I was refering to the subject - that you hate info and man. I know that sometimes you need more than the terse discription of the command, but I meant that navigating is easier, if you know some shortcuts.
I find that when man doesn't have what I need, I look for an example somewhere (maybe a HOWTO, or google, or a book), but it generally works as a reminder for something you have used before, but don't remember it's syntax. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Ralph Shumaker > Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:50 PM > To: Main Discussion List for KPLUG > Subject: Re: I hate "info" (and "man") (and love them too) > > > Scott McClelland wrote: > > >You'll probably hate it less, if you start to use vi commands > for searching. > > > >G -- to go to the end of the document Capital-G > >/ -- To find a word use /, n, N (slash followed by search word, > n for next, > >N for previous) > > > >e.g. > >$ man ls > >/color<enter> > > > > > > "/, n, N" are probably about 50% of the commands in vi that I already > know. I use them often in man. I've been introduced to others but have > forgotten the ones I don't use often (which is most of them). But I > don't think learning vi commands are going to help me much. I'm not > sure what you're referring to by "it" when you say "You'll probably hate > 'it' less..." since I talked about several different things that I hate. > > > >>-----Original Message----- > >>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Ralph Shumaker > >>Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 12:33 PM > >>To: Main Discussion List for KPLUG > >>Subject: I hate "info" (and "man") (and love them too) > >> > >> > >>I hate "info". I like how much information is there. I guess I just > >>hate it because I haven't yet figured out how to navigate through it. > >>I've tried to figure it out. (There's a lot of info in "info info".) > >>Usually, I just use the space bar to go through it a page at a time. > >>Using any other keys I usually end up in places totally unrelated. And > >>even using the space bar, in some topics it gets to a certain place > >>where it just starts looping through the same series of pages. Did I > >>mention that I hate "info"? I think at this point, I would prefer to > >>have everything in html pages, particularly if I can modify them easily > >>to correct the myriad mistakes I find (usually the grammar of someone > >>whose english is not their first language, secondly mistakes that happen > >>when one goes back and edits text without properly proofreading > >>afterwards, but thirdly sometimes mistakes in instructions or examples > >>(info tar has quite a few of these. (in rh9 (Worry not. I'm in the > >>process of moving up to fc3. (I tried fc4 but it wouldn't work on my > >>PC.)))). Assuming the html pages are simply black on white with links > >>in blue, I would like to change previous text to a strikeout font, add > >>my changes in green (links still blue but enclosed by green "<>"), and > >>any mistakes that I cannot figure out what they intended to say, just > >>change them to red. Hopefully, the authors would be interested in my > >>efforts. > >> > >>I hate "man" for its lack of clear examples. For those who a well > >>versed in such mystic chants, the examples couldn't be clearer. I can > >>never think of nor find good examples when I want them, but in "man ls" > >>is this: > >> --backup[=CONTROL] > >> make a backup of each existing destination file > >> > >>Now, those of you who understand this without further explanation > >>perhaps cannot comprehend why those like me just don't get it. There is > >>no explanation of what CONTROL is. Now I *do* understand that =CONTROL > >>is an option because I understand that the brackets signify this. > >> > >>In many places in "man", I find myself reading through a whole bunch of > >>explanation that I'm just not picturing, and find myself *craving* an > >>example. But, that being said, an example by itself is never enough. I > >>also want to see (with the example) actual output of what that example > >>does. With html, it would be easy to have a link (_example_) which can > >>be ignored by anyone who doesn't need it. > >> > >>I like info more than man in that it gives more information including > >>examples and such. > >> > >>I like man more than info in that it has nowhere near as much to plod > >>through when I want something simple and specific. > >> > >>On the subject of liking and hating things, one thing I hate about html > >>(and several others, including man (but *not* info)) is how page-down > >>works when you hit the last page. In man, most of the time that I hit > >>page-down, I resume reading at the very top line (very consistent) until > >>the last page comes up. The bottom of the text does a hard stop at the > >>bottom of the screen giving me whiplash of the brain. At this point, I > >>have to tell the reading center of my brain "Ahem! Experiencing > >>technical difficulties. Please stand by while I scan the page for the > >>last words I was reading. Once I find them, I will back up to the > >>beginning of the thought that was so brutally interrupted and restart > >>reading from that point. Please stand by. I'm sure I will find that > >>stupid text I was just reading any moment now. Please stand by. ... > >>... ... Erm, what was I just reading? Crap!!~! Please stand by > >>while I go back to the top of the man page, hit page down until I find > >>myself back to where I was before I hit that infernally stoopid > >>page-down button. Please stand by. Almost there. Almost there. Hey, > >>this damn page is a lot longer than I thought it was. Shit, I'm nowhere > >>near the end yet. Please stand by. Please stand by. Aah, I think > >>we're here. Damn. False alarm. Please stand by. Please stand... > >>SHIT!!! I hit the damned end again. Here we go again." (Yes, I'm > >>exagerating the process, but not the emotions.) Why the hell can't all > >>pagers (including html) remain consistent between ALL pages, including > >>the last one!?! I think all html pages should have as their last line > >>"No more after this." and followed by about a hundred newlines. Same > >>goes for all man pages (either that or change the default-installation > >>page-down-default to mimick ESC-spacebar.) > >> > >>Speaking of default-installation defaults, is there any reason for the > >>seemingly-insane default of Num-Lock being disabled? > >> > >> > >> > >>-- > >>[email protected] > >>http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > [email protected] > http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
