Re: New ae uploaded to Incoming
On 17 May 1998, Rob Browning wrote:
> Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net> writes:
>
> > I did the best I could at replacing all the "critical" functionality with
> > control keys so that ae can function in both a dumb terminal as well as
> > the full featured console. Because of the limited choices the alphabet
> > provides, I was not able to convert all the keys to control keys, so the
> > block, cut, and paste functions, the help key, undo, and case flip are
> > still controled by the function keys. I am taking suggestions for control
> > key sequences for these functions, and will do what I can to convert all
> > of them in the near future.
>
> Well, if you're emulating emacs, I'd thing that mapping
The release being discussed did not try to emulate emacs. The most recent
release (-19) has just been moved out of Incoming into frozen and
unstable. This release is much more "emacs like" keybindings, although
there are several exceptions as discussed below. All of my statements
below are with respect to the -19 version.
>
> block -> C-space
I used C-@ before I knew about C-space. I will add it to the next release
(as an alternate key) to reduce the surprise for those emacs users used to
using C-space.
> cut -> C-w
Which is what I used ;-)
> paste -> C-y
Here as well.
> undo -> C-u (not really right, I know...)
>
On my first cut I used that key as well, but when I found out that the
default emacs key was C-_ I choosed that one instead ;-)
I can add C-U as an alternative as well, as it isn't used
elsewhere...maybe...
> might make sense. And what about C-? for help? All this predicated
Well, the choice I made was not all that correct either. The correct
choice would be a C-H sequence of some sort, but this is problematical at
several levels.
I actually like C-? as much as the poor choice of C-X C-H that I used,
maybe more. I would easily sway to a popularity poll on the issue ;-)
> on the fact that I know exactly none of the restrictions on the
> choices..
>
The restrictions are nonexistant, as far as the .rc file format is
concerned. You can designate a key as \0180 or as P. The control key is
represented as ^ so C-Y is represented as ^Y and works for upper and lower
case Y when executed (all other instances of Y will be case dependent. ^[
represents the <esc> key, which is why I used ^[ for the "literal escape".
This sequence (C-[) creates an escape key to ae. On terminals without an
escape key this is useful for typing the escape sequences described in the
help screen. Also note the entry for .literal in the ae.rc file is
assigned this keystroke with the string ^\[ to keep the .rc parser from
interpreting the string as an escape.
The current version of ae is compiled against the slang library which is
termcap oriented. This is the reason for all the "termcap" declarations at
the beginning of the ae.rc file. Because of the "sparse" nature of slang,
many of the "keycode" type entries are required in addition to their
initial termcap code entries. You will note that multiple entries are
allowed for all the "functions" that may be bound to a key, so creativity
can be allowed to get things all tangled up ;-)
One more point of general interest. Copy /etc/ae.rc into your home
directory as ae.rc and any ae session run as that user will use the .rc
file found in the users home directory, rather than the one found in
/etc/ae.rc. You can then modify this file to your heart's content. This is
a great way to experiment without effecting ae's functionality for others.
You can also construct a custom configuration of ae that satisfies your
desires for key bindings and never effect the way other users see ae.
Luck,
Dwarf
--
_-_-_-_-_- Author of "The Debian Linux User's Guide" _-_-_-_-_-_-
aka Dale Scheetz Phone: 1 (850) 656-9769
Flexible Software 11000 McCrackin Road
e-mail: dwarf@polaris.net Tallahassee, FL 32308
_-_-_-_-_-_- If you don't see what you want, just ask _-_-_-_-_-_-_-
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