Linux Text Editor Shoot-out

Filed in archive Utilities on August 18, 2007

Wow! Today is the day for shoot-outs! :) Anyway, I am betting that not that many of you can recognize what the image is about. Well, it is part of a mechanical typewriter - that thingamagig that is used to make documents before text editors and word processors came into being. Today, we have a gazillion choices for text editors and Computerworld's Ms. Sharon Machlis compares 9 Linux text editors: Emacs, kvim, arachnophila, bluefish, komodo edit, nedit, gedit, kate and quanta plus. Her benchmark is Ultraedit, a Windows text editor. To save you the jump, here's her conclusion

So, did I find the single killer text editor I'd been seeking? No, but I uncovered several good applications that should meet the requirements of users with different needs. If I switch to Linux full time, I'm confident I could stitch together a couple of separate apps that would largely do what I need.

But I bet I'll be even happier once that planned UltraEdit version for Linux is released.

Check out the article to find out the each editor's strengths and weaknesses. Personally, it's vi forever!