vi is probably more powerful than pico (as is emacs, my editor of choice),
you just have to know the right commands. Pico, in my experience is enough
for most, and best for newbies.
vi has two modes: command mode ("read only" mode), the function of which
is self explanatory and insert mode which is invoked by typing "i" while
in command mode. F1 doesn't usually give help that I'm aware of... at
least it's not the first thing I'd try in order to get help (pico doesn't
give any help through F1 either). I think typing F1 to get help is, for
the most part, a windows thing.
If you're going to do much work with unix, it's a good idea to know vi
since it's usually the default editor and, if no other editor is
installed, vi will be.
What it comes down to is personal preference... as with operating systems
:)
DvB
On Thu, 10 Feb 2000, Paul Derbyshire wrote:
> At 10:08 AM 2/10/00 -0000, you wrote:
> >use vi, type vi <filename> at a command prompt, useful commands are:
> >
> >:write - to save
> >:quit - to quit
> >:quit! - to force quit
> >
> >btw. you will probably hate it :)
>
> Shame on you, suggesting than a new user use vile and then giving an
> inadequate warning. I stumbled on vile once on some machine or other where
> I had a shell account. Yugh. It doesn't work the way you'd expect (for
> example, you can't open the file, arrow around, and type new text; as near
> as I can tell it opens all files in a read-only mode and expects a command
> to be issued to change it) and there's no help to be had hitting F1 and no
> helpful status line on the screen telling you what key you should hit for
> documentation -- bad interface design, since the interface should work the
> way people are used to (e.g. for an editor, arrow around and type stuff,
> shift-arrows to select, etc.), and shouldn't require a mini-course from
> Algonquin or thorough reading of the manual. Manuals/help files are for
> reference and how-to, not for basic explaining of the interface. I think
> whoever perpetrated vi was the same idiot who perpetrated Lotus Notes (see
> http://www.iarchitect.com/mshame.html IIRC -- if that's 404, try just
> http://www.iarchitect.com and click the nice icon of a bomb ;-)).
>
> PICO, on the other hand, is an okay shell editor.
> If it's not on your system, you'll probably find it on rpmfind.net
> somewhere under 'p'.
>
> Kedit, of course, works in a way that should be familiar to users of modern
> graphical systems like 'doze and MacOS. Except for a quirk in that it seems
> to clobber the clipboard spuriously sometimes, especially if you select
> something -- meaning if you do the usual "select in window A, hit ctrl-C,
> switch to window B, select some old crud, and hit ctrl-V to replace the old
> crud with the stuff from window B" it won't work in kedit or the derivative
> kwrite :-(
>
> --
> .*. "Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not
> -() < circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a
> `*' straight line." -------------------------------------------------
> -- B. Mandelbrot |http://surf.to/pgd.net [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> _____________________ ____|________ Paul Derbyshire
> Programmer & Humanist|ICQ: 10423848|
>
