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Epsilon User's Manual and Reference

Getting Started

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Unix Installation

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Epsilon for macOS Keyboard Issues

Epsilon for macOS Startup

Epsilon for macOS and Privacy-protected Folders

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Epsilon User's Manual and Reference > Getting Started > macOS Installation >

Epsilon for macOS Keyboard Issues

• Under XQuartz, Epsilon uses the Command key as its Alt modifier key. XQuartz's Preferences should be set so the "Enable key equivalents under X11" option is disabled (called "Enable Keyboard Shortcuts" in older XQuartz versions); otherwise XQuartz will reserve for itself many key combinations that use the Command key. Alternatively, you can substitute multi-key sequences like Escape f for the key combination Alt-f. See the alt-prefix command.

• macOS normally reserves the function keys F9 through F12 for its own use. Epsilon also uses these keys for various functions. You can set macOS to use different keys for these four functions system-wide, via System Preferences > Keyboard, but another option is to use alternative keys in Epsilon.

  For the undo and redo commands on F9 and F10, the undo-changes and redo-changes commands on Ctrl-F9 and Ctrl-F10 make fine replacements. Or you can run undo and redo using their alternative key bindings Ctrl-x u and Ctrl-x r, respectively.

  For the previous-buffer and next-buffer commands on F11 and F12, you can use their alternative key bindings, Ctrl-x < and Ctrl-x >, respectively.

• When Epsilon for macOS runs in console mode (typically, in an instance of the Terminal program) because XQuartz is not installed, it uses the TERM environment variable and the terminfo database of terminal characteristics. If you run Epsilon under a terminal program like Terminal and the TERM setting doesn't match the terminal program's actual behavior, some things won't work right. The "xterm-color" setting comes closest to Terminal's actual default behavior. Select this option from Terminal's Preferences.

  With the xterm-color setting, function keys F1-F4 may not work right; the commands on these keys almost all have alternative bindings you can use instead: For F1 (the help command), use the key labeled "Help" on Mac keyboards that have one, or type Alt-? or Ctrl-_. For F2 (the named-command command), use the Alt-x key combination instead. For F3 (the pull-word command), use the Ctrl-<Up> key. For F4 (the bind-to-key command), type Alt-x bind-to-key. Or you can change Terminal's settings for these keys, or the terminfo database, so they match. But the best way to avoid these issues entirely is to install XQuartz so Epsilon can run as an X11 program, as above.

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Epsilon Programmer's Editor 14.04 manual. Copyright (C) 1984, 2021 by Lugaru Software Ltd. All rights reserved.