Ubuntu 7.04. Want to access gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst. Terminal will not write lower case s in sudo .lst
I have a problem, how big is it? I am new to linux.
Have used search above and google and forums search. No inquiries.

I'm not quite sure if I understand....are you saying that you can't make an "s" in the terminal? Does the keyboard respond correctly in other programs? Can you do other commands---eg "ls"?

OR, were you entering "sudo .lst"? If so, then that makes no sense.

To edit the file:
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
OR
nano gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Using Appl Access. Terminal, When I type a lower case s, as in sudo and menu.lst I get "udo" and "menu.lt". No s prints on terminal. It does on all other programs. I can type cap S but that returns no such command. This is Ubuntu 7.04 which I forgot to specify.
Sorry I took so long to get back.

To answer your questions categorically:
I cannot make an 's' in terminal.
I have not found a program where 's' does not print.
When trying your suggestion of 'is", i can print the i but when I press s next I get isudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst, as an entry like you see it here, 'i' was first then 's' plus the rest. I copied that from an earlier post of yours and pushing s gives the sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst. I did not delete the paste command which I used from your post to get the program to bring up menu.lst.
Wondering what happened so I can fix the disappearing "s" without having to paste it in.
I just copied the subj line of this msg into cut and paste, opened terminal , typed s and immediately got: Ubuntu 7.04. Terminal will not write lower case s in sudo .lst
Which I just copied . Apparently terminal is thinking 's' means print what is in paste. In any event it will not print 's' even if there is nothing in paste. It will a cap 'S'.

Edit: I WROTE THIS BEFORE SEEING YOU LAST POST---
Note that in the earlier post, I said ls, not is, but that is maybe irrelevant at this point
End Edit

You CAN type "s" in other programs, right?

Do this:
cat /etc/mtab
See if the terminal at least displays "s"es

type a whole string of "s"es---do any of them print?

type "ls" (no quotes) Does anything happen?

do ctrl-alt-F1 to get a text-based terminal. See if that makes any difference.

Here is the screen "display"(thank you for correct word):

skip@skip2:~$ lS
bash: lS: command not found
skip@skip2:~$ cat/etc/mtab
bash: cat/etc/mtab: No such file or directory
skip@skip2:~$ l
bash: l: command not found
skip@skip2:~$

type a whole string of "s"es---do any of them print?

when I enter 's' nothing happens--just flashes like key wasn't pushed. Trying another s in the new command line gives me what I had just copied and pasted previously. The 's' copied the cat etc; seems s is a command for paste :

skip@skip2:~$ cat/etc/mtab
bash: cat/etc/mtab: No such file or directory
skip@skip2:~$

do ctrl-alt-F1 to get a text-based terminal. See if that makes any difference.
It brings up a foreign screen to me. Flashing - but I know not what to do with it. I could type nothing into it to get a display and had to restart.

Do you think installing a new ubuntu from a disk would solve this problem? Apparently this problem has never happened before. Should I enter it as a bug? I am new and perplexed.

Some errors above....

ls--lower case (type "ls"--no quotes--and hit return. We want to see if the command goes thru even if the "s" is not displayed.

cat /etc/mtab
Note the space after cat

If you get "s"es in other programs, then I suppose this could be a glitch in the Ubuntu install. It might be fixed by simply re-installing the terminal program using Synaptic or Adept.

the screen after ctrl-alt-F1 should have a login prompt--enter your user name, enter, then password at the next prompt.
ctrl-alt-F7 to get back to your original screen.

skip@skip2:~$ l
bash: l: command not found
skip@skip2:~$
This is response to entering ls. The 's' is not recognized.

Following is for cat command:
skip@skip2:~$ cat /etc/mtab
/dev/hdb1 / ext3 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
/sys /sys sysfs rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
varrun /var/run tmpfs rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=0755 0 0
varlock /var/lock tmpfs rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777 0 0
procbususb /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw,mode=0755 0 0
devshm /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
lrm /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-386/volatile tmpfs rw 0 0
binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw 0 0
skip@skip2:~$

I will try the cnt alt F1 after sending this now.

The cntr alt F command worked. I got in and out as you instructed. Nothing looked familiar so it was in and out.
One thing I picked up after that is in typing this reply the cursor freezes, the clock seconds stop momentarily then go afew seconds and no typing is displayed. I have only 3 tabs open

I'm forgetting if the s works in other programs. If so, then you might consider re-installing the terminal. Or just installing a different one. You can do that with the package manager.

On my system (work--Ubuntu+KDE), the installed terminals are gnome-terminal, konsole, and xterm. There are others in the package manager.

Yes the s works in gedit but not terminal.
Thanks for all your help. Lets call it quits. I think I will reinstall the whole program and see what happens. I can see you are up-to-here with it also. I really appreciate all the time spent on this puppy, so go have a kool aid and relax.