Eev for beginners: restructuring the first hour or so
My presentation at the EmacsConf2024 was about how I've been teaching Emacs, eev and Maxima to total beginners. This page is the map that I mention in 24:26, in the middle of the slide "Now some technical details".
0. The basic map
Install WSL | v wsl --install Debian | v sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade -y sudo apt-get install -y emacs emacs & | v M-x list-packages (Package Menu:Loading) (Package Menu) find eev in the list --> if on an Emacs28 with a bad GPG key, install eev <-- fix that with 2024-no-public-key | v M-x eev-beginner (find-eev-quick-intro "2. Evaluating Lisp") (find-eev-quick-intro "3. Elisp hyperlinks") | v (find-eev-quick-intro "3.1. Non-elisp hyperlinks") ^ Problem: this needs Google Chrome... ...but at least now the user knows M-e and M-k! |
1. Links to videos
Some sections of the tutorials - like this one - have links to videos. Try to click on the timestamps in each of the lines below to understand how these links work in the browser:
(find-eevnavhsubs "06:29" "M-j: you can forget practically everything...") (find-eevnavvideo "06:29" "M-j: you can forget practically everything...") |
Links like those will only work inside Emacs after some things are configured. More precisely:
- links of the form `
find-*hsubs' open an HTMLized version of the subtitles of a video. Eev uses Google Chrome by default, so for most people these links will only work after this section of the tutorial; - links of the form `
find-*video' play local copies of videos with Mpv. The section of the tutorial that installs Mpv is this one, but to use those links inside Emacs people also need to understand how the local copies work.
2. Use "Graphical Emacs", not "Terminal Emacs"
(Adapted from this page).
Most systems offers both a "GUI Emacs" and a "Terminal Emacs":
The "GUI Emacs" - or "Graphical Emacs" - is MUCH easier to use than the "Terminal Emacs". One way to distinguish them is by their initial screens. These are the initial screens of an Emacs in graphical mode (left) and of an Emacs in terminal mode (right) - note that in terminal mode all fonts are the same size, and monospaced:
And this is what you see in graphical mode (left) and terminal mode (right) when you try to install eev with M-x list-packages:
Initially the cursor is at the window at the left - but the "Install" button is at the window at the right.
Here is an example of something that is harder in Terminal Emacs. In graphical mode you can switch to the window at the right by clicking on it, and you can press the "Install" button by either clicking on it or by typing RET on it.
In terminal mode Emacs ignores mouse clicks.
If you use Emacs in terminal mode instead of in graphical mode then then several things in this tutorial - (find-windows-beginner-intro) - won't work. You can still do a lot if you learn the keys in this section:
(find-emacs-keys-intro "6. Windows") |
Remember that you don't need to memorize those keys - you can just keep that page open in a browser tab and consult it when needed.
For example, in Emacs in terminal mode we can't switch to the second window by clicking on it, but we can use `C-x o':
C-x o -- other-window (find-enode "Other Window") |
3. Installing from a video
If you're a beginner and you're using Debian then the best way to install eev is by following the instructions in one of these two videos:
http://anggtwu.net/2024-emacs-windows.html http://anggtwu.net/2024-emacs-windows.html#eev |
4. Fixing the error "gpg: Can't check signature: No public key"
(From this page)
If you're trying to install eev with M-x list-packages but you're getting the error "gpg: Can't check signature: No public key", as in the screenshot below,
then you need to install the new public key and then eev. There are two ways to do that.
4.1. Way 1
If you are a total beginner who is following the instuctions in (find-windows-beginner-intro) and you got this error, you probably installed Ubuntu in WSL instead of installing Debian, and the best solution is to delete your Ubuntu image, install a Debian image, and make Debian the default... the "Way 2" below will mostly work, but some things in later steps will break!!!
4.2. Way 2
Copy and paste the 9-line progn below to an Emacs buffer and then execute it by typing `C-e C-x C-e' in the line with its closing parenthesis:
(progn (package-initialize) (setq package-check-signature nil) (package-refresh-contents) (package-install 'gnu-elpa-keyring-update) (setq package-check-signature 'allow-unsigned) ;; (package-install 'eev) ) |
For more explanations, see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/bn6k1y/updating_gnu_elpa_keys/ (find-es "emacs" "gnu-elpa-keyring-update") (find-lean4-intro "6. Install lean4-mode") |
5. Without memorizing
Here are some tricks to get by without memorizing key sequences.
5.1. The tool bar and the menu bar
First, learn how to use the menu bar and the tool bar - see this screenshot:
5.2. Open in browser tabs
Second: keep each one of the links below - the links at the `")'s, at the end of each line - open in a different browser tab:
(find-emacs-keys-intro "2. Key sequences and how to abort them") (find-emacs-keys-intro "3. Cutting & pasting") (find-emacs-keys-intro "6. Windows") |
6. M-j
Third: learn how
You can forget everything except for the three main keys, M-e - execute M-k - kill M-j - jump ...and you can use M-j to remember and re-learn all the rest. Start by learning how to use the links and key sequences in the part in blue in |
Learn copy and paste Learn eepitch Sudo tee 2024-no-public-key (DONE) 2024-other-window (DONE) 2024-first-executable-notes (TODO) 2024-find-dot-emacs-links (TODO) |