thephatmaster

tl;dr I'm a noob using DooM and it seems I don't understand variables

Firstly; please forgive the gratuitous image of my RGB Steamdeck / Corne / DOOM Emacs "coffee shop" setup - I'm just enjoying it at the mo, and have a burning desire to share.

After a quick play with Zone I'm trying to setup zone-matrix as my "screensaver"

I did the following:

1. Pulled the files from zone-matrix githib to .emacs.d/zone/
2. Added the following to my in my config.el. I realised I was comitting heresy for copying another person's config (from a stackexchange answer) and braced myself for errors;

(defun tabbar-mode () (lambda (x) (message "%s")))
(add-to-list 'load-path (concat dotfiles-dir "zone"))
(require 'zone-matrix)
(require 'zone-matrix-settings)
(require 'zone-settings)

(setq zone-programs [zone-matrix])
(zone-when-idle 60)

After a doom sync I get an (to be honest expected) error void-variable dotfiles-dir.

The issue I have is with the definition dotfiles-dir - I clearly don't have that variable set, and wonder which of the following is the least-worst approach:

1. Because I'm on DooM there is probably already a similar variable set linking to .config/doom/ am I better putting the zone directory in there? If so, do I hard-code the path in the line containing dotfiles-dir?

2. Should I define a dotfiles-dir or zone-matrix-dir instead? I assume that flies in the face of dotfile conventions?

I'd love to hear your thoughts

tl;dr why do my org links not have a space before them (e.g. check out thisLINK)? I feel I'm missing something very basic here.

I was using org-roam today in doom emacs and forgot how irritating adding a new node is while writing.

It nestles nicely up to the text before it - with no space in between. After posting on r/orgroam a kind soul told me this might be a wider issue - at least related to org itself, and maybe doom.

Does anyone know how to get a leading space before the node name / link? For example; my nodes come out looking like:

something interesting is in thisNODENAME/LINK check it out

For the love of RMS I want a space between this and NODENAME

I'm clearly being dumb, but can't figure this out. Surely enough people use emacs / doom emacs / org mode, and they are not all adding links everywhere with no leading space?

A suggestion on r/orgroam was put a double space before a link - is that it?

So after my struggles getting this setup going I'm really enjoying this setup.

Thought I'd post here as there is quite a bit of intersectionality between the emacs, Arch, Steamdeck, Nix and Mechboards communities.

Spec as follows:

1. Steamdeck (LCD);
2. SteamOS 3.5 Preview (Arch based and compatible with Nix packages);
3. Emacs 29 (via Nix package);
4. DooM config + some tweaks of my own; and
5. Corne Light v2 with random DSA caps.

Ambitions for this setup are:

1. Better emacs-fu (thanks to everyone here with their help so far);
2. RGB underglow on the keyboard for 90s vibes;
3. Printed keycaps in jazzy colours;
4. Better keymap (maybe Miryoku or something with homerow mods)

I'm a noob (of nearly 3 years using emacs).

Buffer / window management still confuses me.

I haven't really learned to use / position / switch windows and buffers. Simply because I used to one org-mode window most of the time.

Now I'm using org-roam, amd dealing with multiple small files, I keep getting stuck in silly situations, like ending up with:

• a roam buffer and my fallback buffer vertically stacked - when I want to "fullscreen" the window with the roam buffer, I can't delete or kill the fallback window / buffer.

• two fallback buffers vertically stacked. Neither of which I can kill or delete.

Is there a good guide somewhere?

Probably better for r/showerthoughts - but is anyone using emacs without a keyboard?

I assume the core audience of emacs is devs and sysadmins (and perhaps academics with org and org roam)

But surely somebody somewhere is doing those jobs / using assistive tech (dragon etc?) to interface with emacs?

So my BT keyboard + trackpad is looking worse for wear.

It was cheap and cheerful with a winning form factor. Other KBs came and went, but it survived.

I need a replacement.

It's been used with emacs (DooM) with my tablet and / or phone for a few years, and has a few shortcomings (see yellow sticker).

I now also have a SteamDeck, which is basically an Arch box, and I'd love a BT keyboard with that.

Does anyone have a portable setup they'd like to share?

Also, is there an emacs-y way to lisp my way out of things like:

• keys being missing (#);
• ESC being on a function layer?