I have Mathematica 5.0 installed on Suse 9.3 running Xfce 4.2 as my desktop environment on a Dell Inspiron 5150. I have a problem with delete-next-character messages and have applied the fix described the first result google returns for "delete-next-character"

(I only have 1 post so I can't post a URL)

It works perfectly when it is applied, but it goes away after reboot. Furthermore, adding xrdb .Xdefaults to my .xinitrc does affect anything. It is annoying to continue to remember to type xrdb .Xdefaults before launching Mathematica. Help would be most appreciated.

Could you perhaps alter the startup for Mathematica?

Been a while since I used Xfce, but in KDE for Menu entries or Icons I can edit the command that calls the program. So you could put the xrdb command followed && then by the Mathematica call. ie

xrdb .Xdefaults && Mathematica

All right, I'll do that. But it seems like a kludge. Something is wrong with my system, or else I don't understand how .xinitrc works. Another solution would still be preferable.

Are you starting through startx or through a graphical login?

.xinitrc normally only gets executed when you do a startx, and no other script is passed to X.

try placing it into an .xsession file, or xfce probably has its own startup script you can add this too.

Checked the all might google and try

~/.xfce4/xinitrc

for the script, make sure its executable.

Doesn't work. Nothing has changed.

FYI, I log in through startx.

Daft questions but have to ask

Is it executable, and does it have #!/bin/sh and the begining.

( Can you tell I've run out of ideas? )

It works!! You got part of the problem, as the file was not executable for my user. But that alone didn't solve it. I apparently put xrdb .Xdefaults too early in the file before critical components of the window manager and X server were initialized. Moving the command near the end solved the problem. Thank you so much for your help, and also for your prompt replies to my delayed responses!