vim vs. (original) vi, not vs. older versions of vim.

Posted Aug 30, 2005 22:05 UTC (Tue) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054)
In reply to: vim vs. (original) vi, not vs. older versions of vim. by arcticwolf
Parent article: Vim's newest features (Linux.com)

OK, I'll bite.

If I want an editor to think for me, I use emacs. When I don't, I use
nvi.

vim occasionally comes in handy for one feature or another, but normally
its extra features just get in my way.

I could take the time to figure out how to turn everything off, but it's
a lot quicker to use nvi. And once again, if I want to take a lot of
time to figure out how to change annoying defaults, I'll use emacs.

Of course, I'm one of those weirdos who uses both emacs and vi all the
time.

vim vs. (original) vi, not vs. older versions of vim.

Posted Aug 30, 2005 23:13 UTC (Tue) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link] (10 responses)

I could take the time to figure out how to turn everything off, but it's a lot quicker to use nvi.

I used nvi for a while for the same reason, but I got tired of it "flashing" when I tried to scroll past the end of the buffer, so I finally dug around for vim configuration information. Adding

filetype off set noautoindent

to ~/.vimrc took care of my major complaints. This is with Debian; last time I used Redhat they had the whole "Christmas Tree" thing going, but that can be disabled as well.

vim vs. (original) vi, not vs. older versions of vim.

Posted Aug 30, 2005 23:55 UTC (Tue) by parimi (guest, #5773) [Link] (1 responses)

I have alway's found redhat's default vimrc configuration annoying. Two options I hate the most are highlighting search (hlsearch on) and no autoindent for c/perl programs. I turn off these options in my ~/.vimrc but some of the default options (like noai) still remain set. As another solution, I execute vim -u ~/.vimrc <filename> but running :scriptnames in the editor still shows that /etc/vimrc was read. Does anyone know how to ask vim to only read my vimrc and nothing else?

vim vs. (original) vi, not vs. older versions of vim.

Posted Aug 31, 2005 7:35 UTC (Wed) by philips (guest, #937) [Link]

Please notice RH never had Vim in default instalatation.
Probably it is a sign.

Normally I end up recompiling vim since I use sometimes gvim and RH's gvim is just dumb [CENDORED] of [CENSORED], [CENSORED] and [CENSORED].
Most annoying features are text anti-aliasing and ridiculous GNOME integration, which kills bunch of standard vim shortcuts. I cannot imagine any sane person who can use that.

Recompilation helps. (Same goes for Solaris too.)

On SUSE and Debian, I found vim to be pretty okay - after few options tuned.

P.S. Most interesting thing, from another side of the fence, as I heard, hard-core Emacsers who use RH, normally insits on removing standard Emacs and using pacakges directly from GNU. Dunno why, but with all RH braindamages, I easily beleive that too.

redhat defaults

Posted Aug 31, 2005 0:26 UTC (Wed) by ccyoung (guest, #16340) [Link] (7 responses)

I've always thought the RH defaults were pretty good, esp when compared to Suse or Ubuntu.

You're right, need to do the :ai for indentation.

But accidental user modes are annoying: Sometimes it decides to start word wrapping. F1, being clumsily close to '2' gets pressed way too much. And frequently I'm asked about encrypting the doc and have no idea how I got there. And sometimes I work half an hour while recording a macro. All of these mysteries and more for someone too lazy for manual labor.

redhat defaults

Posted Aug 31, 2005 0:55 UTC (Wed) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link] (4 responses)

Amen! Add this to your ~/.vimrc:

" F1 is too close to other keys.  Besides, help is :help.
map  <F1> <Nop>
map! <F1> <Nop>

How about Gnome's F1

Posted Aug 31, 2005 1:18 UTC (Wed) by kh (guest, #19413) [Link] (3 responses)

Any way to get Gnome terminal to ignore or capture F1??? (Or remap to the Esc key I meant to hit?)

How about Gnome's F1

Posted Aug 31, 2005 7:44 UTC (Wed) by philips (guest, #937) [Link] (1 responses)

Try xterm.

I have tried `God only knows how many` "better" xterms and in the end came back to basics - xterm itself. Other terminals are so much to graphics/GUI/bells/whistles/etc what makes them poor utilities. xterm just works and need very very few changes to configuration. Was at time first and only terminal to properly support UTF-8. Properly support reverse video. Has no GUI - so nothing stands in a way of job. And has most comprehensive text selection around.

man xterm - it is infinite source of knowledge, only comparable to vim's :help ;-)

xterm + bash + vim is what I use all the time.

P.S. Thou if you are on RH/Fedora Core, RedHat ships screwed xterm.ad. Replace it with standard one from XFree86/X.Org.

How about Gnome's F1

Posted Sep 1, 2005 18:17 UTC (Thu) by tjw.org (guest, #20716) [Link]

Has no GUI - so nothing stands in a way of job

Although users are unaware, xterm actually has a GUI of sorts. Hold down CTRL while clicking on any of the 3 mouse buttons on the xterm. Obviously it doesn't stand in the way, but it's there.

How about Gnome's F1

Posted Aug 31, 2005 9:11 UTC (Wed) by micampe (guest, #4384) [Link]

Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts, scroll to bottom, select the "Help" row and hit back space. You might also want to uncheck the two checkboxes there for maximum effect.

redhat defaults

Posted Aug 31, 2005 1:12 UTC (Wed) by spiv (guest, #9031) [Link]

And sometimes I work half an hour while recording a macro.

Hit q. See :help recording.

Encrypting the document

Posted Aug 31, 2005 21:22 UTC (Wed) by peace (guest, #10016) [Link]

You got there by issuing ":X" while trying to quickly exit and save your document. You must learn to control your pinky.

(I do this all the time, and because I'm obviosly in a hurry, it's real annoying.)

Kind Regards

vim vs. (original) vi, not vs. older versions of vim.

Posted Aug 31, 2005 7:57 UTC (Wed) by joib (subscriber, #8541) [Link] (1 responses)

Of course, I'm one of those weirdos who uses both emacs and vi all the time.

Yeah, I used to do something like that too. Emacs for programming and other "big" tasks, and vi for quick-and-dirty editing (config files etc.). However, at some point I got the idea that it's a waste of time to learn two editors, so nowadays I use a lightweight editor with emacs keybindings (zile) for quick-and-dirty stuff.

learning multiple editors

Posted Aug 31, 2005 13:42 UTC (Wed) by ecashin (subscriber, #12040) [Link]

In order to use an editor efficiently, to really "get it",
you have to understand the way its creator gets editing done.

So I'm glad to use vi and emacs, and to learn any other
good editor (like plan 9's acme), because learning how
other people work is a great way to grow. I'm convinced
that, far from wasting time, it leads to improvements in
efficiency.