Re: How to speed up cutting & pasting from/to emacs?

[Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se>]

Sharon Kimble <boudiccas@skimble.plus.com> writes:

> Primarily 'zim' and pasting to and from 'JabRef',
> I'm mostly creating bibtex records from a published
> bibliography on an article on the web, which I've
> opened in w3m. I would use 'eew' if I could only
> find out how to use tabs with it!

When you say w3m, you mean Emacs-w3m, right? If not,
look for it in the Debian repos or Ubuntu ditto if you
are using that. On Debian, it is in a package called
"w3m-el-snapshot".

Emacs-w3m is more mature/seasoned than eew so probably
it has more power at this point. But such things can
change quickly.

There are tabs in Emacs-w3m, for sure. Here are some
config for those [1] - and in the directory below,
more on Emacs-w3m in general.

> By "speed-up" I mean that I have to wait for emacs
> to catch up with where I've pasted something.

What do you mean - "catch up"?

> Yes, emacs as a GUI along with using the mouse.
> Knowing that "Openbox" is similar to "fluxbox",
> exactly *what is* your command in your "keys" page
> to access emacs again please? I know how to *start*
> a program, but not how to *access* a currently
> running program.

I don't have any experience with fluxbox, but all
civilized WMs can be interacted with using the program
wmctrl. This should be in your repos as well, so
get it.

It works like this:

1) Type 'xman &' and 'xcalc &'. They should appear as
two neat little windows (for display purposes ONLY as
I wouldn't recommend using them for anything else).

2) Type 'wmctrl -l'. If it works you should see
something like this:

    0x00a00013  0 nl106-137-147 Calculator
    0x0080000e  0 nl106-137-147 xman

If it doesn't work, it means fluxbox is incompatible
with wmctrl, and this method won't work. (I don't
think that will happen.)

By the way, here is a useful alias:

    alias wins='wmctrl -l'

3) Type 'wmctrl -a xman'. The window of xman
should get into focus. Now, try to get to xcalc the
same way. But not exactly the same way! Remember the
output of 'wins' - xcalc wasn't refered to as "xcalc"
but as "Calculator", i.e. that what is appearing in
the title bar of the window of the program. Other than
that it is the same.

4) Now install xbindkeys, and start it with
'xbindkeys'. Confirm that it runs with

    ps -e | grep xbindkeys

(Later, to make it run each time you start X, put
'xbindkeys &' in ~/.xinitrc.)

5) Last, set up the shortcuts in ~/.xbindkeysrc.

"wmctrl -a Calculator"
  alt+k

"wmctrl -a xman"
  alt+w

6) Perhaps one can refresh xbindkeys somehow... If you
find out, tell me. If not, type 'pkill xbindkeys',
confirm it doesn't run, then run it again
with 'xbindkeys'.

7) Now hit Alt+k for xcalc, and Alt+w for xman!

Phew!

> I've seen and read about how bad using the mouse is
> in terms of potential RSI, but I still find
> it useful.

Using the mouse is bad for your arm/hand and eyes,
yes, call it what you want (RSI = Repetitive strain
injury, by the way), but in this context it is bad in
terms of *speed* as you have to move your hands back
and forth from typing position, which is the "asdf"
and "jkl;" keys for the left and right
hand, respectively.

This lack of speed also prolongs the time to do things
which enlarges the otherwise negative effects.
With typing on the other hand, some do it with such
speed they never stop :)

More, the mouse is also inefficient: "That one... no,
not this. This! The one to the left! Your left, yes
that one." Compare that to the professional discussion
in a work shop: "Open the crank with a pin wrench.
The lock ring is left threaded." It is just a whole
other level.

[1] http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/conf/emacs-init/w3m/w3m-tabs.el

Examples of the other files mentioned:

    http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/conf/.xbindkeysrc
    http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/conf/.xinitrc

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573