Jim Crumley writes:
 > On Wed, Jun 26, 2002 at 11:47:50AM -0500, rpgoldman at real-time.com wrote:
 > > 
 > > compose '~' 'u' to 'ý'
 > > 
 > > However, I can't for the life of me figure out what the verb "compose"
 > > in the above MEANS.  I press the compose key and then pus ~ and u and
 > > I see....
 > > ~u
 > > I try holding down Compose and that doesn't do anything, either.
 > 
 > Hole down "compose" and "`" and  then let up on "compose" and hit "e".
 > Don't hold down "compose" the entire time.

The problem wasn't when I was and wasn't holding down the key.  It's
that I was trusting the Mandrake comments and was wrong about that.
They were defining a "compose" keycode, which doesn't seem to do
anything, and I needed Multi_key.  When I did that, all was well. 

I never would have found it without your pointer!

Thanks,
R