Experiences with the Line Command

The pantheon of techno gods must have felt merciful this week, and allowed to me practice my VIM tutorial and line commands without too many problems. I worked my way through the VIM tutorial and it was actually fun, seeing the correct result if the instructions were followed to the letter. It has taken me twice as long to get anything done because I type, carefully compare what I have typed to the instructions, and then hit the enter key. Bruce said the tutorial should take about a half-an-hour, but it took me three hours.

This week I have not been experimental with any of the configuration on Ubuntu, other than exactly what was required for the assignments. It isn’t because I am trying to do the minimum, but instead don’t want to mess up an otherwise successful lesson.

Configuring the Linux files is different, not only by using a line command rather than a GUI, but in what I have configured. My previous experiences with configuring anything on my PC have all been related to "Appearance." I’ve played with the screen resolution to see if I could make the windows easier to read, but went back to the default when the black/white screens left out so much vitality. I’ve substituted different icons for the default icons to easily distinguish between folders, and I frequently change the desktop background. It never occurred to me to go deeper into the configurations and change any of the ways a process works. First and foremost, I didn’t know it could be done. Why would I change something an expert had determined was best for all. Second, I feel so unknowledgeable as to the options, I can’t even guess what I would prefer.