[Coco] VI Editor

[Dave Philipsen]

I really, really would like to have a nice basic programmer's editor for 
OS9.  I have seen nothing yet that fits the bill for me. Currently, I'm 
working on a 6809-based project in assembler and my source file is about 
166k.  The binary itself is only a little over 20,000 bytes but the 
source is around 9,000 lines.  I know I could break it up into chunks 
but, for me, it's really nice to be able to edit it all as one big file.

  Since the mid 80s I have used a DOS-based editor called Norton Editor 
which is just great.  The only problem is that it runs under DOS or a 
DOS box in windows.  It will handle very large files.  I don't know how 
large because I've not hit the limit yet.  There is a learning curve 
with it as it requires that you use certain key combinations for certain 
operations but it's not too bad.  I've used VI, emacs, nano, etc. but, 
to date, Norton Editor is the best in my mind.  For me as a programmer 
the most important functions are search, search and replace, block move, 
block copy, block delete, delete line, and perhaps a little less 
importantly, a split-screen mode where you can have two files open and 
bounce back and forth and even copy data from one file to the other.

So for now I'm stuck with using a Windows machine with a DOS box running 
Norton Editor, assembling the code with my CSC assembler and then 
uploading the resulting S-record file via a serial port to my target.  I 
would love to have a little portable NitrOS9 notebook computer with 
which I could do the same thing.  Unfortunately, having a good 
programmer's editor is what has kept that from happening.  I started on 
a project some months ago for an OS9 text editor that would use a 
ramdisk or allocated blocks of memory to store/manipulate the file but 
it is a rather large endeavor and has unfortunately fallen by the 
wayside for now.  One of these days....

Dave


On 2/19/2018 10:58 PM, L. Curtis Boyle wrote:
> VEd (a full screen editor) also gives you a buffer of 56k, as the program itself is <7.5K, written in assembly.
>
> L. Curtis Boyle
> curtisboyle at sasktel.net
>
>
>
>> On Feb 19, 2018, at 10:54 PM, Gene Heskett <gheskett at shentel.net> wrote:
>>
>> On Monday 19 February 2018 20:26:59 Mark McDougall wrote:
>>
>>> On 20/02/2018 10:00 AM, phil pt wrote:
>>>> Does anyone know the VI commands to move the cursor to the start
>>>> mark a block then move the cursor down and mark the end block and
>>>> copy & past it in the file.  checked the internet and I can not find
>>>> any clear steps on how to do it?
>>> I think you need to learn the secret handshake first, before you start
>>> using VI (or emacs)...
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>> The vi (now vim on my machines) made from TSEdit has no relationship to
>> vi/vim on the *nixes other than being a 2 mode utility like vi/vim. So
>> see the TSEdit manual for all the details. It is IMO, the best editor we
>> have for the coco's because as an editor, it can run with a buffer of
>> #56k, meaning it is less than 8k in total size. The original patch
>> changed its name to vi, but in recent nitros9, vi has been claimed for a
>> vtype window device. So you'll need to use dEd to extend its name to
>> vim, with bit d7 set in the m character, but zeroed in the i character.
>> The basic editor is the same regardless, so see the TSEdit docs for how
>> to run it to its greatest effect.
>>
>>> --
>>> Mark McDougall
>>> <http://retroports.blogspot.com.au>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Cheers, Gene Heskett
>> --
>> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
>> soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
>> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
>> Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
>>
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>