i found the same keyboard problem with feisty fawn herd 2 even (i tried feisty). I feel there is some problem with selection of keyboard layout only. Suggestion to use emacs is a good idea but it is a solution for problem with vi only but what abt firefox where shortcut for opening new tab doesn't work. What i sugget is it would be nice if someone takes 10 gb harddisk (if rishi permits) from me and try
different keyboard layouts and try to find a solution at our level. Its better if someone who has desktop do it.