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From: bwebster@iastate.edu (Webster Brian D)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Wanted: Easy, Full-screen Editor for UNIX
Message-ID: <1990Oct4.153022.13721@news.iastate.edu>
Date: 4 Oct 90 15:30:22 GMT
Sender: usenet@news.iastate.edu (USENET News Poster)
Reply-To: bwebster@iastate.edu (Webster Brian D)
Organization: Iowa State University
Lines: 40

My employer needs a simple, full screen editor that will run on a VAX 8250
running BSD 4.3-tahoe.  This editor will be used by non-technical people
for writing mail messages, etc.  Currently we use a line editor that was
developed in-house, but we want to provide full-screen capabilities.

Before I write a new editor, I want to find out if one already exists.
I'd rather not re-invent the wheel.  The requirements I am looking for are:
  1)  Must be easy to learn and use.
  2)  Full screen editing capabilities.  Must be able to move the cursor
      around using the arrow keys.  It must support vt100 arrow keys.  Other
      terminal support would be nice, but not required.
  3)  The editor should do reasonable word wraps.  Again, it would be
      nice if different width screens were supported (ie 80 or 132 columns),
      but 80 columns would be okay.
  4)  The commands that are desired are write file and quit, write file,
      read file, and quit without saving.  Much more than these are
      overkill.
  5)  Source code must be provided.
  6)  See requirement #1.

Optional features of the editor would be:
  1)  Ability to handle a signature file.
  2)  Ability to handle replies and include the text of the original message
      in the reply.

I have both vi and emacs, but nether one of these are acceptable for this
application.  Both are too big, have too many bells-and-whistles, and are
too hard to learn.

I'd like to hear about either public domain or commercial products, but my
employer would be much happier with public domain. :-)

Thanks for any information you can give me...

/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
|  Brian Webster                     |  Disclaimer:                    |
|  EXNET Programmer/Analyst          |  The above statements and/or    |
|  Iowa State University Extension   |  ideas are mine, and may not    |
|  s1webste@exnet.iastate.edu        |  reflect those of my employer.  |
\____________________________________+_________________________________/