Subject: Re: RFC: Simple screen editor for NetBSD
To: Thor Lancelot Simon <tls@rek.tjls.com>
From: Jukka Marin <jmarin@pyy.jmp.fi>
List: current-users
Date: 01/07/2000 22:06:55
On Fri, Jan 07, 2000 at 02:55:56PM -0500, Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:
> I strongly disagree. The idiocy with 'ee' is the most-expressed gripe
> about FreeBSD that I've heard. In fact, I've seen it be a key point
> in the *rejection* of FreeBSD at one major Unix site.
>
> 'vi' is just fine. If you don't like vi, ed works fine, too.
>
> We are not FreeBSD. We are not Linux. We do not need to screw over
> experienced Unix users or bloat the distribution for the convenience
> of people who would shortly trip and fall over plenty of other fine
> points of Unix anyway on their way up the learning curve.
Hmm. There's this place using NetBSD, where no-one knows how to use
vi. It's always a challenge to get a new machine up and running when
you have to guide them keystroke by keystroke on the phone when they're
editing /etc/rc.confor /etc/group or doing vipw to get the system up so
I can log on from the network.
I would be REALLY nice to have some easy editor in /usr/bin (I know
it will never be in /bin anyway ;-) so these people wouldn't be so
scared of touching NetBSD. _I_ can live with vi until I get something
installed from pkgsrc (I use jed these days because it's smaller than
emacs and I'm too stupid to use 99.9% of the capabilities of emacs), but
there are lots of people who would benefit from a simple, "normal" editor.
These people will NEVER learn vi because they normally use notepad on
windoze. If we don't provide them an easy-to-use editor, they just keep
telling everyone how DIFFICULT unix is.
IMHO.
One more vote for a small, easy editor.
-jm