and don't forget EmacsW32, which is a reasonably recent native Emacs build with things like gnuserv/emacsclient fixed so you can open files from Windows Explorer. http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/EmacsW32.html is the URL.
-- Gary ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Carson Chittom" <carson.chit...@mspb.ms.gov> > To: "John DeRuntz" <deru...@pcisys.net> > Cc: help-emacs-windows@gnu.org > Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 10:32:00 AM > Subject: Re: [h-e-w] Gnu Emacs > John DeRuntz <deru...@pcisys.net> writes: > > > So I would like to install emacs on a new Dell XPS laptop with a > > Windows 7 OS. Looking at the available files on your website I have > > no > > idea as to what I should download for my new machine. Also, will I > > need a unix emulator or will I be able to use emacs directly with MS > > Windows? > > You have (at least) three options, all of which have pros and cons: > > 1. Use a Windows-native Emacs[1]. This is likely your best bet, > since it's officially supported by the Emacs people. Be aware > though that a few things don't work quite right (for example, > interfacing with OpenSSL and/or GnuTLS to read email through Gnus > or VM (or whatever)), and the Emacs defaults don't always accord > with the Windows ones (for example, a user's home directory for > Win7 is C:\Users\username; but ~ for Emacs is > C:\Users\username\AppData) > > 2. Use the Emacs from Cygwin[2]. This is what I think you mean by > "unix emulator," although I think Cygwin is not actually an > "emulator." The last time I used Cygwin, it worked very well, > but of course, it's an entirely separate layer on top of > Windows, with all that entails. > > 3. If you have Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate, you can enable the > Subsystem for Unix-based Applications (SUA), download and install > the SUA Utilities and SDK[3], and then install the tools from the > SUA Community[4], one of which is Emacs. SUA is antiquated, > finicky, and non-obvious (it was to me, anyway), and the SUA > Community's Emacs is only version 21. However, SUA is an > officially-supported Microsoft product, and I'm told there's lots > of documentation on how to integrate the Unix and Windows pieces. > > Sorry for the length; I've just thought about this a lot lately trying > to get my home computer set up the way I want (and eventually decided > that it was all too much effort and installed OpenBSD, where things > Just > Work the way I expect them to). > > > [1] http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows > [2] http://www.cygwin.com > [3] http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=2391 > [4] http://www.suacommunity.com -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gary Oberbrunner ga...@genarts.com VP Engineering Tel: 617-492-2888 GenArts, Inc. www.genarts.com
