Apple keyboard

[Thomas A. Schmitz]

Sorry if this is a newbie question...
I managed to install ydl 3.0.1 on my G4 Quicksilver. Everything seems 
to be working very well, I even managed to install teTeX manually and 
build a newer version of Emacs. One thing, however, will not work, and 
it makes my brand new linux installation pretty much useless: I can't 
make linux recognize my "alt" key. I have tried every imaginable 
combination of keyboards and keyboard layouts and read so many 
documents on the web that my head is spinning, but I haven't found any 
solution. I'm using a vanilla Apple USB-keyboard (one of the latest 
models, white). When I hit the "alt" key, absolutely nothing happens, 
so I can't type any accents or umlaute. Should I just reinstall? Or is 
this a known problem? Any suggestions?

Thanks a million

Thomas