Ian's Yay-Evil Distro: An even better 'better defaults'

Welcome!

This Emacs "distro" is based on my personal Emacs configuration (on GNU Emacs 26.2). It's unopinionated and was created for general use in mind. I've documented, as detailed as possible, what each code snippet does in my config.org file.

You can find my opinionated personal configuration here: https://github.com/ianpan870102/.use-package.emacs.d

This Emacs config starts up super fast with an average init time of 0.7 second.

Installation

Back up your ~/.emacs.d/ first (if you have one):

mv ~/.emacs.d/ ~/.emacs.d.bak/

Git clone my configuration to your new ~/.emacs.d/ :

git clone https://github.com/ianpan870102/.emacs.d.git ~/.emacs.d/

"Rolling" Release

I will constantly push new commits as soon as I discover new things suitable for this "distro"

How the config structure works

The init.el requires config.el, which is produced by org-babel and config.org. This allows me to put most of my configuration in an Org file with literate programming style (good for documenting code usage!).

Packages that I use:

Vim Editing habits (Optional depending on your preferences)

• evil

Git integration

• magit

Better Emacs defaults

• company (autocompletion)
• ido-vertical-mode
• yasnippets
• dashboard (welcome screen)

Org mode

• org-bullets

Friendly warnings

• flycheck

Lightweight syntax highlight improvement for all languages

• highlight-operators
• highlight-numbers
• highlight-escape-sequences

Appendix I: Themes I adore

• Spacemacs Dark & Light: https://github.com/nashamri/spacemacs-theme
• Gruvbox Dark: https://github.com/Greduan/emacs-theme-gruvbox
• Nord: https://github.com/arcticicestudio/nord-emacs
• Solarized Dark: https://github.com/bbatsov/solarized-emacs
• GitHub Default Theme: https://github.com/philiparvidsson/GitHub-Modern-Theme-for-Emacs
• Emacs Reverse Video Theme (emacs -r): https://github.com/syohex/emacs-reverse-theme
• Monochrome: https://github.com/fxn/monochrome-theme.el
• Monokai Pro (not the original Monokai): https://github.com/belak/emacs-monokai-pro-theme

Wilmersdorf Theme

The default installation of my Emacs configuration ships with the Wilmersdorf theme I made myself. It is inspired by Monochrome, Spacemacs Dark, Ariake Dark, and Raiju. You can find more information on the theme here: https://github.com/ianpan870102/Emacs-Wilmersdorf-Theme

Appendix II: Fonts I adore

• Monaco (curvy, easy to read)
• Source Code Pro (playful and modern-looking)
• Hack / Menlo / DejaVu Sans Mono family (default on lots of systems)
• Andale Mono (tall, narrow, elegant characters)
• Input Mono (most compliment; customizable, modern-looking and geeky)

FAQ:

1. But I'm not an Evil user

• Go ahead and delete the couple of lines regarding the Evil section in config.org, or simply remove the function call to (evil-mode). Then uninstall the package for good.

2. Why does my font look wrong?

• You might not have the required fonts installed, feel free to install them or change the font settings to your own liking in config.org (set-frame-font)

3. How can I install extra packages that I want?

You should be able to install packages the normal way (M-x list-packages RET and i x on the desired package row). If you plan to sync your config files across machines and wish to be prompted for installation if the required packages are missing, you can add the package's name to init.el file's package-select-packages variable.

4. How can I remove packages that I don't need?

For this you need two steps:

• First, type M-x list-packages RET in Emacs bindings (or :list-packages RET in Evil Normal state) and delete the unwanted package by placing your cursor on the row and press d followed by an x.
• Next, in the init.el file, you'll want to remove the package's name from the package-select-packages list to disable the installing prompt when you start Emacs next time.