Obscure X11 Tools
=================

I was too tired to be able to do anything useful. So I played with my "new"
Agenda VR3. One of the tools which I started to like is the XSpread.

I have been an use or the console-based "sc" spreadsheet [1],[2] for years. It
runs on almost any UNIX and on the DOS, too. It is a console-only program which
is actually it's biggest advantage. The most common is the version 6.21 but
there was some post-mortem development which resulted in 7.x line (this stuff
is more "modern" thus less portable).

There is also the XSpread program [3],[4]. It's nothing more than the old good
sc (6.21) with added a simple X11 interface. It is not the real GUI. It is
rather a text interface ported to the X11 environment. Of course, the sc is
better on a text terminal (it uses VI-style controls) but the XSpread has its
advantages in X environment (mouse support, keyboard handling). So it's a
better solution for devices with limited (or virtual) keyboards. And it is
probably the reason why Allin Cottrell ported it to the Agenda VR3 [5].

I found this port pretty useful. Especially because it supports VR3's hardware
keys (left, right, up, down) and because is was implemented a FLTK-based file
dialogues (the normal XSpread does have any).

As a result I have started to search for XSpread resources as I don't like
white background in X11 applications. I still have not found anything useful
but I approached an nice page called "Cool, but obscure X11 tools". The XSpread
is included here ;-)

Actually, there is nothing new. But it's useful to remember what one can use.
And there are some nice tips for usage of these tools. And it's a gentle
reminder that many task can be done with use of small tool which are fast and
which do not require GBs of RAM and TBs of disk space.

The bad thing is that the list shows their basic (and ugly) look. Most of them
can be customized (via the .Xdefaults file) and some of them has lot of
functionality - for example the Xcalendar can also include calendar events.

Some of them have better alternatives: for example the XMore can be substituted
by XLess.

An I have to these the XPostIt. I have something similar installed on my SGI
Indigo and on the Power Macintosh 6100 but not on my main desktop. It should be
fixed.

By the way, they missed the XGopher...


References:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc_(spreadsheet_calculator) 
[2] http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10699 
[3] http://kirste.userpage.fu-berlin.de/chemnet/use/xspread.html 
[4] http://kirste.userpage.fu-berlin.de/chemnet/use/suppl/xspread-sup.html 
[5] http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/agenda/ 
[6] https://cyber.dabamos.de/unix/x11/