Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Segundo Bob]

My system:

	GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.7)
  of 2014-03-07 on toyol, modified by Debian

	Xubuntu32 14.04

I installed Xubuntu32 14.04 on 2014-06-12.  I noticed this problem 
almost immediately.  The screen contents belonging to other applications 
is NOT in the emacs buffer that is saved to disk, but it is displayed. 
This makes emacs unusable for me.

I have spent several hours over these past weeks Googling for anyone 
reporting a similar problem, but I have found no relevant information. 
This probably means that my problem is not a widespread problem with the 
Ubuntu release.

Who is supposed to clear the "display buffers"?  Linux or Emacs?

I will appreciate any help.
-- 
Segundo Bob
SegundoBob@gmail.com

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[James Freer]

On Fri, 27 Jun 2014, Segundo Bob wrote:

> My system:
>
> 	GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.7)
> of 2014-03-07 on toyol, modified by Debian
>
> 	Xubuntu32 14.04
>
> I installed Xubuntu32 14.04 on 2014-06-12.  I noticed this problem almost 
> immediately.  The screen contents belonging to other applications is NOT in 
> the emacs buffer that is saved to disk, but it is displayed. This makes emacs 
> unusable for me.
>
> I have spent several hours over these past weeks Googling for anyone 
> reporting a similar problem, but I have found no relevant information. This 
> probably means that my problem is not a widespread problem with the Ubuntu 
> release.
>
> Who is supposed to clear the "display buffers"?  Linux or Emacs?
>
> I will appreciate any help.
> -- 
> Segundo Bob

I am running xubuntu and I am not getting that problem.
This is what I have in my .emacs
;; Switch off start up message to have scatch buffer
(setq inhibit-startup-message t)
;; Nothing in scratch buffer
(setq initial-scratch-message nil)

There may be better ways of achieving this but I have only recently started to 
use emacs.

james

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Segundo Bob]

On 06/27/2014 05:02 PM, James Freer wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Jun 2014, Segundo Bob wrote:
>
>> My system:
>>
>>     GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.7)
>> of 2014-03-07 on toyol, modified by Debian
>>
>>     Xubuntu32 14.04
>>
>> I installed Xubuntu32 14.04 on 2014-06-12.  I noticed this problem
>> almost immediately.  The screen contents belonging to other
>> applications is NOT in the emacs buffer that is saved to disk, but it
>> is displayed. This makes emacs unusable for me.
>>
>> I have spent several hours over these past weeks Googling for anyone
>> reporting a similar problem, but I have found no relevant information.
>> This probably means that my problem is not a widespread problem with
>> the Ubuntu release.
>>
>> Who is supposed to clear the "display buffers"?  Linux or Emacs?
>>
>> I will appreciate any help.
>> --
>> Segundo Bob
>
> I am running xubuntu and I am not getting that problem.
> This is what I have in my .emacs
> ;; Switch off start up message to have scatch buffer
> (setq inhibit-startup-message t)
> ;; Nothing in scratch buffer
> (setq initial-scratch-message nil)
>
> There may be better ways of achieving this but I have only recently
> started to use emacs.
>
> james
>

Thanks for the suggestion.  I already had

(setq inhibit-startup-message t)

I added:

(setq initial-scratch-message nil)

This had no effect.

Other ideas?  Anyone?

-- 
Segundo Bob
SegundoBob@gmail.com

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Rusi]

On Saturday, June 28, 2014 6:32:56 AM UTC+5:30, Segundo Bob wrote:
> On 06/27/2014 05:02 PM, James Freer wrote:
> > On Fri, 27 Jun 2014, Segundo Bob wrote:
> >> My system:
> >>     GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.7)
> >> of 2014-03-07 on toyol, modified by Debian
> >>     Xubuntu32 14.04
> >> I installed Xubuntu32 14.04 on 2014-06-12.  I noticed this problem
> >> almost immediately.  The screen contents belonging to other
> >> applications is NOT in the emacs buffer that is saved to disk, but it
> >> is displayed. This makes emacs unusable for me.
> >> I have spent several hours over these past weeks Googling for anyone
> >> reporting a similar problem, but I have found no relevant information.
> >> This probably means that my problem is not a widespread problem with
> >> the Ubuntu release.
> >> Who is supposed to clear the "display buffers"?  Linux or Emacs?
> >> I will appreciate any help.
> >> --
> >> Segundo Bob
> > I am running xubuntu and I am not getting that problem.
> > This is what I have in my .emacs
> > ;; Switch off start up message to have scatch buffer
> > (setq inhibit-startup-message t)
> > ;; Nothing in scratch buffer
> > (setq initial-scratch-message nil)
> > There may be better ways of achieving this but I have only recently
> > started to use emacs.
> > james

> Thanks for the suggestion.  I already had

> (setq inhibit-startup-message t)

> I added:

> (setq initial-scratch-message nil)

> This had no effect.

