Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!mcnc!rock.concert.net!robertsr
From: robertsr@cs.unca.edu (Ralph Roberts)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: EMACS ???    <--->     VI !!!
Message-ID: <1991May31.150008.1790@rock.concert.net>
Date: 31 May 91 15:00:08 GMT
References: <1991May30.124131.4679@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Sender: news@rock.concert.net
Organization: University of North Carolina at Asheville
Lines: 39

In article <1991May30.124131.4679@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> ury@mosque.huji.ac.il (ury segal) writes:
>
>Look. EMACS is too complex. I tryed to find How to get the current line
>number for 1/4 hour And I couldn't. SO I USE VI !  _Much_ better for me
>right now. And emacs don't let me use my mouse (I'm running X), and epoch
>let me, but not on the standart way.
>I know that EMACS is great, have meny meny features. SO WHAT. I can't
>use them easily.

>--ury
>(By the way, How you get the current line number ?) 

Dear Ury, to get the current line number  in Emacs, simply  type Esc x
what-line or (using the  Meta key) M-x  what-line. The current  line's
number is shown in the echo area at the bottom of the screen.

As to making Emacs a good  deal less complex,  I am immodest enough to
recommend THE UNIX DESKTOP GUIDE TO EMACS by myself and Dr. Mark Boyd.
The book will be out in August from Howard W. Sams.

Emacs--whether it be  GNU, Freemacs, UniPress, Epsilon, MicroEmacs, or
any of the  other delicious   flavors of  the world's  greatest   text
editor--is MUCH more powerful than vi and (once you get into it) a lot
friendlier and easier to use. Unfortunately, the manuals (assuming you
were lucky enough to get one)  are often  cryptic at best,  as witness
your problem in   trying to find some   as simple as the  current line
number. So Mark and I wrote a  book  about how  to use Emacs in "real"
English for "real" people ;-). We are very proud  of it and feel it is
a service that has been long needed.

Good luck with Emacs.                             --Ralph



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