Every Linux user that has used the GNOME desktop environment must have had at least an encounter with its default text editor, Gedit. You start it up, and it looks like a simple notepad type application with a toolbar added on top. However, don't let yourself fooled by that simple appearance.

GNOME’s default text editor, Gedit, includes a powerful plugin system similar to Firefox’s. There are useful plugins available for both programmers and regular users.

Most computer users spend their entire life looking for the Holy Grail. In other words, they spend all their life searching for the perfect editor that supports all their languages, is free as in speech, has spelling, has highlighting… you get the picture. Obviously, there isn’t a perfect editor out there. However, some come pretty close. Ironically, one of them is one that any Ubuntu (or in fact, any Gnome) user has installed, though they may not know it. It’s called gedit (also known as Text Editor).

When I first started using Ubuntu I wanted to find a text editor something like BBEdit or TextMate on the Mac. After flirting with both Vi and Emacs, I eventually turned to gEdit, the humble little default text editor for the Gnome desktop. But I quickly realized that gEdit is actually quite powerful.