Alt key not working in emacs

Software
102

Upstream. I assume Emacs 29 isn’t in HaikuPorts yet.

Thanks.

103

I added a HaikuPorts recipe for Emacs 29 a few weeks ago.

104

I think it would be best to set up some kind of system that builds it weekly if possible.

Thanks.

105

BTW, I looked at the recipe: I wouldn’t recommend to enable Cairo unless you have a use for color fonts or languages with text shaping requirements (such as Arabic).

It uses fontconfig to find fonts, which IME doesn’t work well on Haiku.

2 Likes
106

Ok, I’ll test some builds with cairo/fontconfig/harfbuzz removed.

Thanks

107

Hello. Anyone found a fix or workaround for the tiny font issue? I’m trying last version available in HaikuDepot (29.0.50~git4), but still got the issue. I tried with the “Set default font” option, but didn’t have any effect.

108

Please show the output of “M-x describe-char RET” with the point (the cursor) on a character displayed in the tiny font.

Thanks.

109

Hi! Sorry, but wich key is suposed to be Meta key? I tried with Control x and Alt x, but neither of them apparently works.

110

It’s alt unless you have some other key configured to be the command key. How doesn’t alt work for you?

111

The project its working? will be on the haiku depot?

112

Emacs 29.x is already in Depot.

113

Hello! I’m using the default Alt / Ctrl configuration (Alt-c for copy, for example). I don’t understand where the “M-x describe-char RET” output is suposed to appears.

114

In Emacs they have something called Meta key. On most computers this M-‘other key’ means "Alt+‘other key’. So if the instructions says, “M-s” then it means “Alt-s” on most computers. I prefer the spacemacs way for some operations so my Meta key is the SPACE instead of Alt.

M-x should show the minibuffer (check left bottom). Then you can enter describe-char and press Enter/return to see more. I would recommend installing some packages if you are new to emacs. Like Which-key that helps you with short cuts and a completion framework, like Ivy/helm/vertico and Counsel.

115

“M-x” should mean Alt+X. The output should appear in another buffer, that will typically be displayed in another window (what Emacs calls “panes”) in a frame (which is what Emacs calls “windows”).

116

Not un_spacyar, but I think I’ve run into the same issue? Here’s describe-char output:

            character: d (displayed as d) (codepoint 100, #o144, #x64)
              charset: ascii (ASCII (ISO646 IRV))
code point in charset: 0x64
               script: latin
               syntax: w 	which means: word
             category: .:Base, L:Strong L2R, a:ASCII, l:Latin, r:Roman
             to input: type "C-x 8 RET 64" or "C-x 8 RET LATIN SMALL LETTER D"
          buffer code: #x64
            file code: #x64 (encoded by coding system utf-8-unix)
              display: by this font (glyph code):
    haiku:-haiku-Noto Sans Mono-normal-normal-normal-*-2-*-*-*-m-0-utf-8 (#x64)

Character code properties: customize what to show
  name: LATIN SMALL LETTER D
  general-category: Ll (Letter, Lowercase)
  decomposition: (100) ('d')

screenshot1

It’s weird, at some point I had a built version of Emacs working just fine, but rebuilding lead to this issue. I had a go at reverting to an older commit, but no dice. I can only assume something changed in my environment, but I’m not sure what. `o`

117

Thanks. What happens if you start Emacs with the argument “-fn Noto Sans Mono-12”?

1 Like
118

Thanks-- No dice with Noto Sans Mono-12, but funnily enough, with a font-size of 500 things start to look normal!

emacs-500
emacs-500717×845 120 KB

119

Can you check in screen preferences what DPI value is reported? It should be shown on the monitor preview on the left. It’s possible that your display report an incorrect physical size, and if any apps uses this DPI value (accessible through the BScreen class) to adjust its size automatically, strange things like that will happen.

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120

You’re right on the money― it looks like the DPI and screen dimensions are saved into a struct, which I can only assume is used to scale like you say.

Physical sizes seem right for both screens tested (15.1" + 143 DPI, 17" + 96 DPI). For the 143 DPI monitor, 500pt font looks like a 15pt font, whereas on the 96 DPI it looks more like 5pt.

121

Emacs does use that information, yes. What happens if you comment out this line in haikuterm.c?

be_get_display_resolution (&dpyinfo->resx, &dpyinfo->resy);

1 Like