Bicycle

Links of Note 2024-10-05

• An interesting PDF reader. Sioyek
• A Markdown Guide from the iA Writer folks Writer 101 - Markdown Guide - YouTube
• A customized version of Iosevka. Iosevka Output, a nice mono-spaced font. Releases - ashton314iosevka-output - Codeberg.org
• Another good monospaced font. Commit Mono. Neutral programming typeface.
• The thinking behind iA Writer changing its icon. Making Icons Fresh. Love the new icons.
• Some people are nuts. But they are the good kind of nuts. macOS as Unix Workstation 2022 skybert.net
• I must admit that I have tried more solutions than those listed and have come to the same conclusion. Alternatives to Org (that I will not be using) – MacAdie Web Blog
• If your plain-text format of choice is Markdown, then this holds up pretty well. Freedom to App-Hop ldstephens. Jack Baty is perfectly nutty. He switches between steep learning curve apps like Emacs and Tinderbox without a care. He is comfortable in them and slings them around for fun. Unfortunately, none of us are Jack Baty. If you are writing in Markdown there are a ton of applications which do a great job of providing you with the perfect writing environment and most of them you can learn how to use in an afternoon. If your preferred format is org, you have to deal with Emacs. And if you commit to Emacs, why would you use anything else? I was in the “Freedom to App-Hop” coalition till I turned to Org-mode and Emacs. Now I am not so sure.
• The Archive is fantastic. A love letter to The Archive. A sentiment well-expressed.

macosxguru at the gmail thingie.

Thanks: to Photo by taha balta

Trek to the mountain

Part Five of My Battles with Emacs

Still climbing this mountain.

The result: Stubbornness and joy.

Emacs is billed as the text editor which you can configure to your needs. It is undoubtedly configurable. I try to add some feature to it and everything goes to hell. It gives you the most cryptic error messages which I don’t understand. I go back to the previous version of the configuration or try some tweak and try it again. Sometimes it works. I dance around like a mad baboon with joy. Most of the time though I delete the section I added or set it to not tangle and leave a note for myself. They bug me. This is the only text editor I have ever tried where I find myself in bed at night contemplating the things I can try to make some addition work. I get up from bed. Go to the computer and try out the new tweak that I hope will work. It doesn’t. I am losing hair. My cat Squirrelly is not happy with me. My sleep habits are suffering. But I keep at it. That is stubbornness on my part.

I am 63 years old. I can still learn new things, I tell myself. I keep plugging away.

Decisions

I am going to violate one of the fundamental maxims of Emacs usage. I am not going to tweak my configuration for a while. There is a lot here and I don’t know most of it. The text editor works and I am going to use it. Try to learn what is already installed and some of the stock features which are available. Get familiar with the basics and then consider tweaking. For instance, I have given up my quest for typewriter scrolling in Emacs. I discovered that C-l brings my cursor and the text surrounding it to the middle of the screen. I will learn to live with that for the time being.

In no particular order, these are the other things I have done:

• Dumped Denote. I have a file-naming convention which works for me. Not going to change that.
• Tried out HOWM. Dumped that too. Too fiddly.
• I am trying out Avy. Irreal recommends it and I wanted to see what that is about.
• Tried out a package called Hydra. Made a nice little setup for Markdown. General.el does a good job for assigning keyboard commands to often repeated tasks in both Markdown and Org-mode and I don’t need Hydra to duplicate that. It is in the :tangle no zone at this stage. If I run into a compelling reason to come back to it, I might.
• Wanted something that auto-saved documents when my focus moved away from Emacs. Found this worked:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(add-hook 'focus-out-hook (lambda () (interactive) (save-some-buffers t)))
#+end_src

• Trying out the osx-dictionary package.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(use-package osx-dictionary)
;; Key bindings
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c d") 'osx-dictionary-search-word-at-point)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c i") 'osx-dictionary-search-input)
#+end_src

• Sometimes I change my mind. I look at a section I have written and don’t think it fits or is right. I am using Palimpsest to move it to the bottom of the file. It keeps me from deleting sections I have written and gives me the opportunity to reuse it if I change my mind.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (use-package palimpsest)
  (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'palimpsest-mode)
#+end_src

This is the relevant keybinding: C-c C-r. Sends selected text to bottom of buffer.

