What’s the deal with emacs?

joegilder

I’m digging the archive and the plain text workflow. That’s new for me.

I keep getting glimpses of emacs, and I’m drawn to the terminal/all-keyboard workflow. I’m NOT a programmer. I do a lot of writing, but no coding.

Is emacs worth exploring? And is it as “software agnostic” as the archive? I’m not sure if org files are as ubiquitous and future-proof as .txt files. I assume not, but would love your 2 cents.

inquisitiv3

If you haven't any prior experience with Emacs, and just starting out with zettelkasten now I would recommend you looking at some other solution. Now it would just be a gigantic time sink for you.

I recommend The Archive if you're on a Mac, or Zettlr if you are using Windows or Linux (or want an application that works on all three).

joegilder

@inquisitiv3 said:
If you haven't any prior experience with Emacs, and just starting out with zettelkasten now I would recommend you looking at some other solution. Now it would just be a gigantic time sink for you.

I recommend The Archive if you're on a Mac, or Zettlr if you are using Windows or Linux (or want an application that works on all three).

That's helpful. Imma stick with The Archive and continue having fun. 😊

Sukhovskii

Check out Obsidian. This app has many great features out of the box. And it is free for personal use.

Sascha

org-files are txt-files.

Emacs is like staring into the abyss Nietzsche talked about:

Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.

Translation:

He who fights monsters, should watch out to not become a monster himself. And if you stare into the abyss long enough, the abyss stares back into you.

kohled

@Sascha said:
Emacs is like staring into the abyss Nietzsche talked about:

I resisted until I realized resistance is futile.

Seriously though @joegilder, if whatever you're using now is working, then there's no need to check it out. I only recently started going through the tutorials built into emacs because I was way beyond done fighting with screenwriting software. I've probably been done for 10 years. So I checked out fountain-mode. So refined, powerful, minimal. So totally free.

Now I'm slowly learning org and honestly, there's no turning back. Feel like I'm at the beginning of a long journey. Good times.

Seems not only do I like the abyss, the abyss likes me.

joegilder

I'm a sucker for a good abyss....

TRumnell

I'd recommend you start out with something like doom-emacs. It has a lot "done" for you. I know a lot of people who have migrated their vanilla emacs installations to things like doom-emacs and spacemacs (which I don't recommend). Love org-mode, but its structure tends to get in the way of me actually writing anything.

dhmspector

Emacs isn't just an editor, in a religion, an OS, and a lifestyle. I saw this as an Emacs user.

That said, it's incredibly powerful but can have a steep learning curve. I've been using it for almost 40 years and I am still learning how deep the rabbit hole goes.

joegilder

Watched part of a video on doom-emacs video and I think it's all too rich for my blood. 😂

kohled

@dhmspector said:
Emacs isn't just an editor, in a religion, an OS, and a lifestyle. I saw this as an Emacs user.

That said, it's incredibly powerful but can have a steep learning curve. I've been using it for almost 40 years and I am still learning how deep the rabbit hole goes.

To certain type of person, like, well... me. This sounds like... fun.

I know, I know. I'm an animal.

I'm not a programmer. But a cognitive shift happened when I began learning to code. (I did learn to create graphics using logo... but that was long ago in a galaxy far away...)

I found this presentation pretty useful, done by a fellow non-programmer. He's a philosopher and lays out a clearly presented, well-reasoned process. Gave me a more realistic appreciation about what is actually involved to discern if engaging emacs was a productive use of my time: