Getting <Alt> to Work

[Carol Anne Ogdin]

I'm sure there's a simple solution for this, but I'm stumped.  Beyond that,
I've done the RTFM but found nothing directly related except some vague
X-Windows configuration that's "beyond the scope" of the Nedit
documentation.
 
I've been using Nedit for years on RedHat, and I'm now using OpenSuSE 10.1,
and for the life o' me, I can't figure out how to make <Alt>-f work to open
the Nedit File menu (or <Alt>-x, for any top-level underscored menu letter,
x).
 
Can someone give me some counsel?
 
--Carol Anne