User Friendly Linux

%TOC%

---++ Configuring a User-Friendly Shell (aka using =bash= instead of =ksh=)

Most of the time, we will be working in a terminal. Therefore, it is important that the shell you are using is user-friendly. For example, it is quite useful if pressing the =Delete= key actually deletes a character. For many users, =bash= is easier to use then the default shell on our Linux machines: =ksh= (Korn Shell). You can find out what shell you are using by typing:

<verbatim>
ps $$
</verbatim>

You can also recognize the shell by its prompt: the usual prompt of =ksh= is a plain =$=. Bash usually shows the current user, directory, followed by a =>=. You can change the shell to bash by just entering the command =bash=. If you want to change your shell to bash forever, then add the line =bash= the end of the file =~/.profile= (=~= refers to your home directory). From now, we will assume that you are using bash.

If you Bash prompt is not =user:currentdir>=, then you can configure bash to use this prompt by adding the line
<verbatim>
PS1="\\u:\\w> "
</verbatim>
to your =~/.bashrc= file.

---++ Make GNU Emacs User Friendly

For some students this will be their first experience with a GNU/Linux system. If you are looking for a good editor, then GNU Emacs is a good choice, but of course you can use whatever editor you want. Unfortunately, GNU Emacs has some rough edges in its default configuration. In this section we will explain how to configure GNU Emacs to make it more user friendly

First, many people are used to =Ctrl-cxv= and using =Shift= for selection. The CUA mode configures Emacs to use these key bindings. Download the [[http://www.cua.dk/cua.el][CUA Mode]] ([[http://losser.labs.cs.uu.nl/~mbravenb/cua.el][mirror]]) to a directory, for example =myemacs= or =.myemacs= (hidden).

Next, edit the file =~/.emacs= to activate the CUA mode. Add the following lines the end of this file:

<verbatim>
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/myemacs")
(require 'cua)
(CUA-mode t)
</verbatim>

Now you can start GNU Emacs:

<verbatim>
$ emacs
</verbatim>

You can specify files that you want to open on the command-line, and you open files via the menu. Check if your =Ctrl-cxv= works and cry for help if it does not.

Next, you might want to change the default font of GNU Emacs. You can do that by saving [[https://svn.cs.uu.nl:12443/repos/mbravenboer/config/.Xdefaults][this file]] to your home directory.

---++ Editing XML: nxml-mode

The nxml-mode is an excellent extension of GNU Emacs for editing XML files. It supports well-formed checking, validation, indenting, and code completion.

You can download it here:
   * http://www.thaiopensource.com/nxml-mode/

Quick installation instructions: add this to your the file =~/.emacs=
<verbatim>
(load-file "~/nxml-mode-datetime/rng-auto.el")

(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.xml\\'" . nxml-mode))
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.html\\'" . nxml-mode))
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.xsd\\'" . nxml-mode))
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.rng\\'" . nxml-mode))
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.xsl\\'" . nxml-mode))
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.xslt\\'" . nxml-mode))
</verbatim>