sane

[John L Vifian]

On Friday 14 August 2009 3:53:43 pm Steven Vollom wrote:

> I am just now figuring out solutions for the problem.  And they are not
> your solutions, because when it comes to my problem, you haven't a clue. 
> If you just believed what I say, then you could help me in a manner that
> reduces or eliminated the problem in the preceding paragraph.

Steven, we don't know how to get you to learn, and won't unless you tell us.  
Personally keeping a notebook wouldn't work for me either because I can't read 
my handwriting.  Regardless we keep giving you information in hopes that you 
will actually learn something as well as fixing your immediate problem.

Some of the things you have had the opportunity to learn in the last bout of 
emails are:

The difference in left and right clicking a file in dolphin
what 'less' is and how to use it in a rudimentary fashion
How to turn line numbers on in 'less'
How to turn line numbers on in kate
when to use sudo and when to use kdesudo
how to search this list's archives with google
what the command cd does
what a path is
what happens when you open kate with a non-existent file name
what happens when you run less with a non-existent file name

you should be able to open a file in a different directory with less or kate.  
For instance there is a file named dpkg.log which is in the 'log' directory 
which in turn is in the 'var' directory.  You should be able to construct a 
command line to open it using both less and kate.  Try it.  Note you don't 
need to use either kdesudo or sudo and shouldn't.

This is all very basic stuff, and you need to figure out a way to make it 
understandable to yourself


> He said open kmail and type 's' and then what I want and it would locate
> what I need from my email records.  That would be great if I knew where in
> the kmail application I type the command in. 

You don't type it in anything.  The one caveat being that if you have more 
than one window open in kmail that the active window has to be the one showing 
your mail folders.  Just type 's'.

You can also do the same by clicking "Edit" in the menubar and then clicking 
"Find Messages..."  or you can use the icon with the binoculars which for me 
is on the same line is the existing search field.


> When I typed in the word 's kdesudo' in the search line and pressed enter,
> your email came up.  I was expecting to see an email that contained the
> word kdesudo.  I know there are some in my saved emails.  That is an
> example of how I would like to use the search bar.  Can it be set up to do
> as I prefer?

To my knowledge the search field only searches the subject line of the emails 
in the current folder, and can't be configured to do otherwise.  It also has 
the annoying habit of opening the current email in a new window regardless if 
it matches the search.

>...  Eventually I get
> it, your way too, it just takes a lot longer with a lot of repetition.  In
> reality, if you bang on a square peg enough times, eventually the corners
> will come off and it will fit in a round hole.

Steven do you learn by doing?  Do you learn by observation?  Are you willing 
to spend time learning things even if you don't immediately see any useful 
application of the stuff you are learning?  Would you be interested in some 
sort of tutoring?

If you are going to continue using the command line you really need to have 
some basic grasp of what the commands are doing, or you should stop using the 
command line at all.  Most things can be accomplished in the GUI and it should 
be extremely rare that  you would actually need to use the command line.


> Is the search I need a boulean (sp) search.  I heard that was the google
> browser search type?

??? what are you trying to ask here?

John Vifian
-- 
Q: How many Linux users does it take to change a lightbulb ?
A: One, but he'll swear up and down that it was JUST as easy for him as it 
would be for a Window's user