Re: Emacs in a Chrome Tab? (related to NaCl Support for Emacs discussion)

[Antoine Levitt]

09/01/12 22:56, Paul Michael Reilly
> On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 4:08 PM, Antoine Levitt
> <address@hidden> wrote:
>
>     Isn't that an issue to be tackled by the window managers? Why
>     would it
>     be emacs-specific? I'm not sure I see the point anyway.
>     
>
> Window Managers?  Maybe you missed my point.
>
> A little history: for years engineers from coast to coast (me on the
> East and Steve Yegge on the West) have primarily used two tools every
> day: Emacs and (some) Browser (Chrome for Steve and I).

I suspect that is the case of most "serious" emacs users.

>  Steve once asked the pointed question: Wouldn't it be great if Emacs
> could browse (taking for granted that Emacs w3 doesn't count as a real
> browser) or a Browser could do what Emacs does?  I answered the
> question with a definite Yes

I agree with that.

> and posited that Emacs will never provide a real WWW
> browsing experience, at least not in our lifetime and not in Gnu
> Emacs' current implementation.

I don't agree. Have you checked out the xembed branch, as well as the
ezbl project? That seems like the way forward to me.

>  So clearly that leaves Emacs to run
> inside the Browser.  But this was clearly not a priority with the
> Brpwser developers so the two wonderful tools have lived apart lo
> these many years.  With the advent of NativeClient, there is now a
> more likely path to realizing Emacs functionality inside a browser tab
> but that path could be filled with all kinds of roadside bombs that
> will make it impossible to get there from here.  To me this means
> targeting Gnu Emacs to build on a "NativeClient" platform and thus
> producing a set of bits that will be found in an App Store like the
> Chrome Web Store.

What I don't see is : how is it better to have emacs in a tab rather
than emacs in a window? If emacs/browser communication is what you need,
take a look at mozrepl.

> Another relevant piece of history:  I tried using a ChromeBook device
> last year.  Other than the fact that they were under powered and I
> could not run Emacs on them, it is a great model --- no machine
> maintenance, cheap, easy access to apps (lots of freely available
> software) and a very simple interface.  Emacs in a tab would make a
> ChromeBook much more attractive.

If you can't run emacs on it, NaCl probably won't help. The way I see
it, the solution is to open ChromeBook and such enough that the user can
actually run its own programs. Then, plug in some minimalist "window
manager" (a keybinding to toggle between chrome and emacs), and there
you go. Easy to implement, no messy developments on emacs side, and
works with every app (that can be ported to the platform).