emacs on windows

emacs on windows

[rustom]

I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
various reasons I need to program in windows.

Some egs. of my problems

-- M-x shell shows all kinds of control characters
-- Paths are /-separated some places and \-separated others

and so on and so forth.

So some questions:
1. Is there some help/wiki etc for folks like me -- migrating from
linux to windows?
2. Do people using emacs on windows prefer cygwin-emacs to native
windows emacs?

Thanks

RE: emacs on windows

[Drew Adams]

> 1. Is there some help/wiki etc for folks like me -- migrating from
> linux to windows?
> 2. Do people using emacs on windows prefer cygwin-emacs to native
> windows emacs?

Others will give you additional (and perhaps contradictory ;-)) help, but
here are my 2 cents:

1. Emacs Wiki is your friend: http://www.emacswiki.org. You will find lots
of help there for using Emacs with Windows. This category page is a good
starting place: http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/CategoryWThirtyTwo.

2. There is a mailing list just for Emacs on Windows:
help-emacs-windows@gnu.org. Also very helpful.

3. I use Cygwin with a native Windows build of Emacs. I don't use a Cygwin
build of Windows. Either way, Cygwin is great. No problems with paths, and
so on.

4. See Lennart Borgman's EmacsW32 installer for Emacs on Windows. It
includes several special features (customizations). I prefer to use a
vanilla Emacs Windows binary, but I think most people use EmacsW32:
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/EmacsW32.

HTH.

 

Re: emacs on windows

[Will Parsons]

Drew Adams wrote:
>> 2. Do people using emacs on windows prefer cygwin-emacs to native
>> windows emacs?
>
> Others will give you additional (and perhaps contradictory ;-)) help, but
> here are my 2 cents:
>
> 3. I use Cygwin with a native Windows build of Emacs. I don't use a Cygwin
> build of Windows. Either way, Cygwin is great. No problems with paths, and
> so on.
>
I can second this advice.  I've been using NTEmacs in conjunction with
Cygwin for some time now and am completely happy with the combination.
Look for cygwin-mount.el so that you can use your Cygwin paths within
Emacs.

- Will

Re: emacs on windows

[Rob Wolfe]

rustom napisał(a):
> I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
> various reasons I need to program in windows.

Welcome to the club. ;)

[...]

> So some questions:
> 1. Is there some help/wiki etc for folks like me -- migrating from
> linux to windows?

I found this site extremely useful:
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html

HTH,
Rob

Re: emacs on windows

[Jason Rumney]

On 4 Feb, 14:38, Rob Wolfe <r...@smsnet.pl> wrote:
> rustom napisa³(a):
>
> > I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
> > various reasons I need to program in windows.
>
> Welcome to the club. ;)
>
> [...]
>
> > So some questions:
> > 1. Is there some help/wiki etc for folks like me -- migrating from
> > linux to windows?
>
> I found this site extremely useful:http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html

Keep in mind that a lot of the information there is out of date, so if
you see something there that purports to be working around a
particular problem, check that the problem exists before blindly
copying the workaround into your .emacs.

Re: emacs on windows

[anu]

On Feb 4, 7:38 pm, Rob Wolfe <r...@smsnet.pl> wrote:
> I found this site extremely useful:http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html

Thanks. I was looking around for some such

Re: emacs on windows

[Lennart Borgman (gmail)]

Jason Rumney wrote:
> On 4 Feb, 14:38, Rob Wolfe <r...@smsnet.pl> wrote:
>> rustom napisa³(a):
>>
>>> I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
>>> various reasons I need to program in windows.
>> Welcome to the club. ;)
>>
>> [...]
>>
>>> So some questions:
>>> 1. Is there some help/wiki etc for folks like me -- migrating from
>>> linux to windows?
>> I found this site extremely useful:http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
> 
> Keep in mind that a lot of the information there is out of date, so if
> you see something there that purports to be working around a
> particular problem, check that the problem exists before blindly
> copying the workaround into your .emacs.

There is also this wiki page

   http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/CategoryWThirtyTwo

but the same warning apply, things might be out of date. If you find 
things that are out of date on the wiki, please put a note there.

Re: emacs on windows

[Joel J. Adamson]

rustom <rustompmody@gmail.com> writes:

> So some questions:
> 1. Is there some help/wiki etc for folks like me -- migrating from
> linux to windows?

You're the first one I've heard of ;)

(sorry, this is meant to provide laughs rather than real information)

Joel

-- 
Joel J. Adamson
Biostatistician
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA  02114
(617) 643-1432
(303) 880-3109

Re: emacs on windows

[Sven Utcke]

Rob Wolfe <rw@smsnet.pl> writes:

> rustom napisał(a):
>> I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
>> various reasons I need to program in windows.
>
> Welcome to the club. ;)

OP gone, so I'm replying to this one...

