GNU Emacs ported to Android (opens in new tab)

(play.google.com)

131 pointscycojesus13y ago44 comments

44 comments

Just downloaded it. Here are a few things to note:

- As soon as installed, the app will download emacs from a 3rd party repo. You have the option to specify your own, I picked the default one.

- The app consists apparently of a terminal emulator and a Bourne shell (clone?). emacs will reside inside this emulator and the shell.

- The app seems very young, segfaults are frequent. A common cause seems to be font-size. If font size != 20px at startup, app will segfault. (you can change it once the app is running).

- The buffers do not resize dynamically when I show/hide the keyboard. On my SGS2 in landscape mode, that leaves very little screen space for the buffers.

- The app greatly benefits from Hacker's Keyboard or any similar advanced keyboard.

sigzero13y ago

Err....Emacs is probably a better OS than Android. :)

gcp13y ago

Which is coincidentally likely why you can never have it on iOS (interpreted code and all...)

dchest13y ago

There's no rule in the App Store against interpreted code that's not downloaded.

3 more replies

e4013y ago

This is just silly. Emacs isn't an OS. It provides an API to some library and system calls, but it isn't even multi-threaded.

If your comment was meant as a hat tip to the Symbolics Genera system, that was a full-fledged OS, then there could be debate. I love Lisp and would dearly love to customize my Jelly Bean experience with it, but then we'd need to get into a discussion of what is really better, and 80's OS or Android.

T_S_13y ago

I took it as more of a nod to the old emacs joke (probably told by a vim user): “Emacs is a great operating system; too bad it doesn’t have a decent editor”

rbanffy13y ago

IIRC, one of the original goals of Emacs was to replicate the environment of Lisp machines. With that in mind, it could be considered an OS not unlike Smalltalk environments such as Squeak.

1 more reply

jimktrains213y ago

So? A Vim port's been out for a few months.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.momodalo.a....

/dons my flame-retardant jacket

mmahemoff13y ago

And even longer on iPad, but these will only be useful when they can deal with ESC key. Vim without ESC is like Word without mouse.

piinbinary13y ago

Some people set it up so that 'jj' (while in insert mode) is equivalent to ESC (or perhaps it was Ctrl-c, I forget). Either way, that would make vim usable with an iOS device's keyboard.

hammersend13y ago

Esc works perfectly on Hacker's Keyboard which is just a download away on the Android market.

CmdrKrool13y ago

Anyone trying to use this on a device with its own keyboard? eg. http://www.androidauthority.com/best-keyboard-qwerty-android...

Be interested to hear how usable you can make it. Whether you can remap keys or buttons to all the major modifiers.

Emacs 23 on the Nokia N900 is the reason I recently bought that phone even though Nokia is so uncool now and everything (works excellently, BTW).

npsimons13y ago

Second this; having Emacs with org-mode, plus git, flymake and Python in the palm of my hand is just awesome. Now, if only I could upgrade the processor and RAM, get better battery life, and get a screen that worked better in sunlight . . .

malkia13y ago

It segfaulted here (11). Since the shell was available, ls -l revealed that only directories had +x on them, and none of the scripts. Not sure whether that makes any sense (or simply was not compiled for the right arm architecture).

It does not work from both Nexus 7 Tablet, and Google Nexus phone (latest)

einhverfr13y ago

So how do you enter the control sequences?

dbaupp13y ago

Using a different keyboard, e.g.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork...

peterb13y ago

With Hacker's Keyboard.

ajross13y ago

For those who aren't aware of this tool:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork...

It's really shockingly great. It turns dealing with terminal access from your touchscreen from a complete hair-pulling disaster into something that I am merely disinclined to do.

All the ASCII keys are where you expect them to be. And switching between the keyboards at runtime is as simple as launching the included app. Definitely recommended to anyone who ever needs to (occasionally!) ssh from their phone or tablet.

fsaintjacques13y ago

You shake it.

drcube13y ago

Every couple of weeks since I started using Android, I've checked the Play store to see if Emacs was there. So even though I don't know what I'll do with it yet, I'm excited to download the GNU Emacs app.

Anybody have any ideas for what to do with Emacs on a phone?

Kototama13y ago

Taking notes with org-mode and synchronizing them to Dropbox.

qdot7636713y ago

There's also mobile org for that though. :)

iPhone: http://mobileorg.ncogni.to/

Android: https://github.com/matburt/mobileorg-android/wiki/

Android Fork: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.matburt.mo...

vinayan313y ago

Good work but I have some issues with the concept. I mean using all the keyboard shortcuts must be a pain. Did they try to make it use the touch interface at all?

Create13y ago

There were some projects (also, if I recall correctly some ubuntu-new-ui projects for tablets/gestures). btw

https://github.com/greboide/emacs-gestures

pbnjay13y ago

Now the editor's kitchen sink also includes phone calls!

laconian13y ago

I don't know if I could adapt to Emacs with another input device. Part of being good at Emacs is training your muscle memory. I probably can't even describe half of the inane chords I do unless I was able to observe my hands performing them.

kelvie13y ago

Doesn't this have to be open-sourced? Emacs is GPL'd. I might want to help out with the development.

roryokane13y ago

This app is open-source: https://github.com/zielmicha/emacs-android. When you start the app for the first time, it displays that link in the terminal output.

rbanffy13y ago

It depends. It seems to be an Emacs installer rather than Emacs proper.

