o frabjous emacs

[topaz]

Emacs has been my preferred computing text editor since I was about 15, when npierce asked me to help her learn to use it on the Columbia TOPS-20 systems.  I followed the Emacs built-in tutorial, drank the Kool-Aid and never looked back.

But in the last few years, I found myself using it less and less.  Emacs just wasn't keeping up with advances in Unix desktop environments.  It used a widget set that didn't mesh well with the new sleek, suave desktops.  Using it under GNOME or KDE felt incredibly awkward, like walking around with too much starch in your shorts.  Since about 2005 I have been using vim for most of my daily work, but always thinking fondly back to my Emacs and wondering if anyone would ever bring it into the modern age.

Now it seems that they have: http://peadrop.com/blog/2007/01/06/pretty-emacs/

Newer Emacs snapshots support the GTK widget set, which integrates it much better with GNOME than the older releases.  The link above describes how to install it with XFT support as well, so you can use it all the same gorgeous antialiased fonts your desktop supports.

Emacs again!  I scarcely believed it could be true.

Comments

[khedron.livejournal.com]

I've used Emacs under both MacOSX & Windows for years. I've toyed with other things (TextMate on the Mac, Notepad++ for Windows), but I'm always drawn back to Emacs, because I know how to do more with it, and because it handles uncommon situations better. Gigantic file with no line breaks? No problem, although Notepad++ would choke on it. Do I want Emacs to take up my entire screen, with three sub-frames for different files I want to look at simultaneously? Sure!

TextMate looks like a real contender; the screencasts (http://macromates.com/screencasts) are pretty darn impressive. But now I'm back in Aquamcs (http://aquamacs.org/) once again. If I'm programming, I either want a full-blown IDE, or I want Emacs.

[ckd]

I've been using XEmacs since it was Lucid Emacs, and am pretty happy with it.

Of course, I use it most often in a terminal window.

(Mind you, I can also use ed effectively. What's that? Damn kids! Get off my lawn!!)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Me, I would mostly be as happy not using a graphic windowing system at all. Until about 1999 my preferred desktop environment was FreeBSD with eight virtual VT100 consoles. My colleagues at RootsWeb (http://www.rootsweb.com/) dragged me more or less kicking and screaming into the modern high-resolution age.

Somewhere I probably still have the irc.el settings I used when Emacs was my IRC client for work. :-)

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

EMACS is a decent enough operating system, but Linux has a better editor.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Unix is a fine operating system, but in the final analysis, I think I still prefer Emacs.

Emacs

[mystery-dude-00.livejournal.com]

DUDE -- thanks for the link. Like you, I'm an old time TOPS-20/Emacs hacker -- I've done insane things with Emacs, both the GNU version and TOPS-20 version (ever put live machine code in a Q-Vector and then execute it?).

I'm going to check out your link to this cool emacs ASAP.

Re: Emacs

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I bow to your superior hackitude. I had never heard of Q-vectors before now -- I never dug that deep into the TECO internals. :-) My experience on TOPS-20 was really limited to learning Emacs so I could teach it to other people. A shame, too -- I wonder what would have happened if I'd pursued my curiosity to its fullest at the time. *sniff*

Still using the GTK Emacs port and loving it.