More and more I keep wanting to try emacs or vim, because nothing else seems to work as far as productivity. I've tried Evernote and a bunch of other applications, nothing seems to be useful (to me). I always stick to my notepads of paper and pens, that may never change.
I do mostly front end work, so the tools I'm constantly in is in iTerm 2, Adobe products, Mail, Sublime, and Transmit for SFTP.
Would there be any benefit of spending time learning these? Where does one even begin?
Start Emacs, hit Ctrl-h and then t (C-h t in emacs lingo). Brings up the tutorial, it's a quick intro to editing. Now open an org mode file, and open the Org mode info manual: Ctrl-h and then i, then m, which'll bring up a prompt, type "org" and hit enter (C-h i m org RET). By time you'll find your way to use it. Both emacs and org-mode lend themselves to excessive customisation, and learning a bit of Elisp unlocks incredible power.
There are a myriad of packages and tens of starter kits like Spacemacs out there, it's quite possible that looking at these, one does not know where to start. I suggest you start with vanilla emacs and build up your personal and most-fitting experience. Takes some time but definitely worth it. It's like a city, you may have read ten tourist guides, but until you go out there and explore, you know nothing.
That said, this is my set of most basic "sanitisation settings" for emacs:
(setf
;; Always open a new buffer if default is occupied.
async-shell-command-buffer 'new-buffer
;; UI.
visible-bell t
uniquify-buffer-name-style 'forward
save-interprogram-paste-before-kill t
font-lock-maximum-decoration nil
;; Search help more extensively.
apropos-do-all t
;; Ignore case when completing file names in minibuffer.
read-file-name-completion-ignore-case t
read-buffer-completion-ignore-case t
completion-ignore-case t
completion-styles '(initials substring partial-completion)
find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings t
enable-recursive-minibuffers t
;; Save bookmarks after each bookmark command.
bookmark-save-flag t
;; Do not ring the bell when killing in r/o buffers, put the
;; kill in the kill ring but do not modify the buffer.
kill-read-only-ok t
;; Search modes default to regexps.
search-default-mode t)
(setq-default save-place t)
This looks great, thanks for the detailed response with providing what to actually press. Looking at downloading it now but man there are a lot of versions here. http://gnu.mirrors.hoobly.com/gnu/emacs/
> nothing else seems to work as far as productivity
What doesn't work, exactly?
If you're trying to replace note taking on paper, you might want to dip a toe into Emacs and org-mode land and see how it feels. (My suggestion is to just start out slowly and play around with it.)
If you don't feel productive in just manipulating text, I'd check out vim. It really is the superior text editor!
Personally, I think you should begin with plain ole emacs, and start with the emacs tutorial, and work your way up from there. Once you're comfortable navigating buffers, creating files, and reading emacs manuals, check out the org mode manual. If you find yourself intrigued, you'll dig deeper.
Bunch of logins, trying to sync with devices, I fail to use it because it's a lot easier to think clearly with writing things out. Thanks for the suggestion, I think you're right and instead of looking at all the big packages just go vanilla.
The built-in Emacs tutorial is fine for learning basic navigation. But to configure your emacs, buy the ebook "Mastering Emacs." I bought it and deepened my knowledge, but I've also given it to newish users of Emacs as a one-stop shop for getting the good stuff going.
I do mostly front end work, so the tools I'm constantly in is in iTerm 2, Adobe products, Mail, Sublime, and Transmit for SFTP.
Would there be any benefit of spending time learning these? Where does one even begin?