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What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

masteringemacs.org

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Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#121

Post by jaster »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #83
jaster wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, to clarify: I used the package `emacs-next` from guix to install emacs 28. You still need to install and configure emacs-lsp along with the LSP backend(s) you want to use. I'm currently using the doom-emacs "emacs distro" ( https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs ), so doom is taking charge of setting up emacs-lsp for me.

Thank you for that. I haven't really checked out any of these distros (doom, prelude, etc.), but maybe I should. One of the issues I have is that I work on multiple disconnected servers, and so I usually end up installing emacs on all of them. Using tramp is an option, but often times I just want a local editor because I find myself needing one in the context I'm working in. But all the servers run slightly different…

For me it was worked relatively well.

I track my config in a git repo, and doom-emacs is rather helpful on what external tools must be installed for various configuration "layers" (like when working with such and such language). When using LSP, it can even proposes to install an appropriate language server in some cases.

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#122

Post by dv35z »

I’m interested in emacs / org-mode / org-roam. My goal is to have a local notes solution (replacing Obsidian, Apple Notes), and have the notes automatically published on the web as a crosslinked personal knowledge base. I have somewhat achieved this with Obsidian/markdown files + git + Hugo + Render. I write stuff. Check it into git. Push, and it deploys as a website. Feel pretty good about cobbling that together. But Obsidian/markdown is tough to replicate the cross-link nature & ease or use of a wiki, and it still doesn’t help out with Task, calendar, etc.

I’ve taken a couple swings at setting up Emacs… oof, but as a newbie to the ecosystem, but frankly its just been tough to plow through. Each guide/tutorial seems to have a whole different set of packages, settings, etc; then we get into Doom emacs, etc. I’ve got keyboard shortcuts printed out - but I still end up in weird jams where Emacs has opened up 3+ panes (buffers), and I can’t figure how to even close/quit them.

Truly, it reminds me of when I jumped head first in the Java ecosystem, trying to figure out (1) java, (2) intelliJ, (3) Spring boot. Too many simultaneous brain battles…

What I’m hoping to find is a “Zero to Functioning personal information system (notes, todo, contacts, calendar, kb)” guide. I suppose, written for a willing & motivated newb?

From reddit, online tutorials, walkthru videos - it SEEMS the pieces are out there. But I’m hoping to find the guy who figured this all out a year ago, documented a functional-but-opinionated stack / workflow, and I could follow that for awhile (as training wheels).

Can anyone suggest something like this? I’d be even be willing to pair up with someone and document/publish this, if it doesn’t exist.

I mentioned it on another Emacs HN thread: I’m convinced of the power of this stack, but I’m hoping someone does the “Unix —> NeXT -> MacOS”, and puts together the Easy Button of this.

For example, my brother is writing a book - he’s not super technical but can get around. I can tell that he would benefit from this system - but I can’t fairly recommend it, because hell - I haven’t been able to coherently get it to work, and doubting he would want to be modifying init files and all that.

Hoping this plea for Emacs help reaches a previously frustrated newbie who figured it out, who can help me out (and others). Thanks!

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#123

Post by jonpalmisc »

karencarits wrote: post #107
jonpalmisc wrote: post #93

I almost wish I never tried Emacs. Ignorance is bliss, and Emacs ruined all other text editors for me. There are absolutely areas that others do better, but the self-documenting “living program” nature is too much to give up; everything you ever need to know or do is a few keystrokes away.

How did you approach Emacs to make it such a valuable tool? I have tried to get started with Emacs a few times but the initial resistance has been too large

What parts did you find difficult?

When I first started, I found the keybindings odd, but now I love them since the core set of shortcuts—C-a, C-e, C-f, etc.—work "everywhere" from the terminal, to GNU readline-based programs, to even native macOS text boxes. If you don't like the default keybindings, you can change them or use the Evil package [0] for Vim bindings.

If you want to get up and running quickly, I'd check out Doom Emacs [1] which is easier to configure and takes care of a lot of configuration for you. I personally use a reasonably-minimal config I wrote myself [2]. If you like to tinker, I'd recommend writing your own config, as it will also teach you a lot about Emacs.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out—contact info in my profile.

[0] https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil [1] https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs [2] https://github.com/jonpalmisc/.emacs.d/blob/master/init.el

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#124

Post by HelloNurse »

rayiner wrote: post #55
iib wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to try using DavMail [1] for interfacing with Outlook. It is a reverse-proxy for email, so it talks to Outlook, and then mu4e can talk to DavMail directly. [1] http://davmail.sourceforge.net/

How the hell did they break email? You need a browser with JS to log into your email server?

