[comp.emacs] Micro-emacs question

tmoody@sjuvax.UUCP (T. Moody) (11/22/88)

Two questions, really.

(1) A while back, someone posted a question about how to do a global
delete without exiting micro-emacs and restarting the program to reset
the default replace string to the null string.  I don't recall seeing an
*answer* to this question, however.  Does anyone know how to do it?

(2) I just acquired 3.10 (beta).  While the emacs.rc file supplied with
the program, and its associated command modules, seems to work fine, the
emacs.rc file that I had built for my own use doesn't work at all with
this version (although it works fine with 3.9n).  Whatever function key
I press, I get the message "Key not bound."  I do not have the new docs
(this is a monster file that I cannot afford to download from Indiana),
but I am wondering if the syntax for binding functions to keys has been
changed.

Thanks.

-- 
Todd Moody * {allegra|astrovax|bpa|burdvax}!sjuvax!tmoody * SJU Phil. Dept.
            "The mind-forg'd manacles I hear."  -- William Blake

nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu (Daniel Lawrence) (11/23/88)

In article <1712@sjuvax.UUCP> tmoody@sjuvax.UUCP (T. Moody) writes:
>
>Two questions, really.
>
>(1) A while back, someone posted a question about how to do a global
>delete without exiting micro-emacs and restarting the program to reset
>the default replace string to the null string.  I don't recall seeing an
>*answer* to this question, however.  Does anyone know how to do it?
>
	M-^X set $replace ""

	put this command line in a macro and bind it to a key.

>(2) I just acquired 3.10 (beta).  While the emacs.rc file supplied with
>the program, and its associated command modules, seems to work fine, the
>emacs.rc file that I had built for my own use doesn't work at all with
>this version (although it works fine with 3.9n).  Whatever function key
>I press, I get the message "Key not bound."  I do not have the new docs
>(this is a monster file that I cannot afford to download from Indiana),
>but I am wondering if the syntax for binding functions to keys has been
>changed.
>
	Between 3.9p and 3.10 the syntax for specifying function keys
changed.  Rather than the cryptic IBM-PC key scan codes that were being
used, 3.10 now uses a standard machine independant set of codes. 
Function key 4 is, for example, FN4.  The program called CMDFIX.EXE
which was also in the file area you downloaded EMACS from can be run on
any old command file to automatically translate it.

----=====FLAME ON====-----
	Yes, the document is big. But on other hand, so is the program
it is describing.  I and a lot of others spend a lot of time assisting
people in setting up and using this program and others and it really
irks me when I have to waste time describing things that I have already
painstakingly documented in the manual.  Yes it costs to download from
Indiana... but good lord, the program is FREE!  So instead here we are
taking up beucoup bucks on lots of machines across the nation instead to
spread these requests/answers around USENET.

	Todd, this is not really specifically directed at you.  It is
just that I have spent 3 years in my spare time working on this program
and lately I have been getting a lot of indignant people upset because I
have not been available for 24 hour phone support. (Support calls from
germany and australia come in at the oddest times).

	Yesterday I was in the middle of band practice (I play guitar)
and someone called me up to complain about a bug in MicroEMACS version
3.7i.  I told him that it got fixed 2 years agon, shortly after that
version was released.  Then I explained function the bug was in and how
to fix it, and how to get a current version.  He then curtly informed
me that it was probably too much trouble for him to bother and he would
probably go out and buy UNIPRESS EMACS. Why did this BOZO bother
calling me?

----=====FLAME OFF====-----

	BTW, for people who have downloaded the BETA, the purpose of a
BETA is to test a version for later general release. If you have 3.10
BETA, please respond to me with comments... even if it is to say
everything works, because this will make sure we put out a solid
release.

>Thanks.
>
>-- 
>Todd Moody * {allegra|astrovax|bpa|burdvax}!sjuvax!tmoody * SJU Phil. Dept.
>            "The mind-forg'd manacles I hear."  -- William Blake

	Thanx Todd and all for letting me babble,

					Daniel Lawrence
					(317) 742-5153 nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu
					The Programmer's Room Fido 1:201/10
					(317) 742-5533

mlm@homxc.UUCP (Mark L. Milliman @ AT&T-Bell Laboratories) (11/28/88)

Would someone please tell me where I could find version 3.10 of MicroEmacs.
I no longer have a direct ARPAnet connection, so I cannot get it from 
simtel20.  If you have the complete archive, you can mail it to me or send
it by UUCP to the below address.