Have a look at http://www.cam.hi-ho.ne.jp/oishi/indexen.html ---
wouldn't know how to use Windows without it!  Essentially it adds
Emacs Keybindings to _all_ Windows programs (can be disabled on a
per-program basis, of course, and also configured per program).

In fact, I now wish something like this would exist for Linux :-)

Hope this helps --- it certainly helped me!

Sven
-- 
  ___ _  _____ ___   Dr.-Ing. Sven Utcke                    ___  ___ _____   __
 / __| |/ / __| __|  phone: +49 40 8998-5317               |   \| __/ __\ \ / /
| (_ | ' <\__ \__ \  fax  : +49 40 8994-5317 (NEW)         | |) | _|\__ \\ V / 
 \___|_|\_\___|___/  http://www.desy.de/~utcke    (to come)|___/|___|___/ |_|

Re: emacs on windows

[David Kastrup]

Sven Utcke <utcke+news@informatik.uni-hamburg.de> writes:

> Rob Wolfe <rw@smsnet.pl> writes:
>
>> rustom napisał(a):
>>> I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
>>> various reasons I need to program in windows.
>>
>> Welcome to the club. ;)
>
> OP gone, so I'm replying to this one...
>
> Have a look at http://www.cam.hi-ho.ne.jp/oishi/indexen.html ---
> wouldn't know how to use Windows without it!  Essentially it adds
> Emacs Keybindings to _all_ Windows programs (can be disabled on a
> per-program basis, of course, and also configured per program).
>
> In fact, I now wish something like this would exist for Linux :-)

gconf-editor

go to desktop/gnome/interface and set gtk_key_theme to the string value
"Emacs" (without the extra quotes).

That should cater for a solid number of applications.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum

Re: emacs on windows

[rustom]

On Feb 11, 5:13 pm, Sven Utcke <utcke+n...@informatik.uni-hamburg.de>
wrote:
>
> Have a look athttp://www.cam.hi-ho.ne.jp/oishi/indexen.html---
> wouldn't know how to use Windows without it!  Essentially it adds
> Emacs Keybindings to _all_ Windows programs (can be disabled on a
> per-program basis, of course, and also configured per program).
>
> In fact, I now wish something like this would exist for Linux :-)
>
> Hope this helps --- it certainly helped me!
>
Thanks Sven. XKeymacs certainly looks interesting.  But my problem
with emacs on windows is not primarily with key-bindings. Its that the
general linux paradigm does not work.

Here are some egs.

- paths dont make sense (to me) -- sometimes spaces, sometimes no
spaces, sometimes '/' sometimes '\'
- whats the equivalent of $HOME $PATH etc? It seems to have some. But
I cant make sense of it
- I cant find the fonts I use in linux
- M-x shell seems broken -- puts all kinds of control characters
- large nos of utilities used from inside emacs -- locate, man etc
dont work. Expecting man on windows is of course too much but locate?
And windows explorer find never finds me the stuff I am looking for.

Re: emacs on windows

[Joost Kremers]

rustom wrote:
> - paths dont make sense (to me) -- sometimes spaces, sometimes no
> spaces, sometimes '/' sometimes '\'

spaces should be there when they're in the path, emacs shouldn't really
change anything about that. as for \ vs /, that's a windows thing, emacs
accepts both. i never worry about it when i'm on windows. (which, luckily,
rarely happens...)

> - whats the equivalent of $HOME $PATH etc? It seems to have some. But
> I cant make sense of it

(getenv "HOME") will tell you that. it's possible to change it, too. just
google for "set environment variables windows" or something and you'll find
explanations aplenty.

> - I cant find the fonts I use in linux

are you sure they're even installed on your windows box? other than that, i
have no idea, don't know how emacs on windows handles fonts.

> - M-x shell seems broken -- puts all kinds of control characters

dunno, but unless M-x shell runs DOS, or you have cygwin installed, running
a shell inside emacs on windows seems pointless anyway...

> - large nos of utilities used from inside emacs -- locate, man etc
> dont work. Expecting man on windows is of course too much but locate?

well, locate is indeed a unix utility, and not normally available on
windows. same probably for the other utilities you have in mind.

if you really miss that sort of stuff (which i can sympathise with ;-) you
might consider installing cygwin <http://www.cygwin.com/>. it's a unix-like
environment for windows, and gives you bash, a host of shell utilities and
IIRC even X.

