Bob Bernstein <poo...@ruptured-duck.com> writes: > On Tue, 2 Feb 2016, Lisi Reisz wrote: > >> :-) "There are no dumb questions. Only dumb answers." > > Okay. Here's one -- I was going to post it in gnu.emacs.help, but you > changed my mind! Emacs running in X honors Alt as its Meta key. But if > I launch 'emacs -nw' to avoid running in X that understanding (Meta == > Alt) evaporates. Perhaps I need to set something specific in my .emacs > for the minibuffer? > > I've got amd64 Jessie running without systemd and icewm for X.
I've always used <esc> for <meta> -- you have to press-and-release, not hold like for <shift> and <ctrl>, but it works for me in a window, with -nw, and in console mode. I'd actually been using it for a couple of decades before I learned about <alt> for <meta>, and have never made the switch.