[ltp] Using "setserial /dev/ttyS* autoconfig" without root

unlisted linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
25 Sep 2002 06:14:57 -0500


On Mon, 2002-09-23 at 13:39, Julian Macassey wrote:
> On 2002-09-23 at 07:05, unlisted (*@*.*) wrote:
> > i HATE visudo.  yep, i read the manpage when i first began using sudo. 
> > yep, i tried visudo when i first began using sudo.  yep, i STILL think
> > visudo is an utter piece of junk because by default it uses vi, and not
> > something on the usability level of window's notepad.
> 
> 		I suppose it depends on how you define
> "usability". Windows notepad does not work from any terminal, any
> keyboard over any link - even 45 baud. vi does all of that. I can
> manage machines across cheesy dialups, frame relay, anything with
> vi.

sorry, but i have to laugh.  not "usefulness" (which is what you are
describing), as in how useful it is (in many different situations), but
"usability", ie "ease of use", intuitiveness, etc.

in windows notepad, if you want to move to the next line, you press the
down arrow.  if you want to move a character to the right, you press the
right arrow.  if you want to insert a space, you press the space bar. 
if you want to delete a character, you... nevermind, i don't think linux
will ever get the backspace/delete key fiasco straightened out. ;-)

and if you want to cut & paste, you don't even have to know ctrl+x or
ctrl+v, you just go up to the menu bar and select it from a drop-down
menu.  now enters a slight problem: how to reveal to the user a set of
options for him to pick from (which is what a menu bar does).  there are
console-based applications that do this (mcedit, the editor for midnight
commander), but either you have to already know a short-cut key to bring
up the editor (or may i recommend the use of esc, which <sarcasm> could
actually "escape" from the current editing session and display a menu
bar, or even a help screen </sarcasm>.  or at least let the user be able
to easily access help.  joe does this well, by listing the shortcut key
to help at the top of the screen.  (vim, a descendent of and replacement
for (at least on my debian box) vi, does display an informative splash
screen when the editor is started without a file specified [command-line
argument], but doesn't do this when started from sudo because the
sudoers file is specified.)

but hopefully you get the picture.

> 	There are unix/linux versions of Windows Notepad. They
> may be wonderful when you are sitting on the console, or using X
> on a LAN. But they suck when it comes to remote admin, which is
> still the strength of Linux.

i won't argue the flexibility and usefulness of vi over notepad (heck,
in a more general sense, that's the entire reason why i switched from
windows to linux), but you got stuck on the fact that notepad is a gui
editor (which wasn't my point at all) and missed my point (ease of use,
simplicity in the user interface, which should be the mantra of security
applications) entirely.

anyways...
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