Milan Zamazal's Weblog

  • The most appreciated piece of code I’ve ever written

    Some people like CamelCase. Some don’t but they still have to deal with it. So I once wrote and posted a utility that displays UnreadableIdentifiers properly, as Unreadable_Identifiers. The reactions were surprising. rms said the utility “is bizarrely creative”. Several people sent me thankful e-mails. And it is pleasing to see that even more than […]

  • Moving from KDE to Emacs

    When I started using EXWM, I thought that using it together with KDE would be the best combination. But then my Plasma configuration self-destructed by chance, I had to recover it from backup and I started thinking what and how much I actually need from KDE exactly. The basic principle is simple: Things are easier […]

  • Emacs interface to PipeWire

    I couldn’t find any Emacs interface to PipeWire. So I wrote one.

  • More fun with EXWM

    I have recently started using EXWM, an Emacs window manager. It’s very useful as a window manager itself but it also provides additional functionality and opens new possibilities. Starting EXWM automatically in KDE EXWM allows, similarly to other window managers, replacing an already running window manager. Now I’m confident about it enough and start it […]

  • Using EXWM

    I sometimes miss useful things. For example, many years ago, I missed emerging Org Mode, not recognizing its potential, only to discover some years later how essential tool it is. And the same happened to me with EXWM, an Emacs window manager. I’ve always thought that making a window manager in Emacs is a crazy […]

  • Emacs tabs as workspaces

    I used to use Emacs frames as workspaces. But reading through Emacs 28 NEWS reminded me that tab bars could be probably better used for the purpose. And indeed, using tab bars is simpler and looks like a very good fit. First some initial settings: (tab-bar-mode 1) (tab-bar-history-mode 1) (custom-set-variables ‘(tab-bar-show nil)) (tab-bar-rename-tab “emacs”) They […]

  • Software problem: Compiling Emacs vterm module on NixOS

    I started using NixOS again some time ago. The fact that NixOS doesn’t use Filesystem Hierarchy Standard is sometimes a big source of pain and complications. One non-obvious thing for beginners is how to compile a C program. One C program that is very useful and must be compiled locally is emacs-libvterm C module, providing […]

  • Software problem: Emacs windows not properly maximized

    I don’t like wasting screen space so the very first configuration action I do in newly installed desktop environments is making all windows maximized by default. After I had reinstalled my computer, I experienced a problem that new Emacs windows (or frames, in Emacs terminology) created after Emacs had started were not fully vertically maximized, […]

  • Emacs workspaces

    I use Emacs for everything that can be done with it reasonably. I often run in a single Emacs session Gnus, Org agendas, command line actions, IRC, several development projects, etc. The question is how to switch between all those activities efficiently. During the years, I tried several workspace, perspective or screen (whatever they are […]

  • speechd-el 2.11 released

    speechd-el 2.11 release introduces index marking feature, i.e. moving the cursor as the text of a buffer is read. This feature has been planned for more than 10 years but due to various circumstances, its implementation, although not that difficult, has been delayed. Now it is finally implemented although it may need further improvements in […]