A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Marcin Borkowski]

Hi list,

this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing.  He *is* interested
in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than, say, 2 days
on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om.  Are there any
resources which might help?  I offered him some help with installing
and teaching, but what could I use?  (Of course, the built-in tutorial
and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but what else does there
exist?  Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?  I
understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some experience
*teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
Adam Mickiewicz University

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Thorsten Jolitz]

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> writes:

> Hi list,
>
> this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
> A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
> JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing.  He *is* interested
> in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than, say, 2 days
> on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om.  Are there any
> resources which might help?  I offered him some help with installing
> and teaching, but what could I use?  (Of course, the built-in tutorial
> and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but what else does there
> exist?  Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?  I
> understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some experience
> *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)

Have you seen Bastien's

,----
| http://bzg.fr/learn-emacs-lisp-in-15-minutes.html
`----

? 

Looks like a good starting point to me. The .emacs file won't look that
cryptic anymore after this 15 min ...

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[SabreWolfy]

Thorsten Jolitz <tjolitz <at> gmail.com> writes:

> ,----
> | http://bzg.fr/learn-emacs-lisp-in-15-minutes.html
> `----

Didn't know about this, and it's been online for 364 days :) Definitely
worth reading. Thanks, Bastien!

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Leonard Avery Randall]

Hi Marcin

I switched from Scrivener to org-mode about 11 months ago.  I would say
the biggest hurdles were getting used to the key bindings, and
configuring the back-ends.  The emacs tutorial was fairly useful. For
the Org-Mode key bindings, I just printed out the starter pdf and put it
next to my computer for a while.  Regarding the build, I tried several
distros and I found vanilla emacs with prelude to be most useful for me
as a beginner.  (Some people advise against starter packs, and I would
try to move away from the prelude custom key bindings, but the packages
it includes are fairly useful.  It is also fairly easy to customise).

Regarding writing in org-mode.  Does your friend use MMD and latex with
Scrivener?  If so the transition is not nearly as difficult. Some of the
markup is similar. If he uses rich text rather than MMD, it is worth
noting that Scrivener has facilities to transform rich text into MMD.
Once you have that, you can use regex searches to convert MMD syntax to
org syntax.  (I have some regex functions kicking around somewhere in my
init files, let me know if you want me to find them and send them to
you).  If he has a latex setup he likes, he should be able to move it
into his init file without too much effort.  (Worg and the org guide is
fairly useful for helping you figure out how to configure the
back-ends). If he does not already use latex the transition may be
harder, depending on how specific his formatting and citation
requirements are.  It will probably still be doable, but probably not in
two days.

Hope this helps,
All best,
Leonard


Marcin Borkowski writes:

> Hi list,
>
> this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
> A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
> JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing.  He *is* interested
> in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than, say, 2 days
> on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om.  Are there any
> resources which might help?  I offered him some help with installing
> and teaching, but what could I use?  (Of course, the built-in tutorial
> and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but what else does there
> exist?  Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?  I
> understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some experience
> *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)
>
> Best,

-- 
Leonard A. Randall
PhD Candidate
Departments of Philosophy
University of St Andrews

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[John Hendy]

I learned Emacs from scratch for the sake of Org-mode.
- I printed out an Emacs shortcut cheat sheet and tacked it on my cubicle wall.

- Basic Orgmode setup is pretty simple. My config, which allows
working with R and exporting to various formats:

#+begin_src

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org.git/lisp/")
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org.git/contrib/lisp")
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/site-lisp/ess/lisp/")

(org-babel-do-load-languages
 'org-babel-load-languages
 '((latex . t)
   (R . t)))

;; font size, window height/width/placement
(set-face-attribute 'default nil :height 100)
(setq initial-frame-alist
     '((left . 0) (top . 16)
       (width . 120) (height . 45)))
(tool-bar-mode 0)

;; misc org stuff
(require 'org-inlinetask)
(require 'org-id)
(global-set-key "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
(global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
(setq org-hide-leading-stars t)
(setq org-blank-before-new-entry nil)
(setq org-link-file-path-type (quote absolute))
(setq org-link-to-org-use-id 'create-if-interactive)

;; babel
(require 'ess-site)

;; get copy and paste to the clipboard
(global-set-key "\C-w" 'clipboard-kill-region)
(global-set-key "\M-w" 'clipboard-kill-ring-save)
(global-set-key "\C-y" 'clipboard-yank)


#+end_src

I have some agenda tweaks, todo keywords, fill-mode adjustments,
sunrise commander file manager settings, and other miscellany, but the
above would still cover 90% of my usage needs.

