Unfortunately, that will just skip over the short lines contained within the the block selection, which is exactly what I'm trying not to do (hence the initial question).

Thank you - it seems that this will only be possible with a wrapper script (which was going to be my next course of action). I can definitely use what you've written here as an accelerator, though!

Thank you for the response. I'm not sure I'd have any idea how to create a function for this at this point. Lack of support for this feature is pretty much the main reason I'm shifting away from vscode. (Also looking at nvim as I want a more powerful go-to solution for CLI editing...)

Certainly frustrating - it was my most used feature when I was coding SQL extensively...

I've got that, but I want the container home prefix to be named, dynamically, after the container upon creation as a subdirectory of a container home prefix 'parent' directory I've already created.

Desired outcome -> All dbxs get homes in a subfolder of ~/dbx in turn, named after the container name I provide upon creation.

So.. a container called 'utility' would automatically home itself in ~/dbx/utility, and one called 'archtest' would go in ~/dbxarchtest, etc.

As it stands, the config gives each container the same home directory (albeit separate from the host, so at least I've got that...)

This is good to know. As I say, I haven't tried codium, but I'm not surprised there are glitches.

I hear you wrt avoiding remote server, but for me, it begs the question of whether I want to learn more than one tool/editor? If I use vscode, I'd have to pull the files up and down, but if I use an alternative IDE, I can do it all in one step. If it's a good IDE then why do I want vscode in the first place?

A official sftp caching package might be enough to keep me in vscode (though I'm still not sure what I want to do).

I just find it bewildering that the IDE would so nonchalantly install sh!t on remote servers when you just want to edit a config. Any other tool where something is to get installed remotely makes it abundantly clear what's happening and it's a very conscious decision to do an install.

Not sure why people aren't up in arms about this approach. Unless I'm missing something (and I may well be).

AFAIK, the only difference between codium and vscode is that telemetry is stripped out. I haven't used it, but I imagine it's great. It works the same as vscode in other respects. (unless someone corrects me here).

The main issues I have with the vscode/codium approach is that remote ssh works by installing and executing a server at the remote location (including installation of extensions).

To me, this is convenient but risky - it necessitates prerequisites on the remote server (which caused issues for older server installs), it leaves stuff behind on the remote (if you just want to edit a config why would you want to litter the remote server?). Fundamentally I'm not sure why this isn't a very, very serious potential vector for malware - others can correct me. Do you want to inadvertently put 3rd party nice-to-have extensions written by just anyone running remotely?

They could mitigate this by having an official extension than has an option to do simple sftp access with local caching (as is done with many other editors like UEdit, npp, mc, vim, etc...). Most 3rd party extensions for this that I've seen seem very janky. It begs for something official.

My other issues with vscode are subjective - it lacks virtual space editing, and, frankly the whole thing is a bit slow for me. Again, this is subjective.

It's like trying to code a driving/racing simulator while playing it in real time. On paper...

Dang... Was hoping to kill two birds with one stone and solve that space elevator thing too...

/s

Not sure I follow (especially wrt poor kids?) - maybe I'm just missing the reference. I applaud using Linux on old stuff to breath life into it. But I suspect mass adoption would be harder than one might think. Easy to convince tech savvy folk to dive in and wrangle with it (for its numerous advantages and disadvantages), but the majority of folks won't (they'd sooner move to Apple - with even more waste, proprietary bs, and cost).

Not saying this should be the case, merely that it is the case. (The more adoption, the better chance of better support from developers/HW manus, etc. There's just a leap that seems very hard to make. Wish I knew how to bridge it, but the obstacles seem less of a technical thing than a social/psychological thing)

I had WD Greens in my first NAS (they were HDDs, though). This was ill-advised. Definitely better for power consumption, but they took forever to spin up for access to the point where it seemed like the NAS was always on the fritz.

Now I swear by WD Red. Much, much better (in my use case).

(I'm not sure how things pan out in SSD land though. Right now it's just too pricey for me to consider.)

I was thinking this...

You are correct, but I find dialing an easy-on-the-eyes colour and a good font reduces eye strain. It lets me keep the font size small with less fatigue especially as my eyes (and I) age.

As for what theme? Usually it's as simple as browsing through the presets until one jumps out. Takes a few seconds. Having more presets adds about 2 seconds to the process and often (not always!) results in an even better choice. Have no idea the name of the theme I end up with.

Besides, tweaking this can be fun if you're between thoughts - you end up learning the inner workings of the environment.