At Fri, 6 Feb 2026 11:00:59 -0500 [email protected] wrote: > > On Friday, February 06, 2026 06:21:15 AM Eric S Fraga wrote: > > org mode in Emacs would probably (definitely?) allow you to do > > everything you have indicated. Emacs is available as a Debian package > > out of the box. > > Aside: I tried Emacs quite some time ago (ca. 2000 - 2002) and found it very > difficult to get into and eventually abandoned it. I had come from the > Windows > world and was used to WYSIWG editors and word processors (e.g., Word). > > I'm willing to put at least a little time into reconsidering Emacs (should it > be EMACS?) but would like to find a list where beginner's level questions > might > be asked (or, I guess I can search with DDG or ask an AI (I currently > sometimes use chatgpt (cautiously))). > > Is there such a mail list?
Probably... > > A quick sample of some of the questions I'd ask: > > * does (or can) EMACS use UTf-8 as its (or a) native <darn -- can't think > of the right word> > I believe GNU EMACS supports UTf-8. (Jasspa MicroEmacs, which is what *I* use does not -- I personally have little use for UTf-8). > * can EMACS do what I think is known as soft or dynamic word wrap -- I mean > word wrap without inserting line end characters to wrap the lines of a > paragraph Yes, GNU EMACS can do that. > > * is there somewhere a guide to LISP syntax that makes analogies to things > like Algol or C (or Python, Pascal, or such). (Background: I originally > learned Algol, then was forced to learn Fortran :-(, and then was exposed to > and supposed to learn Lisp, but I never became comfortable with that. > Something that would take (or display) some Lisp code snippets tanslated into > something more like Pascal syntax would help me a lot, I think) Yes. > > * I currently edit files (in Kate) approaching 50 MB, I'd expect to do > similar size (or more) files in Emacs, with lots of features enabled (e.g., > TWiki or HTML (or other) syntax highlighting, folding (I guess that is org > mode), etc. Should I be worried? So long as you have enough RAM (real or virtual), there shoud not be a problem. Given current levels of computer memory sizes 50 MB is tiny. > > * Oh, I also know that at one time Xemacs was created to be a gui for > Emacs, my recollection is that, since then, Emacs has developed a gui > interface -- ahh, yes, I'm 99% sure of that (so I shouldn't have listed / > asked this here). > Yes, I believe so. Even Jasspa MicroEmacs has a GUI (but I don't use it). > Thanks! > > -- Robert Heller -- Cell: 413-658-7953 GV: 978-633-5364 Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Linux Administration Services [email protected] -- Webhosting Services
