Re: Emacs keyboard

[James Freer <jessejazza3.uk@gmail.com>]

On Sun, 6 Jan 2013, Dan Espen wrote:

> James Freer <jessejazza3.uk@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On Sun, 6 Jan 2013, ken wrote:
>>
>>> On 01/05/2013 04:05 AM James Freer wrote:
>>>> On Fri, 4 Jan 2013, Loic J. Duros wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Sun (er, oracle) makes that type of keyboard, but
>>>>>> also makes one with the control key immediately left
>>>>>> of the "A" key, where it was on the original
>>>>>> teletype-like machine (name escapes me now, but it
>>>>>> ended in "33").
>>>>>
>>>>> What's the difference with moving the ctrl key to the caps lock key on a
>>>>> standard keyboard?
>>>>> http://emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey
>>>>
>>>> It's not a big difference... just preference - less far to stretch the
>>>> fingers. Capslock always used to be the location of the ctrl key on
>>>> early keyboards which happened to suit those that use the wordstar
>>>> keybindings (which are the most efficient in professional writers
>>>> opinion... and mine). A lot of emacs users like them swapped for emacs
>>>> bindings. Although i've got used to using the right ctrl key for
>>>> wordstar mode.
>>>>
>>>> james
>>>
>>> Amen (or +1 if you prefer) on both counts.  Having learned to type
>>> on an actual typewriter and having started into computers with those
>>> old teletype machines, and then into PCs with DOS 1.0, I appreciate
>>> being able to have the Ctrl next to the 'A' key.  That's where it
>>> was on the first PCs and where it stayed until, perhaps just
>>> coincidentally but perhaps not coincidentally, Microsoft came out
>>> with Word.  At the time Wordstar was the top editor.  But because
>>> using Wordstar entailed using the Ctrl key a lot, moving it to the
>>> keyboard's hinterlands made it difficult to use and it thereby lost
>>> a lot of market share to Word. Isn't it wonderful how a market
>>> economy can even rearrange your keyboard?
>>>
>>> The second Amen/+1 goes to Wordstar keybindings.  Somebody put a
>>> whole lot of thought into them and made them the most intuitive of
>>> any editor of that time and since.  You could easily learn how to
>>> move around all around in a file you were editing in under an hour
>>> and then remember all of the keybindings the next day.  Most all the
>>> Wordstar keybindings for navigation were also language-independent;
>>> that is, you didn't have to know English for them to make sense and
>>> so be easily memorable.  If I was just starting out in computing and
>>> wasn't already so accustomed to emacs keybindings, I'd definitely go
>>> to something like joe\jstar for an editor.
>>
>> Jstar when i'd discovered it was excellent for me. I started using
>> wordstar in the 80s... that's how old i am! But i use an editor for
>> text not coding... alas jstar doesn't have emacs "visual line mode" or
>> softwrap as some folk call it.
>
> Never tried it (or wanted it), but:
>
> http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p=144
>
>  HOWTO make Emacs use soft word wrap like other editors!
>
>> All the graphical editors seem to and
>> so does vim with "set linebreak". Emacs also does 'hotch' (as i call
>> it - i think it's called 'mid screen cursor positioning' or something
>> like that) - one's typing and gets to the bottom of the
>> screen... automatically it moves up half a screen - that is so
>> useful. Not appreciated until you've used it.
>
> What Emacs does is completely customizable.
>
> You should not find this surprising.
>
>> Jstar does that but it's
>> a shame about the softwrap. The author is doing some development again
>> on Joe.
>>
>> Emacs does all so that's why i'll stick to it. I'd prefer a cut down
>> version or being able to remove ALL the functions from the menu i
>> don't want. The games and calculator... all that stuff i don't
>> want. But i'm still learning emacs... quite a lot of learning! I'd
>> love a basic word processor included... something that just does the
>> basics with an rtf file for letters and memos.
>
> I think you'll eventually find the menus can be modified.

Hi Dan

> The best part of Emacs is the way it'll do just about anything.

> Dan Espen

Yes i agree... it's just taking me a while to find my way round it all.

james