Red Hat 7.3 command line text editor

[NNA2m]

Gah, I've bungwaied up my Red Hat 7.3 installation by unwittingly changing the XConfig-4 to the wrong drivers.
I can get into the text/command thingy (ie no GUI) in rescue mode (off the CD) but I have no idea what text editors Linux uses, where they are, and what ones will work off the command line.

I really, really don't wan't to have to install Red Hat again. (Various reasons)

[varkk]

hmmm have you installed emacs I know that has a non-gui interface, but I'm not sure what the commands for it are (E.g save exit that sort of thing) Also to get to command line mode, you possibly didn't need to boot from the CD, you should have been able to load one of the virtual terminals even if X didn't load (ctrl + alt + F1 - F6; ctrl + alt + F7 takes you back to the X console)

[edit] Actually now that I think about it vi may be a better choice, it is pretty basic, but should get you running happily there is a brief tutorial on it here
http://www.linux.org/lessons/page.cgi?PageID=100

good luck

[Gremlin]

(ie no GUI) What !! Linux has a GUI ? heh

Vi should be enough for getting your config files sorted out again, its not the best editor but should be installed and will do what ya need.

[Wibber]

/me allways forget how to quit VI, its rude

[NNA2m]

Heh, actually I installed Red Hat 7.3 with KDE, but when I went to install the NVIDIA GLX rpm I got the wrong one (unknowingly), but thought it worked, so I changed to it in etc/X11/XConfig-4.
Then when I restarted the GUI woulden't load. I had already installed Red Hat four times that day, so I really didn't want to reinstall it.
I used the 'linux rescue' thingy on the install CD to mount my linux partition and get to the command line.

I installed everything but the server packages.

Cheers.

[fatsanchez]

dunno if redhat installs it, but try running 'mc' , its a neat little file util, with an editor called pico integrated into it.

much better than using the CLI for copying stuff around

[Gremlin]

Originally posted by Wibber
/me allways forget how to quit VI, its rude

esc :wq

[Wibber]

its still rude :)

[BeachBum]

Originally posted by NNA2m

... but I have no idea what text editors Linux uses, where they are, and what ones will work off the command line.


There are lots to choose from in RH but the one I use is called pico and is a very user friendly one. vim, emacs etc are not exactly friendly. :eek: They are, though, more powerful but for most purposes pico will do the job I think.

[varkk]

I use Xemacs usually, once setup just the way I like it it is pretty friendly. It can be a pain to find some of the options, but once you do it is sweet as. for small jobs(editing small config files)I sometimes use Xedit, it is simple and fast(only about three options in it load, save, quit but often that's all you need)

haven't looked at the non X editors much probably should at least learn how to load save and quit in at least one incase I screw my X server:rolleyes:

[haytona]

Originally posted by Gremlin
esc :wq
CAREFUL.

wq - quits and SAVES.
q! - quits without saving.


i.e. if you screw up qon't use wq or you will save your mistakes.

[Geek4Life]

just use :q because then you'll get told whether it's been saved.