[Help-nano] nano display jumbled

[mcu]

hello,

i'm trying to use nano on a debian machine via a telnet session from a 
windows98 box.

when i open nano, the menu displays on the top (blocking the view of the 
first few lines of a file) and any file i open displays text lines jumbled 
up, including below the eof on small files.

i suspect that this is some simple config issue, but the fix has eluded me.

i would greatly appreciate any clues.

thank you -- Michael Upledger