7 ms·

Show HN: A Vim distribution inspired by Spacemacs

175 points by liuchengxu 10y ago

winestock 10y ago
There's another distribution of Vim which also claims to be inspired by Spacemacs and is called SpaceVim (not space-vim as in this case). Homepage: http://spacevim.org/ http://spacevim.org/ Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13315845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13315845
- liuchengxu 10y ago
  Thanks for the pointer. I do have seen that before. But I think it's not difficult to see the difference. First of all, they are maintained by different people with a distinct goal. SpaceVim is aiming to serve a counterpart to spacemacs, which more suitable for pure vimmers, I guess. However, space-vim is intended for switching between spacemacs and vim painlessly. I'm both a vimmer and spacemacs user, and I really like the interface and philosophy from spacemacs.
  - jmcdiesel 10y ago
    So you saw a previously existing library and literally just stepped all over its name confusingly? That's just plain rude.
    - liuchengxu 10y ago
      I think you have a little misunderstanding here. Actually, space-vim is earlier than SpaceVim. You can check that.
pzone 10y ago
Interesting. If there is a workable org-mode replacement that gets org-agenda I would consider switching away from Emacs to Vim or Neovim. I'm sick of using such slow and crash prone software. (Emacs is much better on Linux. I would love to use Linux as my daily driver but it's just not an option.) Since I've switched to Spacemacs it wouldn't be hard to port my small tweaks to recreate my personal preferences. But I really can't give up org-mode!
- liuchengxu 10y ago
  Yep, I often use spacemacs to write org and LaTeX. But sometimes I still love coding with vim and tmux in terminal :).
- danieldk 10y ago
  But I really can't give up org-mode! ...and inline LaTeX/image previews! https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf5x3p9bne3tqbg/Screen%20Shot%202017-03-08%20at%2008.20.36.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf5x3p9bne3tqbg/Screen%20Shot%2020...
  - shocks 10y ago
    And apparently nyan cat.
clircle 10y ago
daddy likes
z1mm32m4n 10y ago
In general, I think people really sell themselves short by using an editor "distribution." It's a "teach a man to fish" situation. The whole point of being able to configure Emacs or Vim is so that each person can make it into the tool he or she wants it to be. That's sort of why I recommend Vim as an IDE[1] to people. It teaches people how to configure Vim for themselves, so they can better understand how the pieces come together. [1]: https://github.com/jez/vim-as-an-ide https://github.com/jez/vim-as-an-ide
- brianritchie 10y ago
  Logged in to say thanks for the link. If I may suggest - have you considered adding it to the Awesome List either at: https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome OR https://github.com/mhinz/vim-galore https://github.com/mhinz/vim-galore ?
- 49531 10y ago
  I echo this sentiment. I was never able to truly get productive with vin until I started with a vanilla configuration and added features as I needed them. Once I did that it fit like a glove.
- sdrothrock 10y ago
  One of the reasons I like vim is that I can find vim or vi almost anywhere I need to work, but I try not to configure it too much (and lose out on what people say is one of the greatest advantages) BECAUSE I work on so many servers... is there a solution other than "carry your config and plugins everywhere?"
  - RX14 10y ago
    Tramp mode in Emacs is great for this, you can edit files over ssh seamlessly from your desktop. It works even better if you use Emacs as a terminal, as then you pretty much use tramp for everything.
  - gorthol 10y ago
    Upload your vimrc file and .vim directory to github and just do a clone on every new server.
sdnguyen90 10y ago
Can anyone share their experience using this coming from Spacemacs? I've tried the other Spacevim package but the key bindings were weird for me. I switched from Vim to Spacemacs about 2 years ago and I've forgotten everything besides the text editing stuff.
mablap 10y ago
As a moderately good emacs&vim user, what can I do with this that I cannot already do in a base spacemacs install?
- jmcdiesel 10y ago
  You can use VIM to kinda feel like you're in emacs but not be quite in emacs or vim... just a confusing middleground...
bgdkbtv 10y ago
Looks sweet! Downloading!
- bgdkbtv 10y ago
  Installed, very cool installation process! 5/5! And also, holy shit this vim config is great. I thought mine was great but this is just on another level! Loving it so far!
  - bgdkbtv 10y ago
    Damn, this looks super sleek! http://imgur.com/a/0JF7B http://imgur.com/a/0JF7B
SloppyStone 10y ago
This looks friggin' awesome! Thanks!
israrkhan 10y ago
I tried spacemacs and some other distributions/vimrc config files. The problem is if you do not know the reason for each line in vimrc and each key mapping/plugin in your vim environment, you wont be able to appreciate the beauty of vim no matter which distro you use. A distro is sort of similar to MS office, where a typical user will need less than 10% of the features, and remaining 90% stuff just adds to the bloat.
- nerdponx 10y ago
  Which of course defeats the purpose in using a complicated but customizable program like Vim in the first place.
vsviridov 10y ago
I'm a firm believer of knowing what each line in .vimrc does. But I'm not above rummaging though other people's .vimrc files and plundering without shame :D
Walkman 10y ago
Nice project. A little pun: if the author intended to follow the naming scheme of spacemacs project he or she should name this spacvim :D
- shock 10y ago
  Or rather spaceim :)
johndoe4589 10y ago
> Beautiful interface Lol? It's 2017 and you're describing a text mode UI. A "Beautiful theme" would be more appropriate.
- ClashTheBunny 10y ago
  Not a graphical user interface, but a text user interface?
vr46 10y ago
I think it's a great effort and it's looks really good, both visually and metaphorically. However, my reservations: Beginners may find it hard to learn and extract its secrets. The code is wrapped up like a pass-the-parcel game. My .vimrc/init.vim files are comprehensive yet easy to read in one hit. One use-case for my config is that I frequently lob the whole thing at friends and colleagues and they have a complete picture - plugins and configuration - immediately. This system is a completely different path for using Vim, and will definitely work for many people, but one of the major problems of any configuration distribution is that users make a choice by selecting it, to work with its abstraction and often only that. Hacking things in quickly might work, but it might make a mess. The first update or git pull/rebase after a hack... well, it could go wrong. Appealing if you never want to do anything to Vim.
dvcrn 10y ago
It is quite simple to add something similar to your existing setup. Just split your configurations into logical packages and include them from your main. Here is for example my Go "layer": https://github.com/dvcrn/dotfiles/blob/master/vim/lang/go.vim https://github.com/dvcrn/dotfiles/blob/master/vim/lang/go.vi... The top is describing plugins, the middle configuration and the bottom key bindings, including "mode keys" accessible over comma. Also shameless plug to "proton", my atom plugin which tries to do the same thing. https://github.com/dvcrn/proton https://github.com/dvcrn/proton
notheguyouthink 10y ago
This looks cool! Recently i switched to Kakoune editor because i wanted to try something a bit different than Vim (after using Vim for years of course). Always appreciate new work in the editor space!

