Once you have points, other users will sign up on your forums and earn your points with posts.  It’s a great free way to get a new forum or blog off the ground.  Give it a shot!

The manual page says “vim – Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor”. The first part obviously means that it is an improved version of Vi. You can edit text while keeping your fingers on the keyboard. No need for a mouse or Meta-Shift-X key combinations. Once you have learned the commands, you can do your work very fast.

Vim is mostly made for programmers. This does not mean that you can only edit programs. It sets the user group at which Vim is aimed. Programmers are a special kind of people in the way they use a computer. Vim was made to help them. A good example is the “:make” command, which runs “make”, parses error messages and allows you to jump directly to where the error was detected.

One flaw in this definition is that Vim has become more than an editor. One of the recent additions is the internal script language. This is in fact an extension to the “:” commands. It can be used for any task. For example, you can transform text into HTML, including the syntax highlighting. Very useful to include pieces of program code on your web pages or in documentation. Vim recognizes the syntax of over 100 files, and you can add your own.

2) Why did you first start vim?

I learned to use Vi during my studies and later at work. When I got myself an Amiga 2000 for home use, I searched for a Vi-alike that would run on the Amiga. Stevie was the program I found. But it had bugs and missed quite a lot of the commands that I would like to use. I started with fixing the bugs, and adding the Vi commands that my fingers were trained to use. I called it “Vi IMitation” back then. I started adding useful new commands after that. That is where it became “IMproved”. I continued making changes, and, well, I never stopped doing that.

3) Has a lot changed since version 1.14 (The version that first appeared on “Fred Fish disk 591″)?

Certainly. The first publishing of the soure code triggered quite a few
reactions. By then Vim was only running on the Amiga. Someone sent me
patches to run Vim under MS-DOS. Others sent me bug reports (that has never
stopped too! . I received lots of ideas for new features. All this
has lead to a gradual development. Now there are mailing lists for Vim,
and there are more ports to different systems. Vim even got its own Internet
domain “vim.org”. Vim got organized! www.vim.org

4) How close to ‘vi’ is vim?

About 99% of Vi is in Vim. The main features that are lacking are open mode,
sending an e-mail after a crash and a few options for working with slow
terminals. Hardly anybody complains about these, or even knows that they are
missing. Nevertheless, this is still being improved. One of the recent
additions is encryption.

5) What are some features that vim has, that vi does not?

Vim has an awful lot that Vi doesn’t have. Two that I really miss when using
the good old Vi are file name completion and multi-level undo. When writing
programs the syntax highlighting helps a lot to quickly understand the code
and to spot obvious errors. The ability to record a sequence of commands is
very powerful for more complicated changes that need to be repeated. The
command line history allows recalling and editing previously used commands.
Well, I could go on for a while!

What also should be mentioned is that Vim runs on a lot of different systems.
Vi only runs on Unix. That’s why Vim has been called the ubiquitous editor.
People that (are forced to) switch to MS-Windows often see Vim as a
life-saver.

6) What is in store for vim users in future releases?

The next version will be 5.4. It will probably be released in a few months.
One of the new things in version 5.4 will be the GTK+ GUI. When selecting a
rectangular block, it is now possible to insert text in front of it, replace
it with a fixed character and shift it left/right. There are quite a few
other small improvements.

For Vim there is a todo list of about 1000 entries. It’s hard to select the
next thing to work on. In a recent survey, folding was the number one desired
item. It is going to be a big change, but I’ll start working on it soon.
This is supposed to become Vim 6.0.

Many of these new things are made by others. I’m now spending more time on
integrating all patches and making sure the overall quality is maintained.
The result is that there is more diversity in the new features. Previously I
mostly added things that I needed myself. It’s great to have a group of
people working together to improve Vim.

7) I understand that vim is concidered ‘charityware’. What is this?

It is FreeWare with a twist. I don’t really need to get money for Vim, but
some people liked Vim so much they wanted to give a reward somehow. I thought
it would be a good idea to give it to charity. That was how “CharityWare” was
invented. I’m not sure if I am the first to think of this, but I would
certainly like to encourage other FreeWare authors to do the same.

In 1993 I first visited an orphanage in Uganda. What I experienced there
really touched my hearth. I wanted to help these poor children. Therefore I
started asking people that, if they like Vim, they would donate money to the
project. In 1996 I started the ICCF Holland foundation, to give a firm ground
for the help to the project. See www.vim.org/iccf for more info on the
project and ICCF.

Thus, Vim is still FreeWare. You can use it without paying anything, but I
do encourage users to donate to the project in Uganda. It works quite
well. In 1998 I have been able to send about $12,000 to the project. It is
mostly used to allow the children go to school and for medical care.

Mind showing us your .vimrc, with some explanation for some of it’s lines?

Well, my own .vimrc is a mess. You don’t want to see it! I use it to try out
new features, reproduce bugs that have been reported, and there are even a few
things for my own preference. You are much better off having a look of what
other people have done with their vimrc. You can find quite a few on the Vim
pages. See www.vim.org/users.html.

Here is a small part of my ~/.vimrc file, with a few comments:


set so=5

I like to keep some context around the text my cursor is in.


set wh=12
set history=50
set bs=2 tw=78 ai is bk
set viminfo='50,\"50,%

This is essential: Remember a lot of things when exiting/restarting Vim.

set ep=

set vb

set dict=/usr/share/dict/words

set sc

set ttimeout notimeout timeoutlen=100

set showmatch

set path=.,/usr/include,,/usr/X11/include,/usr/local/include

I tend to use “[I" a lot: Find the definition of the word under the cursor.
Very useful when the header files contain function prototypes.

set complete=.,w,b,u,i

set listchars=tab:»,trail:-

set wildmode=list:full

set suffixes+=.orig,.rej

After patching, my directories are clobbered with *.orig and *.rej files. Put
them at then end of the list for file name completion.

