[Info-vax] VI* on VMS

[Simon Clubley]

On 2024-10-22, Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote:
> On 2024-10-22, Hunter Goatley <goathunter at goatley.com> wrote:
>> On 10/21/2024 10:46 PM, Dennis Boone wrote:
>>>   > PS: The only place I use vi is on my phone and that is only because you
>>>   > need a proper keyboard to use emacs.
>>> 
>>> On Android, Hackers Keyboard will do what you need.
>>
>
> Hmmm, looks like it's time once again for me to review the versions
> of Emacs available for Android. Thanks. (Seriously. :-))
>
> The last time I looked at this a few years ago, the Emacs version
> available required a hardware keyboard to work instead of the Hacker's
> Keyboard soft keyboard vi is quite happy with.
>

I did some exploring last night and found:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.gnu.emacs/

There are reports about this build having some problems, but all the
basic stuff I tried worked OK on Android 12 and it works just fine with
the Hacker's Keyboard.

You have to grant it file access permissions, but you are prompted about
that in the welcome screen. Note that this is on F-Droid, NOT Google
Play (with all the checks Google Play does), so that may or may not be
a concern for you.

One nice feature is that it integrates into Android so that in the Files
application you are given an option (in Open with) to open the file with
Emacs.

>> Unfortunately, I just searched for that on my phone, and Play Store is 
>> telling me, "This app isn't available for your device because it was 
>> made for an older version of Android."
>>
>> The GitHub site has an old warning of this future possibility.
>>
>
> I hate this kind of arrogant crap from Google. :-(
>
> In my case, I have used the Hacker's Keyboard on every Android device
> I own or have ever owned and it continues to work so far. I have the
> standalone APK (ie: not installed via Google Play), which I install
> after enabling the untrusted install option in Developer Tools on the
> device.
>
> I am currently running it on an Android 12 device. I _really_ hope I also
> don't have to start looking for a replacement for the Hacker's Keyboard
> as well because Google breaks some API it needs in a future Android version.
>

I also did a quick check last night for what other soft keyboards might
be available and I found one called Unexpected Keyboard at:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/juloo.keyboard2/

This one is also found on Google Play as well. It's better than the
standard Android keyboard, but while it's got some interesting features,
I don't find it overall to be as good or as nice as the Hacker's Keyboard.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.