From: mad14 AT cc DOT keele DOT ac DOT uk (G.W. Owen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: groff
Date: 14 Mar 1997 13:46:12 GMT
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References: <Pine DOT LNX DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 970311105302 DOT 1476D-100000 AT aditya DOT unigoa DOT ernet DOT in> <5gb1hl$g09 AT freenet-news DOT carleton DOT ca>
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Paul Derbyshire (ao950 AT FreeNet DOT Carleton DOT CA) wrote:
: 
: "Gurunandan R. Bhat" (grbhat AT unigoa DOT ernet DOT in) writes:
: > greetings,
: > 	has any one ported recent versions of grof to djgpp. i am aware 
: > that there is an old port for v1 on dj's server. 
: 
: OK, I'll bite: what the hell is groff?
: 
gnu run-off, it turns an incredibly cryptic markup language into
something that terminals can print.

The reason unix uses cryptic commands is that when it was developed
the terminals were so slow that using short command names rather than
long ones actually saved an appreciably amount of time!

: Unix:
: man (huh huh? This is the help command, and it's not named 'help'?)

A good unix system will have help, possibly interactive.  man is short
for manual, as in RTFM.

: lynx

As in a pun on 'links.'  I always quite liked that name.

: vi     (and I had the misfortune of being exposed to this menace to
:        modern society and mental stability. It starts up in a command
:        mode where you can't edit by simply typing text! Worse, there's no
:        onscreen indication how to change to the edit mode, or back again.
:        Worse still, there is also no onscreen indication of the *exit
:        command*. Worst of all, F1 doesn't bring a help screen...and there
:        is no onscreen indication of what key does that either, and
:        since it's probably a quadruple bucky, nobody would guess in a
:        million years!)

Serves you write for using a nonstandard editor.  ed is the standard
editor and is very easy to use.  (yuk yuk)

-- 
Gareth Owen <G DOT W DOT Owen AT keele DOT ac DOT uk>
I met a traveller from an antique land who said,
"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone,
Stand in the desert."