> Other ideas?  Anyone?

Probably a window-system problem more than an emacs one (just guessing).

What happens if you start with a blank screen and then start emacs using Alt-F2?

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

James Freer <jessejazza3.uk@gmail.com> writes:

> On Fri, 27 Jun 2014, Segundo Bob wrote:
>
>> My system:
>>
>> 	GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.7)
>> of 2014-03-07 on toyol, modified by Debian
>>
>> 	Xubuntu32 14.04
>>
>> I installed Xubuntu32 14.04 on 2014-06-12.  I noticed this problem
>> almost immediately.  The screen contents belonging to other
>> applications is NOT in the emacs buffer that is saved to disk, but
>> it is displayed. This makes emacs unusable for me.
>>
>> I have spent several hours over these past weeks Googling for anyone
>> reporting a similar problem, but I have found no relevant
>> information. This probably means that my problem is not a widespread
>> problem with the Ubuntu release.
>>
>> Who is supposed to clear the "display buffers"?  Linux or Emacs?
>>
>> I will appreciate any help.

That's strange.  Perhaps you have a very slow system?
Try to type C-l to have emacs redisplay the current buffer?


> I am running xubuntu and I am not getting that problem.
> This is what I have in my .emacs
> ;; Switch off start up message to have scatch buffer
> (setq inhibit-startup-message t)
> ;; Nothing in scratch buffer
> (setq initial-scratch-message nil)
>
> There may be better ways of achieving this but I have only recently
> started to use emacs.

Use:

    emacs -q --no-spash

What you have put in your ~/.emacs should work, it works for me.


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__
http://www.informatimago.com/
"Le mercure monte ?  C'est le moment d'acheter !"

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Segundo Bob]

Thanks for the suggestion, which is fruitfully modified slightly.

I started a terminal in full screen mode and used it to start emacs from 
the command line.  This produced a emacs display that was uncluttered 
enough for me to see that I get many warning when I start emacs:

Loading 00debian-vars...done
Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50dictionaries-common.el (source)...
Loading /var/cache/dictionaries-common/emacsen-ispell-dicts.el (source)...
Error while loading 50dictionaries-common: Symbol's value as variable is 
void: debian-aspell-only-dictionary-alist
Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50emacs-goodies-el.el (source)...done
Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50pylint.el (source)...
Loading pylint...done
Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50pylint.el (source)...done
Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50python-docutils.el (source)...done
Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50yasnippet.el (source)...
`flet' is an obsolete macro (as of 24.3); use either `cl-flet' or `cl-letf'.
(lambda (field1 field2) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
`flet' is an obsolete macro (as of 24.3); use either `cl-flet' or `cl-letf'.
Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50yasnippet.el (source)...done
Loading delsel...done
Loading linum...done
Loading recentf...done
Loading /home/bob07/.recentf...done
Cleaning up the recentf list...done (0 removed)
Loading /home/ldi/emacs/bob-utils.el (source)...done
Loading /home/ldi/emacs/adaptive-wrap-prefix.el (source)...done
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.
Package assoc is obsolete!
Type C-x 1 to delete the help window, C-M-v to scroll help.
----

But this doesn't make emacs usable.  Nothing is ever erased from the 
screen.  Information is overwritten with new information, but when a new 
buffer is displayed the text beyond the text in the new buffer is still 
displayed.

I have no idea which problem above to attack first.
-- 
Segundo Bob
SegundoBob@gmail.com

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Segundo Bob]

Pascal J. Bourguignon wrote:

Try to type C-l to have emacs redisplay the current buffer?
---
C-l has no effect on the display, not even a flicker.

---
Pascal J. Bourguignon wrote:

Use:

     emacs -q --no-spash

What you have put in your ~/.emacs should work, it works for me.
---

For me "emacs -q --no-splash" works no different than plain "emacs".

