Gedit is a simple wysiwyg test editor and people want it to work like OS X’s TextMate too, here how.

So I’ve been using VIM for a while since it’s a little easier than VI and this is not saying too much really. I am sure it’s got it’s following but I prefer a GUI style editor, the command set is simpler and more consistent (cut, copy and paste for instance).

However, gedit is just a bit too primitive out of the box, I’d like some of the programmer support textmate offers. Here’s the steps to improve the experience originally found at SudoBits:

#1 Install gedit plugins

sudo apt-get install gedit-plugins

#2 Install TextMate Fonts

Download the font – Monaco, the TextMate default font  Then copy it to home->username ->.fonts (hit CTRL+H to see hidden files).

#3 Install Syntax color Scheme

Download the DarkMate theme coloring scheme and install it from gedit. To install open gedit and click on Edit -> Preferences -> Font & Colors. Then click on Add button and locate the download file(darkmate.xml).

#4 Install File Browser plugin

Download the class browser plugin ; Extract it to FileSystem-> usr-> share->gedit2->plugins. Then activate it by select the check box from gedit(Edit->Preferences->Plugins).

Now, Gedit is a gui-type editor for programming work on Linux’s with TextMate and you used it side-by-side other editors like Eclipse.