# I'm Still Happy with Emacs
=> ./20250118-emacs.gmi Here's some context for this post.
Over the past month and a half, I had been using EXWM and Debian as my daily driver.
The funniest thing also happened: I have had no urge to switch, even as of now! This is usually the point where I get bored and want to switch, but it's so comfortable. Why would I want to switch?
The only time I had left EXWM in the past month was to play The Sims 2, which had been rereleased on Steam. I bought it against my better judgement (and the judgement of LGR[0] and FakeGamerGirl[1], both Sims Youtubers I happen to trust[2]) and couldn't easily play it in EXWM... which wasn't much of a surprise.
The only thing I'm thinking on possibly doing different is setting up Emacs on my eeePC which happily runs NetBSD. Since I like it as a UI, it'd make sense for it to be the main UI on a keyboard-centric computer anyways. It'd also give me graphics with EXWM, which would give me more flexibility while having a UI that I'm incredibly comfortable with. NetBSD has some GNU components anyways like gcc, so it's not like I'd feel like I'm ruining the "sanctity" of the OS just by adding the GNU coreutils for Emacs to work optimally.
As for Emacs being single threaded? It's almost a non-issue for me. The only time it poses an annoyance is when SSH is involved, honestly. It is annoying, but I work with SSH infrequently enough where I can... just wait.
Debian works perfectly fine for me. Flatpak is a bit annoying to use with a window manager setup, but what I've done is have a bunch of scripts in a home bin (either ~/bin or ~/.local/bin on Debian would work with the default configuration) directory that look something like this:
```
#!/usr/bin/env sh
flatpak run app.zen_browser.zen
```
The script above would launch the Zen Browser[3], which as late has been my personal favorite browser that can handle more modern internet things. (I do have worries about the future of Gecko-based browsers as a whole, but so far they've met my needs well. If a FOSS Chromium browser comes along and does what I do with Zen better, I'll happily consider it.)
In the Fighting Game community (specifically the South Korean community if I remember correctly?), there's a phrase that basically says that your preferred character "fits your hands". In this sense, Emacs fits my hands perfectly. I don't use evil mode or god mode or CUA-mode any sort of extension to the standard keybindings beyond the additions I had made (or stole). It's perfectly comfortable, and it can do pretty much anything I want. Yesterday, for work , I used eww to test about 200 domains and see if they work, and I kept notes in the elisp file I had the testing in.
Emacs make my life easier in a very noticable way. If I can't use it, I'd feel it strongly. Probably as strongly as losing a limb!
=>
https://starbreaker.org Also please go to this website. The webmaster made the configuration I stole and made my own. I've been reading his website/blog for the past three years, and I've been a longtime fan.
Update 2025-03-05:
=>
https://starbreaker.org/downloads/ Here is the downloads section of his website. You can find his Emacs configuration here easily. It's been very useful for building my own configuration.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUDt4BoMg-s [0]
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnkQUpQdYFk [1]
[2]: With the popularity of LGR, I wonder if there is a pipeline from Sims fan to retro tech enthusiast. I was a retro tech enthusiast long before I touched the Sims (or heard of LGR), so I wouldn't know.
=>
https://zen-browser.app/ [3]