175 points by liuchengxu 10y ago

There's another distribution of Vim which also claims to be inspired by Spacemacs and is called SpaceVim (not space-vim as in this case). Homepage: http://spacevim.org/ http://spacevim.org/ Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13315845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13315845

liuchengxu 10y ago
Thanks for the pointer. I do have seen that before. But I think it's not difficult to see the difference. First of all, they are maintained by different people with a distinct goal. SpaceVim is aiming to serve a counterpart to spacemacs, which more suitable for pure vimmers, I guess. However, space-vim is intended for switching between spacemacs and vim painlessly. I'm both a vimmer and spacemacs user, and I really like the interface and philosophy from spacemacs.
- jmcdiesel 10y ago
  So you saw a previously existing library and literally just stepped all over its name confusingly? That's just plain rude.
  - liuchengxu 10y ago
    I think you have a little misunderstanding here. Actually, space-vim is earlier than SpaceVim. You can check that.

pzone 10y ago

Interesting. If there is a workable org-mode replacement that gets org-agenda I would consider switching away from Emacs to Vim or Neovim. I'm sick of using such slow and crash prone software. (Emacs is much better on Linux. I would love to use Linux as my daily driver but it's just not an option.) Since I've switched to Spacemacs it wouldn't be hard to port my small tweaks to recreate my personal preferences. But I really can't give up org-mode!

liuchengxu 10y ago
Yep, I often use spacemacs to write org and LaTeX. But sometimes I still love coding with vim and tmux in terminal :).
danieldk 10y ago
But I really can't give up org-mode! ...and inline LaTeX/image previews! https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf5x3p9bne3tqbg/Screen%20Shot%202017-03-08%20at%2008.20.36.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf5x3p9bne3tqbg/Screen%20Shot%2020...
- shocks 10y ago
  And apparently nyan cat.