• Using simpleclip to get back the usual macOS keyboard commands for Cut, Copy and Paste. This bypasses the Emacs kill-ring but it is not a problem for me since it is incorporated in the Alfred clipboard I use.

Realizations

• I used to write exclusively in Markdown. The markdown package for Emacs is fantastic. If I wanted to, I could stick to Markdown and let this package make my life easier. I wouldn’t miss much.
• I am enjoying writing in Org-mode. I barely scratch the surface of all that it is capable of, but it is fun to write in and the process is virtually pain-free. It is scratching my itch or love for outlines. I love it so far.

Thanks

A reader who is in my age range wrote to me and commented on how he is using Emacs after a brain injury. He is making good progress into incorporating Emacs into his workflow. He provided the impetus to stick to this journey. Thank you.

Sticking closer to stock, finally made emacs click showed me that my frustration is shared. It made it seem less overwhelming to realize that there is light at the other end of the tunnel.

I will keep documenting this journey for a while and see how far I go with it.

Addition: Thanks to Loren for the encouragement.

macosxguru at the gmail thingie.

Thanks also to:

Photo by Sebastian Palomino

Part Four of My Battles with Emacs

Tools

It is not my fault. I blame Jack Baty for this. He goes on and on about how Org-mode has improved his sex life and given him purpose and direction. Okay, maybe he hasn’t quite said that. But he is enamored with it and I am curious to find out what he is on about.

He rates Org-mode better than Markdown:

Org-mode may be the Betamax of text formats, but if you recall, Beta was the better format. VHS won, but not because it was better. Why would I use a lesser format for my notes than Org-mode? “Everyone uses Markdown” is not an answer.

I gave up on Org-mode because of my problems with Emacs. Some problem with my setup made using a largish file an absolute nightmare. Using a combination of TaskPaper and BBEdit was working fine. I was relatively happy. I came across pprevosemacs-writing-studio Emacs configuration for authors who research, write and publish articles, books and websites..

I started reading the book and that got me intrigued enough to go back to Emacs. This was helped considerably by the consistent evangelism of Jack Baty.

Configuring Emacs

I adopted large sections of the Emacs Writing Studio configuration.

Got rid of some of the elements which seemed unnecessary to me. Got rid of elfeed, I don’t want to access my RSS feeds in Emacs. I use Newsblur for my RSS feeds and that works great. Dumped the stuff with LaTeX. I don’t use that. I will add it back if I need it. I made some additional tweaks:

1. Changed the configuration to an Org-mode file. Needed to write extensive notes to myself on every little bit I added or deleted. Tangling the Org-mode file to an init.el file is relatively painless.
2. Introduced General.el to the configuration. Makes it easy to add keyboard commands to Emacs to be happy in both Org-mode and Markdown.
3. Got rid of all the evil-mode stuff from my previous configuration. I am going to concentrate on learning Emacs and not complicate matters by learning both Emacs and VIM.
4. Added tab-bar-mode. I am used to tabs.
5. Changed the Writing Studio configuration for org-capture. Adapted the section from Prot’s GNU Emacs configuration.
6. Changed the Mode line with help from SophieBosio.emacs.d Sophie’s Emacs configuration
7. Added Corfu and Cape to the completion tools.
8. Got rid of Modern Org Style and went back to Make org-mode stars a little more super. I am using a bit of code Jack Baty had provided a few years ago to make Org-bullets look pretty.
9. Added Olivetti-mode to both Markdown and Org files.
10. Set the recentf limit to (recentf-max-saved-items 1000).
11. Changed the font configuration to Custom build of Iosevka from Protesilos, for default and fixed-pitch fonts. Using Lexend - Deca for variable-pitch font.
12. Added auto-package-update to make that function easier.
13. Added saveplace to be able to get back to the place I last worked on a file.
14. Added a function to make all my regular files load into Emacs through a keyboard command if I need it.
15. Added Default window size and tabs>spaces.

