Can't get BiCon to work !

[Ahmed El-Mahmoudy <aelmahmoudy at users dot sourceforge dot net>]

as-salamu alaykom,

 For years I've been trying to get BiCon to work , but it doesn't.
 I use the virtual console in Mandriva 2006, I type : bicon sa
 I get:
 
[root at ants:~]$bicon sa
Usage: loadkeys [option...] [mapfile...]
valid options are:
        -c --clearcompose clear kernel compose table
        -d --default      load default keymap file
        -m --mktable      output a "defkeymap.c" to stdout
        -s --clearstrings clear kernel string table
        -q --quiet        be silent
        -v --verbose      report the changes
        -v --verbose      report more changes
        -h --help         display this help text and exit
        -V --version      display version information and exit
loadkeys: invalid option -- u
Usage: loadkeys [option...] [mapfile...]
valid options are:
        -c --clearcompose clear kernel compose table
        -d --default      load default keymap file
        -m --mktable      output a "defkeymap.c" to stdout
        -s --clearstrings clear kernel string table
        -q --quiet        be silent
        -v --verbose      report the changes
        -v --verbose      report more changes
        -h --help         display this help text and exit
        -V --version      display version information and exit
Warning: this is a shell wrapper; consider using consolechars(8)
BiCon started


Now when I start any app like mutt, vim, lynx, elinks, they only use the
upper half of the screen, and I can't read any arabic text at all,
meaning that it displays wierd characters (and sometimes ? characters
with white background) not arabic.
I tried changing LC_CTYPE & LANG variables to ar_SA.UTF-8 but still no
use.

Btw, when I exit bicon I get:

exit
BiCon done
Warning: this is a shell wrapper; consider using consolechars(8)
Keymap 0: Permission denied
Keymap 1: Permission denied
Keymap 2: Permission denied
KDSKBENT: Operation not permitted
loadkeys: could not deallocate keymap 3

I've been acon user for years, and it still works fine with me till now. 
But I do want to try BiCon, I hope someone will help me.