[TUHS] Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[TUHS] Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[Will Senn]

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Today after trying to decipher the online help for vim and neovim, I 
decided I'd had enough and I opted for nvi - the bug for bug vi 
compatible that I've used for so long on FreeBSD. It handles cursor 
keys, these days (my biggest gripe back when, now I'm not so sure it's 
an improvement). It's in-app help pages are about 300 lines long, the 
docs are just four of the 4.4 docs: An Introduction to Display Editing 
with VI, Edit: A tutorial, EX Reference Manual, and VI-EX Reference 
Manual - all very well written and understandable. It does everything I 
really need it to do without the million and one extensions and 
"enhancements" the others offer.

In doing the docs research, I found many, many references to a "/Vi 
Quick Reference card"/ in the various manpages and docs. I googled and 
googled some more and of course got thousands of hits (really many 
thousands), but I can't seem to find the actual card referenced. I'm 
pretty sure what I want to find is a scanned image or pdf of the card 
for 4.4bsd.

Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref card 
for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?

Will

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[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[segaloco via TUHS]

On Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 9:31 PM, Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:

> Today after trying to decipher the online help for vim and neovim, I decided I'd had enough and I opted for nvi - the bug for bug vi compatible that I've used for so long on FreeBSD. It handles cursor keys, these days (my biggest gripe back when, now I'm not so sure it's an improvement). It's in-app help pages are about 300 lines long, the docs are just four of the 4.4 docs: An Introduction to Display Editing with VI, Edit: A tutorial, EX Reference Manual, and VI-EX Reference Manual - all very well written and understandable. It does everything I really need it to do without the million and one extensions and "enhancements" the others offer.
> 
> In doing the docs research, I found many, many references to a "Vi Quick Reference card" in the various manpages and docs. I googled and googled some more and of course got thousands of hits (really many thousands), but I can't seem to find the actual card referenced. I'm pretty sure what I want to find is a scanned image or pdf of the card for 4.4bsd.
> 
> Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref card for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?
> 
> Will

Perhaps this?  https://imgur.com/a/unix-vi-quick-reference-Nw0sfTH

Pardon the quality and host, not in a place to do a more thoughtful scan and archival right now.  That was in a stack of documents I received some time ago, thrown in with stuff like V6 and KSOS manuals, some BSD docs, etc. so I presume it's also "official" fare.  That and no commercial indicators (TMs, copyrights, etc.)

Let me know if that link doesn't work and I'll try and find my scanner and do it properly (scanner is MIA apparently...)

- Matt G.

P.S. I also have the AT&T branded version of this from 1984, it's a small 22 page flipbook with the same cover motif as early SVR2 binders (so the grey with some "deathstar" lines not the red with black accent dots).  Once I find my scanner I'll get that on the glass.

[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[segaloco via TUHS]

On Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 9:46 PM, segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:

> On Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 9:31 PM, Will Senn will.senn@gmail.com wrote:
> 
> > Today after trying to decipher the online help for vim and neovim, I decided I'd had enough and I opted for nvi - the bug for bug vi compatible that I've used for so long on FreeBSD. It handles cursor keys, these days (my biggest gripe back when, now I'm not so sure it's an improvement). It's in-app help pages are about 300 lines long, the docs are just four of the 4.4 docs: An Introduction to Display Editing with VI, Edit: A tutorial, EX Reference Manual, and VI-EX Reference Manual - all very well written and understandable. It does everything I really need it to do without the million and one extensions and "enhancements" the others offer.
> > 
> > In doing the docs research, I found many, many references to a "Vi Quick Reference card" in the various manpages and docs. I googled and googled some more and of course got thousands of hits (really many thousands), but I can't seem to find the actual card referenced. I'm pretty sure what I want to find is a scanned image or pdf of the card for 4.4bsd.
> > 
> > Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref card for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?
> > 
> > Will
> 
> 
> Perhaps this? https://imgur.com/a/unix-vi-quick-reference-Nw0sfTH
> 
> Pardon the quality and host, not in a place to do a more thoughtful scan and archival right now. That was in a stack of documents I received some time ago, thrown in with stuff like V6 and KSOS manuals, some BSD docs, etc. so I presume it's also "official" fare. That and no commercial indicators (TMs, copyrights, etc.)
> 
> Let me know if that link doesn't work and I'll try and find my scanner and do it properly (scanner is MIA apparently...)
> 
> - Matt G.
> 
> P.S. I also have the AT&T branded version of this from 1984, it's a small 22 page flipbook with the same cover motif as early SVR2 binders (so the grey with some "deathstar" lines not the red with black accent dots). Once I find my scanner I'll get that on the glass.

