OStatic

Many people are surprised to find that with all the writing I do, hardly any is done with a traditional word processing application. Between smart quotes, file extension quirks, and publications and websites having slightly different formatting requirements, I find it's quicker and easier to use a text editor.

The two computers I use most run Linux -- the laptop runs Ubuntu, while the desktop is a distribution nomad that changes frequently. One great thing about Linux is that the platform has no shortage of capable text editors. Some lend themselves more to writing code and heavy-duty programming than others (such as Vim and Emacs) while others straddle the plain text document/programming editor line.

Lately, primarily because I've been slow to install my usual cross-over text editor of choice, Geany, I took a closer look at the plugins available for GNOME's came with the desktop editor, Gedit. The default plugins (and those found in the extra packages) make the plain vanilla editor far more appealing and useful for hardcore writers and casual programmers alike.

If you're looking for a way to take and organize notes, hardcore Linux users will tell you that Vim or Emacs is the only way to go. While they're both excellent solutions, neither are for the faint of heart. There are plenty of note management options out there -- Tomboy and BasKet, for instance -- but why not ratchet things up a notch and create a digital journal instead.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the GNU Project by Richard M. Stallman. GNU is one of the oldest and best-known organizations in the free and open-source world, providing not only high-quality software, but also a well-known license (the GNU General Public License), and a philosophy that continues to influence many activists and programmers. The exact anniversary of Stallman's announcement is September 27th, 1983, when he called upon programmers to join him in creating free Unix.

Emacs is one of the oldest and best-known text editors, beloved by programmers not only for its amazing functionality, but also for the fact that it can be customized and extended in almost every way. Emacs might seem like a dinosaur, and there are many people who have abandoned it in favor of IDEs such as Eclipse. However, Emacs continues to undergo development, and there are two excellent implementations for OS X. If you are a Macintosh user, and have thought about trying Emacs at some time, read on: You'll not only learn something about Emacs history, but also about the two GUI versions that are available (free of charge, of course) for the Mac.