[ale] nxterm is "spacing out" on me!

[Jay K. Robertson]

I'm running RedHat 3.0.3 under the Linux 2.0.13 kernel.  For some reason,
I'm having a problem with the binary nxterm.  I have a separate X
workstation connecting into the Linux server.  Instead of telnetting into
Summit, I just generate a new X term any time I want a shell prompt.

This generally works great, but for some reason, after a while, whenever I
log into a particular pseudo-tty, I get this:

 [10 jkr at summit:/]$  s t t y   s a n e 
 [11 jkr at summit:/]$  s e t e n v   T E R M   x t e r m 
 [12 jkr at summit:/]$  e a t   f l a m i n g   d e a t h 
 eat: Command not found.

Notice the " " between all the letters and the prompt.  This problem seems
to randomly occur--the system will start out fine, and then certain
pseudo-tty's just develop this symptom.  I generally just close the window,
launch another xterm, and move on, until that pseudo-tty develops that
problem.  This has gotten to the point to where it is annoying, as after
about two days I end up with 6 pty's that I can't use, and the only way to
correct the problem is to shutdown and reboot the system (which clears the
problem temporarily so it can recur again).

Now, this only appears with nxterm, the colorized version.  xterm never
shows this problem, and neither does normal telnet--even on the "shot"
pty's.  I've tried a variety of different command line options.  I've tried
absolutely no command line options.  Neither seems to correct the problem.

I recently changed kernels from 1.2.13 in hopes that that would correct the
problem (well, for other reasons too :-) ), and it didn't.  The system used
to run fine under Slackware 3.0 (well, not really, that's why I reinstalled
it) and didn't exhibit this problem with color_xterm, so it isn't a problem
with the X server I'm using.  Could someone possibly tell me what is going
on here, and how to correct this problem?

Thanks!

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Jay K. Robertson          The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA
jkr at cc.gatech.edu                   http://www.cc.gatech.edu/people/home/jkr