[sf-lug] 1. vimtutor 2. /dev/pilot

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Alex Kleider (a_kleider at yahoo.com):

> Rick: where can I find vimtutor? 

Well, preferably in your distro -- but DSL's a famously cute, tiny
little thing (50MB, compressed), so it makes sense that vimtutor might
be one of the many things they would leave out.
http://damnsmalllinux.org/applications.html and
http://damnsmalllinux.org/packages.html show no signs of it, so that
again suggests that it's just not provided -- but not definitively.

Have you tried just typing "vimtutor", by the way?  Might be present,
anyway.

It's constructed of just a small file of vi macros (commands -- often
stored as /usr/share/vim/vim*/tutor/tutor.vom) that 
load a copy of an instructional text file called "tutor" 
(often stored as /usr/share/vim/vim*/tutor/tutor[.yourlanguage] into a
vim editing buffer, and a wrapper script called "vimtutor" you can 
use from the command line to run the macros.  

You work through the tutorial from there.

If you're asking how you install packaged or non-packaged extra software
onto DSL, that's what one might term an "iceberg question":  To cover it
properly, especially to the degree that a new Linux user might not
inadvertantly be mislead into doing something harmful, would take a long
and careful explanation -- and also my sitting down and learning a lot
more about DSL, a distribution I don't personally use.

But, briefly:

My understanding is that DSL natively has some sort of extremely minimalist 
package scheme for optional add-on packages.  I gather (but again am not
sure) that such packages are collectively called "MyDSL extensions", and
they're covered in this page linked from the DSL FAQ from item "2.8
Additing/Installing Programs to DSL":
http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MyDSL_Extensions

You may be aware of a _variant_ form of DSL called "DSL-N" that's
designed to more-properly support adding/removing optional software:
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-n/

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-n/f/viewpost/2230.html details how
a MyDSL extension called "dsl-dpkg.dsl" seems somehow related to this, 
and if I read correctly may let you also install Debian packages (on
DSL-N, at least).  However, http://damnsmalllinux.org/packages.html
warns:  "Keep in mind that Damn Small is not pure Debian based."  So,
there may be compatibility problems.


You should also be aware that _many_ new Linux users fall into the
pitfall of installing software outside their distro package regimes
entirely.  Here's a footnote where I detail some of the reasons why this
should generally be avoided:
http://linuxgazette.net/118/weatherwax.html#1


If I ever found myself tempted to seriously "extend" a DSL installation,
I'd gravitate instead to Plan B, "switch to a distribution properly
designed for handling optional software".


> vi, vim: serious differences?

Inherent matter of perspective.  If you're used to MS-Word, all vi
implementations probably look alike.  If you're an nvi devotee, vim 
might look alien.

If you're a red-headed, left-handed Esperanto teacher, other red-headed,
left-handed Esperanto teachers probably look manifestly diverse, and
you're appalled that anyone else confuses them.  Otherwise, not so much.

If you're a helium-based being floating in the Kuiper Belt, then all
Earth software running on silicon-based semiconductors probably looks
alike.  And so on.


> Rick: re locate- I was doing essentially doing the same thing with the
> find command....

Ah, the "find" command:  A favourite manpage to get lost in for weeks
on end.  ;->

> ...and the only directory that made sense didn't appear to be
> the one; I tried to register with the dsl forum and it seemed to be
> successful but they promised to send me an e-mail as the final process
> and that e-mail never came and they won't let me post.

You're using the browser that comes by default in DSL, right?  Last I
heard, that was Dillo, which is (stop me if you've heard this one
before) a cute little tiny thing.  Offhand, I'm not sure Dillo even 
supports extensions (such as Macromedia Flash) at all.

> To anyone: I have been using Dragon speak which was given to me at work
> and it works very nicely.  Is there anything similar in our world?

I hope you're not really expecting to do speech-recognition on a P266
and a 50MB Linux micro-distribution.  ;->  (I could be wrong, but colour
me skeptical.)

Possibly useful links:

http://linuxjournal.com/article/6383  (discontinued on Linux, though)
http://freespeech.sourceforge.net/FreeSpeech/html/
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Speech-Recognition-HOWTO.html
http://sound.condorow.net/speech.html
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2004/09/14/ibm-to-open-source-speech-recognition
http://linux.sys-con.com/read/249714.htm