Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 6, 2014 23:51 UTC (Sun) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
In reply to: Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper by efitton
Parent article: Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

How can I turn off X's selection buffer? I haven't found a solution that works (short of patching X's source code directly).

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 8, 2014 10:02 UTC (Tue) by cortana (subscriber, #24596) [Link] (11 responses)

1. Pretend it doesn't exit
2. Stop using badly written programs that operate on PRIMARY when you issue cut/copy/paste commands

The only program I run into these days that screws up the clipboard is Xchat.

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 8, 2014 18:43 UTC (Tue) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link] (10 responses)

I can't pretend it doesn't exist. And I stopped using badly written programs by switching to Mac OS X. It's a really nice solution - no more "two clipboards" problem or inconsistent cut&paste keys.

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 8, 2014 20:24 UTC (Tue) by madscientist (subscriber, #16861) [Link] (8 responses)

> I stopped using badly written programs by switching to Mac OS X

Fantastic! A solution that works well for you. So why are you here trying to convince us that the solution that we prefer is wrong, if only we were smart enough to see it?

95% of my cut/paste action deals with plain ASCII text and all the apps I use correctly handle standard X selections. There's no amount of control key/popup menu voodoo that will allow me to be more productive than standard X selection (I include here increasing/decreasing the current selection using mouse-3) and mouse-2 paste.

Maybe your needs are different and that doesn't work for you: in that case I'm happy you've found your nirvana. Please stop trying to pee on ours.

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 8, 2014 21:51 UTC (Tue) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link] (7 responses)

This topic has been already flamed to a crisp.

In short - there must be one CONSISTENT mechanism for cut&paste and it must ALWAYS work. Selection copy can never be consistent and in most cases is useless (with selection in an X-terminal being about the only exception).

So it must go, or at least be made a truly optional thing. So optional that only hard-headed cases ever turn it on.

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 9, 2014 0:01 UTC (Wed) by jake (editor, #205) [Link] (6 responses)

> In short - there must be one CONSISTENT mechanism for cut&paste and
> it must ALWAYS work.
> [ ... ]

Boy am I glad I don't live in a world where you rule. Sorry you don't like middle-click paste of the selection copy, but it works for *lots* of us, in *lots* of applications, and it has for *decades* -- perhaps you could just leave us all alone. Evidently there are systems where it is implemented to your satisfaction ... enjoy ...

thanks!

jake

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 9, 2014 0:15 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link] (5 responses)

I know somebody who is still using an Amiga. It worked for him for decades, after all.

For others it would be nice to think where and in what situations select-copy makes sense. And perhaps develop something less-broken.

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 9, 2014 4:16 UTC (Wed) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link] (3 responses)

The situation seems clear, no? Moving a ton of small text selections between two windows. Select-Paste-Select-Paste is much faster than Select-Control-C-click-Control-V-Click-Select-Control-C-Click-Control-V.

So Gnome 3 drove my consulting onto Macs too... I still miss focus-follows-mouse and good window/workspace management. But select-copy and middle-click paste? Nope, not one bit. Turns out I'd rather have a simple clipboard that works 100% of the time than a quicker one that developers can't quite agree on.

I guess drag and I agree on something after all!

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 9, 2014 4:34 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link] (2 responses)

> The situation seems clear, no? Moving a ton of small text selections between two windows. Select-Paste-Select-Paste is much faster than Select-Control-C-click-Control-V-Click-Select-Control-C-Click-Control-V.
Back in my Windows days, I used Far Manager everywhere and almost NEVER touched a mouse. So this scenario was: keyboard-select-ctrl-c alt-tab ctrl-v. I could do it much faster than with a mouse.

I guess that you can contrive some scenario where middle-paste is useful, but should we invent a whole new mechanism for it? Really?

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 9, 2014 19:10 UTC (Wed) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (1 responses)

My problem with ctrl-c ctrl-v is I've only got to make a typo and it really screws things up.

I'd much prefer a working select-middleclickpaste to the mess that these control keys cause me ...

Cheers,
Wol

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 10, 2014 8:30 UTC (Thu) by roblucid (guest, #48964) [Link]

That's what 'undo' is for and in KDE you can EITHER middle paste or right click context menu paste, if you don't like shortcuts. IIRC that was in Motif and maybe even in Sun Tools and Sun Openview.

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 9, 2014 11:54 UTC (Wed) by etienne (guest, #25256) [Link]

> in what situations select-copy makes sense

IHMO select-copy is a lower layer copy&paste, i.e. basically you only select text and the result of pasting is exactly the same as if you had pressed all the same keys. If you select a TAB character you get what a TAB does at paste time. I would even say if you select Control-A you get the result of typing Control-A. If you select few words in a word processor you get those words at paste time with the current font, background color, ... as if you did type those keys.

The upper layer copy&paste copies at a high level, can manage paragraphs with their font and formatting, can copy images and even convert in between format, remember that you did cut a WEB link and do something intelligent when you paste...

I think both are useful - they are different concepts.

Gräßlin: Next Generation Klipper

Posted Jul 9, 2014 11:53 UTC (Wed) by cortana (subscriber, #24596) [Link]

> I can't pretend it doesn't exist.

Why is this--the badly written software(which?), or are you accidentally pressing the middle mouse button resulting in unwanted pastes from PRIMARY?