Xemacs 21.4.22 on Mac Leopard, Fn keys, icons etc

[Uwe Brauer]

>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen J Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org> writes:

   > Uwe Brauer writes:
   >> -  also I start xemacs from an X11 (xterm) the fn keys are not
   >> available!  How can I get this to work

   > Are you starting a GUI XEmacs or a -nw in the XTerm?  I'm going to
   > assume the former.

Of course! GUI Xemacs.
   > First, on some Mac hardware (the MacBook Pro in front of me, for
   > sure), 

I am talking about a MacBook Air first generation (with 64 Giga HSSD).

   > the default configuration is bind the function keys to Mac OS X
   > functionality (sound level and screen brightness control, for
   > example), and you need to use the "function" key (labelled "fn" on my
   > notebook) to get "function key" bindings.  Are you sure you're
   > actually using the function key, and not changing the brightness or
   > something?  Which set of bindings gets precedence may be configurable,
   > I haven't tried to change them.

These keys are labelled --on that Mac-- as F1 till F12 (as they are on my
IBM Thinkpad.)  I am using these keys together with all their modifiers
all the time, not having them is like using Xemacs with your arms tied
on your back :'( 

However on the Mac F1-F2 is bound to brightness F3 to some windows
configuration etc etc.  Unfortunately there is nothing like xkeycaps in
Macport. 


   > If that's not it, I don't know what to say, because it works for me
   > (XEmacs 21.4.22, Mac OS X "Leopard" 10.5.8, MacBook Pro (Intel Core Duo)).

So how do you start your xemacs? from a terminal or a Xterm? And are you
saying that if you press in Xemacs  say F3 the command of your choice is
executed??


If I use C-h k and press F3, the Macintosh command is executed and it does
not look that xemacs control this key.

   >> and also .Xdefaults for the settings of the fonts background
   >> etc?

   > .Xdefaults is ancient deprecated functionality, and IIRC is handled by
   > Xt -- which probably doesn't handle it any more.  You should be using
   > xrdb and .Xresources.

   > Please try "xrdb -merge < ~/.Xdefaults", then start XEmacs, and see if
   > that helps.  If it does not, please post your .Xdefaults.

It seemed to help, but my favourite font Courier looks terrible in 18pt
much worse than in Linux, anything you could recommend as a substitute?


   >> - an icon would not be bad, I found xemacs wrapper but it seems
   >> old, any comment?

   > What is "xemacs wrapper"?  Do you want an icon graphic or a binding to
   > something clickable on the desktop?  If the latter, maybe Aidan can
   > help, but I would think you'd have much better luck with Mac
   > channels.  For the former there are some new icons in etc/xemacs-* in
   > 21.5, they should work for 21.4 too (but they're all pretty small,
   > IIRC Mac defaults to 48x48 but these are mostly 16x16 and 32x32 sizes
   > I think).
Xemacs wrapper seems to be a program which allows to start xemacs clicking on
an icon on the Mac Desktop, xemacs wrapper looks old that is why I
hesitate to install it.
I am looking for something "clickable" to start xemacs without typing it
from a terminal.

I already asked in Mac channels but it seems that Xemacs is not a hot
topic there.


Uwe