[tlug] LHS intro / As a writing tool...

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

This is a little long and rambling, but I thought I should give you all 
some sort of introduction of myself, so you know where I'm coming from.

I am - after only experimentally using Linux for years - now using Linux 
as my primary work machine, and I am running into some snags with the 
things I need to do on the computer in the process of handing text.  
First, an explanation of my background:

I am first and foremost a photographer, who initially wrote a little as 
a hobby, but text has proven to be more marketable than photos, and so 
now - for my livelihood - it's mainly text that pays the bills.

After (idiotically) using a word processor for several years, I finally 
bought a computer in 1996.  Initially, I only wanted to use computers as 
writing machines, but I quickly learned that computers are high 
maintenance devices and - if they were to be keep functioning, I had to 
put in maintenance and study time on them.

Following my first used computer, I bought a long string of assorted 
used computers in various states of disrepair - so I've become somewhat 
practiced in putting together different pieces of junk machines to make 
working boxes - a skill strengthened when I worked at a PR company that 
had a ridiculously low IT budget and a whole fleet of mainly junk 
computers that were kept running through the ingenuity of the Russian IT 
man - who I assisted from time to time.  The result being that, 
mechanically, I understand computers well, but - in spite of hardly 
getting a good night's rest since buying that first computer in 1996 and 
nearly always staying up in the middle of the night to do one thing or 
another on the machines, time is the eternal enemy and I never have 
enough of it to just sit down and study.  Always it's a learn-as-you-run 
situation and so... so... I try - I buy Linux manuals and try to read 
them, but hands-on experience seems to be the quicker and more effective 
teacher most of the time - along with... um... asking people things.

Now to some specifics about my main uses for computers:

I have grown used to editing, e-mail writing, creating presentations - 
whatever, by first starting with text written in a text editor (EditPad 
Pro), and then copy pasting in the mainly completed text into whatever 
program - which has served me well, but... and finally here is my question:

I've been having some sporadic problems with copy-paste in Linux - where 
some blocks of text from - say EditPad Pro (the Linux version), or 
OpenOffice, which seem normal, highlightable, and copyable, don't copy 
over into e-mail (or vice-versa) - only partially copy over, or else one 
item is in memory and nothing new will replace it with <Ctrl>+<C>.  What 
search words should I use to bring up information on text handling in 
Linux?  One problem might also be my trackball mouse that only has two 
buttons - is it essential to have a three button mouse (using the scroll 
as a third button with a scroll mouse), or is it possible to extensively 
handle text in Linux with keyboard commands - hopefully <Ctrl>+<C>, 
<Ctrl>+<X>, <Ctrl>+<V>, etc.  I'm hoping it is, as my trackball - with 
the large ball precisely in the center - is one I hope to continue using.

Again, I'm happy to look this up, but would appreciate it if someone 
could offer tips on the best places to look for the info, or the best 
key words to use.  I have the manuals that came with Suse 9.0, and a 
book called "Sam's Teach Yourself Red Hat Linux 8 in 24 hours" (No, I 
didn't buy that one myself, but had it given to me by a friend... "in 24 
hours" - it sounds like one of those "Learn English in 2 minutes a day" 
books).

Given my background, I probably seem a bit like a fish in the wrong sea, 
but I like the concept of Linux, and am so appalled at the dirty 
business tactics of a certain predatory company, that I do indeed want 
to swim these seas, and - as a wise man said - pay forward when the 
opportunity arises.

Sorry for the lengthy e-mail, but I wanted to introduce myself.  
Following e-mails will be much shorter I promise.

Lyle