-- 
Joost Kremers                                      joostkremers@yahoo.com
Selbst in die Unterwelt dringt durch Spalten Licht
EN:SiS(9)

Re: emacs on windows

[B. T. Raven]

Sven Utcke wrote:
> Rob Wolfe <rw@smsnet.pl> writes:
> 
>> rustom napisał(a):
>>> I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
>>> various reasons I need to program in windows.
>> Welcome to the club. ;)
> 
> OP gone, so I'm replying to this one...
> 
> Have a look at http://www.cam.hi-ho.ne.jp/oishi/indexen.html ---
> wouldn't know how to use Windows without it!  Essentially it adds
> Emacs Keybindings to _all_ Windows programs (can be disabled on a
> per-program basis, of course, and also configured per program).
> 
> In fact, I now wish something like this would exist for Linux :-)
> 
> Hope this helps --- it certainly helped me!
> 
> Sven


This looks very impressive. I've downloaded the .zip file and the .msi 
installer but now I'm afraid to try it out, even on notepad (the 
screenshot example). Will it mess with any key re-mappings I've made 
with Keytweak? Why is there a .zip and a .msi?

Ed

Re: emacs on windows

[reader]

David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes:

> Sven Utcke <utcke+news@informatik.uni-hamburg.de> writes:
>
>> Rob Wolfe <rw@smsnet.pl> writes:
>>
>>> rustom napisał(a):
>>>> I am an old emacs-on-linux dog who has difficulty using windows.  For
>>>> various reasons I need to program in windows.
>>>
>>> Welcome to the club. ;)
>>
>> OP gone, so I'm replying to this one...
>>
>> Have a look at http://www.cam.hi-ho.ne.jp/oishi/indexen.html ---
>> wouldn't know how to use Windows without it!  Essentially it adds
>> Emacs Keybindings to _all_ Windows programs (can be disabled on a
>> per-program basis, of course, and also configured per program).
>>
>> In fact, I now wish something like this would exist for Linux :-)
>
> gconf-editor
>
> go to desktop/gnome/interface and set gtk_key_theme to the string value
> "Emacs" (without the extra quotes).
>
> That should cater for a solid number of applications.

Is there an equivalent for kde desktops?

Re: emacs on windows

[Sven Utcke]

"B. T. Raven" <nihil@nihilo.net> writes:

> Sven Utcke wrote:
>> Have a look at http://www.cam.hi-ho.ne.jp/oishi/indexen.html ---
>> wouldn't know how to use Windows without it!  Essentially it adds
>> Emacs Keybindings to _all_ Windows programs (can be disabled on a
>> per-program basis, of course, and also configured per program).
>
> This looks very impressive. I've downloaded the .zip file and the .msi
> installer but now I'm afraid to try it out, even on notepad (the
> screenshot example). Will it mess with any key re-mappings I've made
> with Keytweak? Why is there a .zip and a .msi?

No idea whether the two will interfere, but just try it --- if you
don't like it, simply disable (or delete) it, and all is back to
normal...

Sven
-- 
  ___ _  _____ ___   Dr.-Ing. Sven Utcke                    ___  ___ _____   __
 / __| |/ / __| __|  phone: +49 40 8998-5317               |   \| __/ __\ \ / /
| (_ | ' <\__ \__ \  fax  : +49 40 8994-5317 (NEW)         | |) | _|\__ \\ V / 
 \___|_|\_\___|___/  http://www.desy.de/~utcke    (to come)|___/|___|___/ |_|

Re: emacs on windows

[B. T. Raven]

Sven Utcke wrote:
> "B. T. Raven" <nihil@nihilo.net> writes:
> 
>> Sven Utcke wrote:
>>> Have a look at http://www.cam.hi-ho.ne.jp/oishi/indexen.html ---
>>> wouldn't know how to use Windows without it!  Essentially it adds
>>> Emacs Keybindings to _all_ Windows programs (can be disabled on a
>>> per-program basis, of course, and also configured per program).
>> This looks very impressive. I've downloaded the .zip file and the .msi
>> installer but now I'm afraid to try it out, even on notepad (the
>> screenshot example). Will it mess with any key re-mappings I've made
>> with Keytweak? Why is there a .zip and a .msi?
> 
> No idea whether the two will interfere, but just try it --- if you
> don't like it, simply disable (or delete) it, and all is back to
> normal...
> 
> Sven

Thanks, Sven. I have read the associated readme's and faqs. It looks 
like I might undo the registry changes made by Keytweak if I later 
uninstall Xkeymacs. Also I don't want the program to assume mod key scan 
codes are the default. Maybe I'll have to ask the program author about 
specifics.

Ed