GNU Emacs, an extensible,
customizable real-time display editor, is The One True Editor. It was
developed and is maintained by Richard Stallman. It offers true
Lisp--smoothly integrated into the editor--for writing extensions,
and provides an interface to the X Window System (it works equally
well on a dumb-terminal (VT100, etc.)). In addition to its powerful native command set, extensions which emulate other popular editors (vi, EDT (DEC's VMS editor) Wordstar, and Gosling (aka Unipress) Emacs) are distributed. An extermely short list of features making emacs a full computing-support environment include: pull-down menus, multiple fonts, multiple windows with multiple views into the same file, on-the-fly syntax highliting for various languages including C.
Users seeking help or guidance with using or installing Emacs can post queries (after consulting the GNU Emacs FAQ (please!)) to gnu.emacs.help (a mailing-list gatewayed to USENET), comp.emacs.xemacs and comp.emacs. (alt.religion.emacs offers support for the truly devout seeking enlightenment.)
Donald Knuth is an Emacs user.
User contributed additions in the form of LISP packages (games (tetris), PIM's, databases, calendars, mailers, news-readers, binary hex-editors, etc.) are available from the definitive LISP archive:
archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/
GNU Emacs (or sometimes, a less feature-laden derivative) is available for every system on this earth; the latest version 20.4 is available for ftp at various GNU archive sites around the world.
(Note that various media, containing all the sources (of course) and pre-compiled binaries (all major platforms) of all their applications (emacs, gcc, gdb, gnuchess, etc.) and utilities (groff, flex, gmake, etc.) in addition to the latest release of X), may be ordered from the Free Software Foundation (for more information, send email to fsforder@gnu.org or refer to the order form (www.gnu.org/order/order.html)).
William Smith has made the source and binaries for GNU EMACS available via ftp on:das.wang.com:/ftp/wjs/gnu/emacs
Binaries are avilable for:
- IBM RS6000 3.2.0-3.2.5 with X11R4 or X11R5;
- HP-UX 9.00-9.04 series 800 with X11R5;
- Solaris 2.3 with X11R5;
- SCO 3.2.4.0 (ODT 2.0) - 3.2.4.2 (ODT 3.0) with X11R5; and
- MSDOG (oemacs 4.1 GNU Emacs 19.19).
XEmacs 20.3, formerly Lucid Emacs
19.10, developed by Jamie Zawinski,
now maintained by Chuck Thompson, is derived from GNU Emacs version
19. Pre-compiled binaries are available for most popular platforms;
the reader is encouraged to check-out the XEmacs home-page for
details about the specific files to retrive. The XEmacs FAQ is
available at: www.xemacs.org/FAQ/index.htmlSome of XEmacs' popular features include:
- TTY (dumb terminal) support (includes face support);
- built-in toolbar and support to many packages;
- the ability to embed pixmaps (glyphs) of arbitrary size in a buffer;
- use of variable width fonts;
- on a machine with audio hardware, XEmacs can play sound files instead of the default X beep;
- embedding an X window in a buffer in the same way as a pixmap; external programs (such as GhostScript, or an MPEG player) can then render arbitrary graphics on that window.
Since ftp.xemacs.org has a 10-user limit on simultaneous users, you are advised to seek the distribution at one of the following mirror sites:
- ftp.ai.mit.edu:/pub/xemacs/
- ftp.uu.net:/systems/gnu/xemacs/
- ftp.sunet.se:/pub/gnu/xemacs/
- ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr:/pub/Emacs/xemacs/
- liasun3.epfl.ch:/pub/gnu/xemacs/
- ftp.th-darmstadt.de:/pub/editors/xemacs/
- audrey.levels.unisa.edu.au:/xemacs/
- sunsite.auc.dk:/pub/emacs/xemacs/
- sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk:/gnu/xemacs/
- uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu:/pub/packages/xemacs/
- ftp.technion.ac.il:/pub/unsupported/gnu/xemacs/
- thphys.irb.hr:/pub/xemacs/
- multiple windows and multiple buffers;
- menu interface with configurable menus;
- parenthesis matching, keyboard macros and regexp searching;
- restricted or unlimited undo;
- ability to change font;
- hypertext on-line help.
The latest version of aXe, 6.1.2, is avaliable for ftp from:
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/editors/ aXe-6.1.2.tar.Z
xcoral, developed by Lionel Fournigault, Bruno
Pages and Dominique Leveque is a multi-window text editor. It
features:
- a built-in browser to navigate through C functions and C++ classes, methods and files;
- a built-in ANSI C interpreter to dynamically extend user functions, key bindings, modes etc;
- variable-width fonts and colour syntax hilighting;
- menus, scrollbars, buttons, kill-buffers, search, macros, undo regions, and a online manual;
- commands are accessible from either menus or keyboard;
- RCS interface and ability to run Unix commands (make, grep, etc.).
