GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Andrei Maxim]

Hi group,

For starters, I'm quite a newcomer when it comes to Linux and I'm still in
the process of learning the basics and the tricks of my Debian Woody system.

One of my biggest problems (besides finding a nice display manager and a
good file manager besides Nautilus) is Emacs. While experimenting with Red
Hat 6.x and 7.x and Mandrake 8.x and even Slackware, I got used to punching
`emacs' and editing files. I even have a Reference Card printed and glued
next to my personal computer. Bottom line is that I like Emacs a lot.

Right now I am trying Debian and, even if it was a bit scary at the
begining, it worked out fine, except those little yet nasty problems.

What's wrong with Emacs, you say? Well, I use a 800x600 video mode and the
default Emacs is huge! The fonts are too big and I have to scroll around to
be able to write a whole line!
I've tried using the `-nw' switch to run it in a terminal window, but my
greatest surprize was that the Alt (Meta) key was gone. If I pressed Alt-x I
got an extra x in the buffer. In X, when I press Alt-`key' all I get is an
annoying beep.

I really liked the `standard' Emacs and I am wondering if there is a way to
make mine look like it.

TIA

-- 
Harder, better, faster, stronger... and I come on CDs too!

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Ulrich Herbst]

Andrei Maxim wrote:

> I've tried using the `-nw' switch to run it in a terminal window, but my
> greatest surprize was that the Alt (Meta) key was gone. If I pressed Alt-x
> I got an extra x in the buffer. In X, when I press Alt-`key' all I get is
> an annoying beep.

1. you can always use ESC - x when you need M-x (but I know, that's not
comfortable)

2. look with xev what keycode your ALT-Key gives.
If you get "ALT_L" than that is your problem (you need "META_L")
There are 2 ways to change that:
xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L"
or
add in /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/<your language>
something like
    key <LALT> {        [       Alt_L,  Meta_L          ],
                        [       Alt_L,  Meta_L          ]       };

Bye
Uli

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Bill Wohler]

Andrei Maxim <acmax@xnet.ro> writes:

> For starters, I'm quite a newcomer when it comes to Linux and I'm still in
> the process of learning the basics and the tricks of my Debian Woody system.

Good decision.

> What's wrong with Emacs, you say? Well, I use a 800x600 video mode and the
> default Emacs is huge! The fonts are too big and I have to scroll around to
> be able to write a whole line!

A couple of things: Make sure you're using 75 dpi fonts. If you're
using the X Font Server, check that the 75 dpi fonts appear before the
100 dpi fonts in /etc/X11/fs/xfs.options (haven't run xfs in a long
while so I could have remembered the wrong file). If you're not using
the font server, check the order in /etc/X11/XFConfig-4 instead.

The second thing you can do is use a smaller font. You can either use
the command line, as in:

    emacs -fn fixed

or in .Xresources, as in:

    emacs.font:                     *cour*medium-r*100*
    emacs.menu.attributeFont:       *helv*medium-r*100*

> I've tried using the `-nw' switch to run it in a terminal window, but my
> greatest surprize was that the Alt (Meta) key was gone. If I pressed Alt-x I
> got an extra x in the buffer. In X, when I press Alt-`key' all I get is an
> annoying beep.

I can use the Meta key with emacs -nw in my Eterm windows. If you can
use the Meta key in bash, you should be able to use it in Emacs too.
Since Eterm worked out of the box for me, I'm not sure of the details
to get the Meta key to work for you. I would suggest that you look for
something having to do with "passing the 8th bit" in the man pages for
your terminal and possibly stty too. For example, see stty -pass8, the
eightBitInput resource of xterm, etc.

> I really liked the `standard' Emacs and I am wondering if there is a way to
> make mine look like it.

Most certainly ;-).

-- 
Bill Wohler <wohler@newt.com>  http://www.newt.com/wohler/  GnuPG ID:610BD9AD
Maintainer of comp.mail.mh FAQ and MH-E. Vote Libertarian!
If you're passed on the right, you're in the wrong lane.

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Andrei Maxim]

On Wed, 25 Jun 2003 21:56:45 GMT, Bill Wohler wrote:
> 
> A couple of things: Make sure you're using 75 dpi fonts. If you're
> using the X Font Server, check that the 75 dpi fonts appear before the
> 100 dpi fonts in /etc/X11/fs/xfs.options (haven't run xfs in a long
> while so I could have remembered the wrong file). If you're not using
> the font server, check the order in /etc/X11/XFConfig-4 instead.
> 
> The second thing you can do is use a smaller font. You can either use
> the command line, as in:
> 
>     emacs -fn fixed
> 
> or in .Xresources, as in:
> 
>     emacs.font:                     *cour*medium-r*100*
>     emacs.menu.attributeFont:       *helv*medium-r*100*
> 

Phew! You're a life saver! Now I can emacs in peace without scrolling
around!

