The default key repeat rate is awful -- really slow delay AND repeat. xset r rate 350 50 makes things better.
What would be a quick fix would be to change the old default AutoRepeat 500 5 AutoRepeat 250 10 which is what all AT keyboards are supposed to be able to do. I have found that most 486 and above can do AutoRepeat 250 20
The kbdrate command will clear this condition on both VCs and xterms. It will set the kbdrate to the default of 10.9 Cps and 250 Ms delay.
While kbdrate is a fix, it is not a good one when it is the default configuration is causing the problem with most keyboards.. unless kbdrate will be executed in the default login scripts (ie tied in with bash etc). It is sort of like telling people to type reset after they have logged in because we dont leave TTY's in good condition.
the insanely low settings are overridden in the new XFree86 3.3.6.
Does this mean that text console repeat rates will be fixed too?