Live

Livestream

: May 14: Sacha, Prot, and Philip Kaludercic Talk Emacs: Newcomer Experience

Watch on YouTube

https://sachachua.com/blog/2026/05/may-14-sacha-prot-and-philip-kaludercic-talk-emacs-newcomer-experience/

Philip Kaludercic https://social.sdfeu.org/%5Bcite/t:@pkal/116500474344904460%5D wanted to continue the conversation from YE24: Sacha and Prot Talk Emacs - Newbies/Starter Kits https://sachachua.com/blog/2026/04/yay-emacs-sacha-and-prot-talk-emacs-newbies-starter-kits/. He's spent a lot of time thinking about this as one of the main contributors to newcomers-presets, so there'll probably be much to cover!

2026-05-14 Thu 10:30–2026-05-14 Thu 10:30 (America/Toronto -0400) = Thu May 14 1030H EDT / 0930H CDT / 0830H MDT / 0730H PDT / 1430H UTC / 1630H CEST / 1730H EEST / 2000H IST / 2230H +08 / 2330H JST

We'll probably talk about:

  • Emacs 31 or Emacs 32 directions towards improving the newcomer experience
  • How the newcomers presets fits into the bigger picture
  • Documentation and guides
  • How to get more feedback from newbies (virtual focus group? mailing list? office hours?)
  • Informal community resources
  • Other things we can do to help

Related links:

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STARTED Current / notes for next time   stream emacs

Next: #28

STARTED YE28: Work on Emacs newbie documentation

yt:

SOMEDAY https://recurse.social/@shapr/116534824687970707

shapr@recurse.social - @sacha Is your org flow written up somewhere?

Like, how you organize your files and how information gets in and out?

and, since I felt a bit cringe about using C-s, how do you find information in your org files?

TODO Check out Kanata based on Prot's blog post

I would like to have keyboard layers

TODO Ask at the next Org Meetup

  • Is there a way to make headings (ex: Org Babel result block, custom link output)? I'd love it if the headings could get picked up by TOC. Org Babel block reevaluation ends up with duplicates if the result has headings.

Upcoming episodes

Timestamps

  • scheduling toots with mastodon
  • Emacs Chat
  • Emacs Chat
  • Emacs Chat
  • Emacs Chat Sacha Chua
  • Emacs Chat Sacha Chua
  • Emacs Chat
  • Emacs Chat

Ideas

Future: Org Mode LaTeX export - Tinkering with my PDF export

After reading tecosaur's emacs config PDF (source), I have a case of literate config envy. I want to tweak my custom link types so that they export something sensible to LaTeX.

Update How to Learn Emacs

https://sachachua.com/blog/2013/05/how-to-learn-emacs-a-hand-drawn-one-pager-for-beginners/

  • Minor updates:
    • change planet.emacsen.org to planet.emacslife.com
    • change irc.freenode.net to libera.chat, include link to EmacsChannel
  • Include link to EmacsNewbie and the visual guide
  • Include Emacs News for staying connected
  • Learn how to learn
    • Built-in tutorial
    • Start small
    • Part-time is okay
    • Sticky notes
    • How to use a starter kit
  • Getting help
  • Other resources
  • Explore

It might be interesting to have some kind of a skill tracker or progression tree type of quick reference also… =)

Some things we can talk about if people are curious

TODO Improve my audio setup

  • Boom?
    • Tonor T20 CAD 39.99
    • InnoGear 2026 Low Profile Arm
  • Shock mount?
    • Auphonix Shock Mount For Blue Yeti Microphone?

STARTED Modify my sacha-mastodon-save-toot-for-emacs-news

so that it lets me select the link and prompt for the summary right away

Move the functionality of emacs-news-summarize-mastodon-items into it

Scheduled livestreams

Times are in America/Toronto. If you have Javascript enabled, click on a time to translate it.

Previous episodes

Meta

I want to get better at livestreaming while I tinker with Emacs because:

  • Getting into the habit of talking out loud while I code might help me retrace my steps or my logic, like Bookclub tapas.
    • I want to turn those demonstrations or discussions into blog posts with screenshots or video clips. If I note down rough timestamps or capture screenshots, I can use those for chapters, and then I can review the transcript once it's available.
  • Other people might notice something that I take for granted and then I can help them learn more about it. I can share more of my implicit knowledge.
  • Other people might even help me get unstuck or let me know about things I haven't gotten the hang of yet.
  • There might eventually be a time when it will be difficult for me to get outside, so it might be helpful to have more ways to enjoy social interaction and mental stimulation.

A few other Emacs streamers:

sources: Reddit

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You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.