get me out of these sticky
situations, which it does, so long as I've no plans for sshing anywhere
that evening.  Since, when I ssh, it neglects to pass along my preferred
key for erase and provides a brain-damaged factory default.  Hmm.  I
wonder whose ssh this is?

   $ ssh -V
   SSH Version Sun_SSH_1.0, protocol versions 1.5/2.0.

Right, so it should completely ignore the settings that the rest of this
Sun software is using, correct?

Of course it should.

Now, if the remote box -isn't- a Sun, all sorts of fun things happen,
since BS gives me ^[[3~ (which stty can't interpret), and DEL gives me
^? like it should have from the beginning (and did, unless I was in the
window system or in rxvt).

The upside being that I get to use one of BS or DEL, but not both in a
sane fashion.  And the factors for determining which are based solely on
which piece of Sun-supplied software I'm trying to type at.

'Scuze me while I scream and rip the keyboard off this Sun so that I
can find a PC here at $work and fucking use PuTTY, which Just Works.  At
least that way, I can use a Real Keyboard (IBM model M) instead of this
mushy-sticky beige turd that Sun supplies for a user-input device.

--
Jonathan Patschke  *)  "everything i know about animals i learned from
Thorndale, TX      (*   ORA books."                  --alex j avriette