Re: [9fans] managing windows in rio

[Martin Neubauer <m.ne@gmx.net>]

* Eris Discordia (eris.discordia@gmail.com) wrote:
> I have had similar questions about ways to streamline my Plan 9 experience
> since like... a week ago (that is when I began using it).
>
> Plan 9 interfaces I have seen (rio itself, the window to rc, acme) are too
> mousy, and I used to (and still do) curse Windows (and adore *BSD) for
> just that reason. The line editor, ed, on the other hand makes good use of
> the keyboard, but I really preferred the vi (vim, actually) way; I know,
> vi was originally built around ed.

Well, the general attitude around here is that mouse interfaces aren't
necessarily bad (and the Plan 9 ones are particularly effeicient once you
get a grip on them). Also, the main applications (rio, acme, sam...) not
configurable except by hacking the code is a design feature to encourage
consistent behaviour across sites. That way I can sit down at about any Plan
9 machine and don't have to guess how the environment behaves.

I'll still tackle a few of you specific questions:

> 1. to change the focus except by mouse?
> 2. to change acme's chording behavior?
See above; chording is especially carefully crafted. It's probably more
gratifying in  the long run to just learn the standard chording methods.

> 3. to change acme's focus model from point-to-type to click-to-type?
That's a tricky one. It would certainly be possible to change the focus
behaviour, but that would cripple acme to a more conventional user
interface. One of the things that make working with acme so pleasant is the
fact that you don't have to click too much. Also, it could lead to
inconsistencies (for example right click on a file name to open it: should
the focus move to the new editing window because you'll likely want to edit
the file content or should it stay on the drectory view (or whereever you
have been) because you clicked there?) This might be a trivial case that
could be easily decided on, but you'd inadvertently get less obvious corner
cases.

> 4. to recall commands typed in an rc session without resorting to the
> middle mouse button (snarf+paste)?
Erik Quanstrom(?) has a modified rc with basic readline behaviour in his
contrib directory.

> 5. to make rc auto-scroll for programs that output many pages of text, e.
> g. a du on a deep directory tree, and to not block them after a single
> page?
Rc doesn't block (cf. p(1) ); rio windows do, though. Rio(1) explains how
you can handle this (and more).

> 6. to make rc auto-complete with the [tab] key, instead of the [ins] key?
> 7. to make rc auto-complete commands and not only file/directory names?
That, too, is a feature of rio, not rc. The effect is that auto-completion
isn't restricted to the shell, but there really isn't a sensible way to
decide whether to complete file names or commands. And it's actually quite
convenient to be able to juste type tab characters. You can use ctrl+f,
though.

> 8. to make the [del] key delete the character at the caret as it does in
> many other environments?
Del actually is the traditional interrupt key. I think Berkeley changed it
to ctrl+c, but in the Plan 9 lineage leading back to 1st ed Unix it's been
del all the time. Plus, you already have bs, and I'd conjecture that you are
mor likely to delete what you have already typed than what you are going to
type.

> 9. to search a manual page while reading it, and not by piping it through
> grep?
You could just open the man page in acme. The usual search options are
available then. Plus, you can then open related man pages with a single
click.

Hope I could help a bit,
	Martin