From 59b99abc6738e8144a9bf2dd8fcf6453698c4773 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Cleberg Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2024 20:09:07 -0500 Subject: publish emacs on ipad post --- content/blog/2024-07-11-emacs-on-ipad.md | 57 ++++++++++++++++++-------------- 1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-) (limited to 'content/blog') diff --git a/content/blog/2024-07-11-emacs-on-ipad.md b/content/blog/2024-07-11-emacs-on-ipad.md index d15ed12..d0d2dec 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-07-11-emacs-on-ipad.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-07-11-emacs-on-ipad.md @@ -2,55 +2,64 @@ date = 2024-07-11T20:24:02 title = "Emacs on iPadOS" description = "Learn how to install and use Emacs on the Apple Silicon iPad natively." -draft = true +draft = false +++ -This post describes the process to install and use Emacs on the iPad Air 13-inch +This post describes the process to install and use Emacs on the iPad Air 13-inch (M2). The iPad used in this post is running iPadOS 17.6. ## Shell Application -In order to use Emacs on an iPad, you will need a terminal emulator application. -I recommend [iSH](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ish-shell/id1436902243), since -it runs a version of Alpine Linux within the app itself and will allow you to +In order to use Emacs on an iPad, you will need a terminal emulator application. +I recommend [iSH](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ish-shell/id1436902243), since +it runs a version of Alpine Linux within the app itself and will allow you to install packages that you need. -![iSH App](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/) +![iSH Application](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/ish.png) ## Require Packages -I started by adding the required packages directly within iSH. Emacs should -install dependencies by default, but I include a few other packages that I use +I started by adding the required packages directly within iSH. Emacs should +install dependencies by default, but I include a few other packages that I use in my terminal as well. ```sh apk add emacs ripgrep fd findutils ``` -![Package Installation](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/) +![Package +!Installation](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/dependencies.png) ## Emacs -Once this is complete, you should be able to run Emacs natively on your iPad. -It's fairly effective, but can be slow at times. +Once this is complete, you should be able to run Emacs natively on your iPad. +It's effective, but can be slow at times. -I attempted to also install Doom Emacs, which technically worked, but was so -incredibly slow and buggy that I was not even able to take screenshots. Someone +I attempted to also install Doom Emacs, which technically worked, but was so +incredibly slow and buggy that I was not even able to take screenshots. Someone smarter than me could likely get it to work with a little tinkering. -![Emacs](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/) +![Emacs](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/emacs.png) -### Annoyances +### MELPA -While Emacs is running at this point, it's not perfect. There is no `.emacs` -file by default, installing a framework like Doom seemed to be too much, and -some utilities and packages are missing from the bare Alpine installation. +You also have to remember to hook up MELPA yourself in the `.emacs` file to be +able to search through their 5700+ packages instead of just ELPA packages. If +you don't, you will only have access to ELPA packages like the ones below. -There also seems to be a problem getting a wider selection of packages from -MELPA, but you can see below that a handful of readily-available packages. I -likely just need to change my configuration for MELPA, but I did not explore -this area further. +![package-install](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/melpa.png) -You can test this out yourself with `M-x package-install `. +Once you have MELPA, you can install packages like the `dashboard` package shown +below. -![package-install](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/) +![emacs-dashboard](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20240711-emacs-on-ipad/dashboard.png) + +### Speed + +While Emacs will run on my iPad, it's not perfect. The largest issue on my +iPad is speed - loading Emacs takes 6-7 seconds and installing the `magit` +package took 129 seconds. + +I haven't played around enough to optimize loading times and poke around to see +why the network requests take so long, but it's a big enough issue that I +wouldn't see casual Emacs users dealing with the lag. -- cgit v1.2.3-70-g09d2