Was 'Re: Retrocomputing, VAXen, and NetBSD'

On Sun, 22 Feb 1998, Michael Sokolov wrote:

>    The only word processing feature that I use and rely on is maintaining
> paragraphs. A word processor should internally store a paragraph as one
> long line and break into lines dynamically. This way I can make a change in
> the middle of a paragraph and the line breaks will change automatically if
> necessary. I have no problem with pressing Enter at the end of each line,
> but what if I need to correct a mistake in the middle of a paragraph? Of
> course in vi I could just keep typing, but the generally accepted standard
> is that E-mail messages consist of lines no longer than 80 characters
> separated by newlines.
>    
	The problem being once you send the email the difference between a
	parafgraph and a collection of short lines is lost.

	Just to run with this thread for a minute...
	
	If you are using vi to write text, it is useful to type ':set wm=5',
	which sets autowrap to 5 spaces from the end of a line.

	As for reformatting a paragraph, use '{!}fmt'
		{ - goto start of paragraph,
		! - Pipe text through unix program - expectes a move command
		} - move to end of paragraph (to indicate what text to pipe)
		fmt - command to pipe to.

	Though, if anyone would like a good (*) emailer for NetBSD/vax
	they can find pine (with its standalone simple editor 'pico')
	compiled up on ftp.netbsd.org in the vax packages collection.

	Pine deals with lines of text and paragraphs - it manages quite well,
	particularly if you use '^J' to rejustify after inserting in the
	middle of a line...

	(*) Good being defined as easy to use, powerful, configurable, and
	    fast on a MV3100 :)

		David/absolute

 ( Some people live life in the fast lane.  You're in oncoming traffic. )