[suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Suggestions and feedback for Linux Mint and the forums
Forum rules
Do not post support questions here. Before you post read: Where to post ideas & feature requests
Post Reply
rado84

[suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by rado84 »

Here's another suggestion from me: replace Xed with Gedit in the default installation of Mint. Xed is too basic, incapable of anything. Can't read properly the encoding of a simple txt file, while Gedit doesn't need any settings regarding that.
Frankly, I don't understand why would you make a XFCE text editor to be the default text editor in a Gnome based environment such as Cinnamon.
User avatar
Flemur
Level 20
Level 20
Posts: 10097
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:41 pm
Location: Potemkin Village

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by Flemur »

rado84 wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:25 pm Here's another suggestion from me: replace Xed with Gedit in the default installation of Mint. Xed is too basic, incapable of anything. Can't read properly the encoding of a simple txt file, while Gedit doesn't need any settings regarding that.
Frankly, I don't understand why would you make a XFCE text editor to be the default text editor in a Gnome based environment such as Cinnamon.
It's pretty easy to install gedit and make it the default. BTW, "xed" = either XML EDitor, or "X" (windows), not Xfce.
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
altair4
Level 20
Level 20
Posts: 11426
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:27 am

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by altair4 »

As I recall Xed is a fork of Pluma which is a fork of Gedit2 so it already is using gedit.
Please add a [SOLVED] at the end of your original subject header if your question has been answered and solved.
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18173
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by karlchen »

Hi, rado84.

Let me start by correcting a misunderstanding. The editor xed is not a fork of any xfce editor, but it is based on the Mate editor pluma.

Starting with Mint Mint 18, a project named X-Apps has been introduced. The aim is to have the same set of basic applications on all Linux Mint desktop environments, Cinnamon, Mate and xfce.
xed is part of these X-Apps. You may learn which applications are part of the X-Apps e.g. here: Linux Mint 18 - What's new Go down to the section titled X-Apps.
If you read the "What's new" articles on each Linux Mint release, starting with Mint 18, you will find out that the X-Apps are being maintined and amended step by step.

Personally, the existence of the X-Apps project suggests to me that it is unlikely that gedit will return to Linux Mint as its default editor.

Best regards,
Karl
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
rado84

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by rado84 »

Flemur wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:44 pm It's pretty easy to install gedit
I thought so too. Opened Synaptic and typed gedit. When I tried to install it, I got a message similar to "the package doesn't exist", despite it was in the list of found items, so I had to Google for it and install it manually. Besides, installing software (even one that Synaptic says it doesn't exist) isn't hard for me but for the newbies coming from Microsoft's braingrinder (known as Windows 10), it is hard. Especially if they have to install it from a tarball archive. If I'm not mistaken, one of the main goals of Linux devs is to make Linux as user friendly as possible. And a text editor that can read only UTF-8 and no other encoding table isn't user friendly at all (that's my personal opinion). :roll:

Edit: OK, I may have been wrong about it being a XFCE thingy but it doesn't change the fact Xed is a seriously crippled thing. I thought it was meant for the XFCE env because the most of the programs names contain the letter of the DE they're meant for - K3b is for KDE, XFBurn is for XFCE, GEdit is for Gnome and so on. I hope you understand now why I thought Xed was made for XFCE.
User avatar
Flemur
Level 20
Level 20
Posts: 10097
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:41 pm
Location: Potemkin Village

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by Flemur »

rado84 wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:02 pmOpened Synaptic and typed gedit. When I tried to install it, I got a message similar to "the package doesn't exist", despite it was in the list of found items, so I had to Google for it and install it manually.
With the "real" search (not "quick search", which I've found to be buggy), I don't get any sort of error message from synaptic when I search for a non-existent package, just an empty list.

