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zeze
2009-09-05, 01:26
To spare some of you some writing, I know this is a rather pointless, freakish question, but does anybody know 1) whether the N900 includes BusyBox by default and if so 2) whether the BusyBox build includes the ed text editor?

Thanks!
sjgadsby
2009-09-05, 02:00
1) whether the N900 includes BusyBox by default

Yes.

2) whether the BusyBox build includes the ed text editor?

I expect not, as previous Maemo releases have not included it. A shame, I know.
lma
2009-09-05, 07:00
It doesn't:
# CONFIG_ED is not set

but it should be straightforward to recompile the Debian (or Ubuntu) ed package.
linuxeventually
2009-09-05, 08:11
http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed.msg.html
XD

I just use nano, I don't understand you elitists.
zeze
2009-09-05, 14:08
Thanks to all for the replies. Is it possible to replace the default BusyBox with a more feature-rich binary (instead of adding individual binaries, say for ed)? Do you need to be a grown-up hacker to do so?
linuxeventually
2009-09-05, 23:26
Well you might be able to replace it with bash (I believe one of the packages in the repo is meant as replacement for busybox) that and you could compile coreutils (which is basically just a bunch of individual binaries). And if osso-xterm bothers you, there is ROXterm and perhaps other terminal emulators. Did you have a specific purpose in mind or is it simply a personal preference?
nowave7
2009-09-05, 23:51
You also have vi...
lma
2009-09-06, 00:39
And vim (which comes with ex) in extras. But ed is the standard text editor.
nowave7
2009-09-06, 01:24
And vim (which comes with ex) in extras. But ed is the standard text editor.

Standard text editor where? You can count on vi to be everywhere you look, but not on ed.
lma
2009-09-06, 01:47
Standard text editor where?

I was going for subtlety, but... there (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+standard+text+editor%22).
sjgadsby
2009-09-06, 01:50
Standard text editor where?

For many years, in Unix. Also in LPMuds, which is how I came to know it.
nowave7
2009-09-06, 01:53
That may be true, but still a lot of embedded systems based on Linux and mini Linux distros, use busybox, which only has vi, no ed so...
I personally have never used ed myself, and used vi quite a lot, but that doesn't have to mean anything :)
Andre Klapper
2009-09-06, 14:14
Feel free to file an enhancement request against Busybox in bugs.maemo.org to enable CONFIG_ED by default. No idea though if Nokians will agree as there's nano and vi available already.
It's all about personal preferences, I'd say...
texaslabrat
2009-09-06, 18:10
what about EMACS? j/k :p
texaslabrat
2009-09-06, 18:20
On a more serious note:

rather than lobby to modify the busybox (a rather large undertaking relatively speaking), is there some reason why those who want "ed" or "insert_favorite_app_here) can't just drop a statically compiled binary in their device's filesystem and be done with it? Seems like a sort of non-issue to me.
nowave7
2009-09-06, 19:00
what about EMACS? j/k :p

It's available for Diablo, it should be for Fremantle, at least soon, if it isn't now. :)
zeze
2009-09-06, 19:56
On a more serious note:

rather than lobby to modify the busybox (a rather large undertaking relatively speaking), is there some reason why those who want "ed" or "insert_favorite_app_here) can't just drop a statically compiled binary in their device's filesystem and be done with it? Seems like a sort of non-issue to me.

I would surely do that; I'm not about to make default ed inclusion in 2009 my life call. Could you (or anybody else) point me in that right direction if I wanted to do that. I guess I should find some source code for ed (http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/bin/ed/) and compile it using the maemo SDK, right? Any site containing the details of the general process? (E.g., compiling statically, etc.)

Thanks again for all the feedback!
lma
2009-09-06, 20:49
I guess I should find some source code for ed (http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/bin/ed/) and compile it using the maemo SDK, right?


Right, although (since Maemo is derived from Debian) it should be easier to start from the Debian package (http://packages.debian.org/lenny/ed).

However, ed does seem to be available (http://repository.maemo.org/pool/fremantle/free/e/ed/) (in the Fremantle SDK repository) after all :-)
zeze
2009-09-06, 21:56
However, ed does seem to be available (http://repository.maemo.org/pool/fremantle/free/e/ed/) (in the Fremantle SDK repository) after all :-)

Thanks for this! As you can see, I'm utterly unfamiliar with all things related to maemo. I must confess my sudden interest comes from drooling over the N900. Now it's time to start saving!

Cheers!
pelago
2009-09-06, 21:59
I see it's in diablo's repository too, http://repository.maemo.org/pool/diablo/free/e/ed/, although it doesn't show up in Application Manager. Hmm.
zeze
2010-02-08, 00:02
Five months on, here is an update, following Ima's link: