[Info-vax] EDTINI.EDT Issues

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-06-28 15:20:26 +0000, John Reagan said:

> On Tuesday, June 28, 2016 at 10:23:57 AM UTC-4, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Unfortunately, OpenVMS lacks a dumb-as-a-post keyboard-only editor such 
>> as nano or pico, so there's not a good basic editor.  Yes, some folks 
>> will cite EDT for that, but editors such as nano and pico put the core 
>> commands on the display, and don't encourage nor require the use of the 
>> LK-series keypad, which means entirely avoiding the case where the 
>> end-user either lacks the keypad, or has to determine the particular 
>> mapping for the particular hardware environment or terminal emulator 
>> involved.
> 
> Well, since I started using EDT on an LA120, I know it works without a screen.

That's a dangerous statement to make.  Not the "I know it works" part.  
 Yes, EDT works, and I too use EDT line mode when I'm on a non- or 
semi-functional emulator.   The dangerous part is applying experience; 
it's what has gotten OpenVMS into more than a little user interface 
trouble in the last couple of decades, too.  But I digress.

> And without the screen, I never touched the keypad.  I didn't know EDT 
> had a screen mode until my employer bought us VT100s.  Line-mode EDT 
> isn't much different than 'ed' on my Linux box.

Yeah.  Toss an inexperienced user into EDT and then into pico/nano, and 
see which of those two editors gets better progress for the user.   
Inexperienced users are now and will increasingly managing more than a 
few OpenVMS servers these days, and looking for help managing these 
servers, and the admonitions from some folks here aside.   The 
installed base only gets you so far, OpenVMS isn't going anywhere 
without new generations of staff.   But I digress.

Would I encourage pico/nano for an experienced user?  Sure; if they 
want it.  But maybe emacs, vim, LSEDIT or some other choice would be a 
better choice — even EDT, if you must — if you're going to make heavy 
use of a text editor.   If you're "just" whacking configuration files — 
configuration files as the front-line management and configuration 
construct being a whole 'nother barrel of worms — and not already 
familiar with some other command line editor — emacs, vim, LSEDIT, EDT, 
whatever — then pico/nano is very likely the better choice.


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