emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

[BP25]

Hello,

I've been very happily using emacs -nw but now I need to display PDFs
(because I'm compiling .tex), hence will need to run emacs on some
graphical frame as opposed to the terminal, because I want to use
docview. How can I make the graphical frame be like emacs -nw, except
for the window where docview will display the PDF? This should be
achievable without using exwm which is overkill I think.

Any leads are very much appreciated! (and CC: me in your reply because
I'm not subscribed to the list, please!)

Re: emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: BP25 <bp25@riseup.net>
> Date: Thu, 02 Jan 2025 16:40:53 +0000
> 
> I've been very happily using emacs -nw but now I need to display PDFs
> (because I'm compiling .tex), hence will need to run emacs on some
> graphical frame as opposed to the terminal, because I want to use
> docview. How can I make the graphical frame be like emacs -nw, except
> for the window where docview will display the PDF? This should be
> achievable without using exwm which is overkill I think.

Did you try to create a GUI frame using emacsclient?

Re: emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

[mbork]

On 2025-01-02, at 16:40, BP25 <bp25@riseup.net> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I've been very happily using emacs -nw but now I need to display PDFs
> (because I'm compiling .tex), hence will need to run emacs on some
> graphical frame as opposed to the terminal, because I want to use
> docview. How can I make the graphical frame be like emacs -nw, except

Not the answer to your question, but consider using pdf-tools, which is
a much better pdf viewer than docview.  (Also, it can integrate with
AUCTeX.)

Also, what do you mean exactly by "be like emacs -nw"?  Also, what is
the reason you want that?  I hardly ever use Emacs in a terminal, but
AFAIK, emacs in a graphical environment is basically the same as in the
terminal, only better (for example, some keychords do not work in
terminals AFAIK).  Also, Emacs in graphical environment has some nice
and/or useful capabilities like displaying images (which is extremely
useful for me).

Hth,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
https://mbork.pl
https://crimsonelevendelightpetrichor.net/

Re: emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

[bp25]

Dear Hth,

Thanks for your message. For now I'll stick with the simplest option of
docview. By "be like emacs -nw" I mean the following. The terminal
application on Fedora can display images [1]. I think because it's not
really the terminal, but rather a graphical frame which emulates the
terminal (hence, has many pixels which can be used to display images)?
Can we do the same with emacs? I don't need the graphical environment
except for pdfs, and I'm really at ease with using emacs -nw.

[1]
https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/26698/display-images-in-emacs-w3m-in-terminal

On Sat, Jan 04 2025, mbork@mbork.pl wrote:

> On 2025-01-02, at 16:40, BP25 <bp25@riseup.net> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I've been very happily using emacs -nw but now I need to display PDFs
>> (because I'm compiling .tex), hence will need to run emacs on some
>> graphical frame as opposed to the terminal, because I want to use
>> docview. How can I make the graphical frame be like emacs -nw, except
>
> Not the answer to your question, but consider using pdf-tools, which
> is a much better pdf viewer than docview.  (Also, it can integrate
> with AUCTeX.)
>
> Also, what do you mean exactly by "be like emacs -nw"?  Also, what is
> the reason you want that?  I hardly ever use Emacs in a terminal, but
> AFAIK, emacs in a graphical environment is basically the same as in
> the terminal, only better (for example, some keychords do not work in
> terminals AFAIK).  Also, Emacs in graphical environment has some nice
> and/or useful capabilities like displaying images (which is extremely
> useful for me).
>
> Hth,

Re: emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

[Gregor Zattler]

Hi,
* bp25@riseup.net [2025-01-07; 11:22 GMT]:
> By "be like emacs -nw" I mean the following. The terminal
> application on Fedora can display images [1]. I think because it's not
> really the terminal, but rather a graphical frame which emulates the
> terminal (hence, has many pixels which can be used to display images)?
> Can we do the same with emacs?

not in a terminal.

When you use a graphical emacs frame:
What exactly is not to your liking so
that it perhaps can be configured
(away)?

Examples:

- Fullscreen mode, start as emacs
  --fullscreen or press F11 in graphical frame.

- disable toolbar, menubar etc:

  (tool-bar-mode -1)
  (scroll-bar-mode -1)
  (menu-bar-showhide-fringe-menu-customize-disable)
  (fringe-mode 0)
  (set-fringe-mode 0)
  (menu-bar-mode 0)



Does this help?

Ciao; Gregor
--
 -... --- .-. . -.. ..--.. ...-.-

Re: emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

[bp25]

Thanks for your reply! And thanks for your suggestions!

> When you use a graphical emacs frame: What exactly is not to your
> liking so that it perhaps can be configured (away)?

The colour(s) for one thing... especially the white background

Re: emacs graphical frame to behave like -nw

[Gregor Zattler]

Hi bp25@riseup.net,
* bp25@riseup.net [2025-01-08; 18:35 GMT]:
> Thanks for your reply! And thanks for your suggestions!
>
>> When you use a graphical emacs frame: What exactly is not to your
>> liking so that it perhaps can be configured (away)?
>
> The colour(s) for one thing... especially the white background

this is a can of worms...  You could do

(set-foreground-color "black")
(set-background-color "white")

or

M-x list-colors-display  to see other
color names and apply them instead of
white and black as above?

Or do a deep dive into theeming.

Ciao; Gregor
--
 -... --- .-. . -.. ..--.. ...-.-