Here is my ~/.emacs:

(custom-set-variables
  ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
  '(delete-selection-mode t)
  '(global-linum-mode t)
  '(indent-tabs-mode nil)
  '(mark-even-if-inactive t)
  '(recentf-max-menu-items 30)
  '(recentf-max-saved-items 30)
  '(recentf-mode t)
  '(save-interprogram-paste-before-kill t)
  '(save-place t nil (saveplace))
  '(scroll-bar-mode (quote right))
  '(tab-stop-list (quote (4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64
68 72 76 80)))
  '(tab-width 4)
  '(transient-mark-mode 1))
(custom-set-faces
  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
  )

;; 2012-03-28 W SegundoBob
;; I don't like the default font.
(set-face-font 'menu "-*-liberation mono-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*")
(set-face-font 'default "-*-liberation mono-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*")

;;; Emacs Load Path
(setq load-path (append  '("/home/ldi/emacs") load-path))

;; Allow narrow to region
(put 'narrow-to-region 'disabled nil)

(setq-default transient-mark-mode t)
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.html$" . html-helper-mode)
auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.htm$" . html-helper-mode)
auto-mode-alist))
(setq inhibit-startup-message t)

;;; Enable use of the Gnome clipboard
(setq x-select-enable-clipboard t)
(setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value)

;; Key mapping for counting words in buffer - SegundoBob
(require 'count-words-buffer)
(global-set-key (kbd "\C-c c") 'count-words-buffer)

;;; Key mapping for date and date-time - SegundoBob
(require 'insert-date)
(global-set-key (kbd  "\C-c d") 'insert-date)
(global-set-key (kbd "\C-c t") 'insert-date-time)

;; Miscellaneous utility functions -  SegundoBob
(load "bob-utils.el")

;; tabbar - SegundoBob
(require 'tabbar)
; turn on the tabbar
(tabbar-mode t)
;; 2011-11-27 Su SegundoBob - Sort tabs within each group
(defun tabbar-add-tab (tabset object &optional append_ignored)
   "Add to TABSET a tab with value OBJECT if there isn't one there yet.
  If the tab is added, it is added at the beginning of the tab list,
  unless the optional argument APPEND is non-nil, in which case it is
  added at the end."
   (let ((tabs (tabbar-tabs tabset)))
     (if (tabbar-get-tab object tabset)
         tabs
       (let ((tab (tabbar-make-tab object tabset)))
         (tabbar-set-template tabset nil)
         (set tabset (sort (cons tab tabs)
                           (lambda (a b) (string< (buffer-name (car a))
(buffer-name (car b))))))))))


;; 2011-11-27 Su SegundoBob - All buffers in same group
;; Default grouping is by major mode.
(setq tabbar-buffer-groups-function
           (lambda ()
             (list "All"))) ;; code by Peter Barabas

;; 2011-11-27 Su SegundoBob - tabbar dirty buffer marker
;;  Begun from code by yswzing.
(defadvice tabbar-buffer-tab-label (after fixup_tab_label_space_and_flag
activate)
   "Add a dirty-buffer mark to a tabbar name"
   (setq ad-return-value
         (if (and (buffer-modified-p (tabbar-tab-value tab))
                  (buffer-file-name (tabbar-tab-value tab)))
             (concat " + " (concat ad-return-value " "))
           (concat " " (concat ad-return-value " ")))))

(defun ztl-modification-state-change ()
   "Toggle buffer dirty state"
   (tabbar-set-template tabbar-current-tabset nil)
   (tabbar-display-update))

(defun ztl-on-buffer-modification ()
   "Initialize dirty-buffer flag before first change."
   (set-buffer-modified-p t)
   (ztl-modification-state-change))

(add-hook 'after-save-hook 'ztl-modification-state-change)
(add-hook 'first-change-hook 'ztl-on-buffer-modification)
;; yswzing: I don't know how to handle revert.
;;(add-hook 'after-revert-hook 'ztl-modification-state-change)
;; tabbar - end *****

;; I-Switch Buffers
(iswitchb-mode 1)

;; 2012-07-21 Sa SegundoBob
(load "adaptive-wrap-prefix.el")

;; 2012-07-21 Sa SegundoBob
(require 'yaml-mode)
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.yml$" . yaml-mode))