The latest version of xcoral, 3.14, is available for ftp at:
ftp.inria.fr:/X/contrib-R5/clients/xcoral-3.14.tar.Z
bode.ee.ualberta.ca:/pub/unix/HPUX/hpux9/Editors/
dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl:/pub/other_sites/dutepp0/Unix/Editors/
ftp.csis.dit.csiro.au:/pub/SEG/jon/
lune.csc.liv.ac.uk:/hpux9/Editors/
- multiple editing windows with "point and click" interface;
- drag and drop support (Motif 1.2 and above);
- multiple undo and redo of edits;
- user customizable commands and filters;
- support for emacs keyboard bindings.
Version 1.3 of asedit (International Free Release) is available for ftp from:
ftp.x.org:/contrib/editors/asedit-1.3.tar.Z
src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/packages/X11-contrib/editors/asedit-1.3.tar.Z
sam was developed as an editor for use by programmers, and tries to join the styles of the Unix text editor ed(1) with that of interactive cut and paste editors by providing a comfortable mouse-driven interface to a program with a solid command-language driven by regular expressions.
sam extends the regular expression paradigm beyond line-oriented ASCII files by introducing "structural regular expressions", which can partition a file into arbitrary textual units.
sam supports the UTF-8 file-format-- an 8-bit encoding of the 16 bit Unicode character set which has nice properties like ASCII being preserved. This feature allows sam to simultaneously represent multiple languages in a single file. Although full Unicode support is unavailable, sam's flexibility with international text is still beyond that of most text editors.
The latest version of sam is available for ftp from:
wily (The Wile
E. Interface), developed by Gary Capell, is an
emulation for the Unix/X environment of Acme,
the Plan 9
editor. Wily (and acme(1))
integrates some of the functions of editor, window manager, file
browser and shell, as well as providing an interface for external
programs such as mail and news readers.
The latest version of wily may be fetched from:
- ftp://ftp.cs.su.oz.au/gary/wily.tgz
- ftp://ftp.cs.york.ac.uk:/pub/mhw/wily/
- ftp://ftp.northsea.com:/pub/plan9_unix/wily/
vile/xvile
, (VI Like Emacs), developed by Paul Fox now maintained by Thomas
E. Dickey, is a vi workalike. It works in an xterm (vile) and as a
true X client (xvile). vile features:
- multi-file editing and viewing (split-screen windows);
- key rebinding (in addition to :map, :map!, :abbr);
- mouse support (in an xterm, or when built as xvile);
- selection highlighting;
- full function- and arrow-key support;
- filename, command, internal mode and variable completion;
- command, search string, and filename history;
- infinite undo;
- rectangular operations;
- man-page and C syntax highlighting;
- built-in macro language;
- "next error" cursor positioning after compilation;
- vi operations on selected regions.
xvile features all the features of vile and additionally:
- scrollbars and more complete mouse integration;
- on-the-fly font change;
- selection highlighting;
- color support.
The latest version, 8.3, is available for ftp at:
Pre-built DOS, Win32, and OS/2 (requires a 386 or better) executables (vile52b.zip) are sometimes available.
NEdit,
developed by Mark Edel, is a Macintosh/MS Windows style text editor
for Unix and VMS systems. It provides users who are accustomed to modern GUI-based environments with the standard dialogs, menus, graphics, and keyboard shortcuts that are absent in most other X-based editors. NEdit is also one of the most mouse-interactive text editors available, with support for both primary and secondary quick-action selections, rectangular selections, interactive dragging, and complete integration into the X/Motif environment.
Supported executables are available for Silicon Graphics, Sun (Solaris & SunOS), HP, OSF/1, DEC Ultrix, IBM AIX, Linux, and VMS systems. Contributed executables and makefiles are available for many other systems.
Sources and executables of the latest version, 5.0.2, are available from:
ftp.x.org/contrib/editors/nedit/
- multiple edit sessions;
- rectangular cut & paste;
- global bounded search and replace;
- coordinated mouse and text cursor control;
- command macros;
- unlimited UNDO & REDO;
- customized keyboard mapping;
- automatic file backup and save.
ce is available for IBM AIX, Hewlett-Packard HP-UX, Sun SunOS & Solaris, HP Apollo Domain/OS, DEC OSF/1 & Ultrix, SGI IRIX, and Linux.
Evaluation binaries, that normally expire 30-60 days after downloading (see the README file for more details), are available for various platforms, at:
ftp://ftp.std.com/ftp/vendors/ETG/
Note: The Linux version of ce has no expiration. It is a FREE copy.
xed,
developed by Randolf Werner, is an editor based on the Athena
text widget. It features the usual amenities like on-line help,
search/replace, piping the text through a Unix command, etc.The latest version is available at:
ftp.x.org/contrib/editors/xed1.3.tar.Z
The latest version is available at the primary site (and various mirrors):
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/misc/editors/vim/