Looked a bit harder and found it, scanned that booklet:

https://archive.org/details/unix-system-v-visual-editor-quick-reference-issue-2

The two appear different enough, although they may share a common ancestor.  I hope one or the other fits what you're searching for, either specifically or at least generally as a concise vi(1) reference.  I keep the AT&T booklet at my desk as a matter of fact, it's quite convenient.

- Matt G.

[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[Matt Day]

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Yep, that's it.

The Vi Quick Reference Card dates back to the vi documentation in 2BSD:
https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2BSD/doc/vi
specifically the file vi.summary:
https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2BSD/doc/vi/vi.summary

Here's vi.summary in 4.4BSD:
https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=4.4BSD/usr/src/usr.bin/ex/USD.doc/vi/vi.summary
A decent PDF render: https://www.mpaoli.net/~michael/unix/vi/summary.pdf

On Mon, Jun 3, 2024 at 10:46 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:

> On Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 9:31 PM, Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Today after trying to decipher the online help for vim and neovim, I
> decided I'd had enough and I opted for nvi - the bug for bug vi compatible
> that I've used for so long on FreeBSD. It handles cursor keys, these days
> (my biggest gripe back when, now I'm not so sure it's an improvement). It's
> in-app help pages are about 300 lines long, the docs are just four of the
> 4.4 docs: An Introduction to Display Editing with VI, Edit: A tutorial, EX
> Reference Manual, and VI-EX Reference Manual - all very well written and
> understandable. It does everything I really need it to do without the
> million and one extensions and "enhancements" the others offer.
> >
> > In doing the docs research, I found many, many references to a "Vi Quick
> Reference card" in the various manpages and docs. I googled and googled
> some more and of course got thousands of hits (really many thousands), but
> I can't seem to find the actual card referenced. I'm pretty sure what I
> want to find is a scanned image or pdf of the card for 4.4bsd.
> >
> > Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref card
> for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?
> >
> > Will
>
> Perhaps this?  https://imgur.com/a/unix-vi-quick-reference-Nw0sfTH
>
> Pardon the quality and host, not in a place to do a more thoughtful scan
> and archival right now.  That was in a stack of documents I received some
> time ago, thrown in with stuff like V6 and KSOS manuals, some BSD docs,
> etc. so I presume it's also "official" fare.  That and no commercial
> indicators (TMs, copyrights, etc.)
>
> Let me know if that link doesn't work and I'll try and find my scanner and
> do it properly (scanner is MIA apparently...)
>
> - Matt G.
>
> P.S. I also have the AT&T branded version of this from 1984, it's a small
> 22 page flipbook with the same cover motif as early SVR2 binders (so the
> grey with some "deathstar" lines not the red with black accent dots).  Once
> I find my scanner I'll get that on the glass.
>

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[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[Douglas McIlroy]

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It's not a card, but it's brief: vi(1) in the v10 manual covers vi, ex, and
edit in three pages.

On Tue, Jun 4, 2024 at 1:47 AM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:

> On Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 9:46 PM, segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org>
> wrote:
>
> > On Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 9:31 PM, Will Senn will.senn@gmail.com
> wrote:
> >
> > > Today after trying to decipher the online help for vim and neovim, I
> decided I'd had enough and I opted for nvi - the bug for bug vi compatible
> that I've used for so long on FreeBSD. It handles cursor keys, these days
> (my biggest gripe back when, now I'm not so sure it's an improvement). It's
> in-app help pages are about 300 lines long, the docs are just four of the
> 4.4 docs: An Introduction to Display Editing with VI, Edit: A tutorial, EX
> Reference Manual, and VI-EX Reference Manual - all very well written and
> understandable. It does everything I really need it to do without the
> million and one extensions and "enhancements" the others offer.
> > >
> > > In doing the docs research, I found many, many references to a "Vi
> Quick Reference card" in the various manpages and docs. I googled and
> googled some more and of course got thousands of hits (really many
> thousands), but I can't seem to find the actual card referenced. I'm pretty
> sure what I want to find is a scanned image or pdf of the card for 4.4bsd.
> > >
> > > Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref
> card for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?
> > >
> > > Will
> >
> >
> > Perhaps this? https://imgur.com/a/unix-vi-quick-reference-Nw0sfTH
> >
> > Pardon the quality and host, not in a place to do a more thoughtful scan
> and archival right now. That was in a stack of documents I received some
> time ago, thrown in with stuff like V6 and KSOS manuals, some BSD docs,
> etc. so I presume it's also "official" fare. That and no commercial
> indicators (TMs, copyrights, etc.)
> >
> > Let me know if that link doesn't work and I'll try and find my scanner
> and do it properly (scanner is MIA apparently...)
> >
> > - Matt G.
> >
> > P.S. I also have the AT&T branded version of this from 1984, it's a
> small 22 page flipbook with the same cover motif as early SVR2 binders (so
> the grey with some "deathstar" lines not the red with black accent dots).
> Once I find my scanner I'll get that on the glass.
>
> Looked a bit harder and found it, scanned that booklet:
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/unix-system-v-visual-editor-quick-reference-issue-2
>
> The two appear different enough, although they may share a common
> ancestor.  I hope one or the other fits what you're searching for, either
> specifically or at least generally as a concise vi(1) reference.  I keep
> the AT&T booklet at my desk as a matter of fact, it's quite convenient.
>
> - Matt G.
>

