Starting Emacs

Emacs can run both with and without the presence of X windows. This chapter assumes that you have X windows, but don’t worry if you don’t; the following information doesn’t require that you have it.

The Emacs Menu Bar

One difference between running Emacs with and without X is the presence of a menu bar at the top of the window. In newer versions of Emacs, however, you may find a menu bar when running in non-X mode (also called Text mode).

If your version of Emacs is earlier than 19.22, you should consider updating your Emacs installation. The newer versions have many features that make the upgrade worthwhile.

To start Emacs, just type emacs. This brings up a window that looks like the one in Figure 23.1.

Figure 23.1. The Emacs ...

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