Spacemacs-Lite
This config is for people who are either:
- Starting out with emacs
- Or tried out Spacemacs and were overwhelmed by the list of customization possible.
My screenshots of the Spacemacs-Lite version
Here is my .emacs.d config. I’ve learnt from the internet, I thought I should return the favour :)
Quick Start
You’ll need emacs before we start off with this - http://wikemacs.org/index.php/Installing_Emacs
Once you have installed Emacs, you can start with this. Copy the following commands line by line and press ENTER
# if you have a pre-existing config, also backup your .emacs from your home directory mv .emacs.d .emacs.d.bak git clone --recurse-submodules http://github.com/balaramadurai/.emacs.d # Launch emacs and enjoy!
Motivation
I started using Spacemacs and I fell in love with the ease of use and the thought that has gone in to developing every brick of the emacs customization. But, somehow, there were some keybindings that I wanted it my way and it was increasingly getting difficult to have it my way. Creating a layer and maintaining it also seemed to be an uphill task. Although, I did manage it at the end. Somehow, I needed something that was, let’s say, light. At around the same time, I came across this talk by Suyash Bire, who talked about a Spacemacs-Lite. This concept appealed to me and I copied most of the code that I wanted from watching him. Eventually (in about a week’s time), he did share his settings on github.
That inspired me to do 2 things -
- Share my config so that someone else like me might benefit, and
- To have my config under a VC rather than Dropbox it.
That was my motivation, the list of whom I was inspired by are given below - Inspiration .
Get Started
Step 0: Install Emacs
http://wikemacs.org/index.php/Installing_Emacs
Step 1: Git clone or download the config
One way to use this config.org to make it your own is:
# if you have a pre-existing config, also backup your .emacs from your home directory mv .emacs.d .emacs.d.bak git clone --recurse-submodules http://github.com/balaramadurai/.emacs.d
Step 2: Configure your spacemacs.secret.org
Use the template provided spacemacs.secret.org.template
mv spacemacs.secret.org.template spacemacs.secret.org
Step 3: Launch Emacs
Your emacs will open up in default poet-theme. You can customize this using SPC t t
Step 4: Customize the packages
How to add a new package to your config:
Type the words <muse and TAB
<muse <TAB>
You’ll get this
Type the name of the emacs package from http://melpa.org or use SPC p l for listing packages.
Go to the last parenthesis and type C-x C-e and the package will be installed for you.
Step 5: Delete packages
If you want to remove a package, delete the package with its emacs-lisp code block in this file and also SPC p d.
By defining shortcut keys/keybindings for each package, you can make sure that when you decide to uninstall a package, the shortcut keys also go away
Step 6: Check the list of shortcuts/keybindings (Spacemacs Mnemonics)
To make shortcut keys, use the :general and type in =(spacemacs-leader-key <shortcut key in quotes> ‘<macro>’=.
I have evil (Vim emulation) enabled by default, hence I’d strongly recommend learning practicing “evil-mode” using evil-tutor using (SPC h T)
Shortcuts
[2018-12-10 Mon 16:53]
The long list of shortcut keys are given below, as defined my this config file:
All these work in all evil modes except insert
Screenshots of the Spacemacs “menu” and the Org helper “menu”
The following table can be obtained from M-x general-describe-keybindings
| Keybinding | Macro name |
|---|---|
SPC | Spacemacs-Lite Leader |
SPC SPC | M-x (helm) |
SPC ? | show keybindings (helm) |
SPC ! | shell pop (requires shell-pop) |
SPC : | shell command |
SPC a | apps |
SPC ad | dired/ranger |
SPC ac | calendar |
SPC ae | easy-hugo |
SPC am | mu4e |
SPC ao | org |
SPC b | buffer |
SPC bb | list of buffers (helm) |
SPC b] (also M-]) | next buffer |
SPC b[ (also M-[) | previous buffer |
SPC ba | copy whole buffer to clipboard |
SPC bc | copy file |
SPC bd | kill the current buffer |
SPC bR | rename file and buffer |
SPC br | revert buffer (when changed on disk) |
SPC bm | show Messages buffer |
SPC bh | show Dashboard buffer |
SPC TAB | show the last buffer used |
SPC c | comments |
SPC cl | comment or uncomment line |
SPC cr | comment region |
SPC f | files |
SPC ff | open files (helm) |
SPC fr | open recent files |
SPC fe | emacs files |
SPC fed | open init.el |
SPC fec | open config.org (this file) |
SPC feR | load init.el |
SPC fs | save the current file |
SPC i | insert |
SPC ip | passwords |
SPC p | packages |
SPC pi | install a new package |
SPC pl | list all packages |
SPC pu | upgrade all packages |
SPC pd | remove a package |
SPC pr | auto remove unnecessary packages |
SPC q | quit |
SPC qq | quit emacs |
SPC qr | quit and restart emacs |
SPC qd | quit and restart emacs with debug-init |
SPC ao | org |
SPC aoc | org capture |
SPC aol | org store link |
SPC aoo (also F2) | org agenda |
SPC r | org reviews |
SPC rw | weekly review |
SPC rq | quarterly review |
SPC ry | yearly review |
SPC s | search |
SPC ss | search within a buffer (helm) |
SPC sw | web |
SPC swd | Duckduckgo search using w3m |
SPC t | themes |
SPC tt | load themes |
SPC td | load dichromacy theme |
SPC tl | load leuven theme |
SPC tsd | load spacemacs dark theme |
SPC tsl | load spacemacs light theme |
SPC tp | load poet theme |
SPC w | windows |
SPC wm | maximize window |
SPC wd | delete window |
SPC w/ | split window vertically |
SPC w- | split window horizontally |
SPC 1 | select window 1 |
SPC 2 | select window 2 |
Org Mode
[2018-12-12 Wed 17:15]
Org Mode shortcuts (or major mode shortcuts can be accessed through)
| keybinding | Description |
|---|---|
. | Org Mode helper |
Inspiration
[2018-12-07 Fri 07:08]
The following snippet is modified from https://github.com/ralesi/spacemacs.org and is placed in your ~/.emacs.d/init.el
;; tangle without actually loading org
(let ((src (concat user-emacs-directory "config.org"))
(ui (concat user-emacs-directory "config.el")))
(when (file-newer-than-file-p src ui)
(call-process
(concat invocation-directory invocation-name)
nil nil t
"-q" "--batch" "--eval" "(require 'ob-tangle)"
"--eval" (format "(org-babel-tangle-file \"%s\")" src)))
(load-file ui))
This is inspired (read “copied/borrowed/reused”) from the following sources (and not limited to):
- Sacha Chua’s configuration file https://github.com/sachac/.emacs.d - emacs-news
- https://github.com/mwfogleman/.emacs.d/ - thanks for PARA and review templates
- http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html - I started here
- https://github.com/BrettWitty/dotemacs - idea of using an org file for an init
- https://github.com/sam217pa - general.el and use-package
- Suyash Bire’s emacs Meetup talk (https://github.com/suyashbire1/emacs.d) - Spacemacs-Lite/DIY
- of course, myriads of trips to reddit,
- stackexchange,
- https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/ - SPCmacs
😃 - https://github.com/TheBB/spaceline - the wonderful modeline