Delete key unexpected behaviour on new unstable install

[Robert Ian Smit <robian@xs4all.nl>]

Hi,

Getting the keyboard to work properly  has never been a problem on previous
Debian installs, but now I am facing this issue and I don't know
where to start.

I did a clean unstable install of the base system and added
webserver (LAMP) packages and gvim + dependencies.

When I log in on the console of the newly built webserver, the
delete key works as expected (removing character under the cursor).
However when I 'ssh' in from my desktop (either from an xterm or a
vc on my desktop), the delete key prints a tilde to the screen.

I have a normal US QWERTY keyboard and I never spent any time
configuring keymaps or whatever on any of my other systems.

Why is this happening now? Unstable breakage or something else?
Where do I start looking?

Thanks,
Bob