-----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic Sent: 31 October 2019 18:44 To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Cc: Dave McGuire <mcguire@neurotica.com> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum 3B1 & PDP-8
On 10/31/19 1:44 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Personally I would like a better editor than the built in “ed”. Maybe there is the “vi” available?
But ed(1) is the standard editor!
I seem to recall that vi relied on ed and ex. In Linux I don't this is the case any longer. I don't know about BSD but would expect that this is the case there also.
Vi started life as a "visual" (full-screen) mode within ex. so they used to be the same editor. The ex editor was originally derived from ed. Put into the filesystem using links, they look at argv[0] to determine what mode to enter at invocation time. But that program was a part of the encumbered BSD code base, until it was open-sourced as a part of OpenSolaris.
In the intervening years, vim ("VI Modified") became the de-facto standard implementation of vi in the Linux world. Early Linux distributions were distributed with "original" vi, however. If memory serves, this was originally illegal but AT&T eventually let them do it.
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
When I had to earn a living, I used to keep a copy of the EMACS manual on my desk, sat on top of a copy of the Dilbert Principle. Open one or the other before consultant arrives.... Dave G4UGM