Commands not working

Commands not working

[mudgen]

Hello, I'm brand new to emacs. I just installed a linux slackware 10.2
onto my computer.

I have GNU Emacs 21.4.2.

The commands don't seem to be working for me. For instance, I start up
Emacs. Then I try to exit so I type: C-x C-c and my screen just blinks
and nothing happens. I do it again and my screen just blinks and
nothing happens, I do it again and same thing, I do it again and I get
this new screen that starts off saying " This buffer is for notes you
don't want to save, and for Lisp evaluation.", I do it again and my
screen just blinks.  I do it again and then Emacs exits. That's an
awful lot of work just to exit!

Well, mostly none of the commands seem to be working.

I know that C-x C-c means to hold down Control and type x, and then to
hold down control and type c.

When I type C-h to get some help, it just seems to work as it is the
delete key, deleting text.

Looking for help on the internet, I found this in an Emacs FAQ: "Your
system administrator may have changed `C-h' to act like <DEL> to deal
with local keyboards." From here:
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-faq.text

Well, C-h is acting like the delete key for me. I'm thinking that my
keyboard may not be set up correctly and so is interfering with Emacs
commands. If this is true I have no idea what to do about it or how to
fix it. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Re: Commands not working

[Maarten Bergvelt]

In article <1138372679.888754.11040@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>, 
mudgen@gmail.com wrote:
> Hello, I'm brand new to emacs. I just installed a linux slackware 10.2
> onto my computer.
> 
> I have GNU Emacs 21.4.2.
> 
> The commands don't seem to be working for me. For instance, I start up
> Emacs. Then I try to exit so I type: C-x C-c and my screen just blinks
> and nothing happens. I do it again and my screen just blinks and
> nothing happens, I do it again and same thing, I do it again and I get
> this new screen that starts off saying " This buffer is for notes you
> don't want to save, and for Lisp evaluation.", I do it again and my
> screen just blinks.  I do it again and then Emacs exits. That's an
> awful lot of work just to exit!
> 
> Well, mostly none of the commands seem to be working.
> 
> I know that C-x C-c means to hold down Control and type x, and then to
> hold down control and type c.

It seems that C-x C-c has been renamed from the usual meaning. To
check this check the keybinding like this
M-x help
k
C-x C-c
When I do this I get 

C-x C-c runs the command save-buffers-kill-emacs
   which is an interactive compiled Lisp function in `files'.
(save-buffers-kill-emacs &optional ARG)

Offer to save each buffer, then kill this Emacs process.
With prefix arg, silently save all file-visiting buffers, then kill.


> When I type C-h to get some help, it just seems to work as it is the
> delete key, deleting text.
> 
> Looking for help on the internet, I found this in an Emacs FAQ: "Your
> system administrator may have changed `C-h' to act like <DEL> to deal
> with local keyboards." From here:
> http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-faq.text
> 
> Well, C-h is acting like the delete key for me. I'm thinking that my
> keyboard may not be set up correctly and so is interfering with Emacs
> commands. If this is true I have no idea what to do about it or how to
> fix it. Does anybody have any suggestions?

You can access help also by typing 
M-x help, as above. To get help with help type
M-x help-for-help. Hints about changing keybindings should be in the
FAQ,
M-x view-emacs-FAQ

Hope this helps, good luck.

-- 
Maarten Bergvelt

Re: Commands not working

[mudgen]

The M (alt) command don't seem to be working either.

Re: Commands not working

[Albert Reiner]

[Maarten Bergvelt <bergv@math.uiuc.edu>, Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:33:11 +0000 (UTC)]:
> It seems that C-x C-c has been renamed from the usual meaning. To
> check this check the keybinding like this
> M-x help
...

It is probably clear to the OP anyway, but just to be sure: 

    M-x help

etc. is actually

    M-x h e l p RET

.  And if there is trouble with the keyboard, the Alt key for M-x may
not work either, so use ESC x instead.

HTH,

Albert.

Re: Commands not working

[Harald Hanche-Olsen]

Hmm, I think the other people responding haven't read this very
carefully, so they missed important clues in the original post.

+ "mudgen@gmail.com" <mudgen@gmail.com>:

| The commands don't seem to be working for me. For instance, I start up
| Emacs. Then I try to exit so I type: C-x C-c and my screen just blinks
| and nothing happens. I do it again and my screen just blinks and
| nothing happens, I do it again and same thing, I do it again and I get
| this new screen that starts off saying " This buffer is for notes you
| don't want to save, and for Lisp evaluation.",

A-HA!  So, you started emacs from a terminal window, nothing much
happened in said terminal window, you typed all these commands in the
terminal window, which doesn't work because emacs, being an X client
if it can and you're not telling it not to do so, likes to open its
own window.

So go back to square one: In your terminal window, type "emacs &"
(without the quotes of course) and hit RETURN.  Now wait for the new
window to pop up: The one you described as a "new screen" above. That
window IS your emacs!  Type your commands to that window, NOT to the
original terminal window.  Everything should now work as expected.

(If not, make sure the new window has keyboard focus, that is, that
keypresses go to the emacs window.  What you need to be sure of that
depends on your window manager and how it is configured.  If placing
the mouse cursor over the window is insufficient, click on it.)

