Info Catalog eintr: X11 Colors eintr: Emacs Initialization eintr: Mode Line

eintr: Miscellaneous

 
 16.13 Miscellaneous Settings for a ‘.emacs’ File
 ================================================
 
 Here are a few miscellaneous settings:
 
    − Set the shape and color of the mouse cursor:
 
           ; Cursor shapes are defined in
           ; '/usr/include/X11/cursorfont.h';
           ; for example, the 'target' cursor is number 128;
           ; the 'top_left_arrow' cursor is number 132.
 
           (let ((mpointer (x-get-resource "*mpointer"
                                           "*emacs*mpointer")))
             ;; If you have not set your mouse pointer
             ;;     then set it, otherwise leave as is:
             (if (eq mpointer nil)
                 (setq mpointer "132")) ; top_left_arrow
             (setq x-pointer-shape (string-to-int mpointer))
             (set-mouse-color "white"))
 
    − Or you can set the values of a variety of features in an alist,
      like this:
 
           (setq-default
            default-frame-alist
            '((cursor-color . "white")
              (mouse-color . "white")
              (foreground-color . "white")
              (background-color . "DodgerBlue4")
              ;; (cursor-type . bar)
              (cursor-type . box)
              (tool-bar-lines . 0)
              (menu-bar-lines . 1)
              (width . 80)
              (height . 58)
              (font .
                    "-Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-Normal--20-200-75-75-C-100-ISO8859-1")
              ))
 
    − Convert ‘<CTRL>-h’ into <DEL> and <DEL> into ‘<CTRL>-h’.
      (Some older keyboards needed this, although I have not seen the
      problem recently.)
 
           ;; Translate 'C-h' to <DEL>.
           ; (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)
 
           ;; Translate <DEL> to 'C-h'.
           (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-h)
 
    − Turn off a blinking cursor!
 
           (if (fboundp 'blink-cursor-mode)
               (blink-cursor-mode -1))
 
      or start GNU Emacs with the command ‘emacs -nbc’.
 
    − When using ‘grep’
      ‘-i’   Ignore case distinctions
      ‘-n’   Prefix each line of output with line number
      ‘-H’   Print the filename for each match.
      ‘-e’   Protect patterns beginning with a hyphen character, ‘-’
 
           (setq grep-command "grep -i -nH -e ")
 
    − Find an existing buffer, even if it has a different name
      This avoids problems with symbolic links.
 
           (setq find-file-existing-other-name t)
 
    − Set your language environment and default input method
 
           (set-language-environment "latin-1")
           ;; Remember you can enable or disable multilingual text input
           ;; with the toggle-input-method' (C-\) command
           (setq default-input-method "latin-1-prefix")
 
      If you want to write with Chinese GB characters, set this instead:
 
           (set-language-environment "Chinese-GB")
           (setq default-input-method "chinese-tonepy")
 
 Fixing Unpleasant Key Bindings
 ..............................
 
 Some systems bind keys unpleasantly.  Sometimes, for example, the <CTRL>
 key appears in an awkward spot rather than at the far left of the home
 row.
 
    Usually, when people fix these sorts of keybindings, they do not
 change their ‘~/.emacs’ file.  Instead, they bind the proper keys on
 their consoles with the ‘loadkeys’ or ‘install-keymap’ commands in their
 boot script and then include ‘xmodmap’ commands in their ‘.xinitrc’ or
 ‘.Xsession’ file for X Windows.
 
 For a boot script:
 
      loadkeys /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/emacs2.kmap.gz
 or
      install-keymap emacs2
 
 For a ‘.xinitrc’ or ‘.Xsession’ file when the <Caps Lock> key is at the
 far left of the home row:
 
      # Bind the key labeled 'Caps Lock' to 'Control'
      # (Such a broken user interface suggests that keyboard manufacturers
      # think that computers are typewriters from 1885.)
 
      xmodmap -e "clear Lock"
      xmodmap -e "add Control = Caps_Lock"
 
 In a ‘.xinitrc’ or ‘.Xsession’ file, to convert an <ALT> key to a <META>
 key:
 
      # Some ill designed keyboards have a key labeled ALT and no Meta
      xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L"
 

Info Catalog eintr: X11 Colors eintr: Emacs Initialization eintr: Mode Line