I have been using MATE desktop environment on my laptop PC since my installation of Debian Jessie. Shortly, I noticed that Emacs M-< and M-> wouldn't work. Since then, I have managed to use the Emacs using ESC key instead of the Alt key as the Meta key. After one year of inconvenient use, I finally find what intercepts the Shift - Alt key. It is keyboard layout switching function of MATE. Here is the screenshot of its setting panel: My next question: Are MATE users happy with this default setting?