I think the biggest phrase that needs further clarification is
"...spend any more than, say, 2 days on [...] learning basics of
Em&Om." Where do you draw the line between basics and advanced usage,
and what qualifies as "learning." Having used Org for maybe 4 years
now, I still consider most of what I do fairly basic compared to
others I see, but my co-workers nearly soil themselves in fear/awe
sometimes when they see me working in Org-mode.

My recommendation, only because it worked for me, is simply to sell
the end result/benefits of Org, which is why I assume we all keep
using it (and started using it in the first place). It wasn't because
I just wanted to try something new on a whim that I learned Org. It
was because I'd tried other stuff (TiddlyWiki, iGTD, Chandler, Tracks,
Zim, EverNote, Google Notebook) and in simply watching videos and
reading about Org, I was sold.

Thus, it was the hope/desire/being-sold-in-advance on the benefits
that gave me the energy to overcome the learning curve (which was
definitely painful). I'm not sure that without understanding why one
is doing it that they'll go for it. I certainly don't think I could
have made the switch if I set a goal of 2 days to feel like I knew
what I was doing (I wouldn't have succeeded)!

Instead, I tried to just start simple. Just stop taking notes in
TiddlyWiki and start taking them in Org. Then I'd decide I wanted to
try something like time stamps and learn those. Then time tracking,
then beamer, then babel/in-document plot generation. And so on.

Long winded... but I'd suggest starting small. Maybe just get to the
point where he could take a recent document created with Scrivener and
re-create it in Org?


Good luck with the migration!
John


On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 4:20 PM, Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> wrote:
> Hi list,
>
> this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
> A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
> JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing.  He *is* interested
> in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than, say, 2 days
> on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om.  Are there any
> resources which might help?  I offered him some help with installing
> and teaching, but what could I use?  (Of course, the built-in tutorial
> and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but what else does there
> exist?  Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?  I
> understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some experience
> *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)
>
> Best,
>
> --
> Marcin Borkowski
> http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
> Adam Mickiewicz University
>

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Manish]

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On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 5:20 PM, Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl>
wrote:

> Hi list,
>
> this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
> A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
> JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing.  He *is* interested
> in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than, say, 2 days
> on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om.  Are there any
> resources which might help?  I offered him some help with installing
> and teaching, but what could I use?  (Of course, the built-in tutorial
> and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but what else does there
> exist?


I found this to be very helpful -
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/tutorials/au-emacs1/index.html


> Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?  I
> understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some experience
> *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)
>
>
​I recently had to start from scratch and I tried Emacs-Starter-Kit and
Prelude.  Prelude seemed to fit my needs much better and got me up and
running pretty quickly.

Thanks
-Manish

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Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Steven Arntson]

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> writes:

> Hi list,
>
> this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
> A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
> JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing.  He *is* interested
> in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than, say, 2 days
> on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om.  Are there any
> resources which might help?  I offered him some help with installing
> and teaching, but what could I use?  (Of course, the built-in tutorial
> and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but what else does there
> exist?  Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?  I
> understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some experience
> *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)
>
> Best,

Hi Marcin,

I don't have much specifically to offer here as I'm a fairly new
emacser, but I did switch to Org-mode directly from Scrivener. It took
awhile, especially getting used to the keybindings as I simultaneously
tried to understand various other packages that seemed useful
(especially version control through magit). I love those bindings and
packages now, however, and wouldn't go back. The simplicity and speed of
the keyboard-oriented interface has considerably sped my workflow,
especially in dealing with large projects, and even helped my arthritis
a little ... :)

As a last note, I do think it would take more than 2 days to get a
proper sense of the pros and cons. I had a kind of insane glee over emacs
that got me through the first month or so.

Good luck to your friend!
-steven

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Bastien]

Hi Marcin,

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> writes:

> Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?

My very personal stand on this is that prelude and Starter kit
are good options when someone wants to discover Emacs, but can
sometimes get in the way: if something goes wrong, you are not
sure who to blame, the modified setup or Emacs.

> I understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some
> experience *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)

My "teaching/helping" IRL experience is that people start with
a Starter Kit because they are afraid of the Beast, sometimes
for no good reasons.  It's better to simply play by the rules:
that way, when something goes wrong, the odds are greater to
understand what and why.

As for a gentle introduction with a wide scope on E&Om, I don't
think there is such a thing... sadly.

Good luck to your friend!

-- 
 Bastien

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[John Kitchin]

This page has some links to some videos that you might find helpful:
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu/blog/2014/07/12/Org-mode-is-awesome/. Some
are more gentle than others ;)

Bastien <bzg@gnu.org> writes:

> Hi Marcin,
>
> Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> writes:
>
>> Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea?
>
> My very personal stand on this is that prelude and Starter kit
> are good options when someone wants to discover Emacs, but can
> sometimes get in the way: if something goes wrong, you are not
> sure who to blame, the modified setup or Emacs.
>
>> I understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some
>> experience *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)
>
> My "teaching/helping" IRL experience is that people start with
> a Starter Kit because they are afraid of the Beast, sometimes
> for no good reasons.  It's better to simply play by the rules:
> that way, when something goes wrong, the odds are greater to
> understand what and why.
>
> As for a gentle introduction with a wide scope on E&Om, I don't
> think there is such a thing... sadly.
>
> Good luck to your friend!

