On Sun, 22 Mar 1998 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Some wonderful developer(s) fixed our manpage readers of > > the coming release (hamm) so that they will also scroll upwards > > to the beginning of any file we read. The manpages (accessed > > by typing "man nameofcommand"--without the quotes) can also be > > searched with the "/" foreslash command in the "hamm" version. > > Excellent work... > > You could also use: > > man <program name> | less > > What *really* puzzles me as a newcomer to the linux (debian) arena is why > using less (or anything else that could backscroll and do searches) hasn't > been made the ruddy default right from the begining. I have shaken my head > in bemusement and frustration over this and the archaic wordstar text > processors that seem to be included as default with more than one > application I have here on my Debian CD. > > (one newbie user who is looking forward to a new stable debian release that > hopely won't include such obvious archiac software)
Well perhaps the reason is that a simple pager always works. The trouble with less is that it doesn't always work, particularly if you're struggling with keyboard and terminal settings. In particular, less has problems if the actual screen-size doesn't match up with what it thinks the screen-size is, particularly if it's repainting by clearing (which can fail) rather than scrolling dumbly. Cheers, -- David Wright, Open University, Earth Science Department, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA U.K. email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: +44 1908 653 739 fax: +44 1908 655 151 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
