Question

Enabling backspace on xterm on a Linux machine

Asked by: harshavdn

Hello,

How can I enable backspace on xterms on a Linux machine? Now I need to
'ctrl+H' to erase for the same. When I type backspace , "~" appears.

I have tried all the following but no effect

1) stty erase ^h
2) stty erase ^H  
3) stty erase ^?
4) stty erase ~

I am putting the display of 'stty -a' on the Linux machine

stty -a
speed 38400 baud; rows 24; columns 80; line = 0;
intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^?; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol = <undef>;
eol2 = <undef>; start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R; werase = ^W;
lnext = ^V; flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0;
-parenb -parodd cs8 -hupcl -cstopb cread -clocal -crtscts
-ignbrk -brkint -ignpar -parmrk -inpck -istrip -inlcr -igncr icrnl ixon -ixoff
-iuclc -ixany -imaxbel
opost -olcuc -ocrnl onlcr -onocr -onlret -ofill -ofdel nl0 cr0 tab0 bs0 vt0 ff0
isig icanon iexten echo echoe echok -echonl -noflsh -xcase -tostop -echoprt
echoctl echoke

Thanks for any pointers,

Regards,
Harsha

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Asked On
2004-12-07 at 20:45:50ID21234352
Tags

backspace

,

erase

,

xterm

,

enable

,

linux

Topic

Linux Setup

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: avizitPosted on 2004-12-07 at 22:02:11ID: 12770900

did you try

stty erase <backspace key>

 

by: avizitPosted on 2004-12-07 at 22:04:33ID: 12770907

also try

xmodmap -e 'keycode 83 = BackSpace'

 

by: makhanPosted on 2004-12-08 at 21:33:03ID: 12780343

Hi!

Are you on console, virtual console
 or connecting through some telnet client.?

Regards!

 

by: harshavdnPosted on 2004-12-08 at 21:43:39ID: 12780375

Hello avizit,

Thanks for your time and help.
Yes. I have tried stty erase <backspace key> but no effect.

I did the following, but again no effect
xmodmap -e 'keycode 83 = BackSpace'

Hello makhan,

Thanks for your time and help.

I suppose I am connecting thru telnet.  The sequence is like this.

First I will login to a solaris machine. From there I will login to a Linux machine using 'ssh'. Now in console, I do not find this problem. But if I use xterm, the problem is seen. Also in our work, we have accesses to router-consoles thru telnet. When we login to routers thru such connections, this problem is seen.

Thanks,
Harsha


 

by: makhanPosted on 2004-12-09 at 01:36:42ID: 12781224

Now when u connect using ssh... There are a few considerations.

It depends on your terminal setting after the login shell is given to you..

So you have to check what is ur TERM setting.

May be u should try and use the command below to check what is your TERM variable

set | grep TERM

this will give u the current term setting.

It may be ANSI or some other variable depending upon the settings in your /etc/profile or /home/<youruser>/.bash_profile (in case u use bash shell the default)

You need to set the TERM variable equal to what is specified for the Solaris terminal from where you are doing the ssh login.

Also if the specified terminal is not in linux terminal definitions (/etc/termcap) then u have to use a nearest match or otherwise
define a termcap entry for your terminal. .. you can perhaps migrate the setting from your solaris machine...
this is a plain text file entry.

Regards!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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