Didn't try it myself.

Create13y ago

one doesn't need to be wrong to be downvoted on HN:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4381761

rogcg13y ago

We are on the way to start good development on an Android tablet! FTW

samuel160413y ago

seg11 on nexus 7 :(

malkia13y ago

Same here... after downloading a bunch of files.

Create13y ago

dupe: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4368237

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

44 comments

babarock13y ago

Just downloaded it. Here are a few things to note:

- As soon as installed, the app will download emacs from a 3rd party repo. You have the option to specify your own, I picked the default one.

- The app consists apparently of a terminal emulator and a Bourne shell (clone?). emacs will reside inside this emulator and the shell.

- The app seems very young, segfaults are frequent. A common cause seems to be font-size. If font size != 20px at startup, app will segfault. (you can change it once the app is running).

- The buffers do not resize dynamically when I show/hide the keyboard. On my SGS2 in landscape mode, that leaves very little screen space for the buffers.

- The app greatly benefits from Hacker's Keyboard or any similar advanced keyboard.

sigzero13y ago

Err....Emacs is probably a better OS than Android. :)

gcp13y ago

Which is coincidentally likely why you can never have it on iOS (interpreted code and all...)

dchest13y ago

There's no rule in the App Store against interpreted code that's not downloaded.

3 more replies

e4013y ago

This is just silly. Emacs isn't an OS. It provides an API to some library and system calls, but it isn't even multi-threaded.

T_S_13y ago

I took it as more of a nod to the old emacs joke (probably told by a vim user): “Emacs is a great operating system; too bad it doesn’t have a decent editor”

rbanffy13y ago

IIRC, one of the original goals of Emacs was to replicate the environment of Lisp machines. With that in mind, it could be considered an OS not unlike Smalltalk environments such as Squeak.

1 more reply

jimktrains213y ago

So? A Vim port's been out for a few months.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.momodalo.a....

/dons my flame-retardant jacket

mmahemoff13y ago

And even longer on iPad, but these will only be useful when they can deal with ESC key. Vim without ESC is like Word without mouse.

piinbinary13y ago

Some people set it up so that 'jj' (while in insert mode) is equivalent to ESC (or perhaps it was Ctrl-c, I forget). Either way, that would make vim usable with an iOS device's keyboard.

hammersend13y ago

Esc works perfectly on Hacker's Keyboard which is just a download away on the Android market.

CmdrKrool13y ago

Anyone trying to use this on a device with its own keyboard? eg. http://www.androidauthority.com/best-keyboard-qwerty-android...

Be interested to hear how usable you can make it. Whether you can remap keys or buttons to all the major modifiers.

Emacs 23 on the Nokia N900 is the reason I recently bought that phone even though Nokia is so uncool now and everything (works excellently, BTW).

npsimons13y ago

malkia13y ago

It does not work from both Nexus 7 Tablet, and Google Nexus phone (latest)

einhverfr13y ago

So how do you enter the control sequences?

dbaupp13y ago

Using a different keyboard, e.g.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork...

peterb13y ago

With Hacker's Keyboard.

ajross13y ago

For those who aren't aware of this tool:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork...

It's really shockingly great. It turns dealing with terminal access from your touchscreen from a complete hair-pulling disaster into something that I am merely disinclined to do.

fsaintjacques13y ago

You shake it.

drcube13y ago

Anybody have any ideas for what to do with Emacs on a phone?

Kototama13y ago

Taking notes with org-mode and synchronizing them to Dropbox.

qdot7636713y ago

There's also mobile org for that though. :)

iPhone: http://mobileorg.ncogni.to/

Android: https://github.com/matburt/mobileorg-android/wiki/

Android Fork: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.matburt.mo...

vinayan313y ago

Good work but I have some issues with the concept. I mean using all the keyboard shortcuts must be a pain. Did they try to make it use the touch interface at all?

Create13y ago

There were some projects (also, if I recall correctly some ubuntu-new-ui projects for tablets/gestures). btw

https://github.com/greboide/emacs-gestures

pbnjay13y ago

Now the editor's kitchen sink also includes phone calls!

laconian13y ago

kelvie13y ago

Doesn't this have to be open-sourced? Emacs is GPL'd. I might want to help out with the development.

roryokane13y ago

This app is open-source: https://github.com/zielmicha/emacs-android. When you start the app for the first time, it displays that link in the terminal output.

rbanffy13y ago

It depends. It seems to be an Emacs installer rather than Emacs proper.

Didn't try it myself.

Create13y ago

one doesn't need to be wrong to be downvoted on HN:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4381761

rogcg13y ago

We are on the way to start good development on an Android tablet! FTW

samuel160413y ago

seg11 on nexus 7 :(

malkia13y ago

Same here... after downloading a bunch of files.

Create13y ago

dupe: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4368237

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse