Alexandre Vassalotti

Emacs is my editor of choice. In fact, I should say it’s my framework of choice, but that’s for another post. Until recently, I disliked the poor font backend of Emacs. So, I was always using Emacs within a terminal window to get a decent looking interface. However, this grungy font era is over, since Emacs’s hackers added recently to my favorite editor a XFont backend, thus making possible to use good looking fonts, like Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.

I made a package that makes the installation, as painless as possible. So, feel free to use it. However, please note that this is an alpha release of Emacs, therefore it should only be used for testing. (From my experience, it’s rock solid.)

Still interested? Then, here the instructions. First, add my repository into your software source list, by adding the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb     http://ppa.launchpad.net/avassalotti/ubuntu feisty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/avassalotti/ubuntu feisty main

If you are running Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) or the current development version of Ubuntu (Gutsy Gibbon), change feisty for edgy or gutsy.

Finally, run either apt-get or aptitude to fetch and install the packages:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install emacs-snapshot emacs-snapshot-el

Now, you need to specify the font you want to use in your Xresources file.

echo "Emacs.font: Monospace-10" >> ~/.Xresources
xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

Here, I use the default monospace font, but any other monospaced font should work too. For example, if you want to use Lucida Sans Typewriter instead, change Monospace-10 for Lucida Sans Typewriter-10 in the above command.

And that’s it! Now, launch Emacs and enjoy the good looking fonts.

If you need support with the package, just email me at alexandre@peadrop.com.

Update: Il y a, maintenant, une version en français de ce guide sur le wiki de Ubuntu-fr.

Ubuntu has been my first distribution of Linux. I learned everything I know about Linux, on Ubuntu. However, there is a question that has been bothering me for a while: “Why Ubuntu is so successful?”. It took me some time to find the answer. The answer is simple, we are nice to new comers. We don’t try to prove anything to them; we just help them. (Of course, being the best distribution out there helps )

The slogan of Ubuntu, “Linux for Human Being”, took all its meaning when I finally understood that. We are the humans. We aren’t supposed to work for the computers. They are the ones supposed to do the work.

That brings me to the second reason of Ubuntu’s success. We are making Linux works out of the box. Users shouldn’t need to have to read a 10,000-pages manual just to use Linux. Not because I read the manuals, everyone should. Of course, we need all those friendly howtos and guides. They make Ubuntu so much more fun to use.

I think we need to continue in that direction. Sure, translucent windows are cool, but we should always remember the roots of our success.