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[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[Will Senn]

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Thanks Matt & Matt :). This is what I was looking for and thanks for the 
background, too. Oh, and duh, it didn't occur to me to go looking for 
the source. Off to see about rendering my own from source!

Will

On 6/4/24 7:28 AM, Matt Day wrote:
> Yep, that's it.
>
> The Vi Quick Reference Card dates back to the vi documentation in 
> 2BSD: https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2BSD/doc/vi
> specifically the file vi.summary: 
> https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2BSD/doc/vi/vi.summary
>
> Here's vi.summary in 4.4BSD: 
> https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=4.4BSD/usr/src/usr.bin/ex/USD.doc/vi/vi.summary
> A decent PDF render: https://www.mpaoli.net/~michael/unix/vi/summary.pdf
>
> On Mon, Jun 3, 2024 at 10:46 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
>
>     On Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 9:31 PM, Will Senn
>     <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     > Today after trying to decipher the online help for vim and
>     neovim, I decided I'd had enough and I opted for nvi - the bug for
>     bug vi compatible that I've used for so long on FreeBSD. It
>     handles cursor keys, these days (my biggest gripe back when, now
>     I'm not so sure it's an improvement). It's in-app help pages are
>     about 300 lines long, the docs are just four of the 4.4 docs: An
>     Introduction to Display Editing with VI, Edit: A tutorial, EX
>     Reference Manual, and VI-EX Reference Manual - all very well
>     written and understandable. It does everything I really need it to
>     do without the million and one extensions and "enhancements" the
>     others offer.
>     >
>     > In doing the docs research, I found many, many references to a
>     "Vi Quick Reference card" in the various manpages and docs. I
>     googled and googled some more and of course got thousands of hits
>     (really many thousands), but I can't seem to find the actual card
>     referenced. I'm pretty sure what I want to find is a scanned image
>     or pdf of the card for 4.4bsd.
>     >
>     > Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick
>     ref card for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really
>     exist?
>     >
>     > Will
>
>     Perhaps this? https://imgur.com/a/unix-vi-quick-reference-Nw0sfTH
>
>     Pardon the quality and host, not in a place to do a more
>     thoughtful scan and archival right now.  That was in a stack of
>     documents I received some time ago, thrown in with stuff like V6
>     and KSOS manuals, some BSD docs, etc. so I presume it's also
>     "official" fare.  That and no commercial indicators (TMs,
>     copyrights, etc.)
>
>     Let me know if that link doesn't work and I'll try and find my
>     scanner and do it properly (scanner is MIA apparently...)
>
>     - Matt G.
>
>     P.S. I also have the AT&T branded version of this from 1984, it's
>     a small 22 page flipbook with the same cover motif as early SVR2
>     binders (so the grey with some "deathstar" lines not the red with
>     black accent dots).  Once I find my scanner I'll get that on the
>     glass.
>

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[TUHS] vi(1) in 10th Ed. (Was: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD)

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi,

Doug wrote:
> It's not a card, but it's brief: vi(1) in the v10 manual covers vi,
> ex, and edit in three pages.

I went looking for it.  The source is
https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V10/man/man1/vi.1

The TUHS wiki,
https://wiki.tuhs.org/doku.php?id=publications:manuals:research#tenth_edition
links to a 10th Ed. PDF, but beware it isn't a scan of the manual.
Instead, as the blurb on scrolling down says, the man pages were
formatted with BSD's mandoc so not a lot of chance of the output
matching the original.

Page 389 of 992 is the start of vi(1).  The .2C two-column output
split by a tab character hasn't been honoured which is why it starts to
look garbled by the second page.

