Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 14:42:52 +1000 From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> To: Tim Gerchmez <fewtch@serv.net> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: A first encounter with 'vi' Message-ID: <19980615144252.14431@welearn.com.au> In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19980614145301.007ed5c0@mx.serv.net>; from Tim Gerchmez on Sun, Jun 14, 1998 at 02:53:01PM -0700 References: <199806141840.OAA09233@paul.rutgers.edu> <3.0.5.32.19980614145301.007ed5c0@mx.serv.net>
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On Sun, Jun 14, 1998 at 02:53:01PM -0700, Tim Gerchmez wrote: > > Oh my lord... save me from vi... ;-) > > Today, I was unfortunate enough to encounter it for the first time when > trying to change my shell from sh back to csh (don't ask). BTW, did anyone ever tell you it's trendy to use bash as your shell? > That has to be the editor from hell (forgive me if I'm insulting any > old-school *nix'ers here, but this IS a forum for newbies). I thought I > was in hell when I was in that editor (obviously one of the original > Unix editors back when mainframes and dumb terminals were all the > rage). I hope I don't commit too many sins in my life and when I die be > damned to an eternity of typing full-length articles using vi > <shudder>. The damn thing even had the nerve to send me mail stating > that I used it incorrectly afterward. An editor that Emails you and > tells you about your mistakes and how to recover from them? Only in > Unix... ;-) > > I truly am glad I don't *only* use FreeBSD (grin). Sometimes the ease of > use of Win95/NT can be such sweet relief to us *nix newbies... This is the funniest thing I've read in ages :-) You can tell I don't use vi! A couple of times I was thrown into it with no way to get out, and that was enough of an insult to keep clear of it. For some reason vi has never worked on my 386. I'm not saying that's why I use the 386 most, but it does make me feel kinda safe. (Note: ed still works for real emergencies and I find ed slightly easier to deal with) Before getting heavily into unix I chose an editor to use under DOS that was also available for unix. That made the transition a lot smoother. The one I use, joe, is not everyone's cup of tea but it might suit some. There's a FreeBSD package, but the sources come with a DOS executable and config file that you just put in your DOS path somewhere... check the doccos, which I've put for my own convenience at http://www.welearn.com.au/joe The last link on that page should pick up the source complete with the JOE.EXE for DOS. If you're editing text under two different operating systems a lot, having one text editor for both is handy. Otherwise there's easier editors that talk to mouses under X. So, what's the bad news? Well, since you asked... you *can* get a version of vi that will run under windoze :-) -- Regards, -*Sue*- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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