Recommend me a starter kit

So I refused to install VS Code in this laptop and default to Emacs for everything. I used vanilla Emacs without many issues for a while, but decided to use Prelude yesterday. Oh, it's so nice, but at the same time... I know I can disable guru-mode, plus customize the few things that irk me... but maybe there's a better starter kit? My objectives are: * No modal editing: I know vim basics, but I don't want a modal editor. * I work most frequently with Python, Java, and Rust. Prolog, Puppet, Ansible I also do frequently. Wide language support would be nice. I'm a believer of LSP, so I'd like to use LSP. * I write a lot of AsciiDoc for work. Being able to integrate aspell and Vale would be a big plus (recommended plugin for Vale is https://github.com/tpeacock19/flymake-vale , which is not in MELPA- maybe a straight.el-using starter kit would be helpful? Or perhaps I should just submodule/subtree/subrepo it?) * Reasonably similar to vanilla Emacs- I don't want to be too lost without my configuration. * Multi-account email client? I already mbsync two personal accounts (GMail and Yahoo) for backup purposes, might consider handling work email in Emacs too. * I work significantly on RHEL 8 systems, which ship Emacs 26.1, and also on a RHEL 9 box (27.1). Thoughts, suggestions?

There are many starter kits: doom, crafted, prelude (mentioned by you), it's kind of a personal preference and you can test them all with Chemacs2. Whatever you do go ahead and compile Emacs from source! There's so much on 28 and even more on 29!

I would recommend Crafted Emacs for your case

Thanks, looking at that now!

I like https://github.com/a-schaefers/spartan-emacs

Doom is nice, just remove evil in the init

> recommended plugin for Vale is https://github.com/tpeacock19/flymake-vale , which is not in MELPA- maybe a straight.el-using starter kit would be helpful? Or perhaps I should just submodule/subtree/subrepo it? It’s about time I get around to this. I’ll have it at least started within the week. On one of the repositories.

I was really interested in crafted-emacs but it keeps breaking for me. For a no drills, simple configuration they are very opinionated. Every time I install it from scratch something breaks. This is the latest while using straight: `Symbol's function definition is void: keycast-mode` This is the latest while using package: `File is missing: Cannot open load file, No such file or directory, vertico` Before that there was some issue with `doom-modeline`, so on, so on... I can probably fix all those but doom just works (after removing the evil within) :)

Yeah, I played with that for a while. It was good, but I think some stuff did not work correctly; for example: https://docs.doomemacs.org/latest/modules/completion/company/ > By default, completion is triggered after a short idle period or with the `C-SPC` key. While the popup is visible, the following keys are available: Not sure how to do that if SPC is C!

Oh, don't feel obliged to do this! That'd be great, but it's likely I need to learn how to set up stuff outside package repositories anywaay!

C-SPC stands for hitting spacebar while holding down the control key, I'm not sure what "if SPC is C" means

Ctrl space. Plus use Ctrl h then b to figure where buttons are binded. Can also do alt x to search the ... .function I think is what it is called

SPC is a Spacemacs/Doom thing; normally Emacs has ctrl+key as what drives shortcuts, but Spacemacs/Doom default to using space instead of ctrl. With Evil disabled, SPC is normally ctrl. And C-SPC is "begin selection", so it cannot be used for completion.

Sure? ctrl+space starts a selection in vanilla Emacs. This is why I was worried about using the more "custom" configs.

> With Evil disabled, SPC is normally ctrl. Not sure about this, as I haven't used Doom in a while. But if they've somehow been able to turn SPC into a dual-purpose key from within Emacs, I'd be very impressed. And also surprised, because that's something that wouldn't be as useful for Evil keybindings, which is Doom's main focus. I have to use Kmonad to get similar effect. But I am still able to do C-SPC. I just have to hold Ctrl, and tap the space bar. If you are saying that SPC somehow acts as Ctrl all of the time, that wouldn't make sense, as you would have to use it to insert a space at some point. And since you aren't using Evil mode, SPC will only ever be in one mode. Keep in mind that most of the documentation for Doom will be for those who are using Evil mode. So it may not be consistent with your experience when using it without Evil mode.

I mean, Evil is vi, which is modal. I haven't tried Evil, but I assume you have insert mode, where SPC inserts a space, but as soon as you get out of insert mode, SPC does not insert spaces any more. Modal editors are actually clever- you don't have to use odd keys for commands, you can use any key, and it can be something as ergonomic as the space bar. It's just that I don't like modal editors, but if you like them, they're great! ... But this kind of goes in with my fears about customizing Emacs- some stuff can cascade into causing trouble. I was already afraid it was US-keyboard centric, but Evil-based configs cause a whole different problem.

> I mean, Evil is vi, which is modal. Didn't you say are using Doom with Evil Mode disabled?

Yes, but in Doom, C-SPC is autocomplete... but with Evil disabled, C-SPC is used to select text. So I fear Doom without Evil has problems.

I don't know if it has problems, but when I tried using it that way, I felt like I was missing out on something. I think Doom is fine for people who are either experienced Vim users or experienced Emacs users. It just doesn't come with a lot of guidance if you use it without Evil-mode. (On the other hand, there are a lot of helpful people on the Doom Discord server, and many of them do use it without Evil.) You've already found Prelude, which is a good non-Evil-focused alternative. Crafted Emacs and Spartan Emacs look interesting too. Also, consider that Emacs 29 will have Eglot (LSP support) built-in (along with use-package and tree-sitter and many other nice things). Since the distros you use come with older versions of Emacs, compiling from the master branch might be worth the trouble anyway.

I think you're right. I'll experiment a bit more with other starter packs... I don't really mind installing extra stuff, and I try to keep my workstations as easy to set up as possible, so I think I'd rather install eglot (and use-package, if I decide to go with that) than building Emacs from source...