If you are connecting to a LINUX (Debian/Ubuntu) system from a Mac OS X system and then start nano/pico, the delete key will probably not work as expected. One solution is to alter the TERM environment variable. If you are using the BASH shell then the following command should work :
export TERM=vt102
Changing the terminal on LINUX from xterm-color to vt102 will hopefully not cause you to many issues.
This great article explains how to set items to start at login via the command line. This technique uses AppleScript, wrapped up in a shell script.
#!/bin/bash /usr/bin/osascript -e "tell application \"System Events\" to make new login item with properties { path: \"$1\", hidden:false } at end"
This article over at www.sdmachelp.com will explain how to setup BIND on Mac OS X. The article has some good tips for those who are new to configuring BIND.
In addition, the article includes some great links even for people familiar with DNS and BIND: