Seeking resources on life without X

[blackbelt_jones]

I know there must be some terrific sites and articles out there on just what applications do what when you're running entirley from the command line, and so on. My current number one problem is that I'd like to be able to copy and paste text from emacs into my browser for web mail and forums like this. I'm also wondering if there are applications that will allow me to view images and PDF files.

[hard candy]

lynx
"As a text browser, Lynx does not display images as such -- you need to define a viewer in lynx.cfg".
You can browse local files and the web with lynx.
Lynx User Help (http://lynx.isc.org/lynx2.8.5/lynx2-8-5/lynx_help/Lynx_users_guide.html#Images)

[blackbelt_jones]

lynx
"As a text browser, Lynx does not display images as such -- you need to define a viewer in lynx.cfg".
You can browse local files and the web with lynx.
Lynx User Help (http://lynx.isc.org/lynx2.8.5/lynx2-8-5/lynx_help/Lynx_users_guide.html#Images)
Everbody always talks about lynx; am I the only one who thinks that elinks is the superior text browser in every way? If I am, that must mean I'm missing something.

I think I may have made considerable progress since the last post. I'm going to try to concentrate on emacs. According to the O'Reilly book Learning GNU Emacs: "Emacs is a complete working environment. No matter what you do, you can start with emacs in the morning, work all day and all night and never leave it."

It's going to be about a month (or longer!) until my usual computer is back up and running, and while I'm temporarily exiled from X, I hope to find out just how literally true this is. If I can chat, surf, write, blog, and view images in emacs, I intend to do it. I have two reasons for this approach: Number 1: I really want to master emacs; it reminds me of those great old pre-Word word processors that were so hard to learn and so delightful to master. (PC Write for example, and something I used to use with my C64 called Speedscript. Number 2: It seems reasonable to at least hope that using emacs for different functions would allow me to integrate the functions. For example, if can I browse the web in emacs , it seems more plausible that I could copy and paste text edited in emacs into web page windows like the one I'm one I'm typing into right now.

There's a third reason for wanting to concentrate on emacs; I just laid down forty dollars for the book quoted above.

[je_fro]

You've got gpm running right? That's a good way to copy/paste with no X.

[blackbelt_jones]

You've got gpm running right? That's a good way to copy/paste with no X.
Wow, helpful as usual, je! I just apt-get installed gpm, and I haven't got it running yet, but this looks well worth my attention.

Can I say it again? This is what I love about Linux. A 3.0 ghz CPU and a gig of RAM is one kind of computer power, but when all that breaks down, the ability to get an old 386 running and useful is definitely computer empowerment. If I hadn't taken the road less travelled, I'd be SOL right now, but instead I've probably learned more about the command line over the past week than any over any other seven day period.

[blackbelt_jones]

You've got gpm running right? That's a good way to copy/paste with no X.
gpm seems to be running, but not running right. The mouse curser sort of flutters at the top of the page. I suppose there's no way to select text with the keyboard?

[je_fro]

gpm is easy to configure. you should do that now :D

[blackbelt_jones]

Well, I'm quite a bit further down the road. Using the command "dpkg-reconfigure gpm" as root, I reconfigured gpm. What seemed to work was setting the mouse as "exps2". Now I can paste text from emacs back into emacs and into the console, but so far I haven't been able to get it to paste text where I really want to paste text, into this elinks browser window where I am currently typing. The next option may be to try another browser.

[blackbelt_jones]

Copyright (c) 1985, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation.

Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labeled
CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labeled EDIT or ALT). Rather than
write that in full each time, we'll use the following abbreviations:

C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr>
Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f.
M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT or ALT key down while typing <chr>.
If there is no META, EDIT or ALT key, instead press and release the
ESC key and then type <chr>. We write <ESC> for the ESC key.

There it is! Text pasted from emacs into the browser, and posted online. Instead of elinks, I used lynx, which somehow opened up a nano editing window for me to past into. Victory is mine. This means I can write my emails in emacs and send them with yahoo. Huzzah! Thanks again je_fro!

I have more challeges to work on, such as how to read my pdf files. I encountered a program that's supposed to generate text files out of pdfs. I like the idea of turning linux documentation into text files, so I can open them in emacs, edit them, copy parts word for word for better retention, etc. I just started using the emacs tutorial quoted above-- a simple text file-- as a backdrop for all documents created in emacs. I simply start typing at the top of the tutorial and if I want some information on running emacs, I'm right there; I just do a search on the page. Couldn't be handier.

[hard candy]

"Instead of elinks, I used lynx, which somehow opened up a nano editing window for me to past into. Victory is mine. This means I can write my emails in emacs and send them with yahoo. Huzzah! Thanks again je_fro!"
Remember that second post where I suggested lynx? And you said, "elinks is better"? Well, it gives me great pleasure is writing the following:

I TOLD YOU SO.

Thanks for the opportunity. :p

[blackbelt_jones]

SO far, I still prefer elinks for plain old browsing, but lynx saved my astroturf this time, and there's clearly more to it than meets the eye.

[rocketpcguy]

you'll need aalib for all the porn (which made you learn the command line if i remember):
http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/gallery/krizik.png

[hard candy]

Can you have XXX with no X to start with? :D

[je_fro]

mplayer will dump to a framebuffer....no X required.