YE24: Sacha and Prot Talk Emacs: Newbies and Starter Kits

Notes: https://sachachua.com/blog/2026/04/yay-emacs-sacha-and-prot-talk-emacs-newbies-starter-kits/
Prot's recommended settings: https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2026-04-30-emacs-decent-default-sacha-chua/

I chat with Protesilaos (@protesilaos , https://protesilaos.com ) about Emacs newbies and starter kits.

00:00 Warming up
02:38 C-g is supposed to get you out of everything, but it doesn't work for the minibuffer
03:14 Anything related to display-buffer is hard for people to configure. Many windows do not focus by default. You have to switch to the other window to q.
04:32 Good defaults
04:37 How do I set my fonts? Which is the one I should be using?
05:16 ediff is unusable by default for everyone, not just newcomers
05:54 Packages to install
06:30 People muddle through, but it's confusing
08:21 The wiki might be a good approach for the community. Start here.
09:35 The direction of the newcomers theme is nice
10:51 Themes versus minor modes
12:20 People think of themes as styles, not arbitrary customizations
13:57 Listing changes for newcomers-presets
16:13 Terminology is also a challenge
16:54 Maybe documentation aliases?
17:57 Learning Emacs as a nonprogrammer
19:31 Emacs Lisp Elements
20:30 Getting the hang of Emacs
22:31 Getting help when you have a starter kit
24:29 Customize is overwhelming for beginners
27:55 debug-init
29:11 Getting help: partially bridged by LLMs?
31:03 Things people don't even know about
32:44 Filling in the blanks
33:39 .emacs
37:04 Discovery and the info manual
38:36 Address your immediate need; small steps
41:46 :config and setq is nicer than :custom for C-x C-e purposes (eval-last-sexp)
45:31 Culture of documentation and sharing
47:12 Link to a search
49:49 Getting through the gap between beginner tutorials and the next step
51:13 Predictability
51:52 Brief mention of Popper
52:28 Earlier is better than later for Emacs Lisp. Take it as is.
55:19 Before and after comparisons
56:07 user-init-directory
57:21 Emacs core
59:04 Getting past the initial awkward phase
59:36 Even reporting an issue is a great contribution
1:00:45 Next steps: adding to the wiki
1:02:39 Core longevity

The Emacs Carnival theme for April 2026 is newbies/starter kits https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/CarnivalApril2026. I'd like to chat with Prot about not only helping people get into Emacs but also supporting lifelong learning.

Prot had some notes on how he started with Emacs in 2019 in All about switching to Emacs (video blog) | Protesilaos https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2019-12-20-vlog-switch-emacs/. These notes were just a few months after he started, so his experience was pretty fresh.

In Computing in freedom with GNU Emacs | Protesilaos https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2026-03-13-computing-in-freedom-with-gnu-emacs/ (2026), he said:

Remember that I started using Emacs without a background in programming. ... I learnt the basics within a few days. I started writing my own Emacs Lisp within weeks. And within a year I had my modus-themes moved into core Emacs.

Prot has several projects that might be of interest to many newcomers to Emacs:

- modus-themes https://protesilaos.com/emacs/modus-themes, which are part of Emacs core and are therefore just a `M-x load-theme' away
- Emacs Lisp Elements https://protesilaos.com/emacs/emacs-lisp-elements, a book that helps people learn Emacs Lisp
- Where does this fit into people's learning journeys? How can they come across it and use it?
- perhaps Denote https://protesilaos.com/emacs/denote
- What would it take for people to learn enough to be able to use this?

He also offers Emacs coaching https://protesilaos.com/coach/. I wonder if any newbies have taken advantage of that. There are a few other coaches https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsCoaching listed on the EmacsWiki. (Ooh, Emacs buddy, that was neat.)

Видео YE24: Sacha and Prot Talk Emacs: Newbies and Starter Kits канала Sacha Chua