Nedit copy/paste failure
Posted 12-09-2012 at 05:55 PM by flshope
At the risk of revealing myself to be a computer muggle, I will start by saying that I do most of my code writing/editing using NEdit. I have been using NEdit for most of a decade. I know I should learn Emacs, but I just haven't gotten around to that. I like NEdit a lot, except for one fairly serious problem ...
Seemingly at random, when I have multiple instances of NEdit running simultaneously, the copy/paste function suddenly stops working on all instances. Closing all NEdit sessions and restarting them seems to clear the problem, but that's too traumatic.
If NEdit was started from a terminal window, it will generate error messages saying something about clipboard lock after the copy/paste failure occurs. When NEdit's copy/paste fails, other applications seem to continue working normally in terms of copy/paste.
I have searched on-line for others' experience with this problem, and I found many mentions of this going back many years. I have not found any suggested solutions.
I have observed the problem under Red Hat Enterprise and Ubuntu (currently 12.04 LTS). Some posts suggest it may be OS-dependent.
In the last few weeks or so, I have noticed a suspected but unconfirmed connection with another NEdit event: the copy/paste failure seems to occur when one or more of the NEdit instances have open a modified file, i.e., changes that have not been saved. It seems that when the save is accomplished, the clipboard lock goes away and copy/paste begins working again.
This is a tentative conclusion and may not be correct. I will report any further developments on this problem.
Seemingly at random, when I have multiple instances of NEdit running simultaneously, the copy/paste function suddenly stops working on all instances. Closing all NEdit sessions and restarting them seems to clear the problem, but that's too traumatic.
If NEdit was started from a terminal window, it will generate error messages saying something about clipboard lock after the copy/paste failure occurs. When NEdit's copy/paste fails, other applications seem to continue working normally in terms of copy/paste.
I have searched on-line for others' experience with this problem, and I found many mentions of this going back many years. I have not found any suggested solutions.
I have observed the problem under Red Hat Enterprise and Ubuntu (currently 12.04 LTS). Some posts suggest it may be OS-dependent.
In the last few weeks or so, I have noticed a suspected but unconfirmed connection with another NEdit event: the copy/paste failure seems to occur when one or more of the NEdit instances have open a modified file, i.e., changes that have not been saved. It seems that when the save is accomplished, the clipboard lock goes away and copy/paste begins working again.
This is a tentative conclusion and may not be correct. I will report any further developments on this problem.
Total Comments 5
Comments
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Reporting back on some subsequent observations ...
From my previous post:
I now have specifically observed that, when the copy/paste failure has occurred while one instance of NEdit has unsaved changes, saving those changes sometimes clears the copy/paste failure in other NEdit instances. I have observed this result several times.Quote:I have noticed a suspected but unconfirmed connection with another NEdit event: the copy/paste failure seems to occur when one or more of the NEdit instances have open a modified file, i.e., changes that have not been saved. It seems that when the save is accomplished, the clipboard lock goes away and copy/paste begins working again.
However, I also have observed instances where the save did not clear the copy/paste failure. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.Posted 01-13-2013 at 11:18 AM by flshope 
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geesh sounds like its time to invest the time in emacs maybe... I actually learned emacs before vi believe it or not. Being a .ılılı..ılılı. guy learning emacs was great because the Cisco IOS uses the same keys for editing command line ;^}
For the longest time I avoided vi like the plague... but trust me... taking the time to learn it really doesn't take that long and it the long run is a HUGE benefit.
So if your going to be (x)nix guy... learn vi... and if you're a programmer learn emacs.Posted 01-15-2013 at 08:32 AM by notfaded1
Updated 01-15-2013 at 08:35 AM by notfaded1 (adds) -
notfaded1:
Thank you for your thoughts and recommendation.
You're right, no doubt about it. Before I start another programming project, I need to have emacs under my belt. When I have 10 or so text file windows open, closing and restarting them all to fix copy/paste is a real enthusiasm killer.Posted 01-15-2013 at 09:33 AM by flshope
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Well, I have reached my frustration limit with NEdit regarding the clipboard lock problem that disables copy/paste. Occasionally, saving an altered file that has been sitting unsaved for a while will clear the lock, but the only sure fix I have found is to shut down all running instances of the code and then start them back up again. What a hassle!
So I have learned enough Emacs to do almost everything I did routinely with NEdit. I am probably at 95% capability with Emacs and just need to practice what I have learned and find the best ways of doing things. The down-loadable user manual from http://www.fsf.org is excellent, and I decided to buy the hard copy from fsf, too. The accompanying reference card is also well done.
Even if someone were to fix NEdit at some point, I probably wouldn't go back. Emacs is just too neat!
RIP, NEdit.Posted 04-25-2014 at 10:12 PM by flshope
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I have just learned at my place of employment that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, which is used there for all scientific computing work stations, no longer includes NEdit as part of the standard installation. A month or so ago, that would have been a traumatic discovery; but since I am on emacs now, I am good.
Posted 06-14-2014 at 06:15 AM by flshope
