how do I edit a file?

JunLitsu · 04-10-2002, 01:53 AM

er what is the command in another thread someone said to edit my etc/initab file to id:3:initdefault instead of id:5:initdefault.

jayakrishnan · 04-10-2002, 02:16 AM

vi /etc/inittab

Then press 'insert' button you will be taken into insert mode, do the changes

greenhornet · 04-10-2002, 02:29 AM

If they dont know what vi is I dont think they are going to know how to use it

Try using joe and pico they are easier to use, I do recommend vi as you can be sure every unix type machine will have it.

hanzerik · 04-10-2002, 06:26 AM

this may help with commands.

http://www.chem.brown.edu/instructions/vi.html

Thymox · 04-10-2002, 06:29 AM

My personal favourite is JED. It looks pretty much like the msedit, but it's (apparently) based off emacs. Not all unices have it installed by default. I know it's on the Mandy #2, and I think on RH it simply runs emacs.

jayakrishnan · 04-10-2002, 06:33 AM

RNS recomends emacs.

JunLitsu · 04-10-2002, 12:13 PM

thanks, damn I feel dumb
is there a way to change from text to graphical mode through pressing several keys?

Thymox · 04-10-2002, 12:21 PM

Depends on what you're situation is. <CTRL>+<ALT>+<Fn> (when Fn is F1 --> F6) will drop you to a console. If you had to type startx to run X, then pressing <CTRL>+<ALT>+<BackSpace> should drop you to a console, but if you default to runlevel 5 (i.e. you have a graphical login prompt), then it will probably just log you out, and restart the login prompt.