backspace changes line, doesn't delete
 

Backspace has started moving to the next line:

fred@localhost$ somethy<backspace>
fred@localhost$

but does nothing - not like return.

Just fairly radically altered runlevel 4, changing /etc/rc4.d ?? by removing things like ppp alsa cron.

Backspace works correctly in default run level 2.

Thanks any help.

Can't offer much help on what's causing it (although you might check the LANG variable in each runlevel), but I can tell you how to fix it:

Enter "stty erase <hit backspace key>"

and then hit enter.

It's been a long time since I've seen a Linux box that had that issue. Bash's built-in input editor (readline) should have no trouble at all understanding a backspace. (If you're in X, it's a different set of rules, and X may be doing something funky before bash ever sees it.)

Hope this helps,

CHL

Great thanks. Probably taken me months to find that out.