I'm still looking into the X Font problem as I opened up
/etc/X11/fs/config and edited some stuff, but still nothing. I thought
it was something rotten in Emacs, but seems like Debian is way to
standardizes for the likes of me :^)

I really can't believe I like best Slackware! Unfortunatly, Slackware
lacks apt and building everything from source can be a hazardous task.

BTW, thanks Ulrich Herbs for the xmodmap line. That was just what I
needed!

-- 
Harder, better, faster, stronger... and I come on CDs too!

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Bill Wohler]

Andrei Maxim <acmax@xnet.ro> writes:

> I'm still looking into the X Font problem as I opened up
> /etc/X11/fs/config and edited some stuff, but still nothing.

Did you restart xfs (with "/etc/init.d/xfs restart") and X? If you're
using gdm, X can be restarted simply by logging out. If you want to be
sure, try Control-Alt-Backspace to kill the X server after you log
out. gdm will restart X.

Glad the .Xresource suggestion was helpful.

The xmodmap stuff that Kai mentioned will definitely be applicable to
your 8-bit issue if the simple stty and xterm option stuff doesn't
work. This would surprise me because the default Debian resources have
always worked fine for me.

-- 
Bill Wohler <wohler@newt.com>  http://www.newt.com/wohler/  GnuPG ID:610BD9AD
Maintainer of comp.mail.mh FAQ and MH-E. Vote Libertarian!
If you're passed on the right, you're in the wrong lane.

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Kai Großjohann]

Andrei Maxim <acmax@xnet.ro> writes:

> I've tried using the `-nw' switch to run it in a terminal window, but my
> greatest surprize was that the Alt (Meta) key was gone. If I pressed Alt-x I
> got an extra x in the buffer. In X, when I press Alt-`key' all I get is an
> annoying beep.

I think that's because (a) your Alt key generates the Alt_L keysym
and (b) you also have a Meta_L key on your keyboard.  Type "xmodmap
-pm" to verify that Alt_L and Meta_L are indeed both present in the
output.

Let's say that Meta_L is mentioned in the mod2 line.  Now use xev to
find out the keycode of the corresponding key (it's the left flag key
I think).  Or just convert the hex number to decimal...  Let's say
that the number is 42.

Now put the following in ~/.Xmodmap:

clear mod2
keycode 42 = Super_L
add mod2 = Super_L

Maybe "xmodmap -pm" reported more than one key for the modifier.  In
that case, add another keycode line, like so:

keycode 4711 = Super_R

and also modify the add line to mention both keysyms:

add mod2 = Super_L Super_R

-- 
~/.signature

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[D. Goel]

Andrei Maxim <acmax@xnet.ro> writes:

> Hi group,
> 
> For starters, I'm quite a newcomer when it comes to Linux and I'm still in
> the process of learning the basics and the tricks of my Debian Woody system.

[...]


hi Andrei

some related points :-)

* Debian woody installs emacs 20 by default.  So make sure to type
apt-get install emacs21 

and probably remove emacs20..

* also look at    http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EmacsForDebian

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Arnaud Vandyck]

D. Goel <deego@gnufans.org> wrote:
[...]
> * Debian woody installs emacs 20 by default.  So make sure to type
> apt-get install emacs21 
> 
> and probably remove emacs20..

I think some 'el-'packages also need emacs20 :(

> * also look at http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EmacsForDebian

-- Arnaud Vandyck, STE fi, ULg
   Formateur Cellule Programmation.

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[D. Goel]

hi


> I think some 'el-'packages also need emacs20 :(

which ones?

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Arnaud Vandyck]

D. Goel <deego@gnufans.org> wrote:
> > I think some 'el-'packages also need emacs20 :(
> 
> which ones?

I do not remember ;) Try to  purge emacs20 and you may have to reinstall
it if you install some 'el' package... well, I had to! Maybe it's solved
;)

Sorry for the lack of precision... and as I said, it's maybe solved.

-- Arnaud Vandyck, STE fi, ULg
   Formateur Cellule Programmation.

Re: GNU Emacs on GNU/Debian

[Paweł Tęcza]

Hello Arnaud!

Arnaud Vandyck <arnaud.vandyck@ulg.ac.be> writes:

> I think some 'el-'packages also need emacs20 :(

I have Debian Woody box and the following Emacs related packages

ptecza@arrakis:~$ dpkg -l emacs* | grep ^ii   
ii  emacs21        21.2-1         The GNU Emacs editor.
ii  emacsen-common 1.4.15         Common facilities for all emacsen.
ptecza@arrakis:~$

Best regards

Pawel Tecza