I wanted to have a separate laptop where I only use the terminal for my use cases. At the moment I am somewhat confident using the terminal, but I think limiting myself to tty only would build my confidence even more. Any tips?

EDIT: I am already using nvim and I already have installed a minimal distro (Arch). I just need advice on how to actually run this system effectively.

  • SavvyWolf@pawb.socialEnglish
    10·
    6 months ago

    If you’re serious about sticking to the terminal, it’s probably worth learning a terminal text editor like emacs or vim. Once you get the hang of them, you can be much more productive compared to something like nano.

    I think it’s also worth learning about job control and/or terminal multiplexers, but I’ve yet to fully understand them myself.

      • mryessir@lemmy.sdf.org
        10·
        6 months ago

        vim is more then simple file editing.

        • netrw (interactive file manager)
        • copen/lopen (windows to connect, e.g. external programs)
        • :global, %s/, etc. which form text manipulation language (from editor ed, I guess)
        • args & argsdo (multi-file editing)
        • filetype (hooks for the user)
        • ctrl_X completion modes
        • motion (fluent & with jumplist to walk forward/backwardl
        • undotree (persisting, unlimited, timebased - on-demand)
        • macros (record and replay keypress)
        • romainl (awesome community member)

        vim for one-time tasks at work. When people are proposing to script something, I open buffers, normalize the data and filter the results. I think in vim and I would very, very much recommend it, if you work with data or are a dev.

      • chameleon@fedia.io
        5·
        6 months ago

        vim has better default keybindings/commands that allow for less movement of your hands. Nowadays, in reasonably current versions of nano, that’s mostly it. The main difference is nano is somewhat usable but extremely inefficient unless you learn it, while vim forces you to learn it to get anything done at all, which also pushes people to spend a bit of time learning it in general.

        If you’re sure of the numbers you’re using, vim’s ability to repeat commands is also helpful. In practice I find that it’s really hard to make use of them beyond low numbers, where nano can still achieve things in similar amounts of keypresses. Eg something to delete 3 words like <escape>3dwi can be done similar with a sequence like Alt-A ^→ ^→ ^→ ^K in nano. Make it 20 words and nano is going to be a lot slower, but that’s quite an uncommon action.

        But the practice is that nano users don’t spend time learning any of that and just hold delete until the words are gone, which takes forever. Everyone that can do basics in vim quickly learns that you can dw words away and make it 3dw to delete 3 of them. The default, easiest to use & access tool for any given situation gets blamed not just for its flaws, but also for the users that don’t want to spend time learning any tool.

        • GravitySpoiled@lemmy.mlEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          After reading up on vim, I ended up at emacs now and I like the emacs style because it works with ctrl and meta keys which feels familar to me. I may learn emacs now.

          Your example makes completely sense, yet I’ve never felt that the standard way was slow in the first place. I could see my workflow improving, but I guess I just want to have extra special commands. Thank you!

        • sem
          1·
          6 months ago

          I agree that vim forces you to learn before you can use it, but it is possible to learn the bare minimum of vim.

          I get by with a very basic understanding of insert mode and the other mode where :q! quits

      • h0bbl3s@lemmy.world
        4·
        6 months ago

        VIM for the win. I really enjoy the built in file browser accessed by the command :explore

        I also code in go frequently and go-fmt and go-lint etc work flawlessly. You can use whatever LSP you want so you get your code tips and autosuggestion etc.

        The tabs and split window functions are nice too. Plus if you learn Vi well it’s on almost every system in existence. Nano not so much

      • F04118F@feddit.nl
        2·
        6 months ago

        Try running this: vimtutor

        If you are already aware of hjkl, skip to the part where you learn motions:

        /motion

        Then look up surround (ysw is usually the command to surround a word, ys3w the next 3 words, etc)

        It’s pretty neat.

        • GravitySpoiled@lemmy.mlEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          That is some very useful commands, thx! But I don’t think I’ll be using it often and hence I’ll lose the skill. I know ctrl+vxs or f etc because I use them very often. Anything that I don’t use is forgotten even if I’d use vim

          • F04118F@feddit.nl
            3·
            6 months ago

            Exactly! If you only have to edit small text files on a server once in a blue moon, nano is much less biomemory-heavy. But if you regularly write docs and code in l vim or neovim, it starts to pay off after a week or two.

            I really enjoyed learning to quickly select and change entire words or lines, doing things like: :%s/replace_this_text/with_that/g Etc. If you enjoy that, you will soon get to a point where you miss the motions in your regular editor and install a vim extension in VS Code and stuff, just before fully switching to neovim

      • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
        2·
        6 months ago

        Tbh I think it’s just a matter of preference and some people are being elitist about it or overestimate the importance of it.

    • mryessir@lemmy.sdf.org
      1·
      6 months ago

      The most important thing about terminal multiplexers is that you have to atart them with the terminal command. e.g. yourterminal --startcommand=tmux.