Venerable text editor GNU Nano reaches version 5.0 and adds the modern frippery that is scrollbars
- Reference: 1596180488
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/31/gnu_nano_release_5/
- Source link:
The new update, called "Among the fields of barely", introduces a new --indicator command-line switch that will enable the display a kind of scrollbar on the right-hand side of the screen to indicate where in the buffer the viewport is located and how much it covers.
The free-software editor will now allow you to tag any line with an anchor using the <Alt+Insert>shortcut. You can jump to the nearest anchor using <Alt+PageUp> and <Alt+PageDown>.
It will also let you access the Execute Command prompt directly from the main menu with ^T, and toggle the help lines in all menus with M-X. Users can also pull up a list of all possible filenames by hitting the tab key and refresh the screen in every menu with ^L, which will also centre the cursor on the screen.
Microsoft emits a colourful Windows Terminal preview [1]READ MORE
The release introduces nine new colours, including lagoon, latte, lime, mauve, mint, peach, pink, purple, and orange. Brighter versions of black, blue, cyan, green, magenta, red, yellow and white are available through the light prefix. The update also includes bold and italic typefaces.
Smaller changes include renaming the long option --tempfile to --saveonexit , and the bindable function "curpos" to "location". Backupfiles will now retain their group ownership when possible and data will sync to disk before "...lines written" is displayed.
Nano is rocketing along these days with version 4.0 emerging in March 2019 and 3.0 in September of the previous year, a rather less-relaxed pace than that since the tool's 1999 launch.
A full changelog for the new update can be found [2]here and downloads are available [3]here . ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/19/windows_terminal_1_1/
[2] https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/latest/ChangeLog
[3] https://nano-editor.org/download.php
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Cult?
As in, it's a cult classic. Which it is.
C.
Re: Cult?
I thought it was for people who can't be bothered to learn Vi.
When crontab says "easier" next to Nano, surely that deters every self-respecting sysadmin?
Re: Cult?
The thing about easier software is that it allows you to think about the problem more than the tool. Even before you've spent many years adjusting yourself to suit the program.
Re: Cult?
I stuck my head in the foot, this tool got me thinking more about the problem than the solution
Re: Cult?
Cult as in, "Liked by relatively few but very much."
Alternatively, how about mcedit? In common with nano it shuns that Dark Cave UI style, but also has drop down menus like a sensible program. Shame it's such a faff to fix the lowest common denominator colour scheme really.
Is midnight commander and mcedit still maintained?
Re: Cult?
It's still not v...
Dammit!
esc:wq
I wonder how much more participation Nano and other GNU projects would be if they moved to a more friendly source code manager or bug tracker rather than Savannah. Maybe it is a generational thing, but I find making a branch and then a pull request far simpler than trying to submit patches. I got into a right mess the first patch I sent to KDE (phabricator not savannah, but similar interface) when I was asked for a changes and sent a second patch to the fist patch (apparently not Kosher), finally got something through and someone else applied the patch and so I am not even in the Git history :(
I am not suggesting GitHub. I assume they have an issue with GitLab CE (which Gnome have moved to and KDE are starting to)? A Gitea clone?
An alternative editor.
Ah yes,
Nano and Pico. I tried them but could not get on with either.
What I did find and use to this day is a little extra bundled with MC called mcedit. It's all I need for editing .cfg files etc. and the key bindings are the same as MC so I found it easy to use.
It may not be for everyone but it is a little hidden gem which no-one seems to know about.
Brighter what?
"Brighter versions of black, ... and white"
Does it come with the disclaimer "Unavailable where contrary to the laws of physics"?
Re: Brighter what?
It's common in terminal emulators for "white" to be somewhere near #cccccc and "light white" to be #ffffff
Trying out nano 5 now, "brightblack" appears to be about #646464
I keep nano around for simple edits, but I've compiled it myself to switch the key labels from ^G ^X ^O etc. to F1, F2, F3 etc. (Both combinations still work identically.)
It seems typical of the GNU mindset to think "Ah! But the user may be using a machine without function keys!" It's 2020.
I love the way the changelog refers to "the scroll-bar thing" - makes it sound like the writer thinks it's some sort of abomination!
Ah Nano
I tried learning vi and emacs countless times, but nanos elegant simplicity I just keep coming back to.
Tilde
I've just discovered the editor 'tilde'. It's a bit like the old MS-DOS editor. Features include (shock) ^S to save and ^Q to quit. It's a nano killer.
Re: Tilde
I've just discovered the editor ...
Arriving in the Linux camp after 20+ years of MS OSs (DOS onwards) I had a hard time struggling with the usual recommended editors (and their variety) till I came across 'jed'.
That's what I use these days with the ocasional fling with mcedit, but then I am not a coder/programmer.
O.
Re: Tilde
Which MS-DOS editor? I've endured edlin, which even made the e vi l one look good.
Re: Tilde
Which MS-DOS editor?
The fullscreen one, edit.com from MS-DOS 5 onwards. Also used as the qbasic editor.
"Among the fields of barely"
That's intere-Sting. Barley, surely?
Cult?
Nano is not cult.
Now vi v emacs let battle commence!