-- 
* Harald Hanche-Olsen     <URL:http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/>
- Debating gives most of us much more psychological satisfaction
  than thinking does: but it deprives us of whatever chance there is
  of getting closer to the truth.  -- C.P. Snow

Re: Commands not working

[Maarten Bergvelt]

In article <pcopsmdwrj8.fsf@shuttle.math.ntnu.no>, 
Harald Hanche-Olsen wrote:
> Hmm, I think the other people responding haven't read this very
> carefully, so they missed important clues in the original post.
> 
> + "mudgen@gmail.com" <mudgen@gmail.com>:
> 
>| The commands don't seem to be working for me. For instance, I start up
>| Emacs. Then I try to exit so I type: C-x C-c and my screen just blinks
>| and nothing happens. I do it again and my screen just blinks and
>| nothing happens, I do it again and same thing, I do it again and I get
>| this new screen that starts off saying " This buffer is for notes you
>| don't want to save, and for Lisp evaluation.",
> 
> A-HA!  So, you started emacs from a terminal window, nothing much
> happened in said terminal window, you typed all these commands in the
> terminal window, which doesn't work because emacs, being an X client
> if it can and you're not telling it not to do so, likes to open its
> own window.
> 
> So go back to square one: In your terminal window, type "emacs &"
> (without the quotes of course) and hit RETURN.  Now wait for the new
> window to pop up: The one you described as a "new screen" above. That
> window IS your emacs!  Type your commands to that window, NOT to the
> original terminal window.  Everything should now work as expected.
> 
> (If not, make sure the new window has keyboard focus, that is, that
> keypresses go to the emacs window.  What you need to be sure of that
> depends on your window manager and how it is configured.  If placing
> the mouse cursor over the window is insufficient, click on it.)

Boy, you are good, I would never have thought this was the
problem. (Of course, I never start emacs from a terminal since I
always have my emacs open).

Esc-x instead of M-x should also help.

-- 
Maarten Bergvelt

Re: Commands not working

[Maarten Bergvelt]

In article <1138376647.202909.184630@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, 
mudgen@gmail.com wrote:
> The M (alt) command don't seem to be working either.
> 
This is Usenet, not a web forum (though it is also bastardised on
several web sites).  You cannot know whether the reader can see or has
seen the previous posts, or, if they have been seen, whether the
reader remembers what they were about.

  _Always_ include context, trimming the parts that aren't relevant to
your follow-up.

When using groups.google.com to reply to a Usenet article (better to
use a real newsreader), click on "show options" at the top of the
article, then click on the "Reply" at the bottom of the article
headers.  This will quote the previous message in the accepted manner.

I needed to think hard to remember hard you are repsonding to my
attempt to help you (I guess). Try Esc-x, in the emacs window of
course.

-- 
Maarten Bergvelt

Re: Commands not working

[mudgen]

Wow, I think Harald Hanche-Olsen is good. He's right I was in a
terminal. I in fact did not have X running on any terminals.

This is what I ended up doing:

I wondered if I would have the same problem with emacs in X. So I
started up X. When I started up X I was given an initial configuration
screen, one of the cofiguration things was about my keyboard. I
answered this. Something like I have a U.S. keyboard I think. I had
never even started X before because as I said in my first post, I had
just installed Slackware.

Then I was in X. Then I tried emacs in X and it worked perfectly. Then
I went to a terminal and tried it from a terminal outside X and it was
now working perfectly. I got out of X and tried a terminal and it
worked perfectly. I rebooted my computer. And with a reboot and only
being in a terminal and not having X running anywhere, emacs ran
perfectly.

I think it may have been the initial little configuration that was
required when I first started X. At any rate, emacs started working
perfectly right after the first time I started X.

Maybe it has something to do with what Harald Hanche-Olsen said about
emacs being an X client.  Interesting. Thanks to you all for your help.

Nick

Re: Commands not working

[mudgen]

Maarten Bergvelt wrote:
> In article <1138376647.202909.184630@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
> mudgen@gmail.com wrote:
> > The M (alt) command don't seem to be working either.
> >
> This is Usenet, not a web forum (though it is also bastardised on
> several web sites).  You cannot know whether the reader can see or has
> seen the previous posts, or, if they have been seen, whether the
> reader remembers what they were about.
>
>   _Always_ include context, trimming the parts that aren't relevant to
> your follow-up.
>
> When using groups.google.com to reply to a Usenet article (better to
> use a real newsreader), click on "show options" at the top of the
> article, then click on the "Reply" at the bottom of the article
> headers.  This will quote the previous message in the accepted manner.
>
> I needed to think hard to remember hard you are repsonding to my
> attempt to help you (I guess). Try Esc-x, in the emacs window of
> course.
>
> --
> Maarten Bergvelt

Oh, I just now got what you are saying. Thank you for this information,
and I will include the text like you said.

Re: Commands not working

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

"mudgen@gmail.com" <mudgen@gmail.com> writes:

> Then I was in X. Then I tried emacs in X and it worked perfectly. Then
> I went to a terminal and tried it from a terminal outside X and it was
> now working perfectly. I got out of X and tried a terminal and it
> worked perfectly. I rebooted my computer. And with a reboot and only
> being in a terminal and not having X running anywhere, emacs ran
> perfectly.

you can avoid rebooting altogether by either using "emacs -nw", or by
unsetting the DISPLAY env var in the terminal where you want to run
emacs.  really, rebooting is not the height of debugging style.  better
to inform yourself of some core concepts and rework your mental model.

thi