Hi there, Slackers! I just installed 10.1 (which is what I had), and here's what happened:

Partioned for dual boot (XP) on a 40 G Maxtor using QT Parted (found on the Rescue CD). Set a swap for 1 G and a root of 8 G. Resierfs. I left the rest alone in case.....
I found the available partion programs on the Slack 1 were a bit awkward for this.

Anyway, I got my Slack installed, and even got the GUI (Gnome) running, albeit with some errors regarding sound, etc. Anyway, I installed lilo on the /partition and used GAG (a free bootloader) so I could access XP and use the net, .....And bug you kind folks a bit All went well, and it wasn't that tough for me, or any newbie, I'd say. I REALLY want to use Slack, though and am thinking longer term. Naturally, I need to edit a lot of the etc, and config files, right?

Which brings me to the question: Which text editor to learn? I opened Vi (I think) and could not get out. the <:q!> didn't seem to work so I had to re-boot with 3 fingers (cntr/Alt/delete). I REALLY have been doing research with every source at hand. I know there is Vi, and Emacs, and Elvis, and VIM and a whole lot more. What I don't know is what is most common for you Slackers......I'm looking for the simplest, closest thing to maybe Write, word pad, Abi or something. I have enough to learn as it is! Thanks for any help (and YES, I tried that too, along with man, how-to, etc.).

A pointer to a doc on your choice would be nice, but not required.

Thanks.

i personally use Kate if i'm in GUI, but in text mode, i would prefer Vi. But for word processor, i prefer OOo

have you tried to press ESCAPE first and then :q! and then ENTER ??
it worked for all vi version

mr.mike,

When I first started out with Slackware, I was a big user of pico (It comes with the pine package from memory). Very basic and easy to learn text editor.

However, I recommend you learn vi. It's a very powerfull editor and has a load of nifty features which you will learn and use as second nature.

There is a pretty good vi document on FreeBSD.org[1]

Good luck

-Kristijan

[1] - http://docs.freebsd.org/44doc/usd/12.vi/paper.html

...and, it just happens that only yesterday, LXer linked a real nice vi(m) tutorial: http://www.nuxified.org/vi_survival_guide

First thing you'll want to do when using vim is using the default config file, to do this run: cp /usr/share/vim/vim63/vimrc_example.vim /usr/share/vim/vimrc
That will give you sintax highligthing when supported and a few other "nice" details.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! (in my best Gomer Pyle voice

Exactly what I needed, guys. I'll use pine to get up and running, and study Vi (m)? till the dogs come home.

And man, that thing is tricky when you first try it out!!


My next question will be in a few weeks, I hope

mIke

And, hopefully, your answers just as soon. Welcome to Slackware, and let the learning (and teaching) begin!

Mr. Mike,

There is one other editor you should look at. It's the edit function in mc <Midnight Commander>. If you work on the commandline mc is handy for doing all sorts of things with files.

Dennisk

Vi is handy, since you will find it (or one of it's many clones) on just about any *NIX system you find yourself on. I think a really good way to learn it relatively quickly is to just use:

That will get you going with most of the basic commands for any of the vi clones.

I personally lilo nano http://www.nano-editor.org/ (a pico clone). BTW pico comes with Slackware 10.2.

Thanks

Which can be used as a standalone app, it's called mcedit (I prefered this when switched to Linux since I was a Norton Commander lover ).

I'll be loading up Slackware as soon as my internet connection is up long enough to get a decent download but I'd like to know if Elvis is still the default VI clone in slackware and if there are really any noticeable differences from VIM? I don't know a thing about elvis but I can only assume that it's "like" VIM.

I like pico or nano for the quickest of quick fixes... but I don't like emacs. I learned on VIM and I'm rather used to it.

For those who have a spare 10 minutes and are willing to learn VI (assuming you have VIM and don't know a thing about it) type

vimtutor

at a prompt and it'll toss you into a "file" opened in vim that tells you how to do it and gives you the opportunity to play with the exercises it provides. It's great if you learn-by-doing and it's the reason I know VI.

-Bill

EDIT: sorry I was reading and posting before I saw the previous vimtutor post! I don't mean to be redundant.

[QUOTE=shilo]Vi is handy, since you will find it (or one of it's many clones) on just about any *NIX system you find yourself on. I think a really good way to learn it relatively quickly is to just use:

Thanks, AND I downloaded and copied your "how I do it" post a long time ago (on your web site when I could get it all in one page

Amazing stuff! And thanks for the links and suggestions for nano and mcedit, too.

FWIW, I've printed the Slackware Bible/manual/handbook the Vi manual, and about everything else I could find on the net that was Slack specific. I'm gettin' there............

WHAT a crowd here, huh?

I also am a Midnight Commander user (mc). I use it for any directory exploring, config file editing, log file viewing...i can go on. You can use it to ftp and you can even run command-line from it. For me its the perfect all-purpose tool. Its easy to learn for beginners and its powerful enough for advanced users.

My personal preference for the panes is to use the left pane for file info and the right pane for the directory tree.

Now that's REAL interesting, Stichman, as I was thinking I'd have to manually search for all the files I was trying to edit. Plus, I have no idea of the syntax to use for any of the editors.

I seem to remember using Norton Commander way back in DOS, back when windows 3.1 came out. Man, I fought a long time before I switched to Window$.

I'll see if I can find a tutorial on this one, too. Since I'm not going to program any, this may be a nice compromise, huh? I did a full install of 10.1, and I understand there is over 2K progs somewhere, I should have it..........

My main concern right now is to get everything working so I can dump the Richmond stuff. Thanks for the tips, guys! I'm taking notes, so I'll let you know what I settle on. I may even write a "Slackware for Dummies" post for guys just starting out, too