[9fans] Re: User Interface

[9fans] Re: User Interface

[rob pike]

I'm confused.  Our copy of vi doesn't have a ~ command.
Did someone put one in?  You should have told us.
	grep '''~''' /sys/src/cmd/vi/*.[ch]

-rob

Re: [9fans] Re: User Interface

[Dan Cross]

In article <20010824134555.4D8A2199D7@mail.cse.psu.edu> you write:
>I'm confused.  Our copy of vi doesn't have a ~ command.
>Did someone put one in?  You should have told us.
>	grep '''~''' /sys/src/cmd/vi/*.[ch]

What, didn't you hear?  That's the new MIPS instruction for, ``halt and
catch fire.''  Dude, where have YOU been?  Shesh.

	- Dan C.

sam video? (Re: [9fans] Re: User Interface)

[Matthew Hannigan]

rob pike wrote:
> 
> I'm confused.  Our copy of vi doesn't have a ~ command.

Maybe it's my fault.  I mentioned that "other editor".
I was merely pointing it's lack of user feedback and
making an analogy with sam, which simiarly is low
on user feedback.  At least for a newbie on first startup.

I also think that typically things like sam are 
demonstrated to others and not picked up cold from manuals.

For those of us who are making the leap alone it
would be tremendously useful to see a little video
or animated movie.

Care to make one?


Regards,
	-Matt

ps. promise i won't mention that other editor again.

Re: [9fans] Re: User Interface

[David Gordon Hogan]

> Should we change the topic to `Why VMS was better than UNIX because
> the C++ was better than C because of where you put the braces since
> ford is better than chevrolet, anyway, and high wing monoplanes are
> better than low wing ones bacause you can see the ground better.
> 
> Did I leave anything out?

Beta vs VHS.

Re: [9fans] Re: User Interface

[bwc]

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Having a mips emulator run instead of the expected grungy editor is
better than the program a version of SYSTEM V I once used would run.
If you executed `iv' instead of `vi' you got the `initialize volume'
command!

(Maybe rob doesn't care for discussions of BSD editor on 9fans.)

Should we change the topic to `Why VMS was better than UNIX because
the C++ was better than C because of where you put the braces since
ford is better than chevrolet, anyway, and high wing monoplanes are
better than low wing ones bacause you can see the ground better.

Did I leave anything out?

  Brantley

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From: "rob pike" <rob@plan9.bell-labs.com>
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: [9fans] Re: User Interface
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 09:45:48 -0400
Message-ID: <20010824134555.4D8A2199D7@mail.cse.psu.edu>

I'm confused.  Our copy of vi doesn't have a ~ command.
Did someone put one in?  You should have told us.
	grep '''~''' /sys/src/cmd/vi/*.[ch]

-rob

Re: [9fans] Re: User Interface

[Dan Cross]

In article <20010824135325.E2FE5199D7@mail.cse.psu.edu> you write:
>Did I leave anything out?

Yes.  Coke is better than Pepsi.

	- Dan C.

[9fans] User Interface

[Eric de Redelijkheid]

I recently heard about plan9 when I was just browsing the Internet 
looking for some UNIX-related documents.

I saw it was possible to download a copy and since I have an IBM 
Thinkpad 390E which I don't really use anymore, I installed it. The 
installation was very simple; that gave me good hopes about general use.

I trust that the concepts were well concidered when designing this 
operating system, however I have never seen a more awkward user 
interface since twm. The editors, sam and acme are virtually unusable. 
Why is it that such a simple task as editing the contents of a textfile 
must cause so much pain? At least some of you must have seen notepad.exe 
at work during your lifetime? It can´t do much, but it gets the job done 
in a simple way!
Why is there not just one single command to create a new user, but do I 
need first to make the file /adm/users writable, edit this file (with 
more luck then wisdom), and type in at least three different commands. 
When I log on with the new username, I have to give another command to 
get the computer to present me a graphical user environment; which is a 
grey screen.

I don't know for whom the designers created this operating system, but I 
hope that they had human beings in mind.
In my opinion every task performed on a computer:
- installation
- administration
- general use (word processing, spreadsheet, mail etc..)
- programming
should be done with the aid of a simple, intuitive,  point- and- click, 
graphical user interface.

btw: is there a shutdown command or do I just switch my laptop of?

[9fans] Re: User Interface

[Douglas A. Gwyn]

Eric de Redelijkheid wrote:
> ... The editors, sam and acme are virtually unusable.

I don't know what you expect in a text editor, but I've used many
and "sam" is the one I prefer for almost every editing task.

> Why is it that such a simple task as editing the contents of a textfile
> must cause so much pain? At least some of you must have seen notepad.exe
> at work during your lifetime? It cant do much, but it gets the job done
> in a simple way!

I don't think software tools are suited for you, or perhaps the
other way around.

> Why is there not just one single command to create a new user, but do I
> need first to make the file /adm/users writable, edit this file (with
> more luck then wisdom), and type in at least three different commands.
> When I log on with the new username, I have to give another command to
> get the computer to present me a graphical user environment; which is a
> grey screen.
> ...
> btw: is there a shutdown command or do I just switch my laptop of?

Most people read the instructions.
I guess in your case, you could throw the laptop against a wall.

Re: [9fans] Re: User Interface

[Boyd Roberts]

From: "Douglas A. Gwyn" <DAGwyn@null.net>
> I don't know what you expect in a text editor, but I've used many
> and "sam" is the one I prefer for almost every editing task.

first thing i do when i get to the new job -- sam.

> > Why is it that such a simple task as editing the contents of a textfile
> > must cause so much pain? At least some of you must have seen notepad.exe
> > at work during your lifetime? It cant do much, but it gets the job done
> > in a simple way!

really CR/LF?  get real.

> Most people read the instructions.
> I guess in your case, you could throw the laptop against a wall.

9mm is a lot more fun, but a bit more serious:

    http://home.fr.inter.net/boyd/banks/hsbc

well, they did say 'cut it into little pieces' ...