Re: Default Emacs keybindings

[Robert J. Chassell]

   You are good at writing clear documentation.  With the information
   that was posted, can you write clear documentation for this?

No, there is not enough info for me.  I do not understand keybindings.
I do not know how to construct key mapping files that work for people
using various GNU systems.

For example, I do not know how to read the full key information
provided by xev or xkeycaps or showkeys, even though I have read the
man pages numerous times.

I grasp enough so that with trial and error, I was able, a long time
ago, to figure out what to do and write notes.

That is all.  I do not know what to read that is at the right level
for me and which will tell me what I need to learn.

On the one hand, I've seen documentation that presumes I know or
remember much more than I do.  I do not understand what it says.  On
the other hand, I'v seen documentation that presumes I know nothing.
This tells me too little.

Documentation that says too little tends to say things like, "run
`install-keymap emacs2'".  That is fine if that works.  But does not
tell what to do when it fails.

Fortunately, I know that when `install-keymap' fails, I should run
`loadkeys /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/emacs2.kmap.gz'

Unfortunately, but I do not know what to do when that command fails.

What do I do with that command to get a Euro symbol both in an xterm
and in an instance of Emacs -- a symbol that will be readable on a Web
page as well as in Emacs, or that will be readable in an email message
from me if they use some strange non-Emacs email reader?  

I have a note to myself for inserting a Euro symbol into an Emacs
buffer using "rfc1345" but I have no idea whether that is a good
method or not.  My note also says

    ;; Note that there exists
    ;;     ISO 2022 based 8-bit encoding for Latin-5 (MIME:ISO-8859-9).
    ;; but I do not know how to insert a Euro symbol with it.

Since the Euro symbol is not important to me, that is as far as I have
gone.  Obviously, the Euro symbol is important to many other people.


What should I read to learn about keybindings, including new features
like the Euro symbol?  I don't know.

Worse, as I said, I do not know how to construct key mapping files
that work for people using various GNU systems:  some time ago, I
tested the methods I use on the three different keyboards that I use,
and that is all.  (All three systems use a Linux kernel.)

The goal is to suggest one action or several actions that are likely
to work with all GNU systems.  (I have not the foggiest knowledge
about non-GNU systems, nor much interest.)

--
    Robert J. Chassell                         Rattlesnake Enterprises
    As I slowly update it,                     address@hidden
        I rewrite a "What's New" segment for   http://www.rattlesnake.com