In the Dark with Midnight Commander

[Geoffrey Hunter]

Echoing Peter Peres' concern about the inadequacy of Linux documentation:
I switched to Linux in the summer of 2002 to regain control of how I compute;
as a former DOS user I used to use Norton Commander as my window into my
computer: it displayed the contents of two directories side by side, and the
bottom box had a command-line prompt - commands typed there automatically
looked for files in the selected left or right directory.
      With Norton I was in command: I could easily display any directory,
and once selected easily (one-keystroke commands) select files and then copy,
move, edit, and process them and see what you were doing the whole time - 
so I was induced to switch to Linux because it had "midnight commander"
supposedly modeled after Norton Commander.
    Midnight commander (and linux generally) has been a big disappointment: 
I have yet to find any documentation (man pages or anything else), and 
unlike Norton Commander the command-line (bottom) box doesn't automatically
look for files in the selected directory - I have to issue a cd command.
Each box has round and square buttons at the bottom (turn green when clicked)
but what they do/mean remains a mystery.
 
Geoffrey Hunter
York University, 4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J1P3
email: GHunter-4mebg6r7xUY at public.gmane.org
_______________________________________________
Quoting "Peter L. Peres" <plp-ysDPMY98cNQDDBjDh4tngg at public.gmane.org>:
> 
> > I tried to read the man mmap(2) pages, but as always, these pages leave me
> in
> > the dark. It would be so nice, if there would be a typical usage example
> > included ( in all man pages!).
> > These pages are designed for people who already know all the In's and
> outs,
> > but are rather useless to anyone not yet familiar with their content.
> > Am I alone in this assessment?
> 
> Ah, you came to my old conclusion that u*ix consists of four-letter
> commands with 100-page apologies ;-)
> 
> Yes, you are right, up to a point. The manpages do not intend to tech you
> anything, they remind the programmer of all the details. For learning, use
> a book about programming or tutorials.
> 
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