Hello,

I have searched google for a while concerning how to input and see 8-bit
characters in xterms, vim, etc in redhat 9 using the fixed font.

I've found that I need to(in tcsh):
setenv LC_CTYPE en_US

and then things like less and vim will display the 8bit characters (like
umlauts, etc) just fine.

However, how do I *enter* those types of characters(with a PC101 keyboard)?

In my old redhat 6.2 install, I would just hold LALT and hit keys on
the keyboard and get the 8-bit equivalents, but that doesn't seem to
work anymore.

I've found that sometimes if I hold LALT, tap RALT, then release LALT,
I can go into 8-bit insertion mode, and if I reverse the sequence, I go
back into normal insert mode. But this doesn't always seem to work, like
sometimes I have to enter TWO 8-bit characters cause the first one doesn't
show up until the second one is typed, and the forst one will show up as
an 8-bit character ONLY if the second one is also an 8-bit character.
Also, if this two alt tapping mode switch procedure is the prefered
method, it sucks, cause it will take FOREVER to type stuff in this way.

Needless to say, I'm quite confused and am not sure whose responsible for
this mess, is it X, the locale, stty, what? I long for the old days when
I could just use LALT as a modifier key cause it was fast and just plain
worked.

Any help from you folks would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

-pete