" remove all autocommands

:au!

autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile * set fo=tcql nocin com&

autocmd BufNewFile *.[ch] 0r ~mool/.cfile

autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] set fo=croql cin com=sr:/*,bm:*,el:*/,://

autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] let &path=&path.”,proto”

Edit C files with a few different options. Especially 'cindent'. Not only
does this avoid the need to align the text, it also traps a forgotten
semicolon or brace.

autocmd BufWritePre,FileWritePre *vim/vim/runtime/doc/*.txt if getline(1) =~ "Last modification: "

autocmd BufWritePre,FileWritePre *vim/vim/runtime/doc/*.txt normal msgg/Last modification: /e+1"_D"=strftime("%Y %b %d")p`s

autocmd BufWritePre,FileWritePre *vim/vim/runtime/doc/*.txt endif

This is how I automatically update the date in the documentation files.

" F2: Quote e-mail message

nmap <F2> :.,$s/^/> /<CR>``

vmap <F2> :s/^/> /<CR>``

This is a nice one: Hitting <F5> gives me a different fortune every time. I
have collected a list of fortunes and put them in my ~/.fortunes file.

This is whwere I'll stop, it gets messy from here on.

9) Would you like to add anything?

I would have stopped working on Vim long ago if I didn't get so much user
response. Working on a program for free can only be done when there is enough
stimulation to spend time on it. It is the user feedback that keeps me going.
Not only the remarks about how great Vim is, but also the questions for new
features. Especially if I can use them myself too!

So, if you use a free program and find it useful, don't forget to send a
message to the author(s). I'm sure that it will stimulate them to make more!

Bram Moolenaar: Bram@vim.org

www.vim.org/iccf

www.oce.com

www.vim.org

My set up is as follows:

1. Connection: Verizon fios
2. Home pc OS: Ubuntu Linux 10.10
3. DNS: enomcentral.com

First things first – you need to set up your fios router (Actiontec MI424WR) to allow port forwarding.  Point  your browser to ip: 192.168.1.1 and login.  By default the username is admin and the password is password (or password1 it seems on newer setups).  If they don’t work, then you’ve already changed your password or your fios guy did when they set you up.  No worries, simply reset your router by using a pen and pressing down on the reset button on the back of the router while it’s on for about 15 seconds.  Shortly after you release the button it will reboot.  It may take 30-45 seconds before you can hit the router with your web browser.  It will now be wide open and you can go in and set a password for it.  Mine kept all of it’s settings to connect to Verizon – yours should too – otherwise you may be on the phone w/ verizon tech support asking them what you should put in there…

While in there, you can change up the security settings if you like – I put mine to ‘low’.

Click on the ‘Firewall Settings’ at the top of the window.  You’ll probably have to click ‘yes’ that you agree that you’re about to change settings and possibly mess up your connection..

Click on port forwarding on the left side, then pick the pc that you want to use as a webserver in the drop-down box.  Then pick the http port (80) in the ‘application to forward’ drop-down.

Click ‘save’ and you’re good to go.  If you have apache or something running on that pc, you can now type your ip address into the web brower (your public/verizon ip) it should bring up the website for the pc you’ve forwarded!  Set up something like WordPress, phpbb, etc.. and have at it.  You can also open up ports for ssh, ftp, etc…

Next step, assign some dns to your home ip.

If you have a domain name already: I use enomcentral because I got a cheap account and they have real short TTL so changes are quick.  Log into your website dns provider and add an A record for your home ip address – maybe map it to something like home.domain.com.  Now you don’t have to remember what your ip address is when you’re out on the road and want to see your website.

Use an application like ipcheck to keep tabs on your ip in case verizon changes it on ya – that way you can keep enomcentral (or whoever) updated w/ the dns side of things.

If you don’t have a domain name already you can use one from a free service like dyndns.

Hope this helps someone – if so, login and comment!

Went to turn on the Wii —  hrm..  won’t power on..   the fix is actually pretty easy – and costs nothing!

If your Wii won’t turn on after a power outage, all you have to do (hopefully) is:

1. Unplug everything and let it sit for 2 minutes. (Yes, unplug the power cord from the wall or power strip, also unplug it from the back of the Wii..  for good measure I unplugged the tv connector and antenna guy – though I probably didn’t have to)

2. After 2 minutes (Yeah, I waited 4) plug everything back in and it should power up.

3. If this doesn’t work, you’re SOL because it’s something worse.  Google will get you going though!

Hope it worked for you!

(the kids are now watching a Scooby-Doo movie at our house from netflix on the wii!)

First, plug in your Droid to your computer with the included USB cable.  The following is what your Linux system will spit out in /var/log/messages:

Next, on your Droid’s screen (upper/left corner – where email notifications are) you’ll see a USB icon.  Pull down the menu and it’ll ask if you want to connect to your PC to share files..  click ok..  then click ‘mount’.  The following is what your /var/log/messages will spit out when you do this…

On your desktop, you’ll see an icon noting that your Droid is indeed mounted..

If you double click that icon, it’ll show the contents on your Droid (well… the contents on the SD card inside your Droid)..

As you can see – it’s REAL easy.

Rob

I downloaded the VMWare/Virtualbox archive last night and gave it a shot.  Once you start the virtual machine it almost immediately asks you for a login and password to continue.  This is of course your Google account user/pass.  Once I entered it, it was almost just like running a chrome browser – but with a tab on the left with links to items like google docs, webmail (gmail/hotmail/etc..), a calculator and other goodies.

It was a little sketchy – crashy..  it crashed on me a couple times and you could tell something just wasn’t right with it yet – but here are the pictures to prove it can be done!