2 I need to know on Linux: Gnome and a Text Editor

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
1

hi,
wow, it's funny, I feel not too long ago I was asking a similar question. A kind community member recommended me to xUbuntu which has done pretty well thus far, though, to be fair I really haven't gotten nitty-gritty with it yet.

I have an old crummy Dell Latitude D830 that has become my writing tool as well as trouble-shoot laptop when my main system is down.

For the longest time I have been using JDarkRoom which is an EXTREMELY basic text editor (think Window's Notepad) that removes all distraction from writing. It goes full screen, it does not tell you of grammatical errors, or capitalization. There is no font adjustment or formatting.
While there is a Linux distribution of JDarkRoom, it involves opening the terminal (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) and typing in the commands:
cd /home/user/location
java -jar JDarRoom.jar
Which is no fun. I just kind of want to get in and get out when I sit down to write. Part of the reason I want to move to Gnome (after watching Wendell's videos on it) is that at the very least it has the tilde plugin to open the console quickly. But it would be great if there was just an app I could launch like any other program, normally. I just want a bare-bones, very basic text editor.

Which brings me to the second question, which is on Gnome. I've liked what I have seen on it, but I am curious if anyone knows how efficiently it will run on my laptop. Again, I use it primarily for a single function (writing) so when I want to do that single function, I want to get in to it as quickly as possible.

I'm sad to admit I am not entirely sure how to check my exact system specifications, but I have an Intel Centrino badge on the laptop, so I imagine that's the CPU and if I remember correctly it has 2 gigs of RAM - though googling it (and this sounds familiar to me too) it says it has a Core 2 Duo. I imagine it CAN run Gnome just fine, so I suppose it's a bit of a dumb question, considering I had it run Win7 just fine...but I just wanted to get the opinion on the more educated of you who have dealt with Linux on what your recommendation is.

2

You could continue using your current one with an executable file.
Whatever you put in the terminal put it in the file and just run the file
Plain text can run in the terminal.

3 
#!/bin/bash
# script.sh saved in the /home/user/location folder
java -jar JDarRoom

And you could run that (make sure to chmod +x the script), or hook up a .desktop file to it (may be able to assign exec to the java command itself, given the right path, but I'm not sure):

[Desktop Entry]
Name=JDarkRoom
Comment=Minimalist Text Editor in Java
Exec=/home/user/location/script.sh
Type=Application

And if you're really adventurous, figure out how to add that .desktop file to your list of applications for your DE/WM's menu, and add an icon and such.

Or you could just pull something like mousepad. Gedit is also popular, but may not be minimalist enough for you.

4

If I read that right, you say you want a basic text editor? If so, you already have one -- it's called vi ("vee-eye"). But be warned, Vi is not for the faint of heart since it's hardly changed since it's early days on Unix machines (more than 35+ years ago) and not very intuitive. Vi will let you edit plain ASCII text in a DOS-like environment but then that's what any "text editor" will do -- edit plain ASCII text. But with a word processor you can also use features to check spelling, check grammar, adjust layout/fonts, etc. Or (and this may be what's confusing you) you can instead use a word processor to accomplish the exact same thing. Point is, "text editors" are not necessarily word processors.

Now, as far as JDarkRoom goes, from your description it sounds like JDarkRoom is a Java based word processor which is severely limited as far as any kind of modern day features go (spell check, layout, etc.), or you've got them (all/mostly) turned off. I don't know for sure other than to highly suggest you NOT use anything based on Java. That's because all things Java have a history of security problems (not to be confused for java scripts either). Not that you're going to get hacked by the NSA or some snot-nosed script kiddie or something, just know that the Java platform is not very secure and you may want to re-think using it and any apps like JDarkRoom.

That said, you can use nearly any word processor for editing plain ASCII text but doing so is some pretty serious overkill. That's why there are GUI or even the really efficient CLI based "text editors". One of my preferred CLI (command line interface) or "DOS-based" editors is once called nano. But you may not have nano since that all depends on your choice of "distro" (Ubuntu, Fedora, Manjaro, etc.). Just know that there are many text editors available but with one major caveat -- you usually have to install them. And since installing a program may not be something you're ready to do just yet that's why I suggest using vi since I've never seen any Linux distro without it.

Therefore, my advice is to forget the GUI and get used to the CLI or "DOS" side of things. Familiarize yourself with vi (or nano once you've learned how to install it) and a few other CLI commands (ls, cp, mv, grep, etc.). Use CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to your real CLI (DOS) terminal and give vi a try once you've read how to use it. No point and click here -- it's all keyboard.

As far as your second question goes, yes Gnome will work (probably). And that's the beauty of Linux since everything usually works quite well on older hardware -- often the older the better (within reason). And with Gnome, it should work if your PC is like 15 years old or newer with at least a 64-bit CPU, 1GB RAM and nearly any basic graphics card/chip (though the graphics choice might be your only snag). Just realize that with Gnome, Unity, XFCE, and so on, you're really in a GUI environment which is NOT a CLI or DOS-like environment. Press CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to the real CLI and then CTRL-ALT-F7 to (usually) get back to the GUI. You'll see what I mean. (Disclaimer: some distros like won't let you do this but fortunately there aren't that many of them. If yours happens to be one that is locked to only one single GUI then there should at least be a way to launch a "terminal" which is essentially the same thing -- a CLI or DOS-like interface.)

I don't know if that answers if for you. Hope it helps.

5

For the word processor (excuse my plebeian mistake on the difference between an editor and a processor) it...uh...not really. In my original post I have shown you 100% of all my knowledge of command line...cd /home/user/location, blah blah blah....so....command line would not be good, and I don't want to fumble over a software just so I can write, as I think that defeats the purpose I had mentioned of wanting to get into the software quickly so that I can start writing...quickly.

I am aware Java has security issues. JDarkRoom does not run via Java for Windows, fortunately, and so I liked having the same environment at my main machine as I did on my laptop. I'm also not much of a social person so taking my laptop to public places typically doesn't happen. I do take it to the park on nice days if I am in the mood to write, but they don't have WiFi at the park, hahaha.
JDarkRoom itself is almost exactly like Notepad on Windows. It's main difference is that it goes 100% full screen (well on Windows it does...on Linux, it sometimes does...sometimes it doesn't - never figured out why that is) as you can change the display colours of text and the background - not to be mistaken with changing font colour. It saves everything to a .txt file, so colour information isn't saved. The colour in the workspace is simple for personal preference or if you need high contract (like I have it set to black background on green text)

As for Gnome, my main concern is the GUI, actually. My graphic's chip is more than capable of supporting it, BUT, if (and I promise you it will) it gets too hot, the whole laptop starts to chug. I think it has cooling issues, because I can only watch about 5 minutes of a full-screened youtube video before the framerate starts to skip and the audio desyncs.
xUbuntu definitely has a GUI - which is what I prefer, since I have predominantly used Windows, however, xUnbuntu's GUI isn't quite as flashy as Gnome.
I suppose at this point I should just give it a try and see what happens - that'll have to be a project for another day, through. It's late here plus work tomorrow...and the next day....and the next day...

6

Just use leaf pad it comes with xfce or use Nano which is a terminal text edito. Just type nano in the terminal and it will launch it. Vi is amazing if if you put in a little time into learning it.