nano vs vi

farkus888 · 10-04-2007, 08:34 AM

portability is key, I can use the same exact editor in every linux distro or unix version I come across in any state of disrepair. I only wish it was preinstalled on every windows machine too... I'd never use anything else. the learning curve is steep, but its worth it. I like terminal editors more than notepad or word or wordpad because its nice to be able to do everything with keystrokes when my hands are already on the keys to type, I'd rather not have to rehome my fingers on the keyboard after switching to bold text and then again switching back to regular text.

jay73 · 10-04-2007, 09:17 AM

OK, I'll add some confusion. Let's get Emacs into the debate. If anyone gets killed in the great vim vs emacs battle, don't blame me. I did it just for fun.

XavierP · 10-04-2007, 02:07 PM

Tchah - it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

TyphoidHippo · 10-21-2007, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by choogendyk

Code:

***********************************************************************
* I think I've got the hang of it now:  exit, ^D, ^C, ^\, ^Z, ^Q, ^^, *
* F6, quit, ZZ, :q, :q!, M-Z, ^X^C, logoff, logout, close, bye, /bye, *
* stop, end, F3, ~., ^]c, +++ ATH, disconnect, halt,  abort,  hangup, *
* PF4, F20, ^X^X, :D::D, KJOB, F14-f-e, F8-e,  kill -1 $$,  shutdown, *
* init 0, kill -9 1, Alt-F4, Ctrl-Alt-Del, AltGr-NumLock, Stop-A, ... *
* ...  "Are you sure?"  ...   YES   ...   Phew ...   I'm out          *
***********************************************************************

I registered on this site just to say thanks for sharing!

That's the funniest thing.....ever. That's exactly how everybody feels their first time at anything. Classic stuff right there....thanks again, that made my day.

dasy2k1 · 10-21-2007, 03:30 PM

/me puts on asbestos suit

emacs is a great free operating system but a poor text editor

choogendyk · 10-21-2007, 07:31 PM

With the caveat that nano might not be there when you need it in an emergency. System down, won't boot, need to mount boot volume and edit system file or something that someone screwed up. You can pretty well count on vi being there.

While I did find nano (`which nano`) on my Mac OS X system, it is not on my Solaris systems. Not even in /usr/sfw/bin where open source stuff is put (if I installed it from sunfreeware, it would be in /usr/local/bin).

[note: I failed to notice the expansion of this thread, and was commenting to the last post on the first page of entries -- that while vi was historical, nano might be best to learn now -- thus my "With the caveat that . . .]

jay73 · 10-21-2007, 08:29 PM

Believe it or not but I have just had a completely different experience. Tried to install Debian, Debian went oops and for some reason messed with my Ubuntu that is on the same disk. Well, I found out that - contrary to my expectations - Ubuntu had neither vi nor vim available, only nano...

phantom_cyph · 10-21-2007, 08:50 PM

I use nano.

I don't understand why you aren't considered to be a "super-powered" computer user unless you write your documents in code, programs in binary, and don't have a GUI installed. Personally, if you can get a distro to your liking, don't mind what others prefer or feel you have to switch cause it ain't the "real man" thing.

jay73 · 10-21-2007, 09:13 PM

I kind of agree. I often find it ludicrous, that whole "control your system" hype when, in fact, people are only typing some stuff they found in a tutorial or a manual. If you want to control your system, write your own OS.

oskar · 10-21-2007, 10:22 PM

When I started they told me that vi was the standard editor, so I learned how to use it. All it takes is about 1 hour, and should get it. If you don't like it, nano is pre-installed on most distros too, but it won't replace vi as a standard editor any time soon. It's been around for too long.

jay73 · 10-21-2007, 11:10 PM

Of course, this is a non-issue. Comparing the capabilities of vi(m) and nano should make it clear that there is just no comparing. The real comparison should be between vim and emacs.

Wim Sturkenboom · 10-21-2007, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay73

Believe it or not but I have just had a completely different experience. Tried to install Debian, Debian went oops and for some reason messed with my Ubuntu that is on the same disk. Well, I found out that - contrary to my expectations - Ubuntu had neither vi nor vim available, only nano...

According to distrowatch, Gutsy should have vim 7.1 .

jay73 · 10-21-2007, 11:29 PM

Yes, it should have, but I was working from a very limited environment as Gutsy wouldn't boot anymore. I should have thought that the default editor in such an environment would be vi, but no, only nano was accessible.

brianL · 10-22-2007, 04:21 AM

I've very rarely, if ever, used Vi or Emacs. But out of the two, I prefer Emacs. Can't quite understand the reasoning behind having a dual-mode text editor: insert & command modes. I always end up using nano, and/or KWrite or Gedit.
:q!

farkus888 · 10-22-2007, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay73

Yes, it should have, but I was working from a very limited environment as Gutsy wouldn't boot anymore. I should have thought that the default editor in such an environment would be vi, but no, only nano was accessible.

that may be true but nano is much easier, especially since I can't ever recall a nano install that didn't have all the key shortcuts at the bottom of the screen. if you don't know nano you can figure it out, if you don't know vi and thats all you have you are screwed.