;; 2012-07-22 Su - 2012-07-25 W SegundoBob
(require 'yad-mode)
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.yad$" . yad-mode))
(add-hook 'yad-mode-hook (lambda ()
         (auto-fill-mode 0)              ; No auto fill.
         (visual-line-mode 1)            ; word wrap (Visual Line Mode)
         (flyspell-mode 1)               ; Automatic spell checking
(Flyspell)
         (linum-mode 1)                  ; Display line numbers in left
margin
         (setq tab-width 2)              ; Indent 2 spaces per level for
.yad only
         (make-variable-buffer-local 'tab-stop-list)
         (setq tab-stop-list '(2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
             24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62
64 66
             68 70 72 74 76 78 80))
         ;(adaptive-wrap-prefix-mode 1)   ; Wrap to indentation --
Usually not desirable.
         ))

;; 2012-07-23 M SegundoBob
;; openSUSE doesn't load the delete-selection-mode code by default
(require 'delsel)
(delete-selection-mode 1)

;; 2012-07-23 M SegundoBob
;; Save cursor position in file between sessions.
(require 'saveplace)
;; Instead of turning it on here I turned it on in customize options
;; which put a different looking enable in the custom section somewhere
above.
;;(setq-default save-place t)

;; 2013-03-17 Su SegundoBob
(setq yas/root-directory '("~/emacs.d/mysnippets"
 
"/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/yasnippet/snippets"))
;; Map `yas/load-directory' to every element
(mapc 'yas/load-directory yas/root-directory)

;; 2013-03-22 F SegundoBob
(add-hook 'before-save-hook 'delete-trailing-whitespace)
(column-number-mode t)
(global-whitespace-mode t)
;; make whitespace-mode use just basic coloring
(setq whitespace-style (quote (spaces tabs newline space-mark tab-mark
newline-mark)))


-- 
Segundo Bob
SegundoBob@gmail.com

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Emanuel Berg]

Segundo Bob <segundobob@gmail.com> writes:

> But this doesn't make emacs usable.  Nothing is ever
> erased from the screen.  Information is overwritten
> with new information, but when a new buffer is
> displayed the text beyond the text in the new buffer
> is still displayed.
>
> I have no idea which problem above to attack first.

You have a bunch of error messages/warnings there so
you can start with them.

> Loading 00debian-vars...done Loading
> 
> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50dictionaries-common.el
> (source)...  Loading
> /var/cache/dictionaries-common/emacsen-ispell-dicts.el
> (source)...  Error while loading
> 50dictionaries-common: Symbol's value as variable is
> void: debian-aspell-only-dictionary-alist Loading

I'm on Debian, and I have/use aspell, but I don't have
that (the alist) in the 50dictionaries-common file.

> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50emacs-goodies-el.el
> (source)...done Loading
> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50pylint.el (source)...
> Loading pylint...done Loading
> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50pylint.el (source)...done
> Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50python-docutils.el
> (source)...done Loading
> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50yasnippet.el (source)...
> flet' is an obsolete macro (as of 24.3); use either
> cl-flet' or `cl-letf'.  (lambda (field1 field2) ...)
> quoted with ' rather than with #' `flet' is an obsolete
> macro (as of 24.3); use either cl-flet' or `cl-letf'.

An "obsolete macro" shouldn't cause total havoc one
would think.

> Package assoc is obsolete!  Type C-x 1
> to delete the help window, C-M-v to scroll help.

Yeah, same there.

All of that seems to relate to packages and/or the
installation of Emacs. Try not using any packages. Or
try reinstalling Emacs. What happens with 'emacs -Q'?

-- 
underground experts united

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[J. David Boyd]

Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se> writes:

