NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/comp/sources/wanted/5513

Text File | 1992-12-30 | 5.8 KB | 167 lines

Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!gatech!emory!swrinde!network.ucsd.edu!munnari.oz.au!mel.dit.csiro.au!dmp.csiro.au!lachlan
From: [e-mail] (Lachlan Cranswick)
Subject: Re: Beginners' editor - tried PICO?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: CSIRO Division of Mineral Products, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
References: <[e-mail]>
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 22:29:28 GMT
Lines: 156

[e-mail] (Jon Berger) writes:

>I'm looking for a very simple, very limited WYSIWYG editor that will
>support a VT100 (emulator), under SunOS 4.1.  I know about rsed, and
>it's great, but I was looking for something full-screen, because this
>is for my Unix-terrified but Mac-literate wife to use, and the concept
>of a line-oriented editor is a bit too foreign for her.  Anybody know
>of anything along these lines?


Have you tried the public domain pico editor that
comes with the pine newsreader but can be compiled
separately.  It is very easy to use having the
command menu at the bottom of the screen.

If I could waste some more band width as
a number of people on different newsgroups
have asked for opinion on a good UNIX editor
and of course I have suggested pico.  I don't
know what you mean by WYSIWYG on a vt100
terminal emulation but pico shows you the words.

If pico is too simple for you then the JOE public
domain editor is quite good as it uses WordPerfect
style commands and can give you a command
menu on the top half of the screen.

Hope this helps,  Lachlan.



Here is an expergated version of a failed post I did
about pico (the original was a bit over the top).
I was that impressed when I first found it!!!!
The FTP site is somewhere in the middle.
A very nice person from the USA told me about it
after I did a post about UNIX unfriendliness
for ordinary users.

It is very easy to get going - give me elm if you
need a hand though.  Almost every on our site uses
this editor it is that easy to learn.  I'm happily
addicted to vi still.  Hope this helps.

Start of FAILED POST-->

"When will UNIX like MS-DOS be good enough to
provide a simple text editor that is easy for
new users and non-unix freaks to use."

WELL IT IS HERE AND IT IS CALLED PICO
and it is totally brilliant and goes
beyond the conecpt of a UNIX text editor.
Easy to use, all the menu commands in front
of you face.
Nothing complex - a simple editor.

UNIX has reached its peak of civilization and
enlightenment - Its all down hill from here
(bad luck if you missed it)


You can show this program to simple users
with a clear and guilt free heart - it has
a zero learning curve.  An easy way to get people
using electronic mail and introduce the newsgroups.

The prelude :-

I have the gall to suggest UNIX makes DOS look
good, mainly due to vi and other nuances that
get up the nose of novice users in a big way.

I don't get struck by bolts of lightning so I
continue this blasphamy  ---- Until -->

Out of heaven comes an American Angel via email -
flames me -  but in this flame - 2 paragraphs of
solid gold ->



>When we moved our news operation to Unix, making vi the default editor
>was not even an option.  We unanimously refused to make vi the global
>default.  The options were either Emacs or a proprietary version of
>VAX TPU for Ultrix, and we ended up going with Emacs.
>
>A small editor called `pico' which I recently installed has been
>gaining popularity.  It is more user-friendly than Emacs, and I
>thought Emacs was about as good that you can get in user-friendliness.
>Ftp to ftp.cac.washington.edu and get /pine/pine3.05.tar.Z to get the
>Pine mailer and Pico editor together; you can extract and compile only
>pico if you wish.


I ftp this file off the net.  I extract it.

I look at the pico subdirectory.

My god!! - there are sample Makefiles for around a dozen
different machines.

I pick the one for the SUN.  Our site workstation is
a Solbourne.  I bear myself for the inevitable
"can't find some $%@# library during compilation."

WOW - it compiles.  Why do I need to continue?  Should I
just pay homage to the concept of a simple UNIX editor
that also compiles.  But why stop when my day is going to well.
I have almost found religion.

THIS IS THE BEST BIT!!!

I type ./pico AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS -AND IT
IS A SIMPLE EDITOR!!!
YOU CAN EVEN LOAD FILES BY HIGHLIGHTING FROM
A DIRECTORTY LISTING.  ALL THE MENU COMMANDS
ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN - NO MYSTERIES.
AUTOMATIC LINE FEEDS AND JUSTIFICATION A
MENU OPTION -  AAAAHHHRRRRRRR!!!!

The people who wrote this program are not gurus -
they are beyond gurus - THEY ARE GODS!!!!!


Yo dudes,  Lachlan.  (writing from the garden of peace and heavenly
love.  Why take drugs when there exist GODS!!)

PS:  I wrote this post using vi.  Given my company has spent quite
a few thousand on sys manager and unix courses to teach me vi,
I think it would be tactless to stop using it.  I am a big enough
freak to enjoy using it.

The only site user yet I have come accross who did not like
the idea of PICO was a bloke who had just (after two
years) come to grips with vi.  It is hard to admit
you have wasted two years of your life.

END OF FAILED POST

--
  Lachlan Cranswick
  Experimental Scientist
  PC Computer Services
  Powder X-ray Diffraction Services

  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
        Research Organisation.            _--_|\  [e-mail]
  Division of Mineral Products           /CSIRO \ tel [phone]
  PO Box 124, Port Melbourne 3207        \_.--._/ fax [phone]
  AUSTRALIA                                    v
--
  Lachlan Cranswick  -  CSIRO             _--_|\  [e-mail]
  Division of Mineral Products           /      \ tel [phone]
  PO Box 124, Port Melbourne 3207        \_.--._/ fax [phone]
  AUSTRALIA                                    v