[scabbage]

Hi, folks,

So why is this backspace/delete thing so hard to fix? So I have an external PC keyboard attached to my Macbook which I use at home. My problem:

when I ssh to a remote server and fire up vim, the backspace key (PC keyboard) does nothing when I want to delete something. Same as the delete key on my Mac keyboard.

Also, I have no problem with backspace (PC keyboard) or delete key (Mac keyboard) on my local 10.4.8 when using Vim 6.2 came with my Macbook. But if I try to use Vim 6.3 installed by Fink, I have the same problem as described above.

Any idea? Thanks.

[awaspaas]

How to fix the backspace keep in vim on OS X - cogent free knowledge

[awaspaas]

A few others to try:

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Easy fix: Terminal, Preferences menu, "Declare terminal type ($TERM) as: [vt102]" instead of [xterm-color].

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This is a very common and very annoying problem. Your remote host expects some character to be used as "erase", a terminal program you use sending some character as "erase". If they differ - sometimes you getting ^? or ^H when pressing backspace. So to fix this you just need bring both parts in sync.
1. When connected type "stty -a" and in output find what is expected to be an erase code (erase = ^? f.e.)
2. Type CTRL-v and press your backspace. You'll see what code is sent as "erase". ^H f.e.
3. Type "stty erase ^H" and this is it. Now they'll understand each other.

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The solution: Copy the xterm-color terminfo file from a Mac to the Linux box. Use the one installed by default at /usr/share/terminfo/78/xterm-color. You can put the file in /usr/share/terminfo/x/ on the Linux box (if you have root access), or in your home directory in ~/.terminfo -> x/ (create the directory structure if necessary). Then log out and SSH back into the Linux machine, and your backspace key should work properly in all applications.

[scabbage]

Thanks a lot, guys. This really helps.

[Peter]

tried iTerm? sooo much nicer than Terminal