Subject: 30.1; Ode to Po Lu

From: Yuchen Guo <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2025 11:16:59 +0100

My life is based on computing.  For me, computing means using Emacs.

Emacs has been kind to me.

Since 2023, every letter, punctuation and every CJK Character
sublimated into their crisp existence in Emacs.

I know, this is due to your pure GTK porting effort.

You changed my computing experience.  You changed my life.

+++++++++

I depend on Org Agenda mode for scheduling my day.  Necessarily
on-the-go.

Common sense dictates that, smartphones are better at this than
devices with keyboards.

So I was using Termux and their packaged TUI Emacs.

I was satisfied, but every time I launch Emacs in Termux, the CJK
characters, forcibly stretched in their terminal cells, cry out their
pain.

+++++++++

But yesterday, I discovered your Android port of Emacs.

I dropped everything I was doing, backed up dotfiles, uninstalled
Termux from F-Droid, and installed your version of Termux, then Emacs.

With anticipation, I cloned my Org Agenda repo and launched Android
Emacs.

No soft keyboard with modifier keys.

CJK Characters displayed as boxes.

Even volume keys are not binded, whereas in Termux <volume-up> is
binded to Alt and <volume-down> is binded to Control.

Obnoxious menu bars and tool bars occupy valuable screen real estate.

This is all so foreign to me.  In Termux everything worked.

What do I do?  Did I make a mistake?

+++++++++

Of course not.  I know Po Lu will not disappoint me.

I shall presevere in the face of adversity.

+++++++++

I stayed up late.

I read the fine manual.

I downloaded and installed Noto Sans Mono CJK SC TTF fonts.

I enabled (modifier-bar) mode.

I adapted my key-chord-based approach.
I defined my own menu for Org Agenda commands with (easy-menu-define).

I searched the mailing list archives.

I discovered (touch-screen-display-keyboard).  Which makes the
on-screen keyboard always available.

I discovered (overriding-text-conversion-style nil).  Which makes
Emacs-based input methods, of which I use pyim and german-prefix,
usable.

I documented them at https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsOnAndroid

It might be an illusion, but the CJK glyphs have never been so
aesthetically pleasing as they now appears on the smartphone screen.

Once again, the Emacs developers and Po Lu changed my computing life.

+++++++++

Yearly, untold millions and billions have been devoted to the
marketing, and manufacture of locked-down devices known as Android
smartphones and tablets.

LineageOS partially freed some of them from the tyranny of the
manufacturers.

F-Droid, Termux and Emacs, together, transformed the platform into
something usable for general computing.

Therefore, in this moment, I want to thank Po Lu for their tireless
effort of developing Emacs in general, and bringing Emacs to the
Android platform in particular.  Thank you.