Emacs for writers
Text Mode
With the pointers and useful tips in this article, you can turn Emacs into a powerful writing environment.
Emacs can be anything you want it to be: a coding environment, an outliner, a task manager, and everything in between. You can transform this versatile text editor into a tool for writing articles, drafting blog posts, and penning your next great novel (Figure 1). As is often the case, the exact Emacs configuration and customizations depend on your specific needs and usage scenarios, but there are several tweaks and plugins you might find useful no matter what writing tasks you plan.
Configuring and Extending Emacs
The .emacs file in your home directory specifies Emacs' default behavior and configures a wide range of settings. The example configuration in Listing 1 contains several useful commands and options. The default monospaced font and line spacing make regular text difficult to read, and the set-default-font and setq-default line-spacing expressions let you specify the desired font (it must be installed on your system), font size, and line spacing. In this case, Emacs is set to use the Mononoki font at the 17pt size.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
AI Fixes Linux Bottlenecks Using “Hideous” Code
A Linux developer used AI to fix bottlenecks that caused problems when building the kernel. The resulting AI-generated code needed a lot of work.
-
Advanced Video Coding Still Under Patent
Brazilian patent BRPI0109962B1 has expired, which means that DivX and Xvid are no longer problematic for Linux, but it doesn’t mean that video is all of a sudden fully unleashed.
-
2,000 Vulnerabilities per Linux Release
Thanks to AI bug hunters, the Linux kernel is seeing record numbers of vulnerabilities, and it's overwhelming developers.
-
Linux Exempt from California’s Age Verification Law
So long as Linux is distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses, the OS is exempt from being required to verify the age of its users in California.
-
Roll Out the Cake: Linux Turns 35
35 years ago, a Finnish student began a humble project that would forever change the course of technology.
-
China Switching from Windows to Linux
China has ordered several government agencies to drop a Chinese-developed version of Windows 10 in favor of either KylinOS or UOS.
-
Pine64 Halts Production of Linux Devices
With continued DRAM and eMMC shortages, Pine64 has decided to discontinue production of Linux devices.
-
The Bullet-Proof KDE Software Initiative Is Coming
KDE, Techpaladin, and Kubuntu Focus have announced a new initiative that will provide at least three years of support for KDE Plasma 6.6 LTS and related software.
-
Linux Mint Shares a Possible Kernel Cleanup Solution
For those on Linux Mint who like to keep multiple kernels around but don't want them to take up too much space, you might be getting a new automated tool.
-
CachyOS Gets an Update
CachyOS August 2026 release is now available with the latest version of KDE, some new features, and plenty of improvements.