There might be some other additions and deletions to and from the Writing Studio configuration.

Other Observations

• I had a bit of code in my older configuration which tried to replicate typewriter scrolling by putting my cursor at the middle of the window. Something about that code made Emacs unusable for large files. The performance of Emacs has improved considerably with that code absent. I am going to explore other ways of adding this feature to Emacs. But I am taking it easy in the meantime.
• I am done with tweaking for a while. Emacs configuration is a time-sink. Making the ideal text editor for yourself is a commendable goal but it has a cost I am not willing to pay. A little addition and some inane mistake and your configuration goes to hell. It is a matter of trying to find out what you did wrong. Immense frustration ensues. Not going to encourage this behavior. Going to tweak only when it is absolutely necessary. I want to write and read in Emacs. Not become an Emacs guru.

Things Still to be Done

• Need to get org-agenda working. It is not at the moment.
• Find a solution for typewriter scrolling.
• Explore writing in Org-mode to see what the fuss is.
• Explore Denote to figure out whether I need that.

Conclusion

Am happy to be able to use Emacs as my text editor. In combination with TaskPaper it is getting a fair amount of use for the last few weeks. I still miss certain things about BBEdit. The project-based workflow with relevant folders in the sidebar is an UI I am used to. Not having that in Emacs is a little disconcerting. Getting more familiar with dired buffers might make that unnecessary.

Still getting comfortable with the keyboard commands in Emacs. Immersion is going to help with that.

Will keep posting updates to this as we go along.

Note

• Thanks to Photo by Tyler Lastovich
• Thanks to Peter Prevos for the Emacs Writing Studio
• Thanks to Protesilaos Stavrou for everything you do for the Emacs community.
• Thanks to Jack Baty for being insistent.

macosxguru at the gmail thingie.

Addendum

These were the antecedents to this step:

• Part One of My Battles with Emacs - Bicycle For Your Mind
• Part Two of My Battles With Emacs - Bicycle For Your Mind
• Part Three of My Battles with Emacs - Bicycle For Your Mind

Lovely

Links of Note 2024-07-06

• I love Keenan’s writing. An alarmingly concise and very hinged summary of what it was like to build this site from scratch
• This is exactly how I feel. Loren’s Blog: New Site, New Format, New RSS Feed | by ldstephens | Jul, 2024 | Medium
• The iA Writer folks on AI. Turning the Tables on AI
• The iA Writer folks on THE ad. No Thanks
• I am struggling with this too. I don’t have a solution yet, but I am thinking about it. Losing interest in organizing things
• I loved the writing. I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again — Ludicity
• People are still fighting this good fight. Make free software normal | Ali Reza Hayati
• These are lovely. Hard Drive Icons
  • Ive Drives, Vol. 1
  • Ive Drives, Vol. 2
  • Ive Drives, Vol. 3
• For those of you who using Apple Notes. ProNotes
• I feel less lonely when I come across people who are struggling with the issues I am also thinking about. Fending off the Futz Monkey | Jack Baty and BWT: 10,000 Hours of Futzing :: Dave Rogers

macosxguru at the gmail thingie.

Note: Thanks to Alena Koval for the picture.

Kitty

Links of Note 2024-04-10

• iA Markdown Dictionary is an interesting addition to the cheat sheets available for Markdown. If you are uncomfortable with the syntax, this is a good resource to get familiar with it.
• This is another example of someone who is using a plain text file to manage their life. Impressive. My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file
• Loren talks about his note-taking workflow. I have gone through a similar text file focus and moved away from proprietary apps. Bringing order to my note-taking chaos by ldstephens Apr, 2024 Medium
• This is a little in the weeds. Thanks to Brett Terpstra for pointing me to this one. davidbalbertKeyBinding-Inspector A tool to inspect key bindings for the macOS text system.
• Another note-taking program. I am a little tired of them, you get to check it out yourselves if you are interested. Lattics -Brain-like KM Notes & Writing App
• This was informative. Typography and Fonts

macosxguru at the gmail thingie.

Thanks to Photo by Dids