[Novalug] Editors thread was vi help, please

Sun Jan 3 15:49:57 EST 2010

Megan,

Print formatting is what a2ps (not to mention pr) is for.

In vi you can print by sending the file to any print command you want.

:w !command

pipes the current buffer to command, which was traditionally "lpr -p" on 
BSD systems, and is usually a2ps on Linux.

I have used enscript before, but it seems like it came with lots of 
gingerbread...bells and whistles I didn't really care much about. 
Whereas, a2ps is a program you will probably wind up using forever 
anyway. YMMV.

JIM

P.S. You can also read from a pipe, as in

:r !ls

reads a directory list into your file.

Megan Larko wrote:
> Megan's $.02:
> 
> I am primarily a vi user.   I went to vi kicking and screaming from xedit decades ago but now I am completely satisfied with vi.    The one thing I would like to note is that KDE kate and GNOME gedit format the printed output better for me than vi utility.    I would work on a file in vi and then save it and open it in gedit or kate to send it to a printer (with a file  name and a date and even numbered pages).   The vi utility does not have any printing capability of which I am aware (if you know of one, please enlighten!)  and vi, mpage or lpr just isn't always pretty or useful enough.
> 
> Happy Almost New Year,
> megan
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: jonwrose at verizon.net
> To: James Ewing Cottrell 3rd <JECottrell3 at Comcast.NET>
> Cc: novalug at calypso2.tux.org
> Sent: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:45:18 -0500 (EST)
> Subject: Re: [Novalug] Editors thread was vi help, please
> 
> I would agree with the exception of learning VI before learning VIM.  VI exists on every UNIX system, vim is not.  In fact, most of the unix systems I've been on, they don't even have emacs installed.
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Ewing Cottrell 3rd <JECottrell3 at Comcast.NET>
> Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:04:30 
> To: Bonnie Dalzell<bdalzell at qis.net>
> Cc: <novalug at calypso2.tux.org>
> Subject: Re: [Novalug] Editors thread was vi help, please
> 
> Of course you can do what you want, but it's my considered opinion that 
> it's only worthwhile learning two editors: vim and emacs.
> 
> Everything else is destined to disappoint. Both those editors have been 
> around for a quarter of a century, and it's unlikely that anything 
> whipped up as a component of a Desktop Windowing System (gedit, kwrite) 
> could match it, or would even try.
> 
> Better to spend you brain cycles learning the nooks and crannies of vim, 
> or dive into the deep end and learn emacs.
> 
> I have seen countless editors come and go, and I don't want to see any 
> more. Of course, just when you think the game is over, something new 
> comes along. Wake me up when it does.
> 
> JIM
> 
> Bonnie Dalzell wrote:
>> This got me thinking about editors so I did a recent search within 
>> Synaptic and came up with a very large list. I also fetched most of them 
>> to try out.
>>
>> I will try and post some sort of organized set of comments. So far they 
>> divide into terminal editors and gui window editors.
>>
>> The most important variables to me are
>>
>> Keystroke macros?
>> Block selection?
>> Contextual highlighting for code
>> Layout of file selection requestor
>>
>> Just at first glance - Some things that appear in some but not others
>>
>> Gedit has a sort function
>> Kwrite has a nifty ability to highlight a block between selected parens, 
>> brackets, etc
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> X2 at http://www.tangbu.com/x2downld.htm
>>
>> at first I hd problems downloading it with Epiphany but when I choose 
>> "save link as" rather than just clicking on the link it did download.
>>
>> I took both the Linux version and the XWing beta. The XWing beta runs OK 
>> on my Ubuntu system under wine. It does seem to have a macro recorder and 
>> it has a more attractive presentation than nedit.
>>
>> The linux version I was able to launch seems to be terminal based (i tried 
>> both x and xx) which means it does not have a set of menus. Looks like I 
>> will have to read the documentation before being able to do much with the 
>> linux version. The XWing beta under wine is useable from the start 
>> due to the menu system. Clicking on the icons for the menus at the top 
>> brings up the menu items in small requestors.
>>
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>                         Bonnie Dalzell, MA
>> mail:5100 Hydes Rd PO Box 60, Hydes,MD,USA 21082-0060|EMAIL:bdalzell at qis.net
>> Freelance anatomist, vertebrate paleontologist, writer, illustrator, dog
>> breeder, computer nerd & iconoclast... Borzoi info at www.borzois.com.
>> HOME www.batw.net    ART bdalzellart.batw.net  BUSINESS www.boardingatwedge.com
>>
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