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Russ Cox Uses This

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Re: Russ Cox Uses This

#2
I know this isn't a tech support forum, but in a fit of lunacy I figured I'd give Acme a try last night (the Acme-SAC version) and after using it for an hour of so I can't even figure out how to open a text file (it seems like it has its own virtual directory structure that I can't seem to navigate out of).

Anybody here successfully using Acme for coding?

Re: Russ Cox Uses This

#4
post #2

I know this isn't a tech support forum, but in a fit of lunacy I figured I'd give Acme a try last night (the Acme-SAC version) and after using it for an hour of so I can't even figure out how to open a text file (it seems like it has its own virtual directory structure that I can't seem to navigate out of). Anybody here successfully using Acme for coding?

For Acme, remember that it's an editor on a shell, with Unix DNA. Also remember that Acme-SAC is based on Inferno.

But, being nix-ish, if you want to know something, just man whatever. To start, type 'man intro' someplace. Then shift-click-sweep the cursor over the text to highlight, and alt-click the highlighted text (plumb).

Notice in the article how rsc mentions the three mouse buttons more than once? The missing buttons on the Mac are a big reason Acme SAC doesn't fly for me, no matter how much I'd like it to.

I think it would be really great on a Mac, but would need some tweaking to get there.

Re: Russ Cox Uses This

#5
post #2

I know this isn't a tech support forum, but in a fit of lunacy I figured I'd give Acme a try last night (the Acme-SAC version) and after using it for an hour of so I can't even figure out how to open a text file (it seems like it has its own virtual directory structure that I can't seem to navigate out of). Anybody here successfully using Acme for coding?

I use the plan9 from userspace[1] version a lot on both Linux and OS X, almost exclusively actually. Read the man page[2] or even the paper[3]. I recommend giving it some time to get used to, it pays off.

Acme-SAC is built on top of Inferno; the virtual directory structure you're seeing is Inferno's namespace. I find it helps if you know a bit about that first.

[1] http://swtch.com/plan9port/

[2] http://plan9.bell-labs.com/magic/man2html?man=acme&sect=...

[3] http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/acme/acme.html

Re: Russ Cox Uses This

#6
I lost interest in having the new shiny a long time ago. [..] At home that means a refurbished Mac Mini from 2006, a used Dell 2001FP 20" LCD from 2004 [..]

Is this "one of those things" that happens as you get older? To my own surprise, I've drifted into the "can't deal with the boom-boom music on the radio" zone just as my parents did in their 30s.. So will "new shinies are boring" be next? I better start stocking up on Apple gear ;-)

Re: Russ Cox Uses This

#7
post #2

I know this isn't a tech support forum, but in a fit of lunacy I figured I'd give Acme a try last night (the Acme-SAC version) and after using it for an hour of so I can't even figure out how to open a text file (it seems like it has its own virtual directory structure that I can't seem to navigate out of). Anybody here successfully using Acme for coding?

The obvious answer is to right-click on a file to open it.

If you mean open a file externally then I suggest you run acme from plan9port, then just run 'plumber' and use the program 'plumb' to send open commands to acme. It is fairly flexible:

    $ plumb /path/to/file
    $ plumb /path/to/file:35
    $ plumb /path/to/file:/NameError
The nice thing is if the file is already open, acme will jump to the right place and highlight what you want.

Re: Russ Cox Uses This

#8
post #2

I know this isn't a tech support forum, but in a fit of lunacy I figured I'd give Acme a try last night (the Acme-SAC version) and after using it for an hour of so I can't even figure out how to open a text file (it seems like it has its own virtual directory structure that I can't seem to navigate out of). Anybody here successfully using Acme for coding?

I think some of your confusion may be a result of using acme-SAC. I recall acme-SAC is built on top of Inferno, which is actually a small semivirtualized operating system. I think the host filesystem is accessible via the #U* kernel device, which means you would first issue a bind command to put #U* somewhere in your namespace. Also, if you are using gnu/linux or bsd, you could try plan9port's version of acme.
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