Red Meat Friday: Forget Linux, Just Use Emacs

An enduring trope in the Emacs community is the notion that Emacs isn’t really an editor, it’s an operating system. We always say we’re joking but sometimes it’s hard to tell. The idea is not completely unfounded. After all, there’s a huge list of things you can do from within Emacs that aren’t really about editing.

It turns out that some people take the idea very seriously indeed. HollywoodKizzle asks on reddit if he should stop learning Linux and just concentrate on Emacs. The advice he received was actually pretty reasonable. There were two takes. The first was to follow his passion and concentrate on Emacs. Opportunities to learn more Linux would inevitably present themselves as time went on.

The other advice was to learn both in tandem. As I’ve said many times, I love staying in Emacs as much as I can but I still find I need to step outside its boundaries occasionally. Of course, as a Linux user, HollywoodKizzle could use EXWM and always stay in Emacs. Even without EXWM, one can invoke a shell and get access to the underlying OS so it always pays to be familiar with as much of the hosting OS as possible.

In any event, the Red Meat Friday message for you Linux heads is to be on guard because Emacs is coming for you.

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