vim, cherokee, etckeeper
by Mez on Apr.01, 2009, under Personal
Ok, so, today, I started using vim. I’ve never really had the time before to learn how to use it. I think the most I’d learned before today was just how to get out of vim if I ever accidentally got into it.
Now, however, I’m quite happy to do basic editing of files with it. I’ve got to say, I’m impressed with it’s code highlighting features.
I hope to eventually switch to vim permanently, but I’m not that confident with it yet – my first command was “nano ~/.vimrc” *chuckles*
Anyway, next comes cherokee. I’m actually loving this webserver. It’s so simplistic, yet so powerful, and it’s admin interface is a dream. If anyone out there is interested in having a lightweight server, have a look at cherokee before you go and install lighttpd !
The most exciting new thing that I’ve been using of late is etckeeper. (ok, maybe exciting isn’t the word – but I like it!). This hooks into a RCS and basically keeps a track of your /etc/ folder. It will automagically commit changes made to it when using apt-get (or similar) and I’ve actually set mine up to have bound branches. Meaning that my /etc/ is kept on a remote server.
All my machines are now using etckeeper (with the exception of the eeePC, which is tucked away in a corner with a network lead plugged into the back, being used as a playground machine) and I’m happy that if I ever have a hard disk crash, I can always get my configuration back from my server in a simple manner (which is massively useful for stuff like X).
Anyway, just some stuff I’ve been playing with of late. It seems I’m switching more and more to the command line 
Maybe I should start using w3m instead of Firefox?
April 1st, 2009 on 12:52 am
Regarding Firefox, if you start to like vim, have a look at the Vimperator extension. I can’t live without it anymore.
April 1st, 2009 on 12:56 am
I used to use elinks, and was amazed when I found w3m – it works really well!
April 1st, 2009 on 1:30 am
“nano ~/.vimrc”
I loled, loud, nice one ^^. Vim is great take some time to learn mabe a life to master, but it has his share of jewels
I heard a lot of good things about cheroke
I should really test it someday 
.
April 1st, 2009 on 1:59 am
Or you could Vim-ify Firefox with Vimperator:
http://vimperator.org/trac/wiki/Vimperator
Or, if you really want to go hardcore, boot into a console session and apt-get install lynx
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/lynx
April 1st, 2009 on 6:45 am
Elinks!
April 1st, 2009 on 8:01 am
If you are happy with doing basic editing with vim you’re doing something wrong
Are you using the arrow keys or something? I highly recommend learning to use it the right way, even if it’s frustrating as hell to start with.
Right way = hjkl instead of arrows, not moving around in insert mode.
Annoying and slow to start with, super-efficient when you get used to it.
April 1st, 2009 on 8:08 am
> Maybe I should start using w3m instead of Firefox?
Maybe you should use ELinks
April 1st, 2009 on 8:09 am
Welcome!
Some motivational material to keep you going with VIM:
http://www.koch.ro/blog/index.php?/categories/14-VIM
Please ask me on IRC, if you should get stuck with VIM.
April 1st, 2009 on 8:20 am
Thanks for the tips! etckeeper in particular.
April 1st, 2009 on 8:49 am
Damn! I mean to say “If you are happy with doing basic editing with vim *already*”
April 1st, 2009 on 12:55 pm
Yeah, ViM’s nice… and I’ve been using etckeeper for a while, but never got around to the “bound branches” – was considering it just mailing diffs whenever it committed.
April 1st, 2009 on 2:45 pm
Actually, Cherokee is improving at a fast, steady pace. Version 0.99.x is currently waiting in Debian’s NEW queue as it includes some new binary packages – But yes, be sure to try the most recent version possible. Last year Cherokee was awaken from a long lethargy and is now moving at quite a fast pace.
May 8th, 2009 on 12:30 am
Vim is very nice once you get used to it yes. If you want to do more at the CLI, I can recommend mutt, which is a great email-client as I’m sure you know. You can compose in vim for instance, which is really nice once you learn to love vim
I’ve like tried Cherokee briefly, but I “found lighty first” and it works fine so I’ve never changed, but the admin-interface does look nice.
Etckeeper looks cool though! I’ve never heard of it, I’ve been keeping track of /etc manually with my own git rep there. I’ll check it out.
October 22nd, 2009 on 4:15 pm
haha, you called a directory a “folder.” Windows –> Linus users are funny.