Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!caen!ox.com!emv
From: carroll@cs.uiuc.edu (Alan M. Carroll)
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Subject: [xpert] Re: Epoch 3.2 and Emacs 19.0
Message-ID: <1990Dec3.032444.23687@ox.com>
Date: 3 Dec 90 03:24:44 GMT
References: <502@zok.UUCP> <990010@hpnmdla.HP.COM> <1990Dec1.014322.14288@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Sender: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)
Reply-To: carroll@cs.uiuc.edu (Alan M. Carroll)
Followup-To: comp.windows.x
Organization: Technophiles Inc. - Engineers with Attitude
Lines: 65
Approved: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)
X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.windows.x

Archive-name: emacs/epoch/epoch/1990-12-01
Archive-directory: cs.uiuc.edu:/pub/epoch-files/epoch/ [128.174.252.1]
Original-posting-by: carroll@cs.uiuc.edu (Alan M. Carroll)
Original-subject: Re: Epoch 3.2 and Emacs 19.0
Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)

Here are the real answers to the Epoch questions. You can get on the mailing
list by sending mail to epoch-request@cs.uiuc.edu.

+ Who wrote Epoch?
Epoch is part of the research of Simon Kaplan at the U of Ill. I have
done almost all the implementation so far ("I am the Epoch Development
Team" :-)), although a new student, Chris Love, is doing most of the
work for the 3.3 release (which will be out this millenium, promise!).

+ What is the relationship between Epoch, GNU-Emacs 18 and 19?
Epoch is a modified version of GNU Emacs 18.55. Basically it supports
multiple X windows and various X-window specific features. Epoch is
completely unrelated to V19, although the group working on V19 tells us
that they are watching Epoch in order to decide the utility/cost of
various features. We hope to port Epoch to a V19 base when that becomes
available. Whether writing Epoch specific code is worth while depends on
1) when V19 comes out and 2) how many Epoch features it will have. I
can't tell you anything about either of them.

Epoch should run almost all V18 code just fine. Problems arise because
of extended features of Epoch, such as focus tracking. Use of this
feature can cause buffers to change underneath running Elisp packages,
when they don't expect it to.

+ Where can I get Epoch?
Epoch is distributed under the GNU Public License, and can be obtained
via anonymous FTP to cs.uiuc.edu, in ~ftp/pub/epoch-files/epoch. Copies
of the manual in TeXInfo, DVI, and PostScript form are also there.
(cs.uiuc.edu = 128.174.252.1)

+ Why was Epoch written?
We wrote Epoch because we needed certain abilities in an X-window based
editor that were (and still are not) available anywhere else. Epoch is
really a "side effect" of our actual research. What this means,
unfortunately, is the work on Epoch is driven by our other research needs,
not a desire to develop a better editor. Our entire group does use Epoch
as our primary editor, so some non-research related features have snuck
in :-)

+ Why doesn't Epoch run on tty's?
Because I screwed up early on. I'm sorry. All I can say is that when I started
work on Epoch, I'd didn't know anything about X, Lisp, or Emacs, but I'm much
better now :-)

Also, at the time we expected V19 to arrive within a few months, and so we saw
no need to go to the lengths necessary to provide tty capabilities. It was a
mistake, and we no longer have the spare resources to fix it.

P.S. In all seriousness, if there are any corporate sponsors who'd like to
see Epoch "fixed up", we'd be estatic to accept grants for the purpose of
beefing up Epoch. Direct inquiries to kaplan@cs.uiuc.edu.

Or, if there is anyone in Pittsburgh who'd like to hire a reasonably skilled
PhD'd research programmer to work on Epoch to provide advanced HyperText/
X-window UI capabilities, I know one who should graduate in May :-)
-- 
Alan M. Carroll                "It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy,
Epoch Development Team          I'll get a saw."
CS Grad / U of Ill @ Urbana    ...{ucbvax,pur-ee,convex}!cs.uiuc.edu!carroll


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com