What are your favourite software packages?

[Dietmar]

I use plain Ed, or sometimes CED. GED is to slow-loading for me, and the control keys are all wrong

It's not nice to comment on software if you have no clue With GoldED you can use exactly the same control keys. Just run the face/on utility and install the CED keymap (if you are too lazy to configure the keymap yourself, that is).

As to loading speed, that probably varies wildly with the hardware you are using. I can't count to one before it's up and running on my computers (UAE, Pegasos), which are only moderately fast @ 600MHz and 1.4GHz. On a 040/40 or with a slow 1GB HD,  you have a point.

Note that, if the HD is slow, and you are a victim of "classic" hardware, it's a good idea to enable the image cache, that has a major effect on starting performance. Also, enable the "resident" option, so that any future start of the editor will be near-instant.

[Dietmar]

> It's not nice to accuse people of not having a clue, Hr. Eilert [...] clipboard functions should use the keys favoured by every other Amiga application in existence

Maybe you should actually download and install a recent GoldED, "Mr. Drougge", that would help very much with such arguments. It uses favoured keys quite consistently. For example, "amiga-c" is used for copy. Besides, the program is configurable. If you don't like the preconfigured shortcuts, changing one will take five seconds or so. And, as already stated above, if you are more happy with the CED keymap, just install it.

[Dietmar]

> I have refrained from upgrading my GED, both since I fear that it will be even slower

Iggy, I'm working very hard on making it slower with each update. The recent history still contains sixteen references to features now faster but I think I'll get better at making it slower with more practice.

To work a bit on your expertise (or rather the lack of it , install GoldED4 and compare it against GoldED AIX. This is helped by the built-in benchmark command "task bench". You will find that the latter has not only many more features but is significantly faster.

You obviously can't compare GoldED to a simplistic editor such as CED, which has no folding, no syntax highlighting, no plug-ins, no toolbars, no real user interface. It would be a minor miracle if CED would not load faster on a 040/40. With such ancient hardware, CED may very well be the best choice for you. You could however find decent hardware for 150 US$ on ebay that would run (not only) GoldED   blazingly fast.