Latest version of the fabulous Joe's Own Editor (joe)

[musher0]

Edit, April 19, 2019 --
Please see post just below this one for joe, version 4.6.
-- End of edit

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello all.

The latest (as of this writing) "Joe's Own Editor" (aka joe editor), version
4.1 can be downloaded from:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... ost#891117

In short, this pet archive Includes:

• * symbolic links for easy right-click access to read or edit plain text as well as
  __ program or hex code. (You can also use joe as an hex editor.)
  * complete docs (in English)
  * scripts and *.desktop files for easy launch from the jwm menu
  * databases for recognition of Asian and UNICODE characters
  __ (new in this version, IIRC)

I compiled it as per BLFS, on DPup_Wheezy_3.14.51. Any Pup with a C library
or ldd version equal or greater than 2.13 should be able to run it.

If you need me to translate the rest of the French post, just ask.
You will also find in that thread illustrations of joe at work.

If you want to learn more about Joe's Own Editor, Linux Insider published an
interesting article about it in July 2013.

Enjoy! BFN.

[musher0]

Hi.

Please find attached the latest verson of Joe's Own Editor (aka the "joe editor") as of
this writing, v. 4.56.

Compiled on slacko-6.9.9.9 (glibc, aka ldd, v. 2.23). There is nothing fancy about joe,
so it will probably work on your Pup if it has an equal or higher ldd version. But I
make no promises.

To reassemble the three attached split files, open a console in the directory where you
downloaded them and type:

Code: Select all

cat x?-jo*.pet > joe-4.6_exec.pet

Then proceed as usual with the reconstituted pet file.

I am also including my script to run joe in a quasi-GUI window (scrot attached too), and
a replacement for the joe.desktop file shipped with the source, since it is wrong for this.

Enjoy!

x~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;
The new joe.desktop file:

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Joe's Own Editor
GenericName=Text Editor
GenericName[fr]=Éditeur de texte
Comment=Read and edit text and binary files
Comment[fr]=Lire et éditer des fichiers texte et binaires
MimeType=text/english;text/plain;text/x-makefile;text/x-c++hdr;text/x-c++src;text/x-chdr;text/x-csrc;text/x-java;text/x-moc;text/x-pascal;text/x-tcl;text/x-tex;application/x-shellscript;text/x-c;text/x-c++;
Exec=joe.sh
#  %F
TryExec=joe
Icon=accessories-text-editor
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Categories=TextEditor;
# Utility;Development;

The following wrapper for joe goes in any "bin" directory, preferably /usr/bin.
It runs joe AND a small rxvt window on the side to help you with file management.
Joe has a hot-key to "drop to console", if you want to use that, but I found it quite
confusing and came up with this solution.

Here are a couple of other features that I like about J.O.E. :
-- joe is also a hex editor
-- it teams up perfectly with the less reader.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# $MBINS/joe.sh
# Gratuiciel, mais demeure sous
# (c) Christian L'Écuyer, Gatineau (Qc), Canada, janvier 2012. Tous droits réservés.
####
Geom="g 80x14+120+150"
FNT="fn xft:Monaco:pixelsize=11"
ColR="bg sienna4 -fg cornsilk -bd firebrick4 -cr white"
TrnsP="tr -tint white -sh 67"
TitR="Console-joe"
urxvt -$FNT -$ColR +sr +st +tcw -bc -T $TitR -n $TitR -$TrnsP -$Geom -b 4 &
#
Geom2="g 85x35+240-70"
FNT2="fn xft:Monaco:pixelsize=14"
ColR2="bg sienna4 -fg cornsilk -cr green"
TrnsP2="tr -tint SaddleBrown -sh 50"
TitR2="joe-3.4.7"
wmctrl -c "joe-3.4.7" || urxvt -$TrnsP2 -$FNT2 -T $TitR2 -n $TitR2 -$Geom2 -sr -$ColR2 -b 4 -e joe "$@"
#
#### -fn "xft:Liberation Mono:pixelsize=14" # -fn 9x15 
# is another font that works well with joe.

[musher0]

Double. Sorry.

[musher0]

Hello all.

Here is an interesting blurb I stumbled upon, written by writer Michael Stum,
about using the joe editor as a distraction-free word-processor.

BFN.

[6502coder]

Note that Stum's enthusiasm depends heavily on the ergonomics of the Wordstar keybindings.

Back in the DOS days I used to love an editor called VDE. It was tiny, clean, and free, and used the Wordstar keybindings, which at the time were a de facto standard. What really killed Wordstar IMHO is when IBM moved the CTRL key away from its proper place to the left of the "A" -- "where God intended it", in the words of famous science fiction author, Byte magazine columnist, and space travel enthusiast Jerry Pournelle. That move completely screwed up the ergonomics of the "Wordstar diamond." Prior to that change, everybody had the CTRL key next to the "A"--the VT100s did, all the early UNIX minicomputer and workstation keyboards did, as did all the first-gen home computers and the keyboards for the early versions of the "IBM" PC.

Keyboard ergonomics matter--and IBM got it seriously wrong.

[Puppyt]

Hi 6502coder - you jolted some dusty neurons of mine with the mention of WordStar. My first experience with a home computer was on my dad's Osborne 1 (C/PM and WordStar, SpaceWar and Colossal Cave Adventure included). No mouse in them days - there was a keyboard cutout template for the WordStar shortcuts. I miss the days of using code blocks instead of what M$ forced on us with "Word". So I found this how-to to swap Ctrl and CapsLk that might help?
https://opensource.com/article/18/11/ho ... r-keyboard

[6502coder]

@musher0
I love what Robert Sawyer (quoted by Stum) has to say about "The Long-hand Page Metaphor."
https://sfwriter.com/wordstar.htm

@Puppyt
Yeah, I used to use a CapsLock/CTRL swapper! I think the one I used on IBM PCs may have come with the VDE editor I mentioned--see this related post on an editor named SUE:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 35#1025935
But then my writing loads shifted: I started doing a lot more codeslinging and WYSIWYG technical doc prep, and less writing per se, so... eventually I stopped using WordStar-style text editors. Although now that I've discovered SUE...

Funny story...when IBM moved the CTRL key, I got so tired of hitting CapsLock by mistake that I pried the keycap off the CapsLock key and used scissors to, er, "emasculate" the key so that it did nothing at all. Mind you, this was on the company's equipment, not my own property!