text editing in ubuntu

[Fred Roller]

On Tue, 2009-08-04 at 03:10 +0100, steve wrote:
> hi all,
> 
> i've been lurking for a while. and i'm quite impressed by how helpful you 
> all are.
> 

Thank you.

> i've been double booting linux with windows for many years. i went with 
> slackware for a long time, being a minimalist at heart. i suffered 
> unsupported hardware and lack of sympathetic user groups [those were the 
> days] because it was not windows and i'm a 'help someone if you can' kind of 
> guy. however, i have certain requirements and litle time [don't want to go 
> into that now - but i'm not an ict pro, by any means].
> 
> i love linux and i've always wanted to ditch windows completely 

I took the Cortez approach and burned all my ships, ditched windows all
togother.  Now I just keep windows around in a virtual machine for the
occasional need with a client.  It took a lot less effort to come up to
speed than I expected. :)

> but have 
> never found a satisfactoty means of editing text, or of editing text in 
> email. i also need a good html editor. [looking at screem at the moment]. in 
> an ideal world i'd learn to use cli apps or emacs.

Out of the box gedit will suit you as recommended.  For cli + gui
options then look at 

sudo apt-get install vim-full vim-gnome

which will allow you to work in either environment without learning a
lot of separate progs.

>  i'd also like to win the 
> lottery, but it ain't gonna happen. even though a pigeon shit on my head the 
> other day.
> 

> i've persevered with windows largely due to the efforts of a japanese 
> programmer, tomohiro norimatsu, the author of the text editor 'dana'

His feature list, http://www.rimarts.co.jp/dana.htm, seems largly doable
in the editors being recommended.

>  and the 
> email client 'rebecca', both fully featured but more importantly both 
> bulletproof, as it were. many users of those progs have begged him to 
> produce linux versions of those apps to no avail.
> 
> tonight i tried to do the simplest of things, one would have thought. i 
> tried to edit a text file with gedit. after a few operations i lost focus on 
> the editing window  the 'i-beam cursor was was impotent. save file, reopen, 
> here we go again. a few operations and the i-beam is taunting me. and there 
> is no evidence of wordwrap whatsoever. what gives?

Did you try the various Edit->Preferences or View->Highlight options?
To help keep your place?

> 
> i tried editing the text file in a kmail window and it would not wrap. 

I use evolution.  A friend uses Thunderbird.

I have not had email editing issues on neither AspireOne w/ eeebuntu or
Acer Aspire 7520 with Jaunty Ubuntu.

> again 
> the edit window lost focus after a few operations. strange though it may 
> seem, this email has worked perfectly. hang on, saving to outbox and re-
> editing, wordwrap is cludgy. could there be a simple explanation?
> 
> ubuntu netbook remix on samsung nc10
> kate installed but likewise dysfunctional
> kate uninstalled - nothing changes
> 

gnome or kde, choose one, save yourself a headache.

> could any one recommend a fairly advance means of editing text that doesn't 
> involve an immense learning curve, 

I found that the editors all seem to follow similar conventions and made
it easy to move from one to the other in their most basic editing form.
The granular control came from reading and practice.

> never mind drag and drop, but visual word 
> wrap would be good.
> 
> all tips gratefully received.

As for the HTML editor.  If you want just a code editor then any of the
text editors will do a great job.  For web design, go to
Applications->add/remove or System->Administration->synaptic package
manager and do a search.  Their are a number of programs available.
WYSIWYG editors are available as well.  Komposer, or the Composer
function in Seamonkey suited me well for simple webpage development.

> 
> steve
> 
> maschino maschino yello 
> 

Hope this gave you some ideas and was helpful.

-- 
Fred R.
www.fwrgallery.com

"Life is like Linux - simple; if you are fighting it, you are doing
something wrong."