[m0nastic]

I know this isn't a tech support forum, but in a fit of lunacy I figured I'd give Acme a try last night (the Acme-SAC version) and after using it for an hour of so I can't even figure out how to open a text file (it seems like it has its own virtual directory structure that I can't seem to navigate out of).

Anybody here successfully using Acme for coding?

[mycroftiv]

I think some of your confusion may be a result of using acme-SAC. I recall acme-SAC is built on top of Inferno, which is actually a small semivirtualized operating system. I think the host filesystem is accessible via the #U* kernel device, which means you would first issue a bind command to put #U* somewhere in your namespace. Also, if you are using gnu/linux or bsd, you could try plan9port's version of acme.

[saljam]

I use the plan9 from userspace[1] version a lot on both Linux and OS X, almost exclusively actually. Read the man page[2] or even the paper[3]. I recommend giving it some time to get used to, it pays off.

Acme-SAC is built on top of Inferno; the virtual directory structure you're seeing is Inferno's namespace. I find it helps if you know a bit about that first.

[1] http://swtch.com/plan9port/

[2] http://plan9.bell-labs.com/magic/man2html?man=acme&sect=...

[3] http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/acme/acme.html

[chickamade]

The obvious answer is to right-click on a file to open it.

If you mean open a file externally then I suggest you run acme from plan9port, then just run 'plumber' and use the program 'plumb' to send open commands to acme. It is fairly flexible:

    $ plumb /path/to/file
    $ plumb /path/to/file:35
    $ plumb /path/to/file:/NameError

The nice thing is if the file is already open, acme will jump to the right place and highlight what you want.

[rch]

For Acme, remember that it's an editor on a shell, with Unix DNA. Also remember that Acme-SAC is based on Inferno.

But, being nix-ish, if you want to know something, just man whatever. To start, type 'man intro' someplace. Then shift-click-sweep the cursor over the text to highlight, and alt-click the highlighted text (plumb).

Notice in the article how rsc mentions the three mouse buttons more than once? The missing buttons on the Mac are a big reason Acme SAC doesn't fly for me, no matter how much I'd like it to.

I think it would be really great on a Mac, but would need some tweaking to get there.

[ccxvii]

1) There still are real 3-button mice for sale: HP DY651A goes for $12. It's a very nice USB optical mouse with 3 buttons and no scroll wheel. Perfect for Acme. If you insist on using a flawed one button apple mouse, you only have yourself to blame.

2) If you're on a Mac, you can run the plan9port version of Acme, no need for Acme-SAC.

[rch]

I'm on a laptop, and just don't bother with a mouse. Some of the tweaking I mentioned would be to deemphasize the mouse and focus on the usual trackpad 2,3,4 finger actions instead. Just for Acme SAC though.

[art]

windows acme-sac is my day to day programming environment. the host file system is available at /n/C and /n/D (/n/local on linux and os x).

[m0nastic]

Thank you, that works. I felt like an idiot for not being able to figure out how to actually navigate to my filesystem.