On Mon, 4 Mar 1996   hvozda@netcom.com wrote:

> > 
> > The edit function of disklabel attempts to invoke the "vi" text editor so 
> > you can add the entry for the MSDOS partition.  Unfortunately VI is not on
> > the boot kernel intall floppy nor the installation floppy. ....

--snip!--

> 
> But you already have it :-)
> 
> ed(1) is contained on the install floppy (for 1.0 and 1.1 at least).  If
> you set the EDITOR environmental variable to ed then disklabel(8) should
> call for ed at the outset.  Basically, if you do know how to use ed and
> disklabel, it's possible to install from just a kernel copy floppy, the 
> install floppy, and a MS-DOG partition with the distribution.  Done
> several times, and have t-shirts to prove it :-)

I thought of that, but didn't know how to do it.  I was going to rename
ed to vi and try that, but when I tried out ed to see if I could figure
it out, I got totally mixed up.  (I've been "spoiled" by screen editors :-).

> 
> Altho, someone (me probably) should send-pr a fix for making sure EDITOR
> and VISUAL get set to the right thing just for the install process...
> 

That would be a good idea.  One other suggestion would be to include
sufficient documentation for ed(1) for someone to be able to perform
simple edit operations.  It wasn't very intuitive and man pages are not
installed at that "stage in the game".  The last system I used a
line editor on was a Z80 CPU based system *fully populated* with
64 k RAM and with CP/M as the operating system.  :-)   I have used 
screen based or graphical editors since.


Thanks for the help,


Darcy