Thanks,
Mark L. Milliman	      UUCP:  att!homxc!mlm
AT&T Bell Laboratories        Internet:  mlm@homxc.att.com
Room 1B-407
Holmdel, New Jersey   07733
(201)949-0796

tmoody@sjuvax.UUCP (T. Moody) (11/28/88)

In article <8335@j.cc.purdue.edu> nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu (Daniel Lawrence) writes:

>	M-^X set $replace ""
>
>	put this command line in a macro and bind it to a key.

Thanks, I'll do it.


>	Between 3.9p and 3.10 the syntax for specifying function keys
>changed.  Rather than the cryptic IBM-PC key scan codes that were being
>used, 3.10 now uses a standard machine independant set of codes. 

I'm embarrassed.  When I took a closer look at the new emacs.rc file, I
noticed the change at once.  Well, thanks for changing it; it certainly
makes things easier to read.

>----=====FLAME ON====-----
>	Yes, the document is big. But on other hand, so is the program
>it is describing.  I and a lot of others spend a lot of time assisting
>people in setting up and using this program and others and it really
>irks me when I have to waste time describing things that I have already
>painstakingly documented in the manual.  Yes it costs to download from
>Indiana... but good lord, the program is FREE!  So instead here we are
>taking up beucoup bucks on lots of machines across the nation instead to
>spread these requests/answers around USENET.

Guilty.  In fact, I could not download the docs anyway.  What I can't
afford yet is a new modem.  My old one was smitten by lightning.  At 300
baud, the doc file would far exceed my time privileges at the
Programmer's Room.  If I had 1200 baud again, I simply would have
downloaded the file.  But this is not your problem.  Your irritation is
justified; I simply want to register the point that I was not
*complaining* about the size of the docs.  On the contrary, the
documentation for micro-emacs is a welcome exception to the rule of
sparse or unintelligible documentation for non-commercial (and many
comercial) programs.  If the file were tiny, there would be something to
complain about.

>	Thanx Todd and all for letting me babble,
>					Daniel Lawrence

I think you've earned it.

-- 
Todd Moody * {allegra|astrovax|bpa|burdvax}!sjuvax!tmoody * SJU Phil. Dept.
            "The mind-forg'd manacles I hear."  -- William Blake

nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu (Daniel Lawrence) (11/28/88)

In article <4337@homxc.UUCP> mlm@homxc.UUCP (Mark L. Milliman @ AT&T-Bell Laboratories) writes:
>Would someone please tell me where I could find version 3.10 of MicroEmacs.
>I no longer have a direct ARPAnet connection, so I cannot get it from 
>simtel20.  If you have the complete archive, you can mail it to me or send
>it by UUCP to the below address.
>
>Thanks,
>Mark L. Milliman	      UUCP:  att!homxc!mlm

	Yes, I can always tell when a release comes up. My mail box is
flooded with requests like this.  Is there a specific newsgroup for
release notices?  If everyone would subscribe to something like this,
and someone were to keep track of the current version number and pickup
locations of all the major share/freeware products and periodically post
a summery.

	In any case, version 3.10 of MicroEMACS is in BETA test right
now, and it looks like we will have it very solid.  I am scheduling the
final release from my BBS in the middle of December and it will probably
be availible from various FTP archives shortly after that.  (SIMTEL20 is
certainly on of these sites).

	In the meantime I would really greatly appreciate a lowering of
the "is it ready mail". Also calls to my house in the middle of the
night tend to slow down work.  I know people are anxious, but this is
getting out of hand.  (Remember, if you are in a different time zone,
please calculate the time differences... calling in the business day
from australia tends to leave me grumpy).

					Daniel Lawrence
					(317) 742-5153 nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu
					The Programmer's Room Fido 1:201/10
					(317) 742-5533

waters@dover.uucp (Mike Waters) (12/01/88)

In hopes of defusing a whole bunch of "dumb questions" like my own,

In article <8358@j.cc.purdue.edu> nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu (Daniel Lawrence) writes:
>                                                    I am scheduling the
>final release from my BBS in the middle of December and it will probably
>be availible from various FTP archives shortly after that.  (SIMTEL20 is
>certainly on of these sites).

You imply (but nowhere explicitly SAY) that "my BBS" on which you will
post the new version of MicroEMACS is:
>					The Programmer's Room Fido 1:201/10
>					(317) 742-5533

I guess the best idea would be to post an announcement to this newsgroup
whenever it IS available. I for one will be watching, and could make it
available on the EDIF User Group BBS (602) 994-6889 if there is enough
interest. 

I will be waiting (quietly if not patiently) in the wings.
-- 
Mike Waters                 (for your EDIFication)
Motorola SMART CAD Group - EDIF (ANSI/EIA std. 548) support
Mesa, AZ   ...!sun!sunburn!dover!waters
          OR   moto@cad.Berkley.EDU