-- 
-----------------------------------
John Kitchin
Professor
Doherty Hall A207F
Department of Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-268-7803
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Jorge A. Alfaro-Murillo]

Thanks John,

The links to the other videos are broken. I think that the 
addresses have %3D instead of an equal sign (=).

Best,

Jorge.

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[John Kitchin]

jorge.a.alfaro@gmail.com (Jorge A. Alfaro-Murillo) writes:

thanks for point that out, I have fixed them now I think. That must be
from some link escaping in the translation of org to html I guess. 


> Thanks John,
>
> The links to the other videos are broken. I think that the addresses
> have %3D instead of an equal sign (=).
>
> Best,
>
> Jorge.
>
>
>
>

-- 
-----------------------------------
John Kitchin
Professor
Doherty Hall A207F
Department of Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-268-7803
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[David Ongaro]

John Kitchin <jkitchin <at> andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

> jorge.a.alfaro <at> gmail.com (Jorge A. Alfaro-Murillo) writes:
> 
> thanks for point that out, I have fixed them now I think. That must be
> from some link escaping in the translation of org to html I guess. 

No, the problem happens during org-insert-link, so even before
it's exported anywhere. I had to patch my org.el to fix the
org-link-escape-chars variable. Maybe it should be fixed in the
standard distribution, because its a really annoying and
unexpected behaviour.

Regards,

David


diff --git a/lisp/org.el b/lisp/org.el
index 3e83043..3bca94a 100644
--- a/lisp/org.el
+++ b/lisp/org.el
@@ -9777,8 +9777,8 @@ according to FMT
 	  "]"))
 
 (defconst org-link-escape-chars
-  ;;%20 %2B %3B %3D %5B %5D
-  '(?\  ?\+ ?\; ?\= ?\[ ?\])
+  ;;%20 %2B %3B %5B %5Dnn
+  '(?\  ?\+ ?\; ?\[ ?\])
   "List of characters that should be escaped in link.
 This is the list that is used for internal purposes.")

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Nick Dokos]

David Ongaro <david.ongaro@hamburg.de> writes:

> John Kitchin <jkitchin <at> andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>
>> jorge.a.alfaro <at> gmail.com (Jorge A. Alfaro-Murillo) writes:
>> 
>> thanks for point that out, I have fixed them now I think. That must be
>> from some link escaping in the translation of org to html I guess. 
>
> No, the problem happens during org-insert-link, so even before
> it's exported anywhere. I had to patch my org.el to fix the
> org-link-escape-chars variable. Maybe it should be fixed in the
> standard distribution, because its a really annoying and
> unexpected behaviour.
>
> Regards,
>
> David
>
>
> diff --git a/lisp/org.el b/lisp/org.el
> index 3e83043..3bca94a 100644
> --- a/lisp/org.el
> +++ b/lisp/org.el
> @@ -9777,8 +9777,8 @@ according to FMT
>  	  "]"))
>  
>  (defconst org-link-escape-chars
> -  ;;%20 %2B %3B %3D %5B %5D
> -  '(?\  ?\+ ?\; ?\= ?\[ ?\])
> +  ;;%20 %2B %3B %5B %5Dnn
> +  '(?\  ?\+ ?\; ?\[ ?\])
>    "List of characters that should be escaped in link.
>  This is the list that is used for internal purposes.")

That has already happened: on the master branch, org-link-escape-chars
is (see commit abe931dca9c4c634fe9495eff7579ca952eb8b98):

,----
| (defconst org-link-escape-chars
|   ;;%20 %5B %5D
|   '(?\  ?\[ ?\])
|   "List of characters that should be escaped in a link when stored to Org.
| This is the list that is used for internal purposes.")
`----

It's going to be visible in the next release.

Nick

Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?

[Marcin Borkowski]

Dnia 2014-07-23, o godz. 23:20:13
Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> napisał(a):

> this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
> A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
> JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing.  He *is*
> interested in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than,
> say, 2 days on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om.
> Are there any resources which might help?  I offered him some help
> with installing and teaching, but what could I use?  (Of course, the
> built-in tutorial and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but
> what else does there exist?  Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a
> good idea?  I understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has
> some experience *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)

Thanks for all the input (and for featuring this thread on Twitter;))!

The friend is just starting to like Org-mode;).

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
Adam Mickiewicz University