For instance, the Microsoft SMTP server in the cloud is picky about SSL/TLS protocols and ciphers.

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#125

Post by kidsil »

Only thing I'm missing from Emacs is the ability to completely freeze all packages and configs.

As soon as I feel like everything is stable and great, it decides to update 180 packages while I'm trying to edit a file and destroys something in my setup.

If anyone knows a way to prevent all updates and "freeze" a version that would be excellent.

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#126

Post by novocantico »

gaze wrote: post #108
jonpalmisc wrote: post #93

I almost wish I never tried Emacs. Ignorance is bliss, and Emacs ruined all other text editors for me. There are absolutely areas that others do better, but the self-documenting “living program” nature is too much to give up; everything you ever need to know or do is a few keystrokes away.

I’ve been using emacs on and off for about 20 years and I don’t really get the fanaticism. Org mode and magit and all these things are cool. I like that you can hack it. But — to me it never stops feeling like an ongoing project when you try to live your entire life in it. I like it obviously otherwise I wouldn’t still be using it, but it will never exactly feel elegant to me. More like a good text editor and a hundr…

I used Emacs almost exclusively for half a decade and got pretty good at it. But I feel like VS Code is the natural evolution of all the great ideas of Emacs. So I use VS Code almost exclusively now.

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#127

Post by AlanYx »

dv35z wrote: post #122

I’m interested in emacs / org-mode / org-roam. My goal is to have a local notes solution (replacing Obsidian, Apple Notes), and have the notes automatically published on the web as a crosslinked personal knowledge base. I have somewhat achieved this with Obsidian/markdown files + git + Hugo + Render. I write stuff. Check it into git. Push, and it deploys as a website. Feel pretty good about cobbling that together. Bu…

Have you seen this? https://github.com/nobiot/Zero-to-Emacs-and-Org-roam It's still a work-in-progress but it may be along the lines of what you're looking for.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend setting up org-roam at first. It's excellent, but it's just going to be too daunting for a beginner when combined with all the other things. I'd start by just learning emacs and org-mode. Core org-mode has enough functionality built-in to start building knowledgebases, and the org-mode manual is excellent. You can add-in org-roam later. (And you might find that org-roam is overkill and something like howm mode to get backlinks is enough.) The beauty of emacs is that you can move your notes from one system to another easily.

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#128

Post by olau »

gjvc wrote: post #13

The native compilation part is the highlight. Could someone who knows about these things explain the difficulty Debian has in getting emacs 28 in -unstable ? (currently on 27 according to https://packages.debian.org/unstable/emacs )

Well, it's a one-man team.

I'm not a Debian developer, but did email Rob Browning some years ago, asking if he would perhaps consider trying to make it a team effort. I don't think I ever got a reply. I appreciate the work he's done to maintain Emacs in Debian for decades (!), but it would be nice if someone could give him a hand. For instance, it looks like 27.2 wasn't packaged despite being released a year ago.

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#129

Post by jonpalmisc »

gaze wrote: post #108
jonpalmisc wrote: post #93

I almost wish I never tried Emacs. Ignorance is bliss, and Emacs ruined all other text editors for me. There are absolutely areas that others do better, but the self-documenting “living program” nature is too much to give up; everything you ever need to know or do is a few keystrokes away.

I’ve been using emacs on and off for about 20 years and I don’t really get the fanaticism. Org mode and magit and all these things are cool. I like that you can hack it. But — to me it never stops feeling like an ongoing project when you try to live your entire life in it. I like it obviously otherwise I wouldn’t still be using it, but it will never exactly feel elegant to me. More like a good text editor and a hundr…

I like to tinker and hack on things, so I enjoy maintaining my Emacs config to an extent.

However, I draw the line at "text editor" with Emacs. I have no desire to read my email, paint pictures, or compose music inside Emacs—there are better tools for that.

Re: What’s new in Emacs 28.1?

#130

Post by jonpalmisc »

kidsil wrote: post #125

Only thing I'm missing from Emacs is the ability to completely freeze all packages and configs. As soon as I feel like everything is stable and great, it decides to update 180 packages while I'm trying to edit a file and destroys something in my setup. If anyone knows a way to prevent all updates and "freeze" a version that would be excellent.

You might want to check out straight.el [0] in replacement of package.el; it can pin package versions, etc. It is used by the very popular Doom Emacs [1] to lock package versions for reproducible config reasons.

[0] https://github.com/raxod502/straight.el [1] https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs

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