    .PP
    .de fq
    \&\f5\\$1\fR───→\\$2 \\$3 \\$4 \\$5 \\$6
    ..
    .de fz
    \&\f5\\$1 \fI\\$2\fR───→\\$3 \\$4 \\$5 \\$6
    ..
    .ta \w'\f5:e + file'u
    File manipulation
    .2C
    .fq :w write back changes
    .fz :w  file write \fIfile\fR
    .fz :w!  file overwrite \fIfile\fR

A scan of an authentic 10th Ed. manual would be handy.  If it already
exists, then the wiki would be better pointed at that.

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.

[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[Clem Cole]

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On Tue, Jun 4, 2024 at 12:32 AM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:

> Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref card
> for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?
>
Matt Day pointed you to the source, but in a small but slightly assuming
addition. Your comment made me check my archives. Indeed, while the version
on imgur.com is not golden, it is close.  The copies I have are
printed on "sunflower
yellow" card stock.

By the way, there was a firm called "Specialized Systems Consultants" of
Seattle, Washington, that in the early 80s had a business printing and
selling pocket reference cards and other SW and Services. They had a pretty
good vi reference, which is ISBN 0-916151-19-0. It was printed on white
card stock with black and blue letters for highlights and boxes around some
of the text.

Also, while looking for the vi cards, I turned up two wonderful artifacts
that I'll try to get scanned and added to TUHS at some point. When you
purchased V7 from AT&T, you got one copy of the printed docs and a small
"purple/red" 9"x3.5" flip-binding reference card that Lorinda Cherry
compiled. Also, when DEC released V7M-11, they printed a small flip-binding
8"x4" reference called the "programmers guide" [AA-X7978-1C]—which is
similar but different.

> ᐧ

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[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[Blake McBride]

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How about this one?  https://wiki.arahant.com/Wiki.jsp?page=Vi


On Mon, Jun 3, 2024 at 11:32 PM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:

> Today after trying to decipher the online help for vim and neovim, I
> decided I'd had enough and I opted for nvi - the bug for bug vi compatible
> that I've used for so long on FreeBSD. It handles cursor keys, these days
> (my biggest gripe back when, now I'm not so sure it's an improvement). It's
> in-app help pages are about 300 lines long, the docs are just four of the
> 4.4 docs: An Introduction to Display Editing with VI, Edit: A tutorial, EX
> Reference Manual, and VI-EX Reference Manual - all very well written and
> understandable. It does everything I really need it to do without the
> million and one extensions and "enhancements" the others offer.
>
> In doing the docs research, I found many, many references to a "*Vi Quick
> Reference card"* in the various manpages and docs. I googled and googled
> some more and of course got thousands of hits (really many thousands), but
> I can't seem to find the actual card referenced. I'm pretty sure what I
> want to find is a scanned image or pdf of the card for 4.4bsd.
>
> Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref card
> for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?
>
> Will
>

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[TUHS] Re: Vi Quick Reference card for 4.4 BSD

[Matt Day]

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My favorite vi reference for ages is Maarten Litmaath's, available here:
https://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/vi.html
Contributors to that include Rich Salz and Diomidis Spinellis.

On Tue, Jun 4, 2024 at 8:33 AM Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, Jun 4, 2024 at 12:32 AM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Do y'all happen to know of where I might find the golden quick ref card
>> for vi from back in the 4.4bsd days or did it even really exist?
>>
> Matt Day pointed you to the source, but in a small but slightly assuming
> addition. Your comment made me check my archives. Indeed, while the version
> on imgur.com is not golden, it is close.  The copies I have are printed on "sunflower
> yellow" card stock.
>
> By the way, there was a firm called "Specialized Systems Consultants" of
> Seattle, Washington, that in the early 80s had a business printing and
> selling pocket reference cards and other SW and Services. They had a pretty
> good vi reference, which is ISBN 0-916151-19-0. It was printed on white
> card stock with black and blue letters for highlights and boxes around some
> of the text.
>
> Also, while looking for the vi cards, I turned up two wonderful artifacts
> that I'll try to get scanned and added to TUHS at some point. When you
> purchased V7 from AT&T, you got one copy of the printed docs and a small
> "purple/red" 9"x3.5" flip-binding reference card that Lorinda Cherry
> compiled. Also, when DEC released V7M-11, they printed a small flip-binding
> 8"x4" reference called the "programmers guide" [AA-X7978-1C]—which is
> similar but different.
>
>> ᐧ
>

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