Arch & Stuff

[andrewjoy]

I'm using Arch also, for four years or so now. I try to have an easy way to do what I need, besides the terminal way. So:

Window manager - awesome
File manager - nemo
Webbrowser - firefox (+tabkit, noscript, adblock plus) / uzbl-browser
Image viewer - geeqie
terminal emulator - xterm
PDF viewer - evince / okular (this only because you can select and save as an image file)
Text editor - gedit when lazy / vim when not
Audio player - mocp / vlc

I would replace xterm with st , xterm is a total mess

[amospalla]

I learnt vim years ago, just because I saw somebody who knew how to use it using it. After watching how text was "magically" edited I had no doubt.

[Madhias]

I installed vim right now, it is somehow better than vi. I can't say now why, but everything is smoother, the screen does not 'blink' when the arrow keys are pressed, but I can't say what in detail. I am wondering if the Mac OS vi is different to the one I used on Arch.

[matt3o]

(in the meantime installing arch linux to wife's PC)

[webwit]

Don't tell her, put Mac OS/Windows skin on it.

[Madhias]

She will love it! Or not

I have to say I feel healthier, balanced and can always learn and read about interesting things.

[matt3o]

Don't tell her, put Mac OS/Windows skin on it.

then she would hate it. She despises Mac. Totally indifferent to Windows.

[zuglufttier]

I'd never go ahead and use vi all the time. It's an ancient piece of software that happens to be installed most of time. I hope nobody uses notepad.exe for daily work... Don't feel forced to use some software that a lot of people recommend.

Vim can be made pretty usable right from the start with some config files. Never use it "naked". It will drive you mad

[JBert]

I installed vim right now, it is somehow better than vi. I can't say now why, but everything is smoother, the screen does not 'blink' when the arrow keys are pressed, but I can't say what in detail. I am wondering if the Mac OS vi is different to the one I used on Arch.

Do note that Vi is designed to work best in a situation which almost no longer occurs: high-latency remote connections. Most of its commands are made in such a way that you can just type a stream of keys and see the remote end catch up with your typing. Obviously this is no longer true now that most SSH sessions are near-instant.

Also, don't go overboard with customizations to turn your install in something it was never meant to be. Vim has odd quirks (e.g. in the way it implements tabs) which are hard to work around, and it can often not have a helper program working in the background. If you want an IDE or fancy editor (Eclipse, Sublime, Atom), simply use them. Most have a Vim mode available, if you really need it.

Finally, if you want to continue and you can only install one plugin then install https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible. It overrides Vim's defaults to be less surprising and not much more. Admittedly you might feel slightly disoriented if you use someone else's default Vim, but since it's just one file you could as well ask permission to download and install it.


I love Vim for its view on ergonomics (not too much weird Ctrl-Shift-something combos) but it does have a steep learning curve. Investing in a good keyboard with proper ergonomic cursor keys and your favorite macros might be a better use of your time than learning this arcane editor.

[tentator]

Wow great!
Should have known that in this mech keyb community the should be also many arch enthusiasts!!
I use arch since the beginning with great satisfaction.. urxvt with zsh in vim mode
AwesomeWM and vimperator

Have fun with it!!

Tent:wq

[Madhias]

Finally, if you want to continue and you can only install one plugin then install https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible. It overrides Vim's defaults to be less surprising and not much more. Admittedly you might feel slightly disoriented if you use someone else's default Vim, but since it's just one file you could as well ask permission to download and install it.

Thanks for that link, I'll try that out. Now I just edit all I need in Vim, and all I don't know I have to search for on the cheat sheet. Things that are always needed are easy to learn, things that are almost never needed I forget after I learned them. I am not coding or anything on a daily basis, just editing config files of servers we use at work, config files of my Arch installation, and things like that.

[zuglufttier]

I use vim like you, editing some config files and so on. But I use it almost every day. But I tend to forget the magic moves most of the time... I'll have to look them up the next time again.