# cat /var/data/SDMB | grep -i geek **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506 "2003-08-20T19:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/41 "2003-08-25T05:04:33Z")
heheh. I used pico. Until the day that I opened a file larger than my combined swap and memory… and linux started shutting processes down. I then resolved to learn more vi commands, which was the only reason I used pico in the first place 😉 Ignorance. Linux (mostly slackware) geek, tooled about with Solaris and Irix, worked on … ohgoditsbeenawhile… unix emulated system on ibm’s os390 - a mainframe OS. Weird weird stuff. Been meaning to install a BSD os for a while - waiting for hubby to clear off his laptop so I can. Writing PHP, I have written bash (I ran into a LOT of bloat writing a bash/dialog script to customize ipfw way back when that was current, and then learned perl) some javascript, html of course, asp, SQL, yadda yadda. Always wanting to learn more, but I’ve been stuck with support jobs that have me working more in MS OSes than I like. And now I’m a waitress - well, maybe I can take up geeking on my spare time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/42 "2003-08-25T11:35:32Z")
I’ve been a pro geek since 1985, hacking COBOL on IBM MVS System 360. Started doing DB2 in the version 2 era. I was so used to the ISPF editor that I bought a Windoze version when I started working on that platform. I’ve had formal training in Fortran, PL/I, COBOL, and assembler (both 8080 and System 360). I’ve taught myself C, C++, Java, and a bit of Perl and Python. I still have a deck of punch cards laying around the house somewhere. As an exercise, we wrote a simple ‘hello world’ type assembler program, hand translated it into machine code, and entered it into the system by setting the switches on the front of the Altair 8080. These days I split my time between Windoze and \*nix, mainly Linux and Solaris. If I need to do some quick lite editing I’ll use vi (even on Win2K thanks to RKTools) but for heavy coding I use the excellent JEdit. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/43 "2003-08-25T12:28:27Z")
It’s now 1:30 on a bank holiday Monday, so I am going to **cd /pub; more beer** ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/44 "2003-08-26T07:48:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pestie \* > **Oh, lord, don’t apologize - I thought I made it clear in another thread that I can’t get enough of you. 😉** Good point. I won’t then 😛 > [@](#): > > **That was exactly my point - emacs _is_ a great operating system! Heh…** Just checking. 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*\*OK, who here’s secure enough in their geekhood to actually admit to using pico on occasion? Anyone? 😃 \*\* _raises hand sheepishly_ I do. But how many of you have some form of BSD installed on your _home_ computers? ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/45 "2003-08-26T14:25:40Z")
Hardware geek checking in. I design chips. Which mostly amounts to years of boring Word documents, punctuated by a few blissful months of VHDL writing and simulation on a SunOS box. Religious afilitions: bash, vi (better yet, vim), perl and pine just wanted to through in a plug for vim for all you vi heads. It’s all the fun and power of vi, with the only the _good_ bloat from emacs. Multiple buffer frames, multilevel undo, syntax highlighting, visual selection… shweet… (And no bloody tetris or chat). The other day, I was trying to explain the beauty of vi to my fiancee, a devoted pico-ist. I started with simple regexp stuff that (to my knowledge) pico can’t do and worked up. (yeah, I know, that’s technically ex, not vi I was showing off). I got up to something like > [@](#): > > :.,/foo/+1s/(bar…\*) pico$/vi \1\1/ when she finally broke and said: “That’s just ludicrous. LOOK at it. Don’t you see? It’s gibberish!” And I said… “exactly”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/46 "2003-08-26T19:17:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Angua \* > But how many of you have some form of BSD installed on your _home_ computers? All us MacOS X folks have BSD (and Apache, and PHP, and Perl, and…) installed on our computers. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/47 "2003-08-26T19:53:44Z")
I have cygwin, activeperl, and vim at home… but no BSD. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/48 "2003-08-26T20:16:53Z")
Pro geek with a Comp Sci degree. I understood the subject line almost immediately. That’s in spite of the fact that I’ve done almost no \*nix work in recent years. ☹ I occasionally telnet or ftp from Windows to a Unix shell and do some simple things like navigating and listing directories or transferring files. 5 or 6 years ago I was doing some pretty heavy Perl stuff under Unix. I miss it. ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/49 "2003-08-26T20:33:55Z")
Look here, I’m a QA/CM specialist. I don’t care what you guys do as long as it is version controlled in a suitable repository, has been appropriately tested and approved by the users. … you want me to compile what? have it to the users by when…? … no way, I’m goin’ to lunch! ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/50 "2003-08-26T22:36:23Z")
…and meanwhile, you have me: GOAT (geek of all trades: master of none), who uses whatever gets the job done. Wish I had more time to play about with \*nix systems, however. Need to get back up to speed on 'em, but like **davidm** , I understood the subject line pretty quickly. * * * \<\< End hunger: eat a little snack. \>\> ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/51 "2003-08-26T22:47:05Z")
What, no test scripts in a closed loop test lab **Opengrave**? 😉 'nother geek here too. Although not actively programming anymore, I did a lot of PL/SQL in Oracle, on UNIX. I usually used telnet session(s) against piped into an HP box with UNIX v11.x. I used VI all the time, hands down. I love it. In the office we use Linux. The powers-that-be feel that Linux is more virile than eunuchs. Okay, cheaper at least. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506/52 "2003-08-27T04:54:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Angua \* > \*\*But how many of you have some form of BSD installed on your _home_ computers? \*\* I did have OpenBSD on one of my boxes at home for months, but I eventually scrapped it and went back to Linux. OpenBSD kicked ass, no doubt about it, but Linux could easily support some routing trickery that OpenBSD couldn’t, at least not at the pf/ipf level. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-var-data-sdmb-grep-i-geek/196506.md?page=2)