[news.newusers.questions] characters past 80th column

ae219dp@prism.gatech.EDU (Devon Prichard) (02/02/90)

on about every fifth or so article I read, the text goes past the 80th
column, and the last character spells out a whole sentence one character
at a time.  I'm using MS-Kermit in VT-100 mode on an XT clone, Herc graphics,
logging onto a Sequent 81 unix box, in k-shell. I use "rn" to read
Usenet.

is this problem with my terminal emulation, the data connection,
the Sequent, the article, or what ??

thanks in retreat,

-- 
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 | Devon Prichard             making the world safe for helicopters ... |
 | ae219dp@prism.gatech.edu                                             |
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paul@actrix.co.nz (Paul Gillingwater) (02/08/90)

In article <5604@hydra.gatech.EDU> ae219dp@prism.gatech.EDU (Devon Prichard) writes:
>
>on about every fifth or so article I read, the text goes past the 80th
>column, and the last character spells out a whole sentence one character
>at a time.  I'm using MS-Kermit in VT-100 mode on an XT clone, Herc graphics,
>logging onto a Sequent 81 unix box, in k-shell. I use "rn" to read

MS-Kermit can fix the problem with:

set term wrap on

You can put it in your mskermit.ini file to make it automatic.

I posted this rather than e-mailing, because it brings up a related problem:
editors like emacs and vi, which I guess are the two most common editors
used with USEnet, don't word wrap when they hit the right margin.

DOes someone know of a PD editor which DOES wordwrap under UNIX Sys V?
Also, many Fido BBS solve this problem by using a soft CR at the end
of some lines ($9D not $0D) to show that the paragraph has not ended
yet, and can be wrapped to different margins if desired.  As i'm planning
to run UFGate, can someone advise what de facto standards exist for
doing this with USEnet?  I've seen heaps of postings from people who
un-socially don't bother hitting RETURN before the 80th column.

Also, I would recommend setting the column width to 72 cols, to allow for
overflow when quoting messages.
-- 
Paul Gillingwater, paul@actrix.co.nz

ron@motmpl.UUCP (Ron Widell) (02/09/90)

In article <1990Feb7.222553.5806@actrix.co.nz> paul@actrix.co.nz
	Paul Gillingwater) writes:
>I posted this rather than e-mailing, because it brings up a related problem:
>editors like emacs and vi, which I guess are the two most common editors
>used with USEnet, don't word wrap when they hit the right margin.
>
If I understand your statement, I believe you can accomplish what you wish
by setting the wrapmargin variable in vi. This can be set manually after
invocation, via the EXINIT environment variable or in the .exrc file. Note
that the number (decimal) value is the count from the right margin.
>
>Also, I would recommend setting the column width to 72 cols, to allow for
>overflow when quoting messages.
Thus if the TERM environment variable specifies a terminal defined by termcap
or terminfo file to be 80 columns wide, 'set wm=8' would give you what you
want, automatic word wrap beyond 72 characters. Obviously, a display with a
different defined width would require a different value for wrapmargin.

If this is not what you were referring to, I apologize for the waste of
net.bandwidth. I posted rather than mailed as I thought it might help more
than a few newusers (I think I worked with vi for about 3 years before I
finally noticed it). Then again, I *always* set it manually (compilers are
often less than pleased with unexpected new-lines :-)).

Regards,
-- 
Ron Widell, Field Applications Eng.	|UUCP: {...}mcdchg!motmpl!ron
Motorola Semiconductor Products, Inc.,	|Voice:(612)941-6800
9600 W. 76th St., Suite G		| I'm from Silicon Tundra,
Eden Prairie, Mn. 55344 -3718		| what could I know?

mdb@ESD.3Com.COM (Mark D. Baushke) (02/10/90)

In article <1990Feb7.222553.5806@actrix.co.nz>, paul@actrix.co.nz
(Paul Gillingwater) writes: 

Paul> In article <5604@hydra.gatech.EDU> ae219dp@prism.gatech.EDU
(Devon Prichard) writes:

Devon> on about every fifth or so article I read, the text goes past
Devon> the 80th column, and the last character spells out a whole
Devon> sentence one character at a time.  I'm using MS-Kermit in
Devon> VT-100 mode on an XT clone, Herc graphics, logging onto a
Devon> Sequent 81 unix box, in k-shell.  I use "rn" to read

Paul> MS-Kermit can fix the problem with:

Paul> set term wrap on

Paul> You can put it in your mskermit.ini file to make it automatic.

Paul> I posted this rather than e-mailing, because it brings up a
Paul> related problem: editors like emacs and vi, which I guess are
Paul> the two most common editors used with USEnet, don't word wrap
Paul> when they hit the right margin.

Well, it depends on which Emacs and how it is configured. Under GNU
Emacs, the use of M-x auto-fill-mode will make a particular buffer do
word wrap (this entire paragraph was typed in without pressing the
return key or doing a M-x fill-paragraph on it). It is also possible
to configure your GNU Emacs to automatically use the auto-fill-mode on
any new files or buffers or on a particular subset.

Paul> DOes someone know of a PD editor which DOES wordwrap under UNIX
Paul> Sys V? [...omitted...]

GNU Emacs is not PD, but is freely available and might run on your
box.

Paul> Also, I would recommend setting the column width to 72 cols, to
Paul> allow for overflow when quoting messages.

Of course, using the 'supercite' package in GNU Emacs can also let you
trivial reformat the paragraph to fit (as was done with the quotes
above).

Paul> Paul Gillingwater, paul@actrix.co.nz

Just another GNU Emacs hacker,
-- 
Mark D. Baushke
mdb@ESD.3Com.COM