What happened when you rt-clicked on the gedit listed in synaptic and selected "Mark for installation" and then hit "Apply"?
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
rado84

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by rado84 »

Flemur wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:37 pm What happened when you rt-clicked on the gedit listed in synaptic and selected "Mark for installation" and then hit "Apply"?
This happens normally as it should but when I click "apply" in order to install it, that message reading "the package doesn't exist" appears.
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18173
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by karlchen »

Leaving side aspects behind and coming back to the core of this thread:
Suggestion:
[suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit
Likelihood that this is going to happen:
karlchen wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:55 pmPersonally, the existence of the X-Apps project suggests to me that it is unlikely that gedit will return to Linux Mint as its default editor.
Of course, I cannot read the Mint developers' minds and I cannot foretell their future decisions. But X-Apps, including xed, have been introduced by Mint 18 only, very likely not with the intention of abandoning them anytime soon.
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
MintBean

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by MintBean »

From looking at both apps, I disagree that Xed is 'too basic.'
What is it missing?
If you have a file that Gedit can read but Xed can't, that's worth raising as a bug report for Xed.
rado84

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by rado84 »

MintBean wrote: Sat Jun 09, 2018 5:42 am From looking at both apps, I disagree that Xed is 'too basic.'
What is it missing?
If you have a file that Gedit can read but Xed can't, that's worth raising as a bug report for Xed.
If it were just one file, I'd be happy. But every single text-based file which is written in non-English language is unreadable by Xed. Gedit doesn't need any settings for that, it autodetects the charset of the file, which makes it a lot better than Xed. For instance, a SRT file with charset Windows-1251 - impossible for Xed, even if you change the settings manually, even if you set it to autodetect - it never does. So Xed is simply useless.
User avatar
Ben2talk2
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2018 5:14 am
Location: Samutprakarn Thailand

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by Ben2talk2 »

Flemur wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:37 pm
rado84 wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:02 pmOpened Synaptic and typed gedit. When I tried to install it, I got a message similar to "the package doesn't exist", despite it was in the list of found items, so I had to Google for it and install it manually.
With the "real" search (not "quick search", which I've found to be buggy), I don't get any sort of error message from synaptic when I search for a non-existent package, just an empty list.

What happened when you rt-clicked on the gedit listed in synaptic and selected "Mark for installation" and then hit "Apply"?
Even better - just do this:

Code: Select all

ben:[~] apt install gedit
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  gedit-plugins-common gir1.2-ggit-1.0 gir1.2-gucharmap-2.90 gir1.2-zeitgeist-2.0 libgit2-26
  libgit2-glib-1.0-0
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
Suggested packages:
  gedit-plugins
The following NEW packages will be installed
  gedit
Then decide to follow with 'apt install gedit-plugins' or not.

Sometimes it's a comfort-zone thing. If you're not even comfortable using synaptic/terminal to grab gedit, then you're probably going to find it a pain to set it as the preferred app too.

Personally for this job I prefer terminal because 1. It's quicker to launch (keyboard ctrl/alt/T, or mouse gesture 'T' brings it up - then type 'install gedit' as 'install' has an alias for 'apt-fast install' which uses apt but downloads multithreaded=faster. Of course now we're off topic because it seems there are many ways of doing things and we don't all enjoy streamlining our experience for 'intuitive' shortcuts or ways to do things. XED is a matchy matchy app that fits the desktop. Gedit doesn't really fit in - it's gnome and so the window doesn't match...

Strange to hear the complaint that it's 'too basic' from someone with such a basic skillset.

There's nothing wrong with preferring Gedit or any other number of apps.. but Xed does work perfectly well.

For SRT subtitle files, I'd suggest something like gaupol is far better...
JosephM
Level 6
Level 6
Posts: 1458
Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 6:25 pm

Re: [suggestion] Replace Xed with Gedit

Post by JosephM »

rado84 wrote: Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:18 am
MintBean wrote: Sat Jun 09, 2018 5:42 am From looking at both apps, I disagree that Xed is 'too basic.'
What is it missing?
If you have a file that Gedit can read but Xed can't, that's worth raising as a bug report for Xed.
If it were just one file, I'd be happy. But every single text-based file which is written in non-English language is unreadable by Xed. Gedit doesn't need any settings for that, it autodetects the charset of the file, which makes it a lot better than Xed. For instance, a SRT file with charset Windows-1251 - impossible for Xed, even if you change the settings manually, even if you set it to autodetect - it never does. So Xed is simply useless.
Could you share an example file that works properly in Gedit and not in Xed? The internals of the two are very similar and this is something we should probably look at fixing.
When I give opinions, they are my own. Not necessarily those of any other Linux Mint developer or the Linux Mint project as a whole.
Post Reply

Return to “Suggestions & Feedback”