Re: Emacs Webapp/Plugin

[William Gardella <gardellawg-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>]

Paul Michael Reilly <pmr-9u8/wbatHBfQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org> writes:
> ...
> Using an ssh type mechanism is neither seamless, robust nor
> practical.

It's not "seamless," but it can certainly be robust and practical (and
perhaps more seamless when your SSH client is a Chrome tab).  SSHing out
to an Emacs instance that contains, e.g., your Org files is quite
effective in my experience of getting by without the ability to install
Emacs on work computers.

>     Other than that, I think the cause is basically hopeless; a
>     Chromebook
>     is a Tivoized device.
>
>
> My cause is not hopeless, I am convinced.  I've never used a Tivo so
> I do not understand the analogy.  Also, I use the Chromebook as a
> name to characterize an experience: where a browser is the main
> (possibly sole) application and all computing is done via URL
> references.  This computing model is important to me because it
> enormously simplifies my computing environment and allows me to focus
> on hacking rather than system administration.  It also allows me to
> use commodity hardware, although I will be the first to admit that
> the initial Chromebook devices were underpowered and less than
> useful.  On my MacBook Air, I basically use Chrome and Emacs, which
> was the catalyst to asking the question: is there a way to combine
> the two seamlessly?  I cannot imagine Emacs ever being a Chrome
> replacement but I can imagine Emacs handling a file in a Chrome tab.
>  Now I just need to find a practical way to make it happen. :-)
>
> -pmr

Some alternatives you might look at:

1. ymacs ( http://www.ymacs.org/ ) is a free software AJAX "Emacs-alike"
editor.  But, of course, having a backend written in JavaScript rather
than Emacs Lisp, it does not include the huge, encyclopedic codebase of
GNU Emacs.  It does do reasonably good syntax highlighting, edit code
using some Emacs conventions, and it is extensible, but feature-wise,
what you would be getting is far more like microemacs or ZILE than GNU
Emacs.  I'm not sure if that's what you mean when you talk about Emacs
features we all know and love.  For me, it would not be seamless if it
doesn't run Org, Gnus, and the fifty million other Elisp programs I
use.

2. Some content management systems, most notably Ikiwiki, understand Org
files these days as a markup option.

3. Conkeror is a JavaScript-based web browser based on the XULrunner
engine used by Mozilla which follows Emacs-like user interface
conventions and is highly extensible.

4. Nic Ferrier develops an asynchronous Emacs webserver project called
Elnode, aimed at making it possible to create interactive web
applications using Elisp.  I know that one idea that has been floated by
him for things Elnode could do is to create a purely web-based
Emacsclient.  That might be closest to what you need--web-based
interface with a real Emacs instance on the other end--but it doesn't
exist yet by a long shot.

-WGG

-- 
I use grml (http://grml.org/)