clircle 10y ago

daddy likes

z1mm32m4n 10y ago

In general, I think people really sell themselves short by using an editor "distribution." It's a "teach a man to fish" situation. The whole point of being able to configure Emacs or Vim is so that each person can make it into the tool he or she wants it to be. That's sort of why I recommend Vim as an IDE[1] to people. It teaches people how to configure Vim for themselves, so they can better understand how the pieces come together. [1]: https://github.com/jez/vim-as-an-ide https://github.com/jez/vim-as-an-ide

brianritchie 10y ago
Logged in to say thanks for the link. If I may suggest - have you considered adding it to the Awesome List either at: https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome OR https://github.com/mhinz/vim-galore https://github.com/mhinz/vim-galore ?
49531 10y ago
I echo this sentiment. I was never able to truly get productive with vin until I started with a vanilla configuration and added features as I needed them. Once I did that it fit like a glove.
sdrothrock 10y ago
One of the reasons I like vim is that I can find vim or vi almost anywhere I need to work, but I try not to configure it too much (and lose out on what people say is one of the greatest advantages) BECAUSE I work on so many servers... is there a solution other than "carry your config and plugins everywhere?"
- RX14 10y ago
  Tramp mode in Emacs is great for this, you can edit files over ssh seamlessly from your desktop. It works even better if you use Emacs as a terminal, as then you pretty much use tramp for everything.
- gorthol 10y ago
  Upload your vimrc file and .vim directory to github and just do a clone on every new server.

sdnguyen90 10y ago

Can anyone share their experience using this coming from Spacemacs? I've tried the other Spacevim package but the key bindings were weird for me. I switched from Vim to Spacemacs about 2 years ago and I've forgotten everything besides the text editing stuff.

mablap 10y ago

As a moderately good emacs&vim user, what can I do with this that I cannot already do in a base spacemacs install?

jmcdiesel 10y ago
You can use VIM to kinda feel like you're in emacs but not be quite in emacs or vim... just a confusing middleground...

bgdkbtv 10y ago

Looks sweet! Downloading!

bgdkbtv 10y ago
Installed, very cool installation process! 5/5! And also, holy shit this vim config is great. I thought mine was great but this is just on another level! Loving it so far!
- bgdkbtv 10y ago
  Damn, this looks super sleek! http://imgur.com/a/0JF7B http://imgur.com/a/0JF7B

SloppyStone 10y ago

This looks friggin' awesome! Thanks!

israrkhan 10y ago

I tried spacemacs and some other distributions/vimrc config files. The problem is if you do not know the reason for each line in vimrc and each key mapping/plugin in your vim environment, you wont be able to appreciate the beauty of vim no matter which distro you use. A distro is sort of similar to MS office, where a typical user will need less than 10% of the features, and remaining 90% stuff just adds to the bloat.

nerdponx 10y ago
Which of course defeats the purpose in using a complicated but customizable program like Vim in the first place.

vsviridov 10y ago

I'm a firm believer of knowing what each line in .vimrc does. But I'm not above rummaging though other people's .vimrc files and plundering without shame :D

Walkman 10y ago

Nice project. A little pun: if the author intended to follow the naming scheme of spacemacs project he or she should name this spacvim :D

shock 10y ago
Or rather spaceim :)

johndoe4589 10y ago

> Beautiful interface Lol? It's 2017 and you're describing a text mode UI. A "Beautiful theme" would be more appropriate.

ClashTheBunny 10y ago
Not a graphical user interface, but a text user interface?

vr46 10y ago

I think it's a great effort and it's looks really good, both visually and metaphorically. However, my reservations: Beginners may find it hard to learn and extract its secrets. The code is wrapped up like a pass-the-parcel game. My .vimrc/init.vim files are comprehensive yet easy to read in one hit. One use-case for my config is that I frequently lob the whole thing at friends and colleagues and they have a complete picture - plugins and configuration - immediately. This system is a completely different path for using Vim, and will definitely work for many people, but one of the major problems of any configuration distribution is that users make a choice by selecting it, to work with its abstraction and often only that. Hacking things in quickly might work, but it might make a mess. The first update or git pull/rebase after a hack... well, it could go wrong. Appealing if you never want to do anything to Vim.

dvcrn 10y ago

It is quite simple to add something similar to your existing setup. Just split your configurations into logical packages and include them from your main. Here is for example my Go "layer": https://github.com/dvcrn/dotfiles/blob/master/vim/lang/go.vim https://github.com/dvcrn/dotfiles/blob/master/vim/lang/go.vi... The top is describing plugins, the middle configuration and the bottom key bindings, including "mode keys" accessible over comma. Also shameless plug to "proton", my atom plugin which tries to do the same thing. https://github.com/dvcrn/proton https://github.com/dvcrn/proton

notheguyouthink 10y ago

This looks cool! Recently i switched to Kakoune editor because i wanted to try something a bit different than Vim (after using Vim for years of course). Always appreciate new work in the editor space!