Debian Package a Day ([info]debaday) wrote,
@ 2004-06-25 08:00:00
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pinfo - An alternative info-file viewer
pinfo is an viewer for Info documents, which is based on ncurses. The key-commands are in the style of lynx.

Thomas Q. tells us:
There are a lot of manuals that are more detailed in the so-called info page. But my problem was that I had forgotten the handling of the "info" program every time I wanted to use it. I found a program called "pinfo", which has a prettier output and is very easy to use. It is a console program and ncurses-based.

Very handy indeed! I nearly missed seeing this recommendation. I just used it for digging around the cvs info page.

Thomas always warns us: "Be careful with water -- it's full of hydrogen and oxygen!" Wise words.

More information on this package can be found on the Debian web site.
(If there is a package you would like to see featured here, go to the userinfo page and follow the directions there to submit your entry.)

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pinfo is _great_
[info]k8to
2004-06-25 09:25 am UTC (link)
I've converted many an info griper to info booster by the grace of pinfo. It makes reading them pleasurably easy.

(Reply to this)
Any info viewers that use vim-style keys?
(Anonymous)
2004-06-26 10:55 am UTC (link)
I've been looking for an info viewer that uses vim-style keys... not relentlessly, but it would be nice. Anyone know of one? Might make for a good debaday!

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Re: Any info viewers that use vim-style keys?
[info]k8to
2004-06-30 08:37 am UTC (link)
I'm not aware of any usable info readers besides pinfo and gui ones, but there are info -> web gateways like 'dwww' which you could read with w3m which supports vi keys. Don't know if that's good enough for you.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)
Re: Any info viewers that use vim-style keys?
[info]rbarclay
2004-07-05 11:15 am UTC (link)
There's always info2man: Convert GNU info files to POD or man pages, which you'd then view with the pager of your choice.

(Reply to this)(Parent)
info --vi-keys
(Anonymous)
2004-07-04 02:48 am UTC (link)
I do not know whether this is what you want. Anyway, it seems to me that many info-gripers should pay a minute to read "man info" or better "info info". I think info is a very good format for documentation, and that info commands for navigating it are very handy.

The only thing in which info is inferior to html is that line-width is constant (independent of the terminal width).

I have used pinfo. It is good, but I prefer the original info reader.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)
Re: info --vi-keys
[info]k8to
2004-07-13 04:45 pm UTC (link)
Yeah the original info is more powerful, but emacs as an info-reader is more powerful still. If you are comfortable with info you probably are also comfortable with emacs since they share so many keystrokes. I dunno, I never really saw the point of the original info program.

In any event, it _is_ more capable, but of course it only pays off if you use it often enough to remember the keystrokes, which sadly I think most of us never do.

Are you really a non-emacs user who is comfortable with the info-specific client? Or are you an emacs user who for some reason prefers the info client to viewing info pages within emacs?

(Reply to this)(Parent)
Re: info --vi-keys
[info]ninjaseg
2004-07-13 05:13 pm UTC (link)
I have, I did, and its completely awful. Why do you need six different ways of going 'back'? Maybe thats because it predates the web, but we know better now. pinfo's lynx style navigation is far easier and more obvious to use.

Textmode doesn't have to mean hard to use.

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