Re: Emacs on Android, someone please give this developer some help

Re: Emacs on Android, someone please give this developer some help

[General Schvantzkoph]

On Thu, 09 Aug 2012 16:17:13 +0200, Andreas Goesele wrote:

> General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> writes:
> 
>> For some reason there has been no Emacs on Android which is a glaring
>> deficiency in the platform, even the Palm Pre had an Emacs port.
>> Finally someone in Poland has started a project but it looks like he's
>> not very experienced. I tried it on my Nexus 7 and it seg faults when
>> you try and start it. He's just trying to do an Emacs in a terminal
>> emulator which is fine, Emacs was written for terminals in the first
>> place (I've been using it since ITS Emacs came out on the Dec System 20
>> at the end of the 1970s).
>>
>> If there are any Emacs developers reading this please give this guy
>> some help if you can. I'm sure I'm not the only Emacs user who is
>> desperate for an Emacs on Android.
>>
>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zielm.emacs
>>
>> https://github.com/zielmicha/emacs-android
> 
> Emacs on Android would indeed be great, especially if it included the
> diary and calendar!
> 
> But gnu.emacs.help seems to be a much more active group where this call
> also would be relevant - so I allow myself to cross-post, hoping to give
> your call a bigger audience.
> 
> Andreas

BTW it works a little better than my initial post indicated. It's 
sensitive to font size, it works for small fonts and seg faults on larger 
fonts (> 10 on the Nexus 7, >6 on the Galaxy Nexus). It's a good start. 

Re: Emacs on Android, someone please give this developer some help

[MBR]

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Much though I'd like to be able to run Emacs on my Android phone, I'm 
having difficulty imagining how input could possibly work.  Emacs is 
heavily dependent on "chord" keystrokes. It's hard enough to type 
anything at all on the standard Android virtual keyboard, and that 
doesn't have ALT, CTRL, or SHIFT modifier keys.  Would an Android Emacs 
include its own virtual keyboard?  And even if it did, how do you type a 
chord on a touchscreen with keys that small?

    Mark


On 8/9/2012 10:17 AM, Andreas Goesele wrote:
> General Schvantzkoph<schvantzkoph@yahoo.com>  writes:
>
>> For some reason there has been no Emacs on Android which is a glaring
>> deficiency in the platform, even the Palm Pre had an Emacs port. Finally
>> someone in Poland has started a project but it looks like he's not very
>> experienced. I tried it on my Nexus 7 and it seg faults when you try and
>> start it. He's just trying to do an Emacs in a terminal emulator which is
>> fine, Emacs was written for terminals in the first place (I've been using
>> it since ITS Emacs came out on the Dec System 20 at the end of the 1970s).
>>
>> If there are any Emacs developers reading this please give this guy some
>> help if you can. I'm sure I'm not the only Emacs user who is desperate for
>> an Emacs on Android.
>>
>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zielm.emacs
>>
>> https://github.com/zielmicha/emacs-android
> Emacs on Android would indeed be great, especially if it included the
> diary and calendar!
>
> But gnu.emacs.help seems to be a much more active group where this call
> also would be relevant - so I allow myself to cross-post, hoping to give
> your call a bigger audience.
>
> Andreas
>

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Re: Emacs on Android, someone please give this developer some help

[Rémi Letot]

MBR <mbr@arlsoft.com> writes:

> Much though I'd like to be able to run Emacs on my Android phone, I'm
> having difficulty imagining how input could possibly work.  Emacs is
> heavily dependent on "chord" keystrokes. It's hard enough to type
> anything at all on the standard Android virtual keyboard, and that
> doesn't have ALT, CTRL, or SHIFT modifier keys.  Would an Android
> Emacs include its own virtual keyboard?  And even if it did, how do
> you type a chord on a touchscreen with keys that small?
>
>    Mark

There are android devices much larger than a phone, some with a physical
keyboard (the asus transformers line to name some), and even most phones
and tablets can be enhanced with physical keyboards.

So yes emacs is definitely relevant on android. I was actually
experimenting until now with a debian chroot, which is cumbersome to use
and quite heavyweight when all I want most of the times are gnus and
org-mode :-)

HTH,
-- 
Rémi

RE: Emacs on Android, someone please give this developer some help

[Drew Adams]

> Much though I'd like to be able to run Emacs on my Android phone,
> I'm having difficulty imagining how input could possibly work.
> Emacs is heavily dependent on "chord" keystrokes. It's hard
> enough to type anything at all on the standard Android virtual
> keyboard, and that doesn't have ALT, CTRL, or SHIFT modifier keys.
> Would an Android Emacs include its own virtual keyboard?
> And even if it did, how do you type a chord on a touchscreen with
> keys that small?

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Key_Completion#ThreeKeyEmacs

Re: Emacs on Android, someone please give this developer some help

[Sven Bretfeld]

MBR <mbr@arlsoft.com> writes:

> Much though I'd like to be able to run Emacs on my Android phone, I'm having
> difficulty imagining how input could possibly work.  Emacs is heavily dependent
> on "chord" keystrokes. It's hard enough to type anything at all on the standard
> Android virtual keyboard, and that doesn't have ALT, CTRL, or SHIFT modifier
> keys.  Would an Android Emacs include its own virtual keyboard?  And even if it
> did, how do you type a chord on a touchscreen with keys that small?

You can install the "Hacker's Keyboard" which has all Modifier Keys
easily available. I use it on my Xoom when I ssh into an Emacs session
on a remote machine. This keyboard is available in the "Android
Playstore" and gives a genuine Emacs feeling.

Sven

Re: Emacs on Android, someone please give this developer some help

[Charles Philip Chan]

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"Andreas Goesele" <goesele@hfph.mwn.de> writes:

> Terminal IDE comes with a touch-screen keyboard which includes almost
> all keys you might need. (It's ASCII though.) It works well, altough
> it's keys are indeed small.

I personally use Hacker's keyboard:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsIm9yZy5wb2NrZXR3b3Jrc3RhdGlvbi5wY2tleWJvYXJkIl0.

It works well on a tablet, but I can certainly see that it is not usable
on a phone.

Anyway, I would love to see Emacs on Android.

Charles

-- 
But what can you do with it?  -- ubiquitous cry from Linux-user partner.
(Submitted by Andy Pearce, ajp@hpopd.pwd.hp.com)

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