Acme is a text editor

Text editor

A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....

 and graphical shell

Shell (computing)

A shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users of an operating system which provides access to the services of a kernel. However, the term is also applied very loosely to applications and may include any software that is "built around" a particular component, such as web...

 from the Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Plan 9 from Bell Labs is a distributed operating system. It was developed primarily for research purposes as the successor to Unix by the Computing Sciences Research Center at Bell Labs between the mid-1980s and 2002...

 operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

, designed and implemented by Rob Pike. It can use the sam command language. The design of the interface was influenced by Oberon

Oberon operating system

Oberon is an operating system developed in the late 1980s at ETH Zürich using the Oberon programming language. It has an innovative visual text-based user interface for activating commands.- History :...

. It is different from other editing environments in that it acts as a 9P

9P

9P is a network protocol developed for the Plan 9 from Bell Labs distributed operating system as the means of connecting the components of a Plan 9 system. Files are key objects in Plan 9. They represent windows, network connections, processes, and almost anything else available in the operating...

 server. A distinctive element of the user interface

User interface

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

 is mouse chording

Mouse chording

Mouse chording is the capability of performing actions when multiple mouse buttons are held down, much like a chorded keyboard. Like mouse gestures, chorded actions may lack feedback and affordance and would therefore offer no way for users to discover possible chords without reference...

.

Overview

Acme can be used as a mail and news reader

News client

A newsreader is an application program that reads articles on Usenet . Newsreaders act as clients which connect to a news server, via the Network News Transfer Protocol , to download articles and post new articles...

, or as a frontend to wikifs

Wikifs

wikifs is a file system for the operating systems Plan 9 and Inferno that allows wiki pages to be served as web pages and to be viewed and edited with the text editor Acme.-External links:* man page*...

. These applications are made possible by external components interacting with acme through its file system interface.

Ports

A port to the Inferno

Inferno (operating system)

Inferno is a distributed operating system started at Bell Labs, but is now developed and maintained by Vita Nuova Holdings as free software. Inferno was based on the experience gained with Plan 9 from Bell Labs, and the further research of Bell Labs into operating systems, languages, on-the-fly...

 operating system is part of Inferno's default distribution. Inferno can run as an application on top of other operating systems, allowing Inferno's port of acme to be used on most operating systems, including Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 and GNU

GNU

GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...

/Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

. A project called acme: stand alone complex intends to make acme run as a standalone application on the host operating system.

A working port of acme for Unix-like

Unix-like

A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....

 operating systems is included in Plan 9 from User Space

Plan 9 from User Space

Plan 9 from User Space is a port of many Plan 9 from Bell Labs libraries and applications to Unix-like operating systems...

, a collection of various ported programs from Plan 9

Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Plan 9 from Bell Labs is a distributed operating system. It was developed primarily for research purposes as the successor to Unix by the Computing Sciences Research Center at Bell Labs between the mid-1980s and 2002...

. This version may be used on GNU/Linux and is included by some GNU/Linux distribution

Linux distribution

A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...

s.

See also

• Wily
  Wily
  Wily is a text editor created by Gary Capell for Unix computer systems. It is based on Acme, the mouse-centric editing environment for the Plan 9 operating system....
  
  , a look-alike available for Unix
  Unix
  Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
  
  . Unmaintained since the port of the original acme as part of Plan 9 from User Space
  Plan 9 from User Space
  Plan 9 from User Space is a port of many Plan 9 from Bell Labs libraries and applications to Unix-like operating systems...
  
  .
• sam, Rob Pike's other popular text editor. Predecessor of Acme.
• 'Help': A Minimalist Global User Interface. precursor of acme and sharing many of its ideas also by Rob Pike.
• Plan 9 from Bell Labs
  Plan 9 from Bell Labs
  Plan 9 from Bell Labs is a distributed operating system. It was developed primarily for research purposes as the successor to Unix by the Computing Sciences Research Center at Bell Labs between the mid-1980s and 2002...
  
  
• wmii
  Wmii
  wmii is a tiling window manager for X11. It supports classic and tiling window management with extended keyboard, mouse, and filesystem based remote control...
  
  , a window manager
  Window manager
  A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment...
  
   with much inspiration from Acme.
• List of Plan 9 applications

External links

• acme(1) acme(4), the manuals.
• Plan 9 from User Space (aka plan9port) is a port of many Plan 9 programs from their native Plan 9 environment to Unix-like operating systems, including Mac OS X.
• acme stand alone complex - A distribution of the Inferno version of acme packaged for Windows, OS X and Linux and including many extras and tools (an IRC client, a wiki client, a web browser, a debugger, etc.)
• http://acme.cat-v.org - Acme resources.