In my trying to set up [link|http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=186747|MythTV on Ubuntu 6.06] a few weeks ago, I found that the default Gnome editor wouldn't let me edit files I needed to change due to some permission issue, but nano worked fine. I was able to figure it out without reading any manual, so it's probably a good choice.
It does [link|http://wiki.linuxhelp.net/index.php/Nano_Syntax_Highlighting#Perl|perl syntax highlighting too], with some configuration.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who had to quit for a while after fighting with getting IVTV working, step 5.2, and being unsuccessful...)