[Nolug] How to edit the /etc/fstab file. (was Re: UT2K4)

First, open a terminal window. Type "su" and then hit ENTER. You'll
be prompted for the root password, so type that in and hit ENTER. You
should see "#". Type "nano /etc/fstab" and hit ENTER (if this fails
with "nano: command not found", see the next paragraph). Use the
cursor keys to move around normally. Put a hash mark ("#") at the
beginning of the line you want to comment out. Insert the correct
line after that one (being careful to preserve whatever else is in the
file.)

[If you don't have nano, use ed. At the command prompt, type
"ed /etc/fstab". You'll see a number. Type
",s/subfs fs=cdfss/iso9660 /g" followed by ENTER. Make sure the file
was changed correctly by viewing it (type "1,$ p" and then ENTER),
save it (type "w" and then ENTER) and then quit (type "q" and then
ENTER). If you make a mistake, just quite and start over. If my
instructions are wrong, don't use them. ;) ]

When it comes to editors, it depends on your use. If you want to
avoid religious debate and have a graphical user interface, use
nedit (http://www.nedit.org/) -- it's keymapping is similar to a
windows application.

If you have to edit the file in a terminal window (as is likely for
/etc/fstab, since you have to be root), use nano
(http://www.nano-editor.org/) -- by default is has a menu of editing
commands at the bottom of the screen (the ^ symbol means "CTRL").

However, if you want a programmer's editor, use emacs
(http://www.emacswiki.org/). Most likely, though, vi and emacs will
be overkill if you just want to edit the /etc/fstab file.

The advantage of both these text editors over vi is that they are not
modal. Most newbies who've had experience with, say, notepad, aren't
going to easily understand vi.

"David B. John" <david@digitalsolutions-la.com> writes:

> (assuming you have vi)

ed is the standard editor.
(http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~smikes/emacs/ed.html)

Seriously, someone from another LUG list that I'm on just said that if
they are helping users remotely, they use ed instead of any other
editor because its commands are the easiest to use over the phone.

Mark.

-- 
A choice between one man and a shovel, or a dozen men with teaspoons
is clear to me, and I'm sure it is clear to you also.
    -- Zimran Ahmed <http://www.winterspeak.com/>
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