🚀 go-pugleaf

>>>>> Eystein Mathisen <eystein@hannibal.hsn.no  > on 18 Apr 91 in [Questions about epoch] writes:
> Could somebody tell me the basic features of epoch? As far as I know
> it is a window-based, emacs-like editor (I may be wrong). Some
> questions to guide your answers are:

Epoch is not Emacs like. It is Emacs (version 18.55 to be specific).
It does everything Emacs does with two exceptions:
	It does not handle dumb terminals. Int only works with X
	windows. 

	It does not do batch processing.

Because of these two reasons, we are still using Emacs too.

> 	* Does it run under X on Apollo/Domain SR10.2 OS ?

I'm not sure about 10.2. However, I'm using it with 10.3 with no
problems. I would suspect it would work fine with 10.2. I have used it
with the Xapollo server under 10.3, and this is pretty much the same
environment as 10.2 with that X windows PSK.

> 	* How much RAM is required to have a reasonable response ?

I've got a DN4500 with 16 Mbytes. It is acceptable. But MUCH slower
than regular Emacs. I wouldn't try it on anything less than 16 Mbytes,
and a DN3500. You'd be looking for trouble on a 8 Mbyte DN3000.

> 	* How many Mbytes of disk-space is required to install it ?

My /usr/local/epoch directory is about 30 Mbytes when completly full.
This includes all the object files, and a couple of executables for
both the m68k and a88k. Cleaning things up will bring you down to 23
Mbytes or so.

> 	* Is it an editor that can serve as a programming-environment
> 	  in a 1st year course in programming ?

You might think about Emacs 18.57 with Leonard Zubkoff's GPR patches.
It runs quicker, requires less memory, and is simpler. This is only a
good option if you are running in a DM environment. If so, it is
probably a better solution than Epoch. If you are running an X
environment, Epoch, or Emacs for X windows will be better.

> 	* Is it easy to learn ?

You probably need somebody to become an expert, but once you have a
locally customized environment, it shouldn't be too easy. The learning
curve for Emacs isn't too steep, but it keeps on going up. You can use
Epoch/Emacs with out too much trouble.

> 	* Where can I get it (i.e. is it ftp-able or do I have to
> 	  purchase it) ?

Epoch is available from cs.uiuc.edu via anonymous FTP. Emacs you can
get almost anywhere. For the version from Leonard Zubkoff, try
labrea.stanford.edu:/pub/gnu/apollo-emacs.tar.Z

A note about the GPR version of Emacs 18.57: It only runs on SR10.2
and above. It will not run on 10.1.
--
Douglas Keenan Rand                Honeywell -- Air Transport Systems Division
Phone: +1 602 436 2814               US Snail: P.O. Box 21111 Phoenix AZ 85036
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