From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Aug 6 19:40:39 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4FE8737B401 for ; Tue, 6 Aug 2002 19:40:34 -0700 (PDT) Received: from russian-caravan.cloud9.net (russian-caravan.cloud9.net [168.100.1.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E166343E6E for ; Tue, 6 Aug 2002 19:40:33 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from Hostmaster@Video2Video.Com) Received: from earl-grey.cloud9.net (earl-grey.cloud9.net [168.100.1.1]) by russian-caravan.cloud9.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7BE1328DC3; Tue, 6 Aug 2002 22:40:33 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 22:40:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Peter Leftwich X-X-Sender: To: Jeff Jirsa Cc: John Bleichert , FreeBSD LIST Subject: Re: Is simplicity despised? WAS: What do we need in a FreeBSD desktop? In-Reply-To: <20020806192425.K93310-100000@boris.st.hmc.edu> Message-ID: <20020806223420.F88874-100000@earl-grey.cloud9.net> Organization: Video2Video Services - http://Www.Video2Video.Com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Tue, 6 Aug 2002, Jeff Jirsa wrote: > On Tue, 6 Aug 2002, John Bleichert wrote: > > On Wed, 7 Aug 2002, Brian Astill wrote: > > > On Tue, 6 Aug 2002 21:47, John Bleichert wrote: > > > > Nobody will ever convince me there's a better wm-agnostic editor than nedit for a new user. > > > I have heard good reports about nedit from people using many platforms. (memo to self: MUST try nedit) > > > > Also, does anybody really want the FreeBSD installer changed? Maybe the > > > > addition of an 'instant-workstation' install would be ok, but in my IMHO > > > > /stand/sysinstall is the best installer out there. > > > No. you miss the point here. Instant Workstation is an option in > > > /stand/sysinstall. What we are arguing about is the default editor in that > > > install. At the moment it is EDITOR=vi. I think something simpler is called for. > > Ah. nedit is an X editor so it might be inappropriate for $EDITOR. I dunno > > what would be best for a terminal editor. I love vi, but it *is* rather > > arcane hehe... maybe pico? At least with pico the commands are on the > > bottom of the window by default. License may be an issue. > Pico has the UW license, and it isn't even in the base system. Try ee. It > has the commands at the bottom for beginners and is already in the base > system. > - Jeff > -- > Jeff Jirsa > jeff@unixconsults.com Ah, I was going to say something similar applauding pico (tight, slight and outta sight) and ee (commands are at the top in my case). But I did want to add some comments. Pico does have just a few annoying default traits, such as Ctrl-k chopping the entire line rather than what is to the right of the cursor, and not having Suspend enabled. What's this about a UW "license?" I thought pico (and its daddy, pine) was essential open source, and as such, freeware. Also, don't over-estimate the utility of an $EDITOR envi variable; Don't forget about a $PAGER variable which IMHO ought to be `less -e` instead of the usual and unusually morbid `more.` PS- Simplicity is *loved* -- especially by someone who is frustrated not by difficulty but by what could easily be is not. Is that too Yoda for y'all? -- Peter Leftwich President & Founder Video2Video Services Box 13692, La Jolla, CA, 92039 USA +1-413-403-9555 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message