Help with mc

[wgstarks]

Midnight Commander is often recommended in this forum for file editing. I've never been able to get it to work with any reliability. I can navigate through the file structure using the arrow keys but nothing else seems to work properly. The function keys defined in the mc window don't do anything at all as far as I can tell. Pressing number keys will sometimes perform some action but not what is hoped. I'm reluctant to try the "Let's see what this button does" method for fear of deleting/altering files and folders accidentally.

 

Did some digging on the midnightcommander.org website, but they suffer from the same problems as many other projects. Little or no documentation.

 

Is there some trick that I haven't found to get mc to work? Maybe I should be trying a different text editor?

[JonathanM]

Since I don't use mac I'm not sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree, but possibly you might have better results using putty as the ssh client instead of the native mac app?

 

Does mc work predictably if you use it at the local console instead of from one of your workstations?

[1812]

I use to use mc on terminal in os x... switched to adding krusader via community apps and never looked back. Although I don't use the editor, nor have ever looked for it, I believe it has one.

[wgstarks]

Since I don't use mac I'm not sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree, but possibly you might have better results using putty as the ssh client instead of the native mac app?

 

Does mc work predictably if you use it at the local console instead of from one of your workstations?

I use ipmi rather than a console.

[wgstarks]

I use to use mc on terminal in os x... switched to adding krusader via community apps and never looked back. Although I don't use the editor, nor have ever looked for it, I believe it has one.

I'll take a look at Krusader.

[Helmonder]

MC works fine, even with my mouse.. But it all depends on the terminal emulation program you use.. On Windows most use putty which is great..

 

But actually, krusader wil give you more then that.. So just do that. MC will not bring anything to play that you cannot use with KRusader and that will always work..

[clowrym]

I use mc on my mac all the time, Works great, Have you pressed the "fn" key before pressing the F-keys?

[ClunkClunk]

I use mc all the time from my Mac using Terminal. Since it's heavy on the F-keys, it can get a bit cumbersome.

 

A few things I can suggest:

 

• You'll likely need to press and hold the fn key when using F-keys, as the Mac defaults to the Mac-specific functions (like volume, brightness, play/pause, etc.).

 

• You can set the F-keys on your Mac's keyboard to be F-keys primarily and the Mac-specific functions to be secondary with the fn key by changing the setting in the Keyboard system preference. This is a system-wide setting however.

 

• My preference is to use the escape key as a prefix. Tap escape once, then tap the standard 1 key. mc will interpret it as F1. Same for all F keys up to F10.

[wgstarks]

I use mc all the time from my Mac using Terminal. Since it's heavy on the F-keys, it can get a bit cumbersome.

 

A few things I can suggest:

 

• You'll likely need to press and hold the fn key when using F-keys, as the Mac defaults to the Mac-specific functions (like volume, brightness, play/pause, etc.).

 

• You can set the F-keys on your Mac's keyboard to be F-keys primarily and the Mac-specific functions to be secondary with the fn key by changing the setting in the Keyboard system preference. This is a system-wide setting however.

 

• My preference is to use the escape key as a prefix. Tap escape once, then tap the standard 1 key. mc will interpret it as F1. Same for all F keys up to F10.

Tried Fn. Didn't seem to make any difference. My guess is that Helmonder is probably right, Terminal.app is using the wrong emulator. At one point I managed to get into a "learning" section (don't remember the exact name) where mc would record key presses. I got a few set and then must have pressed the wrong key. mc exited the screen and never could get back into it. Is there some way to reset key commands to default?

[ClunkClunk]

You can change what terminal it's using in the Profiles area of the Settings in Terminal.app. I use xterm-256color usually.

[Zonediver]

Using mc with putty since 7 years - no issues so far. But putty is a Windows Program - on Mac i dont know, what is working well 

Try iTerm or Fugu.

[JonathanM]

But putty is a Windows Program

Really?

https://onvinetech.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/49/

http://www.linuxtechi.com/install-putty-in-ubuntu/

[wgstarks]

But putty is a Windows Program

Really?

https://onvinetech.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/49/

http://www.linuxtechi.com/install-putty-in-ubuntu/

That's good to know and I might check out Putty some day, but I think for now I'll stick with Terminal.

[Zonediver]

But putty is a Windows Program

Really?

https://onvinetech.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/49/

http://www.linuxtechi.com/install-putty-in-ubuntu/

 

Ah nice  Then he can try this as well 

[CarstenD]

Old topic, but I had some problems recently which were new to me. I don't recall ever having to use number keys instead of function keys, but I did now. 

So if the function keys do not work try ctrl + [number key] instead.