> Segundo Bob <segundobob@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> But this doesn't make emacs usable.  Nothing is ever
>> erased from the screen.  Information is overwritten
>> with new information, but when a new buffer is
>> displayed the text beyond the text in the new buffer
>> is still displayed.
>>
>> I have no idea which problem above to attack first.
>
> You have a bunch of error messages/warnings there so
> you can start with them.
>
>> Loading 00debian-vars...done Loading
>> 
>> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50dictionaries-common.el
>> (source)...  Loading
>> /var/cache/dictionaries-common/emacsen-ispell-dicts.el
>> (source)...  Error while loading
>> 50dictionaries-common: Symbol's value as variable is
>> void: debian-aspell-only-dictionary-alist Loading
>
> I'm on Debian, and I have/use aspell, but I don't have
> that (the alist) in the 50dictionaries-common file.
>
>> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50emacs-goodies-el.el
>> (source)...done Loading
>> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50pylint.el (source)...
>> Loading pylint...done Loading
>> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50pylint.el (source)...done
>> Loading /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50python-docutils.el
>> (source)...done Loading
>> /etc/emacs/site-start.d/50yasnippet.el (source)...
>> flet' is an obsolete macro (as of 24.3); use either
>> cl-flet' or `cl-letf'.  (lambda (field1 field2) ...)
>> quoted with ' rather than with #' `flet' is an obsolete
>> macro (as of 24.3); use either cl-flet' or `cl-letf'.
>
> An "obsolete macro" shouldn't cause total havoc one
> would think.
>
>> Package assoc is obsolete!  Type C-x 1
>> to delete the help window, C-M-v to scroll help.
>
> Yeah, same there.
>
> All of that seems to relate to packages and/or the
> installation of Emacs. Try not using any packages. Or
> try reinstalling Emacs. What happens with 'emacs -Q'?

It almost sounds as if you have the wrong terminal type selected, so that the
code emacs sends to clear the screen isn't.

Like suggested, start emacs with 'emacs -Q'.

Then start a shell in emacs, and see what your terminal type is set to...

For example, when I start a shell, and type  echo $TERM, I get 'dumb', and it
all works fine.

Let us know.

Dave

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Segundo Bob]

Thanks to James Freer, Rusi, Pascal J. Bourguignon, Emanuel Berg, and 
David Boyd for you help.

I apologize for not responding promptly to the first few suggestions. 
This is my first use of help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.  Since all I knew about 
it what how to send it an email, I expected to receive emails in 
response, but they never came.  By chance I happened on the message 
archive and saw your responses.

For me the "reply via email" button starts an email to the person, but 
not to help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.  I change the email to be to 
help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org and to CC the person.  Is this what I'm supposed 
to do?  Seems very inconvenient and loses the thread connection to 
previous emails.

Is this how help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org works?  Am I doing something wrong?
---
Emanuel Berg wrote:

Try not using any packages. Or try reinstalling Emacs. What happens with 
'emacs -Q'?
---
I went with removing all emacs files.  This was tricky due to 
dependencies causing "broken packages" when the mark for removal was 
done in the wrong order.  But eventually I succeeded.  I reinstalled 
just package "emacs."  My system is Xubuntu32 14.04 so "emacs" is:

This is GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.7)
  of 2014-03-07 on toyol, modified by Debian

On my system this emacs has the "Emacs starts with current screen 
contents in its display buffer" problem with no extra packages installed 
and all warnings eliminated.

So I removed all emacs files, and then installed "emacs23".  On my 
system this is:

GNU Emacs 23.4.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.21)
  of 2013-10-25 on akateko, modified by Debian

This works fine.  It works fine with no extra packages and with all the 
extra packages that I want to use.  So it is my "solution" to my 
problem.  I will leave the mystery of "Emacs starts with current screen 
contents in its display buffer" to others.

Sorry, I never tried "emacs -Q" on a failing emacs.  I have tried it on 
my now working emacs and noted that -Q behaves differently than -q --but 
I haven't found any documentation for -Q, so I don't know what it does.
---
J. David Boyd wrote:

Then start a shell in emacs, and see what your terminal type is set to...
---
Sorry, I didn't do your experiment on a non-working emacs.  On a working 
emacs I also get "dumb".

-- 
Segundo Bob
SegundoBob@gmail.com

Re: Emacs starts with current screen contents in its display buffer

[Emanuel Berg]

Segundo Bob <segundobob@gmail.com> writes:

> Is this how help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org works?  Am I doing
> something wrong?

This is help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org but it is also
gnu.emacs.help.

If you subscribe to the list you should get all
material, including all replies to your questions.

If you habitually access the group, that should be the
same result.

But if you don't subscribe and don't access the group
you will only get replies (by mail) if people include
you in the CC header (or somewhere else, of
course). This isn't difficult to do, but I never do it
because I never know when to do it. I don't keep track
of who subscribes and I don't want to do it always
because I myself got tons of duplicates that way - now
I configured away that problem, apart from the special
case when people neither send to the group or the list,
but ONLY to my mail!

Anyway, I guess you could add - "I'm not on the
list/reading the group, use CC" - after each message if
you don't get a better idea from anyone.

This is a good question for a FAQ, if there is an
equally good answer, of course...

-- 
underground experts united