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3 Replies Latest reply: May 2, 2013 10:41 AM by dsurber RSS

meta keys (ALT) in emacs ring terminal bell--UPDATED--still a problem

dsurber Explorer
dsurber May 7, 2013 8:03 AM
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A new version of Secure Global Desktop appeared yesterday. It works fine except when I type a meta key in emacs the terminal bell rings. Emacs still sees the key and executes the command so this isn't a showstopper. On the other hand it is really irritating so I have to set my system to MUTE. I've restarted everything and it still happens. No problem running emacs locally, only on my remote host via Secure Open Desktop. I use a terminal and start emacs at the command line. I do not use the window manager. Any idea how to make this stop?

Meta commands are really common in emacs. On a Windows keyboard you get meta by holding down the ALT key. So meta-x is typed by holding down ALT and typing 'x'.

Douglas Surber

Edit: I've disabled the bell in emacs and it still rings. This is certainly coming from Secure Global Desktop. Additional info: yesterday some Gnome based dialog box popped up. I think it was called SCIM or something like that. I just clicked cancel as I was busy doing real work when it came up. I suppose that may have something to do with the problem. I have no idea where this came from or how to make it reappear.

Edited by: dsurber on Apr 30, 2013 9:26 AM

Edit2: There are a couple of SRs against SGD for keyboard related issues. Several people in my team are having similar though not identical issues. This is a significant problem. SR 3-7142029471, SR 3-7132923081

Edited by: dsurber on May 1, 2013 7:54 AM

Edit: The SGD issue tracking web page has been updated with a workaround for the keyboard issue.

http://my.oracle.com/site/pdit/DevelopmentOps/DevInfraSvs/SGDHomePage

I haven't tried it yet as I don't want to restart my session right now.

Edited by: dsurber on May 1, 2013 4:35 PM

Edit: The workaround doesn't address the bell issue. Other team members have reported that it does address some issues with characters that did not work. Pressing the mute button on my laptop inserts an 'e' or 'E' if shifted. Clearly the keymapping is still broken.

Edited by: dsurber on May 2, 2013 7:34 AM

Edit: The problem still exists. Meta keys still ring the terminal bell. The meta-space key rings the bell and is captured, I assume by SGD, and pops up a Windows system menu. I have yet to find a graceful way to get out of this situation. Typing ESC to normal way to close a Windows menu confuses emacs as does ctl-g, the emacs cancel command. The best I've found is to move the mouse onto the desktop and left-click.

Edited by: dsurber on May 7, 2013 7:58 AM
  • 1. Re: meta keys (ALT) in emacs ring terminal bell--UPDATED
    291955 Newbie
    291955 May 2, 2013 9:25 AM (in response to dsurber)
    Currently Being Moderated
    I'm seeing the same issue. With the workaround I can type the characters [`'"] but the bell rings on alt anything, and the mute and volume adjust on the laptop keyboard show as keypresses of b,c, and d keys. Odd. I can work with the sound muted, but this has wasted my time.
  • 2. Re: meta keys (ALT) in emacs ring terminal bell--UPDATED
    1005545 Newbie
    1005545 May 2, 2013 10:27 AM (in response to dsurber)
    Currently Being Moderated
    PC keyboards do not have a Meta key. They have Super (windows key) and Alt, which is Alt (not Meta)

    To use Emacs you probably need to use 'Esc-x' etc to get the usual access to minibuffer. You can view this advice if you look at the initial page of the Emacs tutorial.

    Prior to 4.7 SGD did not implement a PC keyboard when connected to a PC. As an alternative to using Esc you could use the xmodmap tool to map one of the Super keys to Meta.
  • 3. Re: meta keys (ALT) in emacs ring terminal bell--UPDATED
    dsurber Explorer
    dsurber May 2, 2013 10:41 AM (in response to 1005545)
    Currently Being Moderated
    I have lots of experience with various ways to map particular keyboards to emacs keys. I've been using emacs since around 1980. I understand emacs. I've been using emacs via tarantella for as long as Oracle has used tarantella to access remote hosts, something close to ten years. The way to type meta keys in emacs in a Windows environment is ALT-foo. It works both with SGD and running emacs locally on Windows. I would know if I had been typing ESC; I have not.

    Douglas

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