TCH-Bruce Posted February 9, 2005 Posted February 9, 2005 I've been using Viw.exe (Vi for Windows from Mortice Kern) and these latest updates from Microsoft this morning is preventing it from working. This is my primary editor here at work. The last time one of the security updates stopped it from working I changed the compatibility mode to Windows 95 and all was well again. Tried that again this time and no go. Won't work no matter what compatibility I choose. So I've spent the morning searching for a compatible replacement. Mortice Kern wants $3000 to update my MKSToolkit when I only need the Viw.exe file out of it. All the other tools work. Even the DOS version of Vi works. I tried Vim but it was a memory hog and had a 15mb footprint. I am now using Winvi32 and it works but doesn't support the vi command set. I've tried these: Vim Elvis Vile Lemmy Xvi But they all lacked something. Anyone know of any others to try? Or how can I get the one from MKS working again? Maybe I should just switch back to *nix Quote
TCH-RobertM Posted February 9, 2005 Posted February 9, 2005 Hey Bruce have you tried WinVI the link for Winvi works for me and I did upgrades this morning as well Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted February 9, 2005 Author Posted February 9, 2005 Yes, that's the one I have currently chosen to replace the one I was using. It's very close except that it does not use the short cuts for global search and replace and the "u" to undo such a function if it was in error. I did find the the Undo is not global but it will back everything out if you keep doing it. But when you have 200 lines you changed that's a lot of undoing. The standard version of vi would undo all 200 with a single :u Thanks Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted February 9, 2005 Author Posted February 9, 2005 How interesting. What I did was download an copy the Winvi32.exe to my bin folder (unix diehard) and I renamed it viw.exe which was what my old version was named. It worked fine. I also renamed my old viw.exe viw_mks.exe. So after lunch I was just going through the bin folder checking to see what else may not work. When I got to the renamed old version of viw clicked on it and it launched. No crash. Very strange. So I am back to using the editor I have been using forever! Oh, I did rename it back to viw.exe and it crashed again. So I am now running it renamed. Quote
borfast Posted February 10, 2005 Posted February 10, 2005 Bruce, I was going to suggest you'd download Cygwin and use the original Vim but since you already fixed the problem, no need to do that. But keep the idea under your belt, maybe it will come in handy some day when MS decides to dispatch another batch of updates like those Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted February 10, 2005 Author Posted February 10, 2005 Thanks, Raul. Where were you when I was in a panic? Quote
MikeJ Posted February 10, 2005 Posted February 10, 2005 *cough* install linux *cough* (hey.... Raul dropped the ball, figured I'd pick it back up ) Seriously though, glad to hear you got it working. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted February 10, 2005 Author Posted February 10, 2005 *cough* install linux *cough* (hey.... Raul dropped the ball, figured I'd pick it back up ) Seriously though, glad to hear you got it working. I am sitting here pounding away on an XP machine (which I can telnet into my SCO machine). To my right is a Windows 98 machine. To the left I have Windows NT Server, SCO Unix and NT Workstation. In my outer office I have Windows 2000 and Windows 95. I think I am covered. Our software does not run on a Mac so I don't have any of those. I am still befuddled as to why I can rename the editor any other filename and it works but as the original filename it crashes. Quote
Deverill Posted February 10, 2005 Posted February 10, 2005 I am still befuddled as to why I can rename the editor any other filename and it works but as the original filename it crashes. [Conspiracy Theory] It's a plot by the evil Microsoft to drive out specific little guys and expand their evil monopoly![/Conspiracy Theory] Quote
Madmanmcp Posted February 10, 2005 Posted February 10, 2005 I am still befuddled as to why I can rename the editor any other filename and it works but as the original filename it crashes. Check to see if you have more than one copy of the file located in another folder thats on your path. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted February 10, 2005 Author Posted February 10, 2005 Check to see if you have more than one copy of the file located in another folder thats on your path. Bob, that was the first thing I checked. It's happened to me before. I guess the strangest part of all of this is I can rename WinVi to the original name of the editor (viw.exe) and it will launch with no problems. WinVi is a 32-bit app, Viw is a 16-bit app. Changing compatibility to Windows 95 or anything else does not resolve it. I considered upgrading my MKSToolkit but they want $3000. That to me seemed quite steep for a text editor. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted April 11, 2005 Author Posted April 11, 2005 Dangit! M$ strikes again. Service patch 867282 killed my editor again. Temporarily I have unistalled that patch and it's working again. I know this is just going to keep happening over and over again. So I am looking into replacing the editor once again. I have tried gvim and like it but I think it's not installed correctly or I can't find enough information to configure it the way I want. Anyone here use gvim that can tell me if this is the way it works or am I missing something. When I edit a file there is space above the edit window below the title bar that looks like it should contain buttons or a menu or something. See attached screen shot. Thanks. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted April 11, 2005 Author Posted April 11, 2005 Nevermind, helps to use the installer. Was missing the runtime modules. Works great. Quote
lishikawa Posted April 11, 2005 Posted April 11, 2005 Bruce, If you like VI, then I think you should seriously consider using cygwin. It's free and works on various versions of Windows. BUT... I'm sure you are used to vi, but have you considered using JEdit? It runs on Java and works on all platforms that support java. (http://www.jedit.org/) You should give it a serious try. The plug-in development is killer as well. Eclipse is way too heavy for day to day text edit use. I've convince everyone in the office to use JEdit for most of their needs. I have cygwin install on ALL my windows machines. Sure you can live without grep, find, more, and shell scripting, but how can you live without tail? Leigh Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted April 11, 2005 Author Posted April 11, 2005 Leigh, I already have all the tools cygwin provides using the MKS Toolkit. I'll look in to JEdit but I've been using VI for over 20 years and see no real need to change. Quote
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