Recommend a Text Editor on Raspberry Pi OS

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Nothing against VSCode it’s just a little too heavy-weight for me.

What I want is a syntax highlighted text editor, no error checks or built in runtime.
The perfect editor would be nano, but designed to be used with a mouse.
On my desktop I would use Sublime Text 2 but it’s not super cozy with Raspberry PI Os.

What do you use? Pitch me your darlings.

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Hey Pix, I’d use vi / vim. I learnt to use vi properly in the 80’s and still use it to this day. It’s amazing what it can do - I’ve seen someone use just vi to convert a C file to Pascal in a matter of moments - not something I can do . It takes a quite a bit to learn but in my opinion well worth it. And these days syntax highlighting is included.

Having said that I do prefer VS Code though for my Python edits, mainly due to code/object completion. And I’ve gotten lazy using a mouse as well.

Mark

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Hey @Pixmusix,

I can second Vim as a good, lightweight text editor. I would in no way consider myself proficient at it as the learning curve can be pretty steep to begin with but aside from that this is a very solid option.

I would suggest making sure you know how to exit it first however as the keyboard shortcuts are not super intuitive. :grinning:

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You could try Geany, the editor built into the Pi OS; says it works with other PC platforms.
https://www.geany.org/

Cheers
Jim

PS have not tried it on Windows.

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I like Neovim and Vim. An excellent experience.
This is what I would use if I had a lite version of linux with a terminal and not much else.
This isn’t really what I’m after on this occasion.

Geany is closer to what I’m after but it’s still a little busy and takes ages to load.
(it might be the best available).
Looking for something a little more minimalist like leafpad but with syntax highlights.

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You can install Sublime Text through PiApps. Probably you have already done this.
Thonny is what I use most on the Pi, Python seems to be able to do all I need at this time.

Cheers
Jim

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Ah! That link was really helpful because I learned that 32bit distributions require box86.
I think I’ll have more luck with raspberry Pi OS If I use 64bit distributions.
Let me try that.
Thanks @James46717

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For somewhere in between too small and too big, I suggest looking at Mousepad then Bluetooth.

Mousepad is my choice for scripts as it does everything I need and nothing I do not need. Mousepad is the Pi friendly equivalent to some well recommended editor for other platforms.

Bluetooth adds lots more syntax stuff. I use it for Web sites as it does HTML, CSS, PHP, and all the junk formats some people use in Web sites. Bluetooth is efficient for opening